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Information about Higher Learning

Higher Learning

The movie cover for Higher Learning.
Directed byJohn Singleton
Produced byJohn Singleton
Paul Hall
Written byJohn Singleton
StarringOmar Epps
Kristy Swanson
Ice Cube
Michael Rapaport
Tyra Banks
Jennifer Connelly
Laurence Fishburne
Jason Wiles
Busta Rhymes
Regina King
Cole Hauser
Music byStanley Clarke
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date(s)January 11, 1995
Running time127 min.
LanguageEnglish
Budget
IMDb profile


Higher Learning is a 1995 drama film, starring an ensemble cast. It also featured supermodel Tyra Banks' first performance in a theatrical movie.

Laurence Fishburne won an Image Award for "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture" for his performance; Ice Cube was also nominated for the award.

UCLA filled in for the fictional college, Columbus University. The exterior shots and outdoor scenes were shot on the campus.

In addition to "Higher", performed by Ice Cube, the soundtrack includes performances of newer material by OutKast, Liz Phair, Tori Amos and Rage Against the Machine.

Plot summary

This drama examines the personal, political, and racial dilemmas facing a group of college freshmen as they begin their first semester at Columbus University. Malik (Omar Epps) is an athlete attending on a track scholarship; academics are not his strong suit, and he goes in thinking that his athletic abilities will earn him a free ride through college. Fudge (Ice Cube), a "professional student" who has been at Columbus for six years so far, becomes friendly with Malik and challenges his views about race and politics in America, while Professor Phipps (Laurence Fishburne), a black professor of political science, mentors Malik and lets him know that he will not be graded on a different standard either because of his race or his ability to run quickly. In Deja (Tyra Banks), Malik finds a girlfriend, a tutor, and a training partner all rolled into one.

Meanwhile, Kristen (Kristy Swanson), a naïf from California, meets a boy named Billy (Jay R. Ferguson). After both have too much to drink at a beer blast, Kristen becomes a victim of date rape and involves herself with a campus feminist group to deal with the painful experience. While working with the women's group, Kristen gets to know Taryn (Jennifer Connelly), a strong but understanding lesbian, and she finds herself becoming attracted to her.

Remy (Michael Rapaport) is a confused young man from Idaho who feels lost in the multi-cultural atmosphere of Columbus. He is approached by Scott Moss (Cole Hauser), a member of the Aryan Nations, who believe that Remy is a perfect candidate to help carry out his group's violent goals.

Gwyneth Paltrow has a part as a student; rap stars Busta Rhymes (his first collaboration with Singleton, alongside the Shaft remake), D-Knowledge and Mista Grimm also appear in supporting roles, as well as a cameo by the rock band Eve's Plum.

Soundtrack

  1. Ice Cube - "Higher"
  2. Ice Cube - "Something To Think About"
  3. Meshell Ndegeocello - "Soul Searchin' (I Wanna Know If It's Mine)"
  4. Mista Grimm - "Situation: Grimm"
  5. Raphael Saadiq - "Ask Of You"
  6. Tori Amos - "Losing My Religion"
  7. Outkast - "Phobia"
  8. Cole Hauser/Michael Rapaport - "My New Friend"
  9. Rage Against the Machine - "Year Of The Boomerang"
  10. The Brand New Heavies - "Higher Learning/Time For Change"
  11. Liz Phair - "Don't Have Time"
  12. Tori Amos - "Butterfly"
  13. Zhane - "By Your Side"
  14. Eve's Plum - "Eye"
  15. Stanley Clarke - "The Learning Curve"


The film also featured the tune "Formaldehyde" by Sons of Elvis.

Miscellanea

  • Omar Epps played another character named Malik in the gangsta-movie spoof, Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood. Here, he was the first (and presumably only) brother to go to college but was gunned down by a racist sniper on his first day.
  • Most of the Nazi-Skinheads were played by Jewish actors (Andrew Bryniarski, Michael Rapaport, Trevor St. John, Talbert Morton, and Cole Hauser)
  • Ironically, one of Remy's favorite bands is Rage Against the Machine, whose membership includes a Mexican-American lead singer (Zach De La Rocha), an African-American guitar player (Tom Morello), and a Jewish drummer (Brad Wilk).
  • Tupac Shakur was originally set to play the role of Malik but he was jailed shortly after getting the part and the role went instead to Omar Epps.
  • John Singleton wanted Sidney Poitier to play professor Maurice Phipps. He was not available. Singleton's second choice for Professor Phipps was Samuel L. Jackson; the studio preferred Laurence Fishburne, who had worked successfully with Singleton in Boyz in the Hood.
  • Originally John Singleton wanted Leonardo DiCaprio to play Remy, while Michael Rapaport was originally going to play Scott Moss. DiCaprio was cast, but unable to be in the film because of a scheduling conflict with The Quick And The Dead. So Singleton had Rapaport play Remy once Hauser was cast.
  • Vivica A. Fox was the second choice for the role of Deja.
  • The idea for the film came when Director Jonathan Demme approached John Singleton about making a movie about college racial issues throughout the country when they were in pre-production for Boyz N The Hood which was being developed at Orion Pictures with Singleton directing and Demme producing. Once the deal with Orion Pictures fell through, Singleton took the idea and began to develop it while at Columbia Pictures.
  • According to John Singleton, this film is based on his college experiences while attending USC. Singleton says in the DVD commentary that the scene in which Remy walks up to Malik and voices his opinion about the T-shirt that he was wearing is based on an incident from his own life.
  • Dustin Hoffman was originally considered for the role of the professor that becomes a mentor to Malik. Hoffman wanted the plot to revolve around the professor and the student, but Singleton refused.
  • Drew Barrymore lost the role of Kristen.
  • Morris Chestnut had a small role as a sprinter on the track team.
  • The sniper scene was based on the Charles Whitman incident at the University of Texas in 1966.

