Rosewood

Cast & Crew

Jon Voight

John Wright

Ving Rhames

Mann

Don Cheadle

Sylvester Carrier

Bruce McGill

Duke Purdy

Loren Dean

James Taylor

Esther Rolle

Aunt Sarah

Elise Neal

Beulah (Scrappie)

Catherine Kellner

Fanny Taylor

Michael Rooker

Sheriff Walker

Akosua Busia

Jewel

Paul Benjamin

James Carrier

Kevin Jackson

Sam Carter

Mark Boone Junior

Poly

Muse Watson

Henry Andrews

Badja Djola

John Bradley

Kathryn Meisle

Mary Wright

Jaimz Woolvett

Deputy Earl

John Singleton

Director

Gregory Poirier

Writer

Tracy Barone

Executive Producer

Jon Peters

Producer

John Williams

Original Music

Johnny E. Jensen

Cinematographer

Bruce Cannon

Film Editing

Marion Dougherty

Casting

Paul Sylbert

Production Design

Chris Gorak

Art Director

Daniel Loren May

Set Decoration

Ruth E. Carter

Costume Design

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Critic Reviews for Rosewood

Audience Reviews for Rosewood

• May 01, 2021

  The final act might initially seem too implausible, except that the movie is clearly meant to be a Western even though it addresses a real historical event. Your mileage for how it uses the conventions of that genre may very but I think it strikes a good balance especially when you see how carefully the direction and screenplay lay out the horrifying explosion of racially motivated mob violence.
  

