Shes Gotta Have It

Spike Lee made a splash in the independent film world with his debut feature, an inventive low-budget romance with a strong-willed heroine. Nola Darling (Tracy Camilla Johns) can't decide among her three boyfriends: serious but sweet Jamie (Tommy Redmond Hicks), self-centered clotheshorse Greer (John Canada Terrell), and goofy, wisecracking bike messenger Mars Blackmon (Lee). Within this loose story line Lee launches into a character study of Darling and offers a slice of black urban life rarely seen on the screen. According to Lee's published diary, he interviewed dozens of women and gathered feedback on screenplay from female friends, and his efforts show. Nola is an unapologetic, sexually independent character who resists the efforts of the men in her life to change who she is to please them–the wonderful concluding twist thumbs its nose at romantic conventions and gives Nola her due. Lee combines direct address and documentary techniques with a simple, often elegant narrative style to create a multilayered portrait of Nola and her men and question perceptions and conventions of sex, sexuality, and relationships in the modern world. Though somewhat primitive in the light of his more accomplished works, this first feature introduces Lee as a fresh voice and a creative force to be reckoned with. –Sean Axmaker

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Classic movie making … awesome film
I am a big Spike Lee fan. It is exciting to finally have this on DVD. Now if only I can find the soundtrack. Hint, hint … My other favorite, favorite, Spike Lee Lee film is Mo' Better Blues. Awesome soundtrack. Buy those too.

5 Stars WHERES THE SOUNDTRACK?
OK EVERYBODY THE MOVIE IS GREAT BUY IT, BUT NOW THEY NEED TO PUT OUT THE SOUNDTRACK !!

5 Stars 22 YEARS LATER! DAMN FINALLY!
I BEEN WAITING FOR THIS DVD FOR YEARS!!

THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE SPIKE JOINTS!

WOW!!!

I AM SO HAPPY!

IT'S OFF THE WALL WITH A GREAT SOUNDTRACK!

I HAVE THE SOUNDTRACK!

JUST WISH IT HAD NOLA'S SONG ON IT!!!

4 Stars "Please Baby Baby Baby Please"
The now famous quote, said by director Spike Lee's character Mars Blackmon, were the cries of many film enthusiasts crying out for a DVD release. "She's Gotta Have It" is finally here, and aside from the lack of features, it doesn't seem to disappoint. Nola Darling is a young African American woman in Brooklyn that has three lovers. All of which have different attributes. She gets tied up in a love triangle of sorts and in the end she has to choose which one better suits her. Being that this is the debut feature of critically acclaimed director Spike Lee and the pioneer of the black film movement, I expected more than a bare bones DVD release. Criterion-esque release perhaps. But in the end, I can't complain because after 22 years, and an out of print VHS, She's Gotta Have It is on DVD.

4 Stars Please baby please baby please baby please!
One of director Spike Lee's earlier, funny films (his debut, actually). A sexy, hip, and fiercely independent young woman (Tracy Camilla Johns) juggles relationships with three men (who are all quite aware of each other's existence). Lee steals his own movie by casting himself as the goofiest and most memorable of the three suitors- "Mars", a hilarious trash-talking Brooklyn version of the classic Woody Allen nebbish. Lee milks maximum laughs from the huffing and puffing by the competing paramours, as they each jockey for the alpha position (and makes keen observations about sexist machismo and male vanity along the way). Spike's dad Bill Lee composed a lovely jazz-pop score. Despite being a little rough around the edges (due to low budget constraints) it was still a groundbreaking film in the context of modern independent cinema, and an empowering milestone for an exciting new wave of talented African-American filmmakers who followed in its wake.

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