The time was 3:30 p.m. Saturday. The thuds seemed to be coming from the room below. The voice of a man, loud and urgent, followed.

It was only later that she learned the news:

Whitney Houston, a guest in the room below hers, had died.

Cause of death: Unclear.

Time pronounced: 3:55 p.m., February 11, 2012.

Age: A mere 48.

The shock and grief from fans worldwide was immediate: Houston’s pipes and presence, her grit and glamour had made her an icon.

Smokey Robinson: Houston a ‘sweetie pie’

Lionel Richie: Houston was iconic

Clive Davis on Whitney Houston

For a decade and a half, she ruled the charts: 170 million albums sold, including seven back-to-back multi-platinum ones.

Numerous No. 1 hits, including the biggest-selling U.S. single of all time, “I Will Always Love You.”

Emmys, Grammys, Billboard Music awards. Dozens of them.

While her luster dimmed in recent years as she battled drug addiction, Houston was in the midst of a comeback. A few shows here and there, mostly abroad, and a movie in the works.

She had appeared healthy and beautiful in recent days, said the music executive — who did not want to be identified because she didn’t want reporters hounding her.

Just days before, the exec had seen Houston swimming in the hotel pool with daughter Bobbi Kristina. They looked happy, she said.

What exactly happened Saturday afternoon now awaits a coroner’s examination.

Police and fire officials were called to Houston’s room at 3:43 p.m., after Houston’s bodyguard found her unconscious body.

Medics tried reviving her, but failed.

There were “no obvious signs of criminal intent,” said Beverly Hills Police Lt. Mark Rosen.

What will Grammys do?

Whitney Houston seemed ‘in good spirits’

Fans shocked by Houston’s death

Friend: Bobby Brown ‘devastated’

Medics removed her body from the hotel room early Sunday morning and an autopsy has been scheduled.

But the county coroner’s office could not say when.

“I just can’t talk about it now. It’s so stunning and unbelievable,” said singer Aretha Franklin on hearing the news. “I couldn’t believe what I was reading coming across the TV screen.”

Saturday night, fans mourned Houston’s death in different ways inside and outside the Beverly Hilton.

Outside, grieving fans laid roses and flickering candles on the front and back entrances of the sprawling complex.

Some sang songs. Others played her music videos on their smartphone.

“Everyone has their own demons, and some overcome them and some never do,” said Tya Conerly, referring to Houston’s history of drug abuse. “Sometimes life gets the best of us.”

Inside the hotel, music industry’s biggest names gathered in elegant attire for an annual pre-Grammy party that had been long planned by Houston’s mentor, Clive Davis.

“I do have a heavy heart, and I am personally devastated by someone so close to me for so many years,” Davis told the gathering of artists and entertainers, that included Tony Bennett, Gladys Knight and Britney Spears.

“My heart goes out to her daughter Bobbi Kristina and her mother, Cissy.”

Dr. Drew reacts to Whitney Houston death

Message to Bobbi Kristina: Be true to you

Sharpton: Whitney a ‘songbird’

He then asked for a moment of silence.

“We dedicate this evening to her,” he said.

Houston had been scheduled to attend the festivities. She had performed as late as Thursday night at a pre-Grammy event in the area, a raspy rendition “Jesus Loves Me” with singer Kelly Price.

The organizers of Sunday’s Grammy Awards said they have retooled the show to pay respect to Houston, with the help of singer Jennifer Hudson.

“It’s going to be something respectful,” said Ken Ehrlich, executive producer of the show. “It’s not going to be a full-blown tribute. That’s too early and it’s too fresh at this moment. It’s going to be something respectful to Whitney’s memory.”

But musician Paul Shaffer said he thinks the whole show will double as a tribute to Houston.

“Here is music’s happiest night combined with such a sad note,” he said. “You got to be some kind of philosopher to make some kind of sense out of this. I certainly can’t.”

Houston was born in Newark, New Jersey, on August 9, 1963, the daughter of gospel singer Cissy Houston.

Her cousin was Dionne Warwick; her godmother Aretha Franklin.

“You couldn’t find a more auspicious template for great expectations,” said music critic Gene Seymour.

