''Zebrahead'' is a 1992 American

romantic drama Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...

film produced by Oliver Stone, written and directed by

Anthony Drazan Tony Drazan is an American film director and screenwriter. He grew up in Rockville Centre, New York. He is perhaps best known for writing and directing the 1992 film ''Zebrahead'', his film writing and directing debut. Zebrahead was produced by ...

and starring

Michael Rapaport Michael David Rapaport (born March 20, 1970) is an American actor and comedian. Beginning his career in the early 1990s, he has made over 100 appearances in film and television. His film roles include ''True Romance'' (1993), '' Higher Learning ...

and

N'Bushe Wright N'Bushe Wright ( ; born September 7, 1969) is an American actress and dancer. She attended and trained as a dancer at the Alvin Ailey Dance Center and the Martha Graham School of Dance. She is known mainly for her role as Dr. Karen Jenson in the ...

. The film also stars

Kevin Corrigan Kevin Corrigan (born ) is an American character actor. He has appeared mostly in independent films and television since the 1990s, including as Uncle Eddie on the sitcom ''Grounded for Life'' (2001–2005). His film appearances include support ...

Ray Sharkey Raymond Sharkey Jr. (November 14, 1952 – June 11, 1993) was an American stage, film and television actor. His most notable film role was Vincent Vacarri in the 1980 film ''The Idolmaker'', for which he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Ac ...

, and Lois Bendler. Set in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, the film is about an

interracial Interracial topics include: * Interracial marriage, marriage between two people of different races ** Interracial marriage in the United States *** 2009 Louisiana interracial marriage incident * Interracial adoption, placing a child of one raci ...

romance between a

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

teenage boy and a

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...

teenage girl and the resulting tensions among the characters.

Plot

Zachary "Zack" is an eighteen-year-old introverted

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

DJ and rapper, who lives with his chauvinistic father Richard, who runs a record store specializing in blues and jazz music. Zack's mother died when he was very young. Zack's best childhood friend is a young black man named Dee, who along with Zack is also a rapper, and both of them record music together. Zack works part-time at an Italian restaurant. In Zack's neighborhood, there is an eccentric man named Dominic who is a

pyromaniac Pyromania is an impulse control disorder in which individuals repeatedly fail to resist impulses to deliberately start fires, to relieve some tension or for instant gratification. The term ''pyromania'' comes from the Greek word (''pyr'', 'f ...

that lives on land adjacent to an industrial power plant. One day at school, Zack gets into a quarrel with his girlfriend Michelle, and the both of them separate from each other. During this fight, he sees a new transfer student who just moved from New York, a black teenager named Nicole "Nikki", who turns out to be Dee's cousin. Zack becomes infatuated with Nikki despite never talking to her. One night, Zack comes over for dinner at Dee's house. Zack confides in Dee that he is attracted to Nikki, to which the fact of him being a white man, and she is a black woman, he feels scared to proceed. Dee tells Zack that he shouldn't be concerned over that, however, Dee's father warns Zack that he might receive negativity from this. Zack then decides to finally introduce himself to Nikki, although not fully disclosing his full feelings towards her. Zack talks to his grandfather Saul, at the record store his father runs for advice on how to deal with his current situation. To which he tells him (as Zack is a musician), to woo Nikki with his DJ skills. The following day at school, Zack brings his turntable set in the gymnasium and starts to DJ urban music. Some of the students, especially Nikki, seem to enjoy the music and are dancing to it. However, this causes friction between many of the black students who believe he's culturally appropriating, including Larry, who is into

Pan-Africanism Pan-Africanism is a worldwide movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all Indigenous and diaspora peoples of African ancestry. Based on a common goal dating back to the Atlantic slave trade, the movement exte ...

, and Calvin "Nut", one of the school's delinquent bullies. Zack and Nikki become closer to each other. While picking up Nikki for a date one night at her home, Nut (who lives next door to Nikki), and some of his friends harass and say racial epithets to Zack and sexually suggestive rude comments to Nikki. To which they both ignore them. Zack takes Nikki to his father's record store, to where they have their first kiss. Soon after that, one day after school, Zack brings Nikki to his house, and they both make love, to which Zack's father secretly watches them in amusement. Zack soon introduces Nikki to his father, to which he couldn't care less that Nikki is black. Zack invites Nikki to a house party with some of his extended friends, to which she is the only black person there. In which Nikki meets Michelle, his ex-girlfriend to where she seems to be happy that Zack and Nikki are together. Nikki seems uncomfortable at the party, and unfortunately walks into Zack and some of his friends making friendly, yet disrespectful racist sexual jokes towards Nikki. Outraged, Nikki runs out of the party and breaks up with Zack. Nikki avoids Zack, and after telling Dee what happened, he as well distances himself from Zack. Nut and his friends, (and other black classmates at her school), tell Nikki that Zack was playing some type of sick game with her, and she needs to stay away from him. Nut also briefly seduces Nikki, to which at first she accepts his advances, but she later rejects them. After making amends and apologizing to Dee, Zack goes to Nikki's house and apologizes to her on her front porch. Nikki decides to remain friends with Zack and invites him to a

