Five on the Black Hand Side

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Five on the Black Hand Side
Directed by	Oscar Williams
Written by	Charlie L. Russell
Produced by	Brock Peters Michael Tolan
Starring	Clarice Taylor Leonard Jackson Virginia Capers Glynn Turman Bonnie Banfield D'Urville Martin
Cinematography	Gene Polito
Edited by	Michael Economou
Music by	H. B. Barnum
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date	October 25, 1973 (1973-10-25)
Running time	96 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$200,000
Box office	$1,367,000 (US/Canada rentals)[1]

Five on the Black Hand Side is a 1973 African American comedy film based on the 1969 play of the same name by Charlie L. Russell. It was shot in Los Angeles, California. Leonard Jackson appeared as John Henry Brooks.^[2] He was cast in Steven Spielberg's The Color Purple fifteen years later.

Five on the Black Hand Side was conceived as "an antidote" to the "blaxploitation" films of the era.^[3] The film's tagline was "You've been coffy-tized, blacula-rized and super-flied - but now you're gonna be glorified, unified and filled-with-pride... when you see Five on the Black Hand Side."