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Throughout the history of cinema, there have been some dynamic movie star and director tandems.
From Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio to Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan, many filmmakers have found great chemistry with certain actors and have casted them in many of their films.
The late John Singleton wanted to cast the late Tupac Shakur in many of his movies like “Higher Learning” and “Baby Boy.”
But Shakur’s many legal problems and his untimely passing on Sept. 13, 1996, obviously put a stop to those plans.
Nevertheless, one of Singleton’s inspirations is still making movies with one of Hollywood’ best actors ever.
Lee’s most recent film “Highest 2 Lowest” stars Denzel Washington.
And although “Highest 2 Lowest” does not rank that high on the list of their best collaborations, it got the staff at RegalMag.com thinking about the best collaborations from the boys from New York state.
Check out the list from highest to lowest and give RegalMag.com your rankings of the best Washington and Lee joints of all time.
- “Malcom X”—No disrespect to the great Al Pacino (“Scent of a Woman”). But the 1993 Best Actor Oscar should have gone to Washington for his iconic performance as the late Nation of Islam minister and spokesperson. The film covered Malcolm’s entire life from his father Earl Little’s brutal assassination, to Malcolm’s life as a criminal to his transformation once he became a devoted follower of The Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Some of Washington’s classic lines like “you’ve been hoodwinked, bamboozled, led astray, run amok” still get mentioned by Black America on the regular. And everyone knows, “we didn’t land on Plymouth Rock. Plymouth Rock landed on us.”
- “Inside Man”—The crime thriller “Inside Man” was arguably Lee and Washington’s most commercial effort. In the 1980s, Lee earned a reputation of tackling controversial issues in his movies like racism, colorism and college fraternity hazing. But a great artist like Lee knows that sometimes moviegoers want to be educated. However, other times they just want to be entertained. “Inside Man” featured an all-star cast with legends like Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Willem Dafoe and Chiwetel Ejiofor. The film was so popular that talks began for a sequel. Unfortunately, “Inside Man 2” has been shelved. Washington has since gone on to make a franchise out of “The Equalizer” movies.
- “He Got Game”—Lee initially wanted a teenage Kobe Bryant to play the fictional high school basketball phenom Jesus Shuttlesworth. But because Bryant wanted to focus on basketball after coming up short in his first playoff run, the role went to sharpshooter, Ray Allen who played for the Milwaukee Bucks at the time. “He Got Game” focuses on a father, in prison for killing his wife, who could possibly get a pardon from the governor of New York state if he gets his son Jesus to sign with his alma mater. Jake Shuttlesworth (Washington) is briefly let out of prison to recruit his son to the fictional Big State University. However, his father’s past makes it difficult to reach his son, which might make an early prison release difficult as well.
- “Mo Betta Blues”—This is the selection that might get the most heat from real fans of Spike Lee joints. How dare RegalMag.com rank “Mo Betta Blues” lower than “He Got Game.” Well, com has more basketball fans on staff than jazz music fans. Lee wanted to name his fourth joint “Love Supreme” after the classic John Coltrane album. Intellectual property issues prevented that from happening. But “Mo Betta Blues” was just as smooth as the album by arguably the world’s great saxophonist. In the movie Washington starred as band leader Bleek Gilliam. However, he constantly bumped heads with his bandmate Shadow Henderson (Wesley Snipes) who blamed Bleek for the band’s lack of popularity in a time in which jazz music had lost its prestige with the younger audience. Bleek was also a womanizer with some of the worst decision-making skills of all time. Bleek actually bought both of his girlfriends the exact same dress. Come on now, Bleek.
- “Highest 2 Lowest”—The fifth Lee and Washington collaboration is not as bad as some critics made it out to be upon its 2025 release. However, when the bar was set with “Malcolm X” and “Inside Man,” most movies would find themselves on the outside looking in. Washington stars as a legendary record company impresario who has lost his love for the industry and his golden ear for the next breakout pop star. He has come up with a way to stay on top while collecting a huge day. But his plans are put to a quick halt when a close relative is kidnapped and held for ransom. Although seasoned, Washington is still the coolest cat in the game in this movie. Furthermore, Jeffrey Wright matches Washington’s cool, especially with his use of the term of endearment, “beloved.” But the true breakout star of the movie does not get her shine until the end of the film. Singer Aiyana-Lee sings the movie soundtrack’s title song at the end. And she better get an Oscar win for the song. Washington and Lee have created family trees of legendary filmmakers and Aiyana-Lee comes from a family tree that is just as legendary. She is the granddaughter of legendary Motown Records singer Jimmy Ruffin (“What Becomes of the Brokenhearted”) and the great niece of singer David Ruffin of The Temptations.