In the mid-1980s, Davis spotted Houston in a New York nightclub and signed her on the spot.

For the next quarter century, he steered her career and served as her mentor.

“I saw a depth and a range and soul … that rarely ranks at the top level,” he said Thursday. “And that’s why we’ve been working together ever since.”

Her string of Billboard No. 1 hits included “Saving All My Love for You,” “How Will I Know,” “The Greatest Love of All,” “Where Do Broken Hearts Go,” and “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me).”

In 1991, Houston’s commanding performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the Super Bowl, just days into the first Persian Gulf War, electrified audiences and became the gold standard for performing the national anthem, according to many music critics.

The next year, she released the soundtrack to her movie “The Bodyguard,” one of the top 10 biggest-selling albums of all time.

Her cover of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” for the soundtrack has been interpreted by many but rarely duplicated.

She appeared in several more films in the 1990s, including “Waiting to Exhale.”

In 2000, Houston earned her sixth Grammy for best female R&B performance and, a month later, she was named female artist of the decade at the “Soul Train” Music Awards.

But by then, her battle with drugs — cocaine and marijuana — and her tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown were taking their toll.

The couple appeared together in the mid-2000s on the reality show “Being Bobby Brown,” and had one child together, Bobbi Kristina.

In a 2009 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Houston recalled how her mother arrived one day at her doorstep with sheriff’s officers and a court order in a drug intervention.

“(My mother) says, ‘I have a court (injunction) here,’” Houston said. “Either you do it my way, or we’re just not going to do this at all. We are both going to go on TV, and you’re going to retire.’”

She entered rehab and took a long hiatus. Her 2009 release, “I Look To You,” was her first in seven years.

“I just took a break, which sometimes you have to,” Houston said. “You have to know when to slow that train down and kind of just sit back and relax for a minute.”

She recently returned to a movie set for “Sparkle,” a remake of the 1976 hit that was loosely based on the story of The Supremes.

It is scheduled to be released nationwide in August, her first movie role since 1996′s “The Preacher’s Wife.”

Music mogul Simon Cowell said Houston’s death is one of those events where you remember what you were doing when you heard the news.

“It’s that significant,” he said. “I’m so sad for her. She was undoubtedly one of the greatest superstars of all time, one of the greatest voices in our lifetime we’re likely ever to hear.”

]]> http://whitneyhouston-site.com/goodbye-whitney/feed 4 http://whitneyhouston-site.com/greatest-hits http://whitneyhouston-site.com/greatest-hits#comments Thu, 10 Dec 2009 09:00:59 +0000 groa MOVIES - OVERVIEW]]> http://whitneyhouston-site.com/?p=1124

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I’m every woman

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Whitney Houston in The Bodyguard!

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Exhale (Shoop Shoop) is a 1995 single featured on the sountrack of the film “Waiting to Exhale.”

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Cast: Brandy Norwood, Bernadette Peters, Veanne Cox, Natalie Desselle, Paolo Montalban, Jason Alexander, Whoopi Goldberg, Victor Garber, Whitney Houston, Michael Haynes.

Director: Robert Iscove

Story adaptor: Robert L. Freedman

Choreographeur:  Rob Marshall

Producers:  Whitney Houston and Debra Martin

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Buy the movie:  USA CAN UK FRA DEU AUT

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In this Rodgers & Hammerstein musical version of the classical fairy tale, a royal heir is as bored with court life as fascinated with commoners lives, but his mother commands another grand ball in his name- he only concedes to attend if another lack of acceptable marital candidates wins him the right to switch to a selection process of his choice. However Cinderella, a black stepdaughter (de facto maid) gets to attend till midnight by the magic of her fairy godmother, and unlike her hideous stepsisters is the only one to captures his heart, so when she rushes off he orders every young woman in the kingdom should fit her left behind glass slipper…

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The hit song “Falling in Love With Love“, from the Rodgers and Hart musical The Boys from Syracuse, was sung by Bernadette Peters as the Stepmother. “The Sweetest Sounds” from Rodgers’ No Strings, was also added, sung by Cinderella and the Prince. “There’s Music in You,” written by Rodgers and Hammerstein for the 1953 film Main Street to Broadway, was sung as the finale by the Fairy Godmother. The production won two awards in 1998: The Art Directors Guild Excellence in Production Design Award and an Emmy Award for Outstanding Art Direction for a Variety or Music Program.