External links

 •  • [ e]
Films directed by John Singleton
Boyz n the Hood • Poetic Justice • Higher Learning • Rosewood • Shaft • Baby Boy • 2 Fast 2 Furious • Four Brothers • Luke Cage
John Singleton

Birth name John Daniel Singleton
Born January 6 1968 (1968--) (age 39)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
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John Singleton

Birth name John Daniel Singleton
Born January 6 1968 (1968--) (age 39)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
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John Singleton

Birth name John Daniel Singleton
Born January 6 1968 (1968--) (age 39)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
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Omar Epps

Birth name Omar Hashim Epps
Born July 23 1973 (1973--) (age 34)
Brooklyn, New York
Died

Spouse(s)
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original research or unverifiable claims.
* It does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by citing reliable sources.
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Michael Rapaport

Birth name Michael David Rapaport
Born March 20 1970 (1970--) (age 37)
New York City, New York, United States


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Tyra Lynne Banks (born December 4, 1973) is an American supermodel, television personality and talk show hostess.[1][2][3] She first emerged to prominence on the runways of Paris, Milan, London, Tokyo, and the U.S.
..... Click the link for more information.
Jennifer Connelly

Jennifer Connelly in Central Park, New York City, June 2, 2005
Birth name Jennifer Lynn Connelly
Born November 12 1970 (1970--) (age 38)
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Laurence Fishburne

Birth name Laurence John Fishburne III
Born July 30 1961 (1961--) (age 46)
Augusta, Georgia, U.S.
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Jason Wiles

Born March 25 1970 (1970--) (age 37)
Kansas City, Missouri

Jason Austin Wiles
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Trevor Smith (born on May 20 1972), better known as Busta Rhymes, is an American hip hop musician and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the name Busta Rhymes (from former NFL wide receiver George "Buster" Rhymes) after watching him perform.
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Regina King

Born January 15 1971 (1971--) (age 36)
Los Angeles, California,  United States

Spouse(s) Ian Alexander, Sr.
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Cole Hauser

Born March 22 1975 (1975--) (age 32)
Santa Barbara, California

Cole Kenneth Hauser (born March 22, 1975) is an American actor.
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Stanley Clarke (born 30 June 1951) is an American musician and composer known for his innovative and influential work on double bass and bass guitar as well as his numerous film and television scores.

Early life and education

Clarke was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is a film and television production company. It is part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, which is owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the multinational conglomerate Sony.
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January 11 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining.

Events

  • 314 - Pope Miltiades ends his reign as the Pope of Roman Catholicism by dying in power.

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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
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Year 1995 (MCMXCV
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A drama film is a film that depends mostly on in-depth character development, interaction, and highly emotional themes. In a good drama film, the audience is able to experience what other characters are feeling and identify with someone.
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An ensemble cast is a cast in which the principal performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance in a dramatic production.

This kind of casting became more popular in television series because it allows for flexibility for writers to focus on different
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supermodel is a highly-paid elite fashion model who usually has a worldwide reputation and often a background in haute couture and commercial modeling.[1] The term took hold in the popular culture of the 1980s and 1990s.
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Tyra Lynne Banks (born December 4, 1973) is an American supermodel, television personality and talk show hostess.[1][2][3] She first emerged to prominence on the runways of Paris, Milan, London, Tokyo, and the U.S.
..... Click the link for more information.
Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or special effects.
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NAACP Image Awards

Awarded for Excellence in film, television, music, and literature by outstanding people of color
Presented by NAACP
Country  United States
First awarded 1970
Official website
The
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Bruins, NCAA Division I
Affiliations AAU
Pac 10
Nobel laureates 10
Website www.ucla.edu
The University of California, Los Angeles (generally known as UCLA) is a public research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States.
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OutKast is a popular American Grammy award winning hip hop duo based out of East Point, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia. Their original musical style was a mixture of Dirty South and G-Funk; since then, funk, soul, pop, electronica, rock, spoken word poetry, crunk, jazz, and
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Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos on August 22, 1963) is an American pianist and singer-songwriter. She is married to English sound engineer Mark Hawley. Together they have one daughter, Natashya "Tash" Lórien Hawley, born on September 5, 2000.
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Omar Epps

Birth name Omar Hashim Epps
Born July 23 1973 (1973--) (age 34)
Brooklyn, New York
Died

Spouse(s)
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Laurence Fishburne

Birth name Laurence John Fishburne III
Born July 30 1961 (1961--) (age 46)
Augusta, Georgia, U.S.
..... Click the link for more information.
Tyra Lynne Banks (born December 4, 1973) is an American supermodel, television personality and talk show hostess.[1][2][3] She first emerged to prominence on the runways of Paris, Milan, London, Tokyo, and the U.S.
..... Click the link for more information.


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