Jason's Lyric
Encyclopedia
Jason's Lyric is a 1994 romantic
drama film
, written by Bobby Smith, Jr., and directed by Doug McHenry
. The film marks the directorial debut of McHenry, who co-produced the film with George Jackson. Both Jackson and McHenry have been notably successful as producers with films that include New Jack City
.
Jason's Lyric features an ensemble cast
of African American
actors that includes Allen Payne, Jada Pinkett Smith
, Bokeem Woodbine
, Treach
, Eddie Griffin
, Lahmard Tate
, Lisa Nicole Carson
, and Forest Whitaker
. Set in Houston, Texas
, the film is a story about young African American adults learning how to deal with love and maturity.
). Joshua (Bokeem Woodbine
) is the younger brother just released from prison. He is volatile, disturbed ex-con who is obviously bound for a violent end. Joshua deals drugs for short-term cash and joins a crew plotting a bank robbery
.
When Lyric (Jada Pinkett Smith
) walks into the shop to buy a television, Jason meets his perfect match. She has dreams of escape, and inspires Jason to do supposedly romantic things like borrow a city bus to take her on a date. Their relationship continually grows and blossoms into love. The height comes when Jason and Lyric take a romantic ride in a rowboat, then make love in the woods.
In a series of flashbacks, Forest Whitaker
plays the boys' father, Mad Dog. Throughout the film, Jason has nightmares about a tragedy in his childhood. Either Jason or Joshua killed Mad Dog while he was drunkenly attacking their mother. It turns out that Jason accidentally killed Mad Dog in the end. Jason managed to take the gun from Joshua and accidentally shot Mad Dog in the chest. After being comforted by Lyric, he learns to deal with his past.
The robbery does not go as planned; Joshua comes late, and more significantly, causes bedlam by independently terrorizing and beating the customers of the bank, nor does he promptly get in the getaway car when the heist is over. As punishment, Joshua is flogged
by the rest of his gang. Joshua returns home and Jason realizes how badly he's been beaten, so he confronts the leader of the gang, Alonzo (Treach
), and the two have a vicious fight in a public restroom.
Jason then meets Lyric at the bayou and tells her that he can't leave with her and that his nightmares occur because he killed his father when he was a child and that's why he feels obligated to his family.
Things get worse when Joshua hears his mother tell Jason to leave town with Lyric because he doesn't owe her or Joshua anything. Joshua believes that Jason is leaving not only because of Lyric, but because Alonzo may take revenge. Joshua plans to kill them all in order to keep his brother from leaving.
Jason hears about Joshua's plan and heads to Alonzo/Lyric's house, but he's too late. He see's what has happened and rushes upstairs looking for Lyric. He finds that Joshua has a gun pointed at her neck. He draws a gun, as well and is able to convince Joshua not to kill her, but he accidentally pulls the trigger and shoots her on the right-side of her shoulder. Jason carries her out of the home to a growing crowd outside the house. Lyric is injured, but still alive. However, Joshua is too fed up with his life and decides to end it all by killing himself (offscreen), in earshot of everyone outside. The film ends with Jason and Lyric riding a bus, leaving town, however some versions do not show this part.
Romance film
Romance films are love stories that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
, written by Bobby Smith, Jr., and directed by Doug McHenry
Doug McHenry
Doug McHenry is an American film director and producer.He graduated from Stanford University in 1973 with a degree in Economics, and from Harvard University with a degree in law and business administration....
. The film marks the directorial debut of McHenry, who co-produced the film with George Jackson. Both Jackson and McHenry have been notably successful as producers with films that include New Jack City
New Jack City
New Jack City is a 1991 crime film starring Wesley Snipes, Ice-T, Mario Van Peebles, Judd Nelson, and Chris Rock. Snipes stars as Nino Brown, a rising drug dealer and crime lord in New York City during the crack epidemic...
.
