List of Oldest Yoruba Movies of the 1980s and 90s

Old Yoruba movies of the 1980s and 1990s were some of the best to have ever been made. Some of these movies got us yearning for more while others scared the wits out of us. They always have a way of catching up with emotions, dragging us to a state of total emotional blackmail. Watching these movies gives you the opportunity to still see legendary actors like Elesho, Alaran, Lukuluku Bantashi, Ojoge, and Opebe.

Compared to recent movies, Yoruba movies of the 1980s and 1990s were more low-budget movies. This is because of its video quality and sound production. But despite their low quality, they still project good concepts and nice scripts.

Oldest Yoruba Movies of the 1980s

1. Aiye

  • Release Date: 1980
  • Producer: Balogun and Hubert Ogunde
  • Director: Ola Balogun
  • Genre: Classic tales
  • Main Cast: Ija Ominira, Balogun, and Hubert Ogunde

In Aiye, Balogun turned a stage production of one of Hubert Ogunde’s popular shows into a major motion picture. The movie’s subject was a traditional narrative of good vs evil. The good characters were traditional priests (Babalawo) while the evil characters were the local witches.

Aiye, which featured several Yoruba stage performers and some Black Goddess technical team, was a commercial success. However, much like Ija Ominira, Balogun, and Hubert Ogunde, the principal actors and co-producers, had some issues regarding the film’s direction.

2. Aropin N’Tenia

  • Release Date: 1982
  • Producer: Frederic Goode
  • Director(s): Frederic Goode and Hubert Ogunde
  • Genre: Theater Drama
  • Main Cast: Hubert Ogunde, Oba Fiwajoye

The film is a remake of a stage drama that was initially broadcast in 1964. The movie projected problems associated with polygamy.

The Ode-Nla festival is the most well-known festivity in this town. It was tradition for the king to select a new wife during this time. ABORE, PAMIPAMI, and ERELU were notable Chiefs in this town. Erelu was the town’s sole female Chief. Pamipami and Abore disliked the monarch because he was honest and compassionate. He also refused to let the chiefs or anybody else deceive him.

The monarch would go on to wed a lady named Efuntajobo during one of these Ode-Nla festivities. Efuntajobo’s senior brother, Ogundare, had a companion named Omisore. Two people plotted against Efuntajobo, throwing her child in the river. Mysteriously, the baby boy found his way back to the mother.

3. Jaiyesinmi

  • Release Date: 1981
  • Producer: Frederic Goode
  • Director: Frederic Goode and Hubert Ogunde
  • Genre: Drama
  • Main Cast: Hubert Ogunde and Osetura

Old Yoruba Movies

The movie focused on a chief priest named Osetura who resided in a hamlet. He was the village’s religious, traditional, and political leader. This leader is perpetually at odds with witches, wherever and whenever he finds them. He vanquished them after a particularly brutal struggle, and his community was at peace.

However, unbeknownst to him, the witches’ leader, Iya Dudu, did not perish with the rest when they attempted to call on the ghost of OSETURA. Iya Dudu escaped unharmed and returned home to find a new cult that uses cats to operate.

4. Ayanmo

  • Release Date: 1986
  • Producer: Hubert Ogunde
  • Director: Hubert Ogunde
  • Genre: Drama
  • Main Cast: Hubert Ogunde, Osetura, and others

Osetura, the immortal High Priest, felt he had vanquished and exterminated all the witches, symbolizing the forces of evil, off the face of the planet, believing himself to be the one mediator between man and his maker.

One of them, the Black Witch, the most lethal and wicked agent of death on earth, plunged into the burning flames surrounding Satan and requested more formidable weapons to conquer Osetura. She was assigned the dreaded Feared Bird of Darkness.

OSETURA realized it was time to act to preserve the village from bodily and spiritual death. He realized it was time for someone like him to act in order to demonstrate that God is God. He seized the power that he would only use at the least possible time. And this was the final chance.

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5. Ajani Ogun

  • Release Date: 1976
  • Producer: Ola Balogun
  • Director: Ola Balogun
  • Genre: Drama
  • Main Cast: Idowu Adebisi, Mope Ilori, Duro Lapido

Ajani Ogun is a movie that tells the story of a teenage Hunter who battles a nasty and corrupt politician. When Ajani’s father passed away, the latter plundered his family’s land with the aid of some corrupt public workers.

Oldest Yoruba Movies of the 1990s

6. Ayo Ni Mo Fe

  • Release Date: 1994
  • Producer: Mainframe film and Tv production
  • Director: Tunde Kelani
  • Genre: Drama
  • Main Cast: Yomi Ogunmola, Bola Obot, Lere Paimo, Yinka Oyedijo

Jumoke would rather marry a carefree and irresponsible Ayo than a wealthy old businessman. In a rash act, Ayo impregnates an underage Adunni. They’ve been hurriedly bundled into a disastrous marriage. When Jumoke finds out about the state of affairs, she is taken aback. Shock leads to bewilderment, confusion leads to melancholy, and Jumoke ends up wandering the streets like a mad person.

7. Saworoide

  • Release Date: 1999
  • Producer(s): Tunde Kelani, and Yemi Shodimu
  • Director: Tunde Kelani
  • Genre: Political Drama
  • Main Cast: Bukky Wright, Kola Oyewo, Lere Paimo, Kunle Bamtefa

Old Yoruba Movies

Former militants intend to assassinate the new monarch by assigning Ayangalu, who has been in exile, to the role of Saworoide in Jogbo. Ayangalu is caught after one of the militants betrays them. On the other hand, he uses his drum to summon his son shortly before he is detained.

Ayanniyi (Segun Oni), Lagata’s son, arrives and performs the Saworoide shortly after Lagata is crowned, and he later dies of a migraine. The troops are mesmerized into siding with the people, and Aresejabata is given the initiation to become king.

8. Ti Oluwa Nile

  • Release Date: 1993
  • Producer(s): Tunde Kelani
  • Director: Tunde Kelani
  • Genre: Drama
  • Main Cast: Kareem Adepoju, Lekan Oladapo, Oyin Adejobi, Dele Odule

This is one of the old Yoruba movies of the 90s that revolves around a chief’s failed attempts to prevent his burial. The oracle grants him a second opportunity, but he flees away, and a sequence of bad events follows. He ultimately returns home and discovers that he has been thought dead.

9. Koseegbe

  • Release Date: 1995
  • Producer(s): Tunde Kelani
  • Director: Tunde Kelani
  • Genre: Drama
  • Main Cast: Kola Oyewo, Wole Ameleo, Toyin A Babatope, Jide Kosokoo

Old Yoruba Movies

Koseegbe depicts the story of a morally honest customs officer who takes over from a senior official who was fired for corruption. In his new role, he strives to clean up the system while facing opposition from equally corrupt younger officers. The younger officers frame him for illegal behavior in order to arrange his removal; nevertheless, he is able to get their confession and exonerate himself.

10. O Le Ku

  • Release Date: 1997
  • Producer(s): Tunde Kelani
  • Director: Tunde Kelani
  • Genre: Drama
  • Main Cast: Yemi Sodimu, Pauline Dike, Kola Oyewo, Gboyega Olomodosi

Ajani is a final-year undergraduate student at the University of Ibadan. His mother is pressuring him to find a spouse, and he accidentally gets himself into a love triangle. He is dating three ladies at the same time; his long-term partner is Asake, a secondary school teacher. He meets Lola, a newcomer who is tall, thin, and attractive.

The scenario becomes exacerbated when he runs into a childhood friend, who finally takes center stage in the love drama. Asake’s father begs her to end her connection with Ajani, but she becomes pregnant, which Lola discovers, and Ajani is forced to pick a wife under the stress of his mother.

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