The Great White Hope (film) The Great White Hope (film) The Great White Hope is a 1970 American biographical romantic drama film written and adapted from the Howard Sackler play of the same name. The film was directed by Martin Ritt, starring James Earl Jones, Jane Alexander, Chester Morris, Hal Holbrook, Beah Richards and Moses Gunn. Jones and Alexander, who also appeared in the same roles in the stage versions, both received Best Actor and Actress Academy Award nominations for their performances. The film and play is based on the true story of Jack Johnson and his first wife, Etta Terry Duryea, and the controversy
Black and white movies in black-and-white as an artistic choice, though it is much less common for a major Hollywood production. The use of black-and-white in the mass media often connotes something "nostalgic" or historic. The film director Woody Allen has used black-and-white a number of times since "Manhattan" (1979), which also had a George Gershwin derived score. The makers of "The Good German" (2006) used camera lenses from the 1940s, and other equipment from that era, so that their black-and-white film imitated the look of early "noir". In fact, monochrome film stock is now rarely used at the time of shooting, even