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When Whitney Houston signed on to the film, she was listed as producer and in the role of Cinderella. However, she later called Brandy and told her she wanted her to audition for the role of Cinderella saying “I’m already 33 years old, and I want you to play Cinderella”. Brandy only agreed to do the part if Houston played her fairy godmother, because she was her “idol.”

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Click here and view clips from the movie, moments in the studeo and from backstage. There’s also interviews with the actors and actresses.

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Trivia provided by The Internet Movie Database:

• First multi-racial cast performing Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella.

• Whitney Houston was producing Rodger and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella” and was to star in it until she decided that Brandy would make a better Cinderella. Brandy would not do it unless her idol Whitney took    the  Fairy Godmother role.

• Cinderella was produced for the Walt Disney Company for their revival of The Wonderful World of Disney series.

• The song “Falling in Love With Love”, from the Rodgers and Hart musical “The Boys from Syracuse”, was added and sung by Bernadette Peters as the Stepmother.

• “The Sweetest Sounds” from Richard Rodgers’ musical “No Strings” was added and sung by Cinderella and the Prince.

• “There’s Music in You”, written by Rodgers and Hammerstein for the film Main Street to Broadway (1953), was sung as the finale by the Fairy Godmother, Whitney Houston.

• The production won two awards: The Art Directors Guild Excellence in Production Design Award and an Emmy Award for Outstanding Art Direction for a Variety or Music Program.

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Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella, music video part 1

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Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella,cinderella music video part 3

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Falling in Love with love cinderella rogers hammerstein bernadette peters music video part 4

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Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella,cinderella music video part 6

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Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella,cinderella music video part 8

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Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella,cinderella music video part 9

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Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella,cinderella music video part 10

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Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella,cinderella music video part 11

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Goofs for Cinderella:

• Crew or equipment visible: During the song “A Lovely Night”, when Cinderella is dancing around with her step-sisters you can see the crew in the mirrors on the wall.
• Revealing mistakes: When Lionel is talking to the baker, the eight women carrying bread can be seen in the background waiting for their cue.
• Continuity: When Lionel is walking through the women carrying loaves of bread, he is walking past the last row of them in the wide shot, but in the next close-up, he is in front of   some of them.
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Cinderella and her godmother are in the pumpkin going to the ball at the end of “Impossible,” watch Whitney Houston’s mouth. There’s one point where she’s singing and her jaw is moving as if there is vibrato in the note, but if you listen to the note, it’s a straight tone.
• Continuity: When Lionel is announcing the Prince’s upcoming ball, the Stepmother’s headpiece is on the left. But while entering their home, it has moved to the right.

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In this video Whitney and Brandy are talking about each other while making the movie:

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Buy the movie:  USA CAN UK FRA DEU AUT

]]> http://whitneyhouston-site.com/cinderella/feed 0 http://whitneyhouston-site.com/the-preachers-wife http://whitneyhouston-site.com/the-preachers-wife#comments Sat, 21 Mar 2009 18:02:39 +0000 groa MOVIES - OVERVIEW]]> http://whitneyhouston-site.com/?p=49 Cast: Denzel Washington, Whitney Houston, Courtney B. Vance, Gregory Hines, Jenifer Lewis, Loretta Devine, Justin Pierre Edmund, Cissy Houston

Director: Penny Marshall

Writers: Robert Nathan (the novel), Robert E. Sherwood, Leonardo Bercovici, Nat Mauldin, Allan Scott

Release date: 13 December 1996

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They needed help. What they got was a miracle – and help arrives in the form of an angel named Dudley. However, Dudley’s arrival seems to cause even more trouble…

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“The Preacher’s Wife” has several engaging subplots, but is primarily about an angel (Denzel Washington) who is sent to help a preacher, his family, and their struggling inner-city church. Good natured Reverend Henry Biggs (Courtney B. Vance) finds that his marriage to choir mistress Julia is flagging, due to his constant absence caring for the deprived neighborhood they live in. On top of all this, his church is coming under threat from property developer Joe Hamilton. In desperation, Rev.  The pastor is losing his religious vision and energy, and for good reason! He is “doing it all.” He serves everyone but his wife and child.