Jason's Lyric features an ensemble cast
Ensemble cast
An ensemble cast is made up of cast members in which the principal actors and performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance and screen time in a dramatic production. This kind of casting became more popular in television series because it allows flexibility for writers to focus on...
of African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
actors that includes Allen Payne, Jada Pinkett Smith
Jada Pinkett Smith
Jada Koren Pinkett Smith is an American actress, producer, director, author, singer-songwriter, and businesswoman. She began her career in 1990, when she made a guest appearance in the short-lived sitcom True Colors. She starred in A Different World, produced by Bill Cosby, and she featured...
, Bokeem Woodbine
Bokeem Woodbine
Bokeem Woodbine is an American film and television actor.-Personal life:Woodbine was born in Harlem, New York to an actress mother. He attended the prestigious Dalton School in New York before transferring to the also prestigious LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in the city...
, Treach
Treach
Anthony Criss , better known by his stage name Treach, is an American rapper and actor. He is best known as the lead rapper of the hip hop group Naughty by Nature.-Career:...
, Eddie Griffin
Eddie Griffin
Edward James "Eddie" Griffin, Jr. is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his sitcom, Malcolm & Eddie along with co-star, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, and his role in the 2002 comedy film Undercover Brother as the film’s title character.-Early life:Griffin was born in Kansas City,...
, Lahmard Tate
Lahmard Tate
Lahmard J. Tate aka Cuba Jr. is an American actor and is the older brother of famed actor Larenz Tate.Lahmard Tate is famously known for his roles in Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood as Ashtray's father and Sabretooth as Leon.Another famous role was in...
, Lisa Nicole Carson
Lisa Nicole Carson
Lisa Nicole Carson is an American actress. She is best known for her work on U.S. television, including supporting roles in NBC's ER and Fox's Ally McBeal...
, and Forest Whitaker
Forest Whitaker
Forest Steven Whitaker is an American actor, producer, and director. He has earned a reputation for intensive character study work for films such as Bird and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, and for his recurring role as ex-LAPD Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh on the gritty, award-winning television...
. Set in Houston, Texas
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
, the film is a story about young African American adults learning how to deal with love and maturity.
Plot
Jason (Allen Payne) is a responsible young man who has a job in a television repair shop and lives at home with his hard-working mom (Suzzanne DouglassSuzzanne Douglass
Suzzanne Douglas is an American film, television and stage actress, daughter of Lois Mae and Donald Douglas, Sr....
). Joshua (Bokeem Woodbine
Bokeem Woodbine
Bokeem Woodbine is an American film and television actor.-Personal life:Woodbine was born in Harlem, New York to an actress mother. He attended the prestigious Dalton School in New York before transferring to the also prestigious LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in the city...
) is the younger brother just released from prison. He is volatile, disturbed ex-con who is obviously bound for a violent end. Joshua deals drugs for short-term cash and joins a crew plotting a bank robbery
Bank robbery
Bank robbery is the crime of stealing from a bank during opening hours. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reporting Program, robbery is "the taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of...
.
When Lyric (Jada Pinkett Smith
Jada Pinkett Smith
Jada Koren Pinkett Smith is an American actress, producer, director, author, singer-songwriter, and businesswoman. She began her career in 1990, when she made a guest appearance in the short-lived sitcom True Colors. She starred in A Different World, produced by Bill Cosby, and she featured...
) walks into the shop to buy a television, Jason meets his perfect match. She has dreams of escape, and inspires Jason to do supposedly romantic things like borrow a city bus to take her on a date. Their relationship continually grows and blossoms into love. The height comes when Jason and Lyric take a romantic ride in a rowboat, then make love in the woods.
In a series of flashbacks, Forest Whitaker
Forest Whitaker
Forest Steven Whitaker is an American actor, producer, and director. He has earned a reputation for intensive character study work for films such as Bird and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, and for his recurring role as ex-LAPD Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh on the gritty, award-winning television...
plays the boys' father, Mad Dog. Throughout the film, Jason has nightmares about a tragedy in his childhood. Either Jason or Joshua killed Mad Dog while he was drunkenly attacking their mother. It turns out that Jason accidentally killed Mad Dog in the end. Jason managed to take the gun from Joshua and accidentally shot Mad Dog in the chest. After being comforted by Lyric, he learns to deal with his past.
