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Back Shelf Beauties
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Proud Based on a true story, the late Ossie Davis stars as Lorenzo Dufau - an aging retiree living in Harlem with his grandson, Larry (Albert Jones). One night, while sitting up with Larry and his pals, Lorenzo takes a stroll down memory lane and tells the young men about his experience as a sailor on the only naval ship with an all African-American crew to go into battle during World War II. While the men were supposed to receive a commendation, it never came, so Larry and his friends dedicate themselves to making history remember the men of the USS Mason. Will Larry and his friends get the Navy to issue those overdue medals? Proud may not have the best acting, biggest budget, or best written dialogue you will see in a movie, but it does tell an important story. Writer/director Mary Pat Kelly is not one for subtlety (the movie starts with God Bless America and she continues throughout the movie to shove in as much "uplifting", "inspiring" and "patriotically soaring" music as any one person, or Uncle Sam, can take), she does take us through the lives of the men on the USS Mason, the racism they face, their new experiences abroad and the dangerous situations they encounter in battle. Kelly shows us the work of journalist Thomas Young (Darnell Williams) as he interviews each of the crew members and documents their heroics, much like Edward R. Murrow's This is Korea … Christmas 1952, and shows us the real life results of Larry Dufau's efforts to win some recognition for the surviving members of the USS Mason. Davis is a wonderful treat as the elder DuFau, narrating the movie with his wise, authoritative voice which is slightly, but appropriately, gravelly with age and experience. He dominates every scene in which he appears, but Jones and Williams show they too can carry a scene. Sadly, other actors don't fare as well as we watch the painfully obvious and ham-handed performance of J.R. Robinson as Chief Potts - the movie's evil racist villain. While Robinson can blame the material for much of his painful appearance in Proud (and more of Kelly's lack of subtlety), Michael Scott doesn't fare much better as Captain Blackford - the ship's white commander and champion of his all African-American crew. While he has moments to shine, Scott often falls into some sort of Dean Martin impersonation as the weirdly cocky and stiff Captain. Proud tells an important story from history, and is best shared with young people who always need a little lesson from time to time. 2 ½ Waffle (Out Of 4) Copyright 2005 - WaffleMovies.com
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