Product Details

• Actors: Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, Al Freeman Jr., Sonny Jim Gaines, Albert Hall
• Directors: Spike Lee
• Format: AC-3, Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Full Screen, HiFi Sound, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, French
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• DVD Release Date: January 18, 2000
• Run Time: 202 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (242 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00002ND77
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #53,748 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Malcolm X" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Just as Do the Right Thing was the capstone of Spike Lee's earlier career, Malcolm X marked the next milestone in the filmmaker's artistic maturity. It seemed everything Lee had done up to that point was to prepare him for this epic biography of America's fiery civil-rights leader, who is superbly played by Oscar-nominated Denzel Washington, from his early days as a zoot-suited hustler known as "Detroit Red" to his spiritual maturity after his pilgrimage to Mecca, as a Black Muslim by the name of El Hajj Malik El Shabazz. Do the Right Thing climaxed with the photographic images of Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King engulfed by flames of rage; Malcolm X explores the genesis and evolution of that rage over Malcolm's lifetime, and how these two great figures--held up to the public as polar-opposites within the African American human rights movement (King for nonviolent civil disobedience, Malcolm for achieving equality "by any means necessary")--were each essential to the agenda of the other. Lee careens from the hedonistic ebullience of Malcolm's early days to the stark despair of prison, from his life-changing conversion to Islam to his emergence as a dynamic political leader--all with an epic sweep and vitality that illuminates personal details as well as political ideology. Angela Bassett is also terrific as Malcolm's wife, Betty Shabazz. --Jim Emerson

Product Description

A biopic of thecontroversial and influential leaderProductInformationIn Malcolm X filmmaker Spike Lee actor Denzel Washington and othertop talents vividly portray the life and times of the visionary leader. One of the most charismatic and politically controversialvoices in history Malcolm X burst into the public consciousness with aradical perspective of race relations in America.  Hisinspiring and enlightening ideologies touch and continue to influencethe lives of millions.  Washington was awarded the New YorkFilm Critic's Circle Best Actor award for his portrayal of the titlerole in this biographical film.Product Features Soundtrack remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1 Interactive Menus Scene AccessSpecifications Stars:  Denzel WashingtonAngela Bassett Albert Hall Format:  Color DVD-VideoWidescreen Language:  English Subtitles:  English French Rating:  PG-13 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time:  201 minutes Directed By:  Spike Lee

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

66 of 69 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars M/X on DVD February 28, 2005

By Andre M.

Format:DVD

While the movie itself is excellent, this is one of those DVDs that makes a great film even greater.

Much has been said about the 1992 film, so I'll concentrate on the extras. First of all, the widescreen is not so wide that it makes you squint to see it. It's at a good porportion. But the edited scenes are really interesting. We see previously unseen footage of Denzel as Malcolm courting Angela Bassett as Betty Shabazz (in a rather touching way). We see Denzel/Malcolm putting an initiate through the rigors in an amusing fashion, we see him studying and feeding his hunger for books while in jail, and we see some interesting scenes of Denzel/Malcolm making anti-racist and pro-brotherhood statements near the end of his life to a young white girl and an Arab he meets in Mecca. A lot of people who miss the point about Malcolm's transformation should see those scenes (which actually appear in the original book).

(Slight complaint, the stuff about the Sphinx's black nose being shot off by Napoleon is a bunch of BS that didn't happen, even Molefi Asante admitted this on 60 minutes a few years ago. So it's just as well that that scene was not included in the original film).

Also, "Baines" was actually John Bembry, aka Bimbi, who encouraged Malcolm to read in prison. It was actually Malcolm's real life brothers who really introduced him to the Nation of Islam teachings. Not a complaint, just a clarification.

There is also an excellent documentary about the making of this film. A real Horatio Alger type story of how Spike beat the odds through dogged determination to raise the money to make the film the way he felt it needed to be made.... It was sad to realize that the film was not as popular as hoped among young people upon it's intitial release and the "Malcolmania" of the early 90s turned out to be a fad, but at least this DVD will give people the opportunity to learn from Malcolm's story.

