When you say “Spike Lee,” most people think of “classic Spike Lee” – School Daze, Do the Right Thing and Malcolm X. Those were the days when Lee was seen as the pit bull of new Black cinema, someone who said brash, bold things about American racism and how we were all to blame. He aired our dirty laundry about the color complex; he used brash young actors like Wesley Snipes, Rosie Perez and even himself; and got right in the face mainstream Hollywood royalty. He was like the Mike Tyson of film – someone we loved to watch and were all a little afraid of. 

But that was, like, 20 years ago. And in that time, Spike has done more than look at race. Perhaps, not surprisingly, it was when he left the racial soapbox that his box office started getting smaller and, most importantly, a lot of us stopped paying attention. But shame on us, because he’s made some real gems while we weren’t looking.

Here’s a quick look at three Spike Lee movies that aren’t on your DVD shelf, but should be.

Girl 6 (airing Sunday at 8 pm [ET])
Theresa Randle plays a frustrated actress who turns to the world of phone porn for a steady gig.

Why You Didn’t Dig It: If were already turned off by Lee’s trademark “moving sidewalk” visual effect than Girl’s tricks (falling phones, etc) were probably a bit too much for you.

Why You Should Give it a Chance: Lee has often been criticized for having weak female characters, but Randle’s leading lady is three-dimensional and fascinating. And let’s not forget that the soundtrack is ALL Prince music.

The 25th Hour
Edward Norton plays a drug dealer spending his last day of freedom with friends before shipping off to prison.

Why You Didn’t Dig It: Without any Black stars, you probably didn’t know Spike had anything to do with this film.

Why You Should Give it a Chance: This is a damn good character drama that is absolutely stuffed with great performances by Norton (The Hulk), Rosario Dawson (Sin City) and Oscar-winner Phillip Seymour-Hoffman (Capote).

She Hate Me
Fired after blowing the whistle on his corrupt corporation, a young man starts renting out his libido to rich lesbians looking to become mothers.

Why You Didn’t Dig It: We’re guessing that between the title’s bad grammar and the outrageous plot you probably thought there were better ways to spend $20 that night.

Why You Should Give it a Chance: Believe it or not, Spike capably ties corporate scandal, gay rights, slavery, Black fatherhood and Richard Nixon (trust me on this) up in one neat bow. Also, Kerry Washington gives what may be her most electrifying performance ever.

Question: Which Spike movie do you think is most underrated?

If you’re a child of the 80s, Bruce Leroy from The Last Dragon (airing Saturday at 5pm [ET]) was the baddest dude on the planet. Not just because he had a really nice texturizer in his hair or got to hook up with Vanity, but because he showed that when brothers do Kung Fu, they do it with just a little something extra.

But that’s how we do it, right? It’s not enough to master seven levels of martial arts, we have to show off a bit. Oh, you can do a jump split kick. That’s nice, but can you GLOW?!

In honor of Bruce Leroy we’re taking a look back at some of the best martial arts scenes in film and how each master added his own bit of attitude, that extra bit of funk that makes the scene his own starting with the last scene from Dragon. Watch it here.   

BLACK BELT JONES
I’ll be honest, the most I’d seen of Jim Kelly was from Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon where he was mostly just playing a sidekick to bring in the Black audience. Shame on me. This brother has a handful of his own movies which he drenched in his trademark style. I also credit him for why brothers make the "oh" face when they do karate.

Best Kung Funky Move: You’d think doing karate with an Afro and fly white boots would be funky enough, but no. While single-handedly taking on a multi-man assassination attempt on three White dudes, Kelly takes on guy by repeatedly punching him in the, uh, man buttons, tosses him into a car windshield and then  . . . casually strolls away like it ain’t nothing. Click below to watch the whole scene or fast forward to 2:20 to see Kelly get ultra cool.

BLADE
Even before Blade, Wesley Snipes was one of the coolest brothers on the planet. I mean, how many dudes could steal a woman from Denzel (go watch Mo Betta Blues if you don’t believe me)? But when he put on those glasses, black trench and sword, Wesley became the coolest bloodsucker this side of Blacula.

Best Kung Funky Move: After wading through tons of vampire henchman, Blade finally works his way up to a good old sword fight with head blood sucker Frost. But before he gets busy, he takes just a second to roll his neck and loosen his shoulders. It was Blade’s way of saying, "If I’m gonna do this, I need to be relaxed." See Snipes do his thing at about 1:55.

THE MATRIX
Cornbread has karate skills? That’s what I though after watching Laurence Fishburne (who was no spring chicken in 1999) trade authentic kung fu shots with Keanu Reeves in the genre-bending sci-fi flick.

Best Kung Funky Move: So Fishburne is handily kicking Keanu’s tail and at about 1:30, he sends Reeves flying to the floor. But being no chump, Reeves gets up and squares off. But wh-wh-what is that?! Did Cornbread just do a b-boy shuffle before manning up for another round. Is he getting ready for a fight or about to break into backspin? Doesn’t matter. He came off cool which was probably his goal, anyway.

(*The views contained herein are solely the views of their respective authors, and do not express the views of TV One. TV One does not take responsibility for their content.)

Airing on TV One this weekend is The Great White Hope (Saturday at 9pm [ET]), with James Earl Jones as Jack Jefferson, a fictional version of real-life boxer Jack Johnson who was a heavyweight champion in 1908.

Let that marinate for a minute.

In 1908, Black folks could barely walk down the street without being arrested and this man was beating up White men . . . for money.

Oh, and he had a White girlfriend, too. So you know the haters were all over him.

Just as in real life, the film comes down to the BIG FIGHT between Jefferson and “the great White hope” — a boxer who comes out of retirement simply to prove that no Black man could or had the right to dominate boxing.

So whether you’re a history student or a film lover, you can’t miss this.

But if you’re a lover of boxing films, knuckle up and guard your grill cause we’re about to look at the four of the BIGGEST BOXING MOVIES OF ALL TIME!!!!! (Why four? Cause that’s how we like it.)

1. Rocky
In 1976, names like Ali, Foreman, Frazier were dominating boxing. So it’s not hard to see that the slack-jawed Italian Stallion really was America’s great, White hope for a boxing champion — even if only at the movies. Of course, Rocky didn’t actually WIN the fight, but he sure brought that Apollo Creed down a peg or two didn’t he? Ok, racial tension aside, Rocky was a great movie and the reason you have your own theme song while jogging.

2. The Hurricane
Denzel Washington never does anything easy does he? What could have been a simple, straight-up boxing film becomes something much, much more. The story of boxer Rubin Carter, who was convicted of triple murder, becomes less about fighting for a belt than literally fighting for life. It also makes you ready to strap on the gloves and fight the Academy who somehow forgot to give Washington the Oscar for this knock-out performance.

3. Ali
You probably didn’t like it when you saw it, but I bet if you gave it another chance, you’d really dig Ali. Sure, Will Smith does a great job, but what makes the film so good is how it looks at the Civil Rights Movement through the eyes of Ali and even his friend Malcolm X, two men who not only shaped the landscape but were shaped by it. Not to mention, the boxing scenes are fantastic and best watched on one of those wide-screen TVs.

4. When We Were Kings
Before the grill and the reality show, George Foreman was a scary, scary dude in the ring – one no one thought Muhammad Ali could beat. So, anticipating the fall of a king, this documentary crew filmed everything – from Ali’s flight to Africa, where the fight took place, his training and even the opening act rehearsals. Of course, you’re coming for the fight and even though you already know the outcome, its the building drama that keeps you in your seat as the giants trade blows and make history.