  Super Reviewer
• Aug 05, 2012

  At long last, we have a potent portrait on a fact that all too many people forget, or at least try to forget, and never should. Sure, some would argue that this portrait is too brutal of one, but we must never forget that Florida is also in the really deep south, no matter how much they try to tout themselves as so far south that they practically loop around culturally and are yankees again. Hey, us southerners are just fine now, or at least about as fine as you can get in modern America, but back in the 1920s, alone, shoot, I'm not gonna lie, we did some things that I'm not particularly proud of. Hey, south, north, west, east, space, it doesn't matter where you are, no one wins when it comes to racism, not even Warner Bros., because they pumped $30 million into this puppy, and didn't even make $14 million. Like I said, no one wins when it comes racism, and by that, I'm not just refering to this film's subject matter about racial violence, but also to how they got John Singleton to direct, probably just because he's a black director who did a film called "Boz n the Hood". Eh, actually, I don't know if I can entirely accuse the producers of this film for getting Singleton to direct this film simply based on racial typecasting, seeing as how they were proably just following the rules, because Singleton was your go-to guy for intense black films, whether they be dramas or action flicks, up until last year, when he contradicted himself entirely by doing a Taylor Lautner film, which is about as white as a film can get. It was either Singleton's token white film or him embracing how white his name is (John Singleton Copley was a Boston-born painter who died in London and John Singleton Mosby was - get ready... - a Confederate cavalry battalion commander in the Civil War; yes, that white), but either way, after "Abduction", I think that we can all agree that he should stick with intense black films, particularly dramas, because stuff like this film is well worth seeing, regardless of what the box office says, which isn't to say that I can't fully blame the moviegoers of 1996 for not rushing out to see this film, as it is held by back more than a few factors. Looking at the premise, at just over 140 minutes, the film seems longer than you'd expect and is, sure enough, longer than it should be, going padded out by repetition, too much material and, here and there, too much exposition, thus leaving the film to drag along quite often, typically with the company of a bland atmosphere that helps in rendering the film occasionally dull and consistently rather easy to fall out of. The film's excess material leaves the final product to lose quite a bit of steam, as well as, to an extent, consistent focus, for one of the biggest factors that make the film so overlong is too much subplotting, in that the film will spend too much time with too many people, and before too long, things become rather uneven. Of course, it's not just its being too prevalent that makes the over-characterization problematic, as many of the characters are fleshed out with a profound lack of subtlety, for although these character portrayals seem realistic, the film is often too emphatic in its characterization, fleshing out many characters in fashions so obvious and even somewhat familiar fashion that their humanity find itself diluted. These conventional and unsubtle characters are, of course, a part of one of the film's biggest missteps as an obvious portrait on racism: oversimplication. John Singleton's direction is overambitious, something that you really can't be when tackling subject matter like this, for although it's rather difficult to make a portrait on southern racial violence terribly subtle, Singleton drenches the film in an overemphatic tone that turns this film into almost more of a message than a story, and with many cliches exacerbating that feeling, what we're left with is an unsubtle film that borders on self-congratulatory. The film boasts a unique and worthy concept as a film of its type, yet when it comes to execution, we're left with an overlong and overambitious project that plummets into conventions almost as much it plummets into unsubtleties, thus rendering the film's message messily handled and the film itself borderline underwhelming. However, as flawed and unsubtle as this film is, amazingly, it transcends that underwhelmingness, because for every fault, of which there are many, there is a compensating strength, of which there are many, and many powerful strengths at that, for although the film stands to hit harder, it still hits deep, and that's because this film, while perhaps too overambitious, can still back many of its ambitions up more often than not. Again, this film's story is a worthy one, something that director John Singleton isn't forgetting, and isn't about to let you forget, as he will often taint his vision with his own ambition and craft an all too often unsubtle execution of his intentions. However, Singleton is also rather frequent in throwing in quite a bit of true subtlety, which may not always be terribly intense, but remains potent and poignant enough to breathe into this film genuienness and graceful depth that creates a pretty striking aura of intrigue that pulls you right on through the slower spots and right into the heat of the moments in some spots, particularly when this film gets nitty and gritty, and figures out how to pull off nitty and gritty. Being that the film is so unsubtle, its realist portraits on racism lose a realist feel and come off as artificial, and by extension, discomforting in a fashion not hoped for, yet when this film does fulfill its intentions, it really does penetrate quite a bit, as this truly is an uncompromising realist look at the harsh extents of the level of ignorance among the general community that dissipated long ago, though not quite too long ago enough, and while this film doesn't paint its portraits as neatly as it should, you'd be hard pressed to not find yourself disturbed, engrossed and with much to ponder upon when this film does strike the right notes in its studies upon the depths of inhumanity within humanity. Singleton makes one mistake after another in his execution of this story, yet he ultimately compensates pretty remarkably by what he does do so very right, and while I wish I could say that's enough for this film to fulfill its potential, it is indeed enough for this film to reward, though Singleton could have done it with his performers, or, well, at least most - nay - quite a few... - nay - some of them. Most performances are surprisingly restrained, and the ever so occasional lesser performance ranges from mediocre to, well, pretty bad, with Bruce McGill being the first person who comes to mind when I think of the really bad, as his southern drawl, jaw and dialect is overdone tremendously, or at least when it remembers to use it, and his overacting gets to be so grating that it's pretty amazing that someone didn't step in somewhere along the way and tell him to calm down, because he's playing this at 15, give or... well, just give a few notches. Outside of him, the mediocres and restrained, however, stand quite a few upstanding and memorable performances that really do steal the show, with Don Cheadle, for the limited time he's on, especially standing out and stealing the show in his charismatic and believable portrayal of a sensible and firm man looking to protect the rights and lives of himself, his loved ones and his people altogether, and once it begins to become all too heartbreakingly clear that the Sylvester Carrier character can only do so much to fulfill his intentions, Cheadle delivers on the deeply human layers and potent emotional range needed to define his performances, and by extension, his character, among the most compelling aspects of the film, and he ends up leaving all too suddenly. The film limps along all too often and ends up a bit short on the subtlety needed for this film to really cut deep, yet make no mistake, when this film picks up, it does take off, and keeps consistent enough in certain commendable aspects to keep you engaged, until by the end, you find left facing a generally well-crafed and ultimately provocative film, considerably flawed though, it may be. In closing, the film is often slow and ultimately outstays its welcome, going padded out by some repetition, as well as too much meditation upon exposition, and it doesn't help that most of the characters this film spends so much meditating upon simply come out as two-note types, if that, which of course supplements the limited subtlety that, alongside the cliches and overambition in John Singleton's direction, lands a heavy blow to this film's effectiveness and leaves it to run the risk of collapsing to underwhelming, which is a collapse that never occurs, as the film finds itself supported by Singleton's inspiration's providing a consistent degree of intrigue, broken up by piercing intensity once he does get a grip on subtlety and milks this worthy story, and its messages, enough for you to feel real impact at points, a sensation amplified by a few bright spots in acting, thus leaving "Rosewood" to stand as a heavily flawed, yet generally rewarding, consistently engaging and ultimately thought-provoking dramatisation on a tragic testament to the brutality of a community whose actions must not go forgotten. 3/5 - Good
  

  cameron j Super Reviewer
• Dec 29, 2011

  To this day racism is a heated and frequently-discussed topic, even though the term has come to mean something entirely different today than it did back then. John Singleton's "Rosewood" is yet another film that shows us the cruel acts of violence that the black community endured in the past, fueling the hatred for bigotry even more. A lot of the brutality that occurs onscreen is hard to stomach, not because it is graphic or bloody in nature (though it sometimes is), but because it is unreasonable, uncalled for, and unjustified. The white landowners who engage in the murdering and lynching of blacks have no real reason to do what they're doing. They don't see the harm in killing a black person, have no real evidence for doing so, and in the end, do not pay for their crimes. Nothing in the form of punishment ever comes their way. Life continues for them like nothing happened. Yet "Rosewood" is somehow cathartic and ends on a slightly positive note. Hell, it sort of needs to. Films like this need a happy ending, no matter how unrealistic it is. We need to feel like everything is okay, even though something like the Rosewood massacre happened. That's the magic of cinema.
  

  Super Reviewer
• Feb 20, 2010

  Well told and sad story to watch. Not too sure about how accurate this was but it is still sad to see things like this happen no matter what time period this was. Awesome acting and very interesting characters and interesting to see how they developed through out the movie.
  

  Super Reviewer