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Biggs prays to God for help and God’s angel Dudley is sent to the married couple.

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The angel’s main assignment seems to be that of helping the pastor to re-prioritize his home life and ministry, but he is diverted by his desire to give the preacher’s wife (Whitney Houston) the attention and encouragement she desperately lacks. Adding tension to the whole situation is a businessman who plans to commercially develop the church property and surrounding neighborhood.

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After saving an innocent youth from jail time, the preacher takes a stand against the developer. His energy is rekindled, but his “do it all” style has not changed …and his wife draws ever-closer to the angel.

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While never blatently overstepping the boundaries of good taste, the story does center heavily on the romantic attraction of the angel to the preacher’s wife. The angel (a deceased human rather than a created being) has many human traits and desires, muddling somewhat his “assignment” with the preacher and his wife. In the end, however, things work out right and most viewers can be seen smiling or crying.

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Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 wins & 6 nominations

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See the trailer:

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Memorable quotes provided by The Internet Movie Database:

Dudley: “You have no idea what the competition is like just to be sent down here.”

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Julia Biggs: “Your mother would always tell me, “Girl, you need to get some meat on those bones. Henry ain’t got nothing to grab on to back there!”"
Rev. Henry Biggs: “She just wanted you to eat, that’s all.”
Julia Biggs: “No, she probably wanted me to be as fat as her.”
Rev. Henry Biggs: “She wasn’t that fat.”
Julia Biggs: “Please, if a policeman saw your mama come walking down the street, he’d yell, “break it up!”

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Marguerite Coleman: “Things haven’t changed since Adam, and he gave up one of his ribs so he’d have somebody to keep things from.”

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Jeremiah Biggs: “Just because you can’t see the air doesn’t keep you from breathing. And just because you can’t see God doesn’t keep you from believing.”

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Julia Biggs: “It’s okay if I look in the window, just as long as I don’t buy.”
Marguerite Coleman: “Yeah? Well, don’t go shopping with money in your pocket! And you better not be putting anything in the layaway plan, either!”

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Marguerite Coleman: (after seeing one of Hamilton’s commercials on television) “That man is so oily, you could fry chicken on his smile.”

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Whitney Houston promoting “The Preacher’s Wife” on the Rosie Odonnel Show in 1996

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Whitney doing an ET interview

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Buy the movie:  USA CAN UK FRA DEU AUT

Cast:

Director: Forest Whitaker

Writer: Terry McMillan

Release date: 22 December 1995 (USA)

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Buy the movie:  USA CAN UK FRA DEU AUT

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Waiting to Exhale is a 1995 romance film. The movie was adapted from the novel of the same name by Terry McMillan.

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The story centers on four female friends living in the Phoenix, Arizona area and their relationships with men and one another. All of them are “holding their breath” until the day they can feel comfortable in a committed relationship with a man.

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Whitney Houston’s Savanna, driving a silver Firebird, tools into Phoenix, Ariz., to start a new life.  Angela Bassett’s Bernadine lives in a sumptuous home with walk-in closets big enough in which to park that Pontiac. Lela Rochon’s Robin is a dressed-for-success career woman. Loretta Devine’s Gloria owns the hip beauty salon where her three friends come to prepare themselves for the quest that dominates this story–the search for Mr. Right.

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Savannah Jackson (Whitney Houston) is a television producer who holds on to the belief that one day her married lover will leave his wife for her.

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Bernadine Harris abandoned her own career and desires of having a catering business to raise a family. Her husband John calmly announces that he’s leaving her — for a white woman.  Furthermore, the wealthy John has been manipulating his finances, and leaves Bernadine virtually broke. But Bernie gets her revenge, in a rather “fiery” fashion.

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Robin Stokes is the long-time mistress of Russell.  After dumping him she has problems finding a decent man of her own.  Robin dates hordes of Mr. Wrongs before going back to Russell, who’s still married.

