History Film / MalcolmX

* TheCameo: Nelson Mandela, Al Sharpton and Black Panthers founder Bobby Seale.

* AnAesop: The film ends with a teacher, Nelson Mandela and Ozzie Davis all directly telling the audience that Malcolm X was a great guy, and don't listen to his critics.

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: Though the events in the movie take place from the 1940s to the 1960s, Lee took great pains to remind audiences in the 1990s why Malcolm's legacy was still important to them. Fittingly, the movie begins with footage of the Rodney King beating played over Malcolm's speech, and it ends with then-recently elected South African president Nelson Mandela quoting Malcolm X to a group of schoolchildren.

Originally was going to be directed by Norman Jewison (''InTheHeatOfTheNight'', ''FiddlerOnTheRoof''), but this attracted criticism and demands that the story be done by a black filmmaker. Caused a bit of a controversy when Spike Lee said in an interview that kids should skip school in order to see the movie, as well as a fashion fad of hats and T-shirts with "X" on them. (Since a single letter can't be copyrighted, these were easy to produce.) It was the first non-documentary to gain permission to film in Mecca, though Spike Lee was not there to do so, as, being non-Muslim, he was forbidden to enter the city.

* ParentalAbandonment: His father is literally thrown under a bus (or, to be specific, streetcar) by the Black Legion (a splinter group from the KKK), and his mother is institutionalized.

* FalseRoulette: Malcolm plays RussianRoulette with an empty gun to intimidate a criminal conspirator.

* TakeThat: The film casts a surprisingly unfavorable light on Martin Luther King. The only time he's mentioned by another character is to point out that he had extramarital affairs, in contrast to Malcolm X. The film also airs a soundbyte of King reacting to X's assassination in which he comes across as tepid and guarded. In real life he had sent an eloquent letter of condolence to X's widow.

* BlackAndGreyMorality: As the movie points out, the crusaders in the Nation of Islam could often be just as virulently racist as the White authorities that they preached against. Even Malcolm himself starts off like this before his HeelFaceTurn. As great as Malcolm's contributions to the civil rights movement were, the movie reminds the audience that he was ''far'' from perfect, depicting his criminal escapades in great detail. A few of the characters even comment openly on his abuses of power, though the audience is ultimately left to decide whether or not these complaints are justified.

* BlackAndGreyMorality: As the movie points out, the crusaders in the Nation of Islam could often be just as virulently racist as the White authorities that they preached against. Even Malcolm himself starts off like this before his HeelFaceTurn. And as great a civil rights leader as Malcolm was, the movie reminds the audience that he was ''far'' from perfect, depicting his criminal escapades in great detail. A few of the characters even comment openly on his abuses of power, though the audience is ultimately left to decide whether or not these complaints are justified.

* BlackAndGreyMorality: As the movie points out, the crusaders in the Nation of Islam could often be just as virulently racist as the White authorities that they preached against. Even Malcolm himself starts off like this before his FaceHeelTurn. And as great a civil rights leader as Malcolm was, the movie reminds the audience that he was ''far'' from perfect, depicting his criminal escapades in great detail. A few of the characters even comment openly on his abuses of power, though the audience is ultimately left to decide whether or not these complaints are justified.

* ButNotTooBlack: [[InvertedTrope Inverted.]] Denzel Washington actually has a far darker complexion than the real Malcolm X, who had notably reddish hair and rather light skin due to partial white ancestry.

* YourCheatingHeart: Malcolm cheats on his girlfriend Laura with a white woman, then cheats on his new girlfriend with another girl. [[CharacterDevelopment He gets better]]. When the feds are spying on him later in life, one notes, "This guy makes King look like a saint." Martin Luther King engaged in extramarital affairs.

* {{Anvilicious}}: The film ends with a teacher, Nelson Mandela and Ozzie Davis all directly telling the audience that Malcolm X was a great guy, and don't listen to his critics.

* RussianRoulette: Malcolm plays a game to show that he's got nothing to live for. It turns out that [[spoiler: he secretly palmed the bullet before playing.]]

* RussianRoulette: Malcolm gets into a tense game of it with some gangsters, which he wins. [[spoiler: He secretly palms the bullet before playing.]]

* WhereTheWhiteWomenAt: Malcolm and Shorty go with a couple of white women. He also claims the severe sentences handed down by the (white) judge at their trial were because of their relationships with these women, who get off light themselves.
** Earlier Malcolm accuses his white girlfriend of only being with him because she can control him by threatening to cry rape.
* XMakesAnythingCool: TruthInTelevision.
** This actually caused the studio some trouble when the movie came out, because a number of hats and t-shirts and things with a simple "X" on them were produced, but because you can't copyright a single letter, nobody had to pay the studio anything to make them.
* YourCheatingHeart: Malcolm cheats on his girlfriend Laura with a white woman, then cheats on his new girlfriend with another girl. [[CharacterDevelopment He gets better]].

* TheCameo: By none other than Nelson Mandela himself in the epilogue.

** This actually caused the studio some trouble when the movie came out, because a number of hats and t-shirts and things with a simple "X" on them were produced, but because you can't copyright a singe letter, nobody had to pay the studio anything to make them.

* YourCheatingHeart: Malcom cheats on his girlfriend Laura with a white woman, then cheats on his new girlfriend with another girl. [[CharacterDevelopment He gets better]].