Then there is the uncut 1972 documentary "Malcolm X. The raw, uncut REAL Malcolm talking strong and taking numbers! This is a brilliantly edited collection of chronological clips of Macolm, Elijham Muhammad, the young Louis Farrakhan, and all the other major players into an excellent biography without additional narration. It lets the viewer decide in an excellet fashion.

So see the 1992 movie, then the "making of" documentary, then the deleted scenes, and THEN the 1972 documentary and you'll get the next best thing to reading all there is to know about Malcolm X thought. Enjoy it, I did. College and high school teachers will REALLY want this for their history classes. Read more ›

66 of 77 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A must see film December 22, 2000

By Eric V. Moye

Format:DVD

One of the most brilliant films ever made. Another reviewer, E. Hazell is correct, if maybe even understated in comparing this film with von Sydow's portrayal of Jesus in "The Greatest Story Ever Told" and B. Kingsley in "Ghandi". Without question, the portrayal by Denzel Washington of Malcolm X belongs with these two classic efforts.

The screenplay closely follows Alex Haley's collaboration with Malcolm X on his autobiography, from his early days as a hustler and pimp, to his transformation and his rise to prominence in the Black Muslims and beyond. In so doing, it traces much of the history of the twentieth century African American experience

As another reviewer so inelegantly (and ungrammatically) put it, Malcolm Little sold drugs and women, robbed and lived in the underworld. However, this recognizes far less than half of this compelling and incredible story. This beginning was important only to underscore how far he ultimately came, and leads the viewer to wonder what would have happened had he not been murdered.

Wonderful casting including Angela Bassett as his wife Betty, DelRoy Lindo and particularly Al Freeman Jr. as Elijah Muhammad. It was a rather predictable crime that Spike Lee, Denzel Washington and this film did not dominate the Academy Awards.

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars a man reformed... July 7, 2005

By M. Miller

Format:DVD

Malcolm, like any young african-american boy in a time of racial hatred, did not have it easy growing up. In fact he did not have it easy when he was in his teens to early twenties. Nor did he have it easy when he was an adult. Yet at least by his adult age he understood this and what his father had been fighting for. So with his Islamic conversion in prison, he set out to change the world as best as he sought, and, thanks to this film and the autobiography it was based on, we can now truly understand this struggle, inner and outer, for justice, liberty, and the pursuit of all to have happiness.

Now, to narrow in on the film and not just the man, Spike Lee really outdid himself this time. With Denzel Washington, traditionally a great actor, playing Malcolm X you knew the movie would at least be spearheaded with strength. But this is more then that, because the elaborateness of it all just conveys to the viewer so much of the times, the thoughts, and the conflicts that surrounded Malcolm and those tumultuous times he lived in.

I'd be lying if I did not say this is excellent, and then highly recommend it; so, I'd like to don this hat of honesty and tell you watch it, a lot of you'd like, but make sure to see it at least once (Oh yeah, and the book's quite excellent too)

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A Very Good Film, EXCEPT... July 5, 1999

By A Customer

Format:VHS Tape

This is an incredible production. Lee reconstructs neighborhoods and places that have been gone for years, and he deserves an awful lot of credit. The film, as a film, works very well. However, if anyone has read about the Nation of Islam and the life of Malcom X, there is a fair amount of information about the role Boston Minister, Louis Farrakhan played in the killing. Of course, if Lee had included Louis X in the movie, he'd end up like Malcom.

Before I get myself killed, please allow me to recommend a great book that covers the assassination better than any other book I've read: "Pillar of Fire, America in the King Years, 1963-64" by Taylor Branch. Although the book is primarily about King, it covers the events leading up to the killing of Malcolm X, including an amazing assassination attempt of one of Malcom X's colleagues during a high speed car chase through the streets of Boston.

After I read Branch's book, I saw Lee's film as a great movie, but historically, a missed opportunity. I think Lee is too close to the subject matter to include all of the details in an objective manner. So despite all the great performances, costumes, sets, and photography, I am left a bit disappointed. I'm waiting for a courageous filmmaker to do justice to Malcom X's life and legacy.