Cecil Gaines was a sharecropper's son who grew up in the 1920s as a domestic servant for the white family who casually destroyed his. Eventually striking out on his own, Cecil becomes a hotel valet of such efficiency and discreteness in the 1950s that he becomes a butler in the White House itself. There, Cecil would serve numerous US Presidents over the decades as a passive witness of history with the American Civil Rights Movement gaining momentum even as his family has troubles of its own. As his wife, Gloria, struggles with alcoholism and his defiant eldest son, Louis, strives for a just world, Cecil must decide whether he should take action in his own way.

All the Way
2016
6.7/10

W.
2008
6.2/10

Selma
2014
7.4/10

Reagan
2024
6.3/10

The Best of Enemies
2019
7.4/10

The Banker
2020
7.6/10

Belfast
2021
7.0/10

Skin
2009
6.4/10

The Long Walk Home
1990
7.6/10

Shirley
2024
6.6/10

Gods and Generals
2003
6.4/10

Official Secrets
2019
7.2/10

The Glass Castle
2017
7.1/10

JFK
1991
7.6/10

What Maisie Knew
2013
7.1/10

To Kill a Mockingbird
1962
8.0/10

Red Dust
2004
5.8/10

Fences
2016
6.9/10

The Young Lions
1958
6.8/10

42
2013
7.2/10
American Gangster
2007
7.594/10