She's Gotta Have It
Short description
Nola Darling, a young Black woman living in Brooklyn, is seeing three men at once: Jamie Overstreet, who offers steadiness and devotion; Greer Childs, a self-assured professional; and Mars Blackmon, a bike-riding jokester. Each wants her to commit to him alone, and Nola refuses to belong to any one of them. The film presents her situation through her own account and those of the men and friends around her, including her friend Opal.
She's Gotta Have It is Spike Lee's debut feature, which he wrote, produced, directed and edited, and in which he also plays Mars. It is the first of 26 films he has directed, ahead of School Daze in 1988. Tracy Camilla Johns leads as Nola, with Tommy Redmond Hicks, John Canada Terrell and Lee in the principal roles, alongside Raye Dowell and Joie Lee among a credited cast of 30. The film was released in August 1986 and has an 84-minute runtime.
On IMDb, the film holds a 6.8/10 rating from around 18,000 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.6/10 from roughly 371 votes, indicating a modest but durable audience following. Its critics' rating of 7.2/10 from 33 reviews places it somewhat higher than those audience scores. It earned about 7 million dollars worldwide against a small independent budget, a strong return that established Lee as a new voice in American cinema.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film was shot in 12 days. The budget was so small that everything had to be done in one take.
- After each meal break, Spike Lee reminded the actors and crew not to throw away the aluminum cans from their drinks, which he would then collect and recycle.
- The famous phrase, “Come on, baby, come on, baby, please,” wasn’t in the script. Spike Lee simply forgot the words after “Come on, baby,” so he repeated what he remembered.
- In a 2014 interview, Spike Lee stated that he regretted including the scene in the film in which Jamie rapes Mona.
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