About Features Reviews Community Screenings Archives Studios Home
August 2007
First Look: KING OF THE EVENING


KING OF THE EVENING

Distributor: Picture Palace Films
Director: Andrew P. Jones
Producer: Andrew P. Jones and Reginald T. Dorsey
Screenwriters: Andrew P. Jones and Robert Page Jones
Cast: Lynn Whitfield, Glynn Turman, Tyson Beckford, Bruce McGill, James Russo, Reginald T. Dorsey, Justin Malloy and Linara Washington

LOGLINE: an urban ghetto in the Deep South, where despairing men fight for dignity and self-respect by competing in an underground contest like no other.

SYNOPSIS: Homer Hobbs, home after two years in jail, discovers that life on the outside can be crueler than the back-breaking injustice of the chain gang.

He returns to a bleak urban town caught in the depths of the Great Depression - no jobs, no prospects, no hope – where he is thrown together with four strangers, each struggling to survive as they scratch and scheme to dig their way out of poverty: Benny, the street hustler eager to begin life anew in the sunshine of Florida; the suicidal Clarence, a nobody who aches to be somebody; Gracie, the despairing owner of a boarding house who lives with a secret; Lucy, whose past has caught up with her and threatens the lives of those she has come to love.

Life is grim. But on Sunday nights, in a dingy hall in a forlorn neighborhood, the men of the ghetto piece together the finest attire their meager lives can beg, borrow or steal to compete in an underground contest like no other. The big winner will go home with the five dollar prize. The real prize – far less tangible, yet priceless – is the chance to feel like a king, if just for an evening. To men like these, the touch of a woman, the adulation of the crowd, the feel of a fine-looking suit are proof enough that a man might yet escape the debasement of the ghetto.

Does Homer have what it takes? Does Clarence overcome his demons? Does Benny escape the degradation of life on the street? Each man has his doubts. Each has his dreams. But only one can emerge – King of the Evening.

Trailer: www.picturepalacefilms.com


Photo Gallery: Click on a photo below to view it larger

   
     

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy