FranzJoseph
September 15th, 2004, 11:47 PM
I just saw this movie tonight, very surprise to find it for rent at a local video store:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00013F2OA/qid%3D1095306452/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/104-9064242-8715166
The movie is a black-written, black-produced and black-starring "revolution" flick that smart WNs might actually profit from watching.
This is a small summary from one of the reviewers at the Amazon link:
A White U.S. Senator, looking to improve his standing among Black voters, sponsors a drive for the CIA to recruit Black agents. However, everyone is graded on a curve, so all are condemned to flunk...save for soft-spoken Dan Freeman. After going through grueling training in self-defence, guerilla warfare and underground operations, he is recruited to be a "reproduction chief" (he runs a photocopier in the sub-basement), and serves the CIA as a token Black employee (the term "spook" used here is both a racial slur, and a slang term for a spy).
After 5 years, he leaves the CIA to work in his native Chicago for a social services agency...by day. By night, he's using his CIA training to teach a street gang to be the vanguard in an upcoming race war...
I bring it up only because the movie is alleged to have been taken out of circulation by Nixon's COINTELPRO in 1972, the year it came out (and the year Nixon had a massive landslide in the presidential election.) This might just be a crock of hype from the people who released the DVD, but then again 1972 was a very strange season.
If you watch this 32 year old exploitation film you'll be surprised where it places its emphasis. Freeman, the "spook" of the title, is trying to get his fellow blacks to shape up and work together. He don't want them to "hate whitey," he wants them to be proud and stand on their own. And fight for freedom of course. Freeman even has an almost fatal fight with a "brother" who works for the white man's system.
I won't give a detailed synopsis of this because you can read the comments at Amazon and get a fair idea. Suffice to say if you turned the race card upside-down as you watch, it'll make as much sense and maybe more. White working class people at the time were as restive as blacks were.
There is a theory, which I agree with, that the movie was shelved (or shut out of wide distribution) because its theme is solidarity and an intelligent white watching this a third of a century after it was made will pick up on it. It's about having a common goal and trusting your group.
It's also dated (!!!) with the styles and music of the early 70s looking even more garishly dated than in the recent Starsy & Hutch comedy. Then again that might be part of the fun.
Just the same, the movie depicts a race war (and a race war leader) from a from a sympathetic point of view. It's worth a look for that alone.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00013F2OA/qid%3D1095306452/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/104-9064242-8715166
The movie is a black-written, black-produced and black-starring "revolution" flick that smart WNs might actually profit from watching.
This is a small summary from one of the reviewers at the Amazon link:
A White U.S. Senator, looking to improve his standing among Black voters, sponsors a drive for the CIA to recruit Black agents. However, everyone is graded on a curve, so all are condemned to flunk...save for soft-spoken Dan Freeman. After going through grueling training in self-defence, guerilla warfare and underground operations, he is recruited to be a "reproduction chief" (he runs a photocopier in the sub-basement), and serves the CIA as a token Black employee (the term "spook" used here is both a racial slur, and a slang term for a spy).
After 5 years, he leaves the CIA to work in his native Chicago for a social services agency...by day. By night, he's using his CIA training to teach a street gang to be the vanguard in an upcoming race war...
I bring it