The Glass Shield

Charles Burnett followed up To Sleep with Anger with this sorely underrated L.A. crime drama. Michael Boatman stars as rookie cop J.J., the first black deputy within his department; he quickly experiences firsthand a deep-seated culture of racism within the LAPD, and in an effort to fit in he participates in the questionable arrest of Teddy Woods (Ice Cube). But when J.J. discovers that he has unconsciously made himself complicit in a far-reaching frame-up, he and fellow ostracized cop Barbara (Victoria Dillard) set out to bring a clandestine and racist power structure within the LAPD to its knees. Also featuring strong turns by Bernie Casey and Elliott Gould and released around the time of the O.J. Simpson trial, this gripping thriller is Burnett’s most stylized and explicitly political film to date.

Don’t miss our weeklong run of the newly restored To Sleep with Anger (September 9–15) with Charles Burnett in person opening weekend!