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Gloria Matthews is a beauty salon owner who gave up on finding a man years ago and concentrated instead being a single mother raising a teenage son. After years alone, it is she who finds love.  She falls in love with a new neighbor, Marvin King.

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For these women, finding a man is secondary to one thing: their close love and affection for one another. And it is this bond that helps them get through the pain and heartache of their lives.

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The movie is notable for having an all-black cast. The success of the film proved that there is an audience for black movies. The LA Times called it a “social phenomenon”.

The original music score was composed by Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds.

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See the trailer:

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Trivia provided by The Internet Movie Database:

• Director Forest Whitaker was the unanimous first choice of the film’s producers and screenwriters.

• Houston’s role in the film bore a resemblance to the character she played in the music video to her single “Saving All My Love for You” – a woman having an affair with a married man.

• Forest Whitaker stated in an interview with Ebony Magazine that Robin Givens and Halle Berry were among the women who auditioned for the role of Robin. After casting Houston and Bassett, he decided to go with relative unknowns for the other two roles, and the role of Robin was subsequently given to Lela Rochon.

• Although Whitaker had earlier directed an HBO drama called Strapped (1993) for which he received Best New Director honors at the Toronto Film Festival this film was his first job directing a full-length feature film.

• The movie has been featured in the All Singing, All Dancing episode of The Simpsons, where the family were put on hold for it but were told “not to hold their breath”.

• The scene where Bernadine sets her husbands’ personal belongings and car on fire was referenced in an episode of The Steve Harvey Show. Lydia’s character becomes angry with “Bullethead” and throws his personal effects out of their shared locker. She is about to set them on fire with a lighter, and states “I’m about to go Angela Bassett and I don’t have any lighter fluid.”

• The songs “It Might Be You” (by Roberta Flack) and “I’m Gonna Make You My Wife” (by The Whispers) were both played in the movie, but were not included on the soundtrack.

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Kenneth pouring his heart out to little ol’ Savannah

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Goofs provided by The Internet Movie Database:

• Continuity: Gloria’s right earring appears and disappears during her conversation with her ex-husband about their son.

• Continuity: Vannah’s necklace is outside then inside then outside of her top at Glo’s birthday party.

• Continuity: When Bernie meets James Wheeler in the hotel bar, his hands keep changing their position on the bar between shots.

• Continuity: When Robin is in bed with Michael, she takes off her underwear and then when he goes to put the condom on, but a minute later her underwear is still on.

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Live at 39th Grammy awards. February 26th 1997. Whitney Houston, Brandy, CeCe Winans, Mary J Blige,  Aretha Franklin, Chaka Kahn.

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Memorable Quotes from the movie:

Gloria: Would you like to have dinner with us tonight? It’s just leftovers. Collard greens and corn bread, some candied yams, a little potato salad, fried chicken, peach cobbler and a few slices of ham.
Marvin: I would love to, but I’ve got so much to do around here. Maybe some other time.
Gloria: To be honest, I don’t have no business eating any of it as big as I am.
Marvin: My wife was a big woman too. I like a woman with some meat on her bones.
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Bernadine: The worst thing is that he made me move out here where my children are in school with only one other black kid so they won’t be improperly influenced. Well, guess what John, YOU’RE the motherfuckin’ improper influence! Get your shit! Get your shit! And, get out!
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Troy: You black bitches are all the same.
Robin: Bitch?
Troy: Y’all always complaining about how nobody don’t want your ass, don’t nobody know how to treat ya! Then you meet a man, a brother, with genuine interest in ya, and you gotta act simple. Then you wonder why we date white women.
Robin: A white woman can have your sorry ass!
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Bernadine: I give you 11 fucking years of my life and you’re telling me you’re leaving me for a white woman?
John Sr.: Would it help if she was black?
Bernadine: No. It would help if you were black.
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Gloria: Your father’s coming home on Tuesday.
Tarik: And? First of all, he ain’t my father, he’s my daddy; there’s a big damn difference.

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All four actresses on interview on Oprah

Buy the movie:  USA CAN UK FRA DEU AUT