美国公共电视台（PBS）为了庆祝“蓝调年”，以连续七天，每天将近两小时(含制作说明与相关纪录片)的大手笔，播出由导演马丁·斯科塞斯担任总监制的七部纪录片，统称为《布鲁斯——百年蓝调音乐之旅》。
Blues音乐是居住在美国的黑人在艰难困苦的生活中创造出的音乐风格。它发源于密西西比河的三角洲地带，起源于20世纪初，早期为人们劳作时的劳动号子。Blues最初主要是人声的叙述，后来才加上了乐器的伴奏，它对爵士乐、摇滚乐、乡村乐和西方音乐都有相当大的贡献。
Directed by
Charles Burnett (episode "Warming by the Devil's Fire")
Clint Eastwood (episode "Piano Blues")
Mike Figgis (episode "Red, White and Blues")
Marc Levin (episode "Godfathers and Sons")
Richard Pearce (episode "The Road to Memphis")
Martin Scorsese (episode "Feel Like Going Home")
Wim Wenders (episode "The Soul of a Man")

这部影片拍摄于1977年。
洛杉矶南部的贫民窟，斯坦一家就生活在那里。斯坦在屠宰场里工作，虽然他没日没夜地拼命乾活，但菲薄的薪水仍然不足以改善他们贫困的生活。由于整日忙于工作，同妻子和淘气的儿子没有什么交流，斯坦慢慢地同他们疏远了。他的两个熟人整日游手好闲，乾着杀人越货的勾当，他们想拉斯坦入伙，迫于生计，他同意了。事成之后，斯坦用分得的钱合伙同朋友尤金买了辆旧车，上下班的时候以车代步。粗心的尤金弄坏了汽车的发动机，斯坦将车修好，想用这辆车参加比赛，赢得奖金。不幸的是，在参加比赛的路上汽车又爆胎了，至此斯坦只得将比赛的念头放到一边，继续回到屠宰场老老实实地工作。
这部由查尔斯·伯纳特身兼导演、编剧、摄影、剪辑的影片真实地反映了美国社会的两极分化，通过在底层挣扎的主人公冒着风险试图改变生活困境而未能成功的遭遇，宣扬了在严酷的社会现实中，人无论怎样努力都无法摆脱命运安排的宿命论思想。影片没有什么情节，其中穿插了由著名歌星演唱的十多首流行歌曲，而黑白胶片的使用则使人物的阴郁心情和贫民窟的阴暗效果更加突出。
影片自拍成以来一直不被人关注，直到在4年以后的第31届（1981）西柏林国际电影节上才大放异彩，使评委感到震惊，从而获得评委会颁发的特别奖。
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由《致命武器》黑人明星丹尼．格洛佛主演的黑人家庭伦理片，描述居住在洛杉矶市中心的一个都市化黑人家庭，因为一位来自南方乡下的神秘友人突然前来拜访，导致男主人原有的安定生活产生了动摇。他经年累月积存下来的挫折失败感一旦爆发，以致带着“愤怒睡眠"（本片原名）。导演查尔斯．班纳往男主角身上抛出一个球，从他接球后的戏剧化反应，让观众看到每个人都有同感的生活阴暗面，并从而思考什么才是生命中最重要的东西？想了解当前美国黑人文化和社会处境，本片是一个很好的参考素材。

Pierce Mundy works at his parents' South Central dry cleaners with no prospects for the future and his childhood buddies are in prison or dead. With his best friend just getting out of jail and his brother busy planning a wedding to a snooty upper-middle-class black woman, Pierce navigates his conflicting obligations while trying to figure out what he really wants in life. MY BROTHER'S WEDDING is an eye-opening revelation (it is wise, funny, heartbreaking and timeless).

Charlie Banks, chronically unemployed, struggles to find dignity and a meaning for life in the impoverished Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts.

J.J. is a rookie in the Sheriff's Department and the first black officer at that station. Racial tensions run high in the department as some of J.J.'s fellow officers resent his presence. His only real friend is the other new trooper, the first female officer to work there, who also suffers similar discrimination in the otherwise all-white-male work environment. When J.J. becomes increasingly aware of police corruption during the murder trial of Teddy Woods, who he helped to arrest, he faces difficult decisions and puts himself into great personal danger in the service of justice.