The robbery does not go as planned; Joshua comes late, and more significantly, causes bedlam by independently terrorizing and beating the customers of the bank, nor does he promptly get in the getaway car when the heist is over. As punishment, Joshua is flogged
Flagellation
Flagellation or flogging is the act of methodically beating or whipping the human body. Specialised implements for it include rods, switches, the cat o' nine tails and the sjambok...
by the rest of his gang. Joshua returns home and Jason realizes how badly he's been beaten, so he confronts the leader of the gang, Alonzo (Treach
Treach
Anthony Criss , better known by his stage name Treach, is an American rapper and actor. He is best known as the lead rapper of the hip hop group Naughty by Nature.-Career:...
), and the two have a vicious fight in a public restroom.
Jason then meets Lyric at the bayou and tells her that he can't leave with her and that his nightmares occur because he killed his father when he was a child and that's why he feels obligated to his family.
Things get worse when Joshua hears his mother tell Jason to leave town with Lyric because he doesn't owe her or Joshua anything. Joshua believes that Jason is leaving not only because of Lyric, but because Alonzo may take revenge. Joshua plans to kill them all in order to keep his brother from leaving.
Jason hears about Joshua's plan and heads to Alonzo/Lyric's house, but he's too late. He see's what has happened and rushes upstairs looking for Lyric. He finds that Joshua has a gun pointed at her neck. He draws a gun, as well and is able to convince Joshua not to kill her, but he accidentally pulls the trigger and shoots her on the right-side of her shoulder. Jason carries her out of the home to a growing crowd outside the house. Lyric is injured, but still alive. However, Joshua is too fed up with his life and decides to end it all by killing himself (offscreen), in earshot of everyone outside. The film ends with Jason and Lyric riding a bus, leaving town, however some versions do not show this part.
Cast
- Allen Payne — Jason Alexander
- Jada Pinkett SmithJada Pinkett SmithJada Koren Pinkett Smith is an American actress, producer, director, author, singer-songwriter, and businesswoman. She began her career in 1990, when she made a guest appearance in the short-lived sitcom True Colors. She starred in A Different World, produced by Bill Cosby, and she featured...
— Lyric - Bokeem WoodbineBokeem WoodbineBokeem Woodbine is an American film and television actor.-Personal life:Woodbine was born in Harlem, New York to an actress mother. He attended the prestigious Dalton School in New York before transferring to the also prestigious LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in the city...
— Joshua Alexander - Anthony 'Treach' CrissTreachAnthony Criss , better known by his stage name Treach, is an American rapper and actor. He is best known as the lead rapper of the hip hop group Naughty by Nature.-Career:...
— Alonzo "A-1" - Eddie GriffinEddie GriffinEdward James "Eddie" Griffin, Jr. is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his sitcom, Malcolm & Eddie along with co-star, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, and his role in the 2002 comedy film Undercover Brother as the film’s title character.-Early life:Griffin was born in Kansas City,...
— Rat - Suzzanne DouglassSuzzanne DouglassSuzzanne Douglas is an American film, television and stage actress, daughter of Lois Mae and Donald Douglas, Sr....
— Gloria - Lisa Nicole CarsonLisa Nicole CarsonLisa Nicole Carson is an American actress. She is best known for her work on U.S. television, including supporting roles in NBC's ER and Fox's Ally McBeal...
— Marti - Lahmard TateLahmard TateLahmard J. Tate aka Cuba Jr. is an American actor and is the older brother of famed actor Larenz Tate.Lahmard Tate is famously known for his roles in Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood as Ashtray's father and Sabretooth as Leon.Another famous role was in...
— Ron - Forest WhitakerForest WhitakerForest Steven Whitaker is an American actor, producer, and director. He has earned a reputation for intensive character study work for films such as Bird and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, and for his recurring role as ex-LAPD Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh on the gritty, award-winning television...
— Maddog - Asheamu Earl Randle — Teddy