roller rink A roller rink is a hard surface usually consisting of hardwood or concrete, used for roller skating or inline skating. This includes roller hockey, speed skating, roller derby, and individual recreational skating. Roller rinks can be located ...

later that night, in which some of the other students from school will be there. Nut, who was eavesdropping on Zack apologizing to Nikki, becomes envious and angered. At the roller skating rink, Nut sexually harasses Nikki, which she tells him to leave her alone. Zack, who arrives late, notices Nut agitating her and tells him to stop. Nut and Zack begin to fight, to which Dee also walks over and pushes Nut to the ground. Nut then fatally shoots Dee and runs out of the skating rink. At Dee's funeral, Zack gives a eulogy to Dee in Aramaic (the Mourner's Kaddish, a Jewish ritual, is recited in Aramaic, rather than Hebrew). Nikki while walking home from the funeral, is attacked by Nut who threatens to kill her. Nut then runs away. The following day at school, many of Zack and Nikki's classmates both talk about what happened at the skating rink. The discussion later turns heated into the fact that many classmates believe if Zack and Nikki never got together, Dee would never be shot. Nikki then quickly dismisses that fact and runs out of the classroom. The rest of the class continues into a heated racial discussion with Zack staying silent watching. After Vinnie and Larry start to get into a verbal fight, Zack runs out of the classroom. He runs into the school principal Mr. Cimino, who tells Zack to stick with his own race when it comes to relationships. He ignores him and walks past him. Back in the classroom, Vinnie and Larry start to physically fight and they both tussle outside in the hallway. Zack notices Nikki crying in the hall and goes over to comfort her, then they passionately hug.

Cast

as Zack *

as Nikki *

as Dominic *

Dan Ziskie Dan Ziskie is an American actor and photographer. Ziskie portrayed the character Frank Niggar on a popular sketch on '' Chappelle's Show''. He was on '' Treme'', where he played a politically connected banker in Post-Katrina New Orleans. He had a ...

as Mr. Cimino *DeShonn Castle as Dee *Lois Bendler as Dominic's Mother *Shula Van Buren as Michelle * Jason Willinger as Bobby *Shirley Bunyas as Helen *Martin Priest as Saul *

LZ Granderson Elzie Lee "LZ" Granderson (born March 11, 1972) is an American journalist and former actor, currently writing for the Los Angeles Times as a sports and culture columnist. He was a senior writer and columnist for ''ESPN The Magazine'', a co-host ...

as Larry *Ron Johnson as Nut *

as Richard * Jon Seda as Vinnie *Marsha Florence as Mrs. Wilson

Reception

''Zebrahead'' has an overall approval rating of 71% based on 16 reviews on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

Soundtrack

The

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...

was released on October 13, 1992 by

Ruffhouse Records Ruffhouse Records is an American record label founded in 1989 by Chris Schwartz and Joe Nicolo as a joint venture with Columbia Records. In 1999, Schwartz and Nicolo closed the label, and Schwartz and Kevon Glickman continued with RuffNation ...

and

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainmen ...

. The soundtrack was produced and supervised by

MC Serch Michael Berrin (born May 6, 1967), best known by his stage name MC Serch, is an American rapper and music executive. He is a former member of 3rd Bass and Non Phixion. Early life and education Serch grew up in Far Rockaway, Queens, New York ...

, who contributes the track "Puff The Head". The album also features

Nas Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones. Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to: Aviation * Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea * National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia ** Nas Air ( ...

Boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, ...

Kool Moe Dee Mohandas Dewese (born August 8, 1962), better known by his stage name Kool Moe Dee, is an American rapper, writer and actor. Considered one of the forerunners of the new jack swing sound in hip hop, he gained fame in the 1980s as a member of one ...

and

The Goats The Goats were an American alternative hip hop trio from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. History The group (whose name, according to Swayzack, was chosen to join the word "scapegoats" and the saying "Don't get my goat," concluding that they felt t ...

among others.

References

External links