I want to also mention a couple of early Denzel performances I like:
Mississippi Masala
The Mighty Quinn
And also add A Soldier’s Story to my list.
Some movies that have been added yet:
A Time to Kill
Pursuit of Happyness
Collateral
Homicide: The Movie
Of course, the last one might not count since it’s based on a TV series. Yaphet Koto and Andre Braugher both kick ass.
Just to add to the mix, since they haven’t been mentioned yet:
The Defiant Ones. (Great tension between a White guy and Black guy escaping from a chain gang in the South.)
Imitation of Life. (A little campy, but fun in a period movie kind of way)
A lot of people don’t know that there are two versions of this movie. They both have their strengths and weaknesses, but I have to say that Fredi Washington, who was in the first film, made a better “Sarah Jane” (her name was different).
Another vote for In the Heat of the Night.
Boy, a cheeseburger from Packy’s sounds good right about now.
Man, I can’t believe I forgot* Sergeant Rutledge*.
Baghdad Cafe-because of all the vivid, somewhat goofy characters and the sweet, funny storyline. And the look on the big Indian guy’s face as he flicked the coffee grounds off the back of his hand.
Boys In The Hood- it’s a combination of a bad-boys crime drama and a thoughtful, sad story about big themes like friends, loyalties and manliness. The closing moments make me cry every time.
Friday-I almost busted a gut laughing when I saw this flick. Pothead comedy always gets my funnybone for some reason… 
…and the movie also had all those vividly depicted characters from the neighborhood, who were interesting to watch go about their daily doings.
**The Harder They Come **-for the music, and the larger than life exciting tale of big bad men doing big bad brave deeds, and as a glimpse into a culture I would never have known of if I hadn’tseen it.
JD’s Revenge-my two favorite kinds of movie – horror and crime drama – stirred with icy dialogue and fast bloodsoaked action until the result was one mean, thrilling, chilling story with a surorise plot twist or hard-edged shock scene seemingly every five minutes.
**New Jack City-**did I mention already that I love gritty, ultra-violent crime dramas? Well this movie is that for sure. And there’s a lot of depth, subtlety and emotion to it as well. Besides that it has Ice-T in it, and Ice-T is one sexy mofo in my book, with those leonine golden eyes of his and that deep dark rippling voice.
Putney Swope-one of the most brutally funny, outrageous flicks I had ever seen when I saw it the first time, and it held up pretty well when I saw it again recently.
Rockers-another hard-ass slice of island life, steeped in tuneage and reefer and righteous outlawry.
**Tales From The Hood-**a nice and nasty, creepy and fright-filled anthology horror movie. I thought it was pretty excellent, myself.
Zebrahead-a teenage romance tragedy set in the urban edge-lands of the Motor City which didn’t try to hand you a lot of pat and easy answers to the issues it brought up. And I liked how everyone, including the thugs and troublemakers, was depicted with sympathy and understanding.
Yep, I liked the first one a lot. Also another vote for To Sir With Love.
I’d like to throw in Cool Runnings. Starred whiter-than-white John Candy, but it was about the Jamaican bobsled team and was actually really cute.
Also, Lilies of the Field with Sidney Poitier in the only consistent speaking role. BEAUTIFUL movie.
Antwone Fisher
Driving Mess Daisy (Morgan Freeman)
Glory
The Great White Hope (James Earl Jones)
In the Heat of the Night (Sidney Poitier)
Home of the Brave (1949) with James Edwards, whose career was interrupted by Sidney Poitier’s rise)
Steel Helmet (1951) with James Edwards (dir. by Sam Fuller) (recently available in 3-dvd set of Sam Fuller’s First Films
Guess Who’ Coming to Dinner
Shawshank Redemption with Morgan Freeman
The Defiant Ones
Finding Forrester
Ghosts of Mississippi
Sweet Sweetback’s Badasssss So
ng (Melvin Van Peebles)
How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company and Enjoy It (Melvin Van Peebles biopic)
Mississippi Burning
Paul Robeson
The Rosa Parks Story
King
The Klansman (with O. J. Simpson)
Selma, Lord, Selma
The Tuskegee Airmen
Bladk Like Me
Strange Justice: The Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill Story
Shaft
I’m realizing there are a lot of movies here I oughtta see. The only one I’d add to the list isn’t really about the Black Experience or anything, but Ghost Dog is a fantastic movie with a black leading man. GD’s blackness is really more of a signal of the fact that he’s an outsider to the world he lives in, doubly so with his philosophy. Hmm…I wonder whether there are parallels to be drawn between this movie and Invisible Man?
edit: Looks like I’m not the first person to think of this:
Daniel
My favorite movies prominently featuring black actors would be:
The Matrix, featuring Lawrence Fishburne as Morpheus. The man so freaking cool, that Neo would come back from the dead just to hang out with him some more.
Flight of the Intruder, with Danny Glover as Commander Dooke Camparelli. Any scene where he was chewing out Cool Hand or Razor was a great scene.
Just about any movie with James Earl Jones in it, of course.
Can’t believe I missed naming that one.
Very surprised no one has mentioned The Brother from Another Planet , one of the finest Science Fiction films ever made, featuring Joe Morton (also in Lone Star).