Product Details

• Actors: Danny Glover, Whoopi Goldberg, Zachary Simmons Glover, Mo'Nique, Ryan Michelle Bathe
• Directors: Ernest R. Dickerson
• Writers: Erika Ellis, Trey Ellis
• Producers: Danny Glover, Whoopi Goldberg, Armand Leo, Sam Kitt, Spike Lee
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Showtime Ent.
• DVD Release Date: December 16, 2003
• Run Time: 119 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000DIJNJ
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #73,853 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Good Fences" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Good Fences reunites Goldberg and Glover for the first time since their now classic pairing in Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple in 1985. This is a story of an upwardly mobile yet dysfunctional black family who find themselves standing at the lily- white gates of the American Dream. They come to discover that nothing in life is just black and white and that the road to a better life may just be another path of struggle and survival.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars check it out, November 15, 2003

By 

Mangy Fox "dreadlock goddess" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Good Fences (DVD)

First let me state that despite the back of case description this movie is not a comedy. It does have its funny moments but comedy it is not. Set mainly in the 70's, this is the story of the Spaders, a black family that's movin on up. The father, aptly named Tom, is a promising lawyer who is driven to prove that he and his family are every bit as good, if not better than white people. As they get richer, and move into, and up in the affluent white world, they gradually become that which they hated, vapid, spoiled, stuck up bigots. The only family member who seems mainly unaffected is the son, Tommy 2. The film is sad, moving and disturbing. The direction is superb and the actors give powerful performances, with Whoopie Goldberg really standing out with her portrayal of a housewife increasingly trapped, isolated and alienated in a world in which she both belongs and dosn't belong.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Serious Drama!, August 12, 2004

By 

M. B. Dover (Spartanburg, SC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Good Fences (DVD)

First of all I would like to say that this movie is not funny or meant to be funny as one customer stated in their review. I don't want viewers to get confused and miss out on a serious drama portrayed quite well by Glover and Goldberg. I have seen this movie a few times, and I myself never even thought about the roles they played in The Color Purple, which incidently was also a serious drama. For anyone to think otherwise, they simply have a closed mind, and really missed the point. This is a "must see". A story that is very common, because so many people "Forget where they came from."

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars True To Life!, January 4, 2005

By 

Shirley Priscilla Johnson "Author/Reviewer -... (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Good Fences (DVD)

I thought this movie was a comedy when I got it,but it is a far cry from that. Although there are some lighthearted moments in it, this is a heartfelt film.
Whoopie Goldberg and Danny Glover play a black family. Glover had a disturbing past with bigot whites in his youth. His determindation to make something of himself pays off and soon he and his family are living on easy street. However, things are not as they should be. This movie shows, I believe, that we must all be true to ourselves, rich or poor, black or white, we are happiest when we do not try to be what others what us to be.
No one can be happy when they surpress their true desires and try to live the way they feel others think they should.If we respect one another, try to live peaceable our world would be a much happier place to live in. I feel this was the basic of the movie and they did a very job in showing that.