Gordon Parks Sr.

Shaft -- Gordon Parks' film features Isaac Hayes' classic theme song and Richard Roundtree as John Shaft, a black detective hired to find aHarlem mobster's beautiful kidnapped daughter.

&NFi;Life&NFi_; magazine photographer Gordon Parks directs this biopic about the troubled life of blues singer-guitarist Huddie Ledbetter -- aka Leadbelly -- who spent time behind bars on two separate murder charges and worked on chain gangs in the South. Roger E. Mosley stars as the master musician, and Hi Tide Harris performs vocals on the soundtrack, which includes the songs "Rock Island Line" and "Goodnight Irene."

A bittersweet and idyllic story about a year in the life of a 14-year-old boy, born into a poor black family in Kansas during the 1920s, who learns about hate and love, immorality and honor. Based on the true life story of its director, the great Gordon Parks, Emmy-winning director of "Shaft," "Superfly" and TV's "Martin," who earlier gained prominence as a Life Magazine photojournalist and as founder of Essence Magazine. This "brilliantly photographed" (Leonard Maltin) tale was honored in 1989 as an American classic by the Library of Congress National Film Registry.

Newt, a black teenager living in 1920s Kansas, meets the many racial prejudices blacks face with great composure. When he witnesses a murder, he must decide whether to come forward and risk inflaming tensions between blacks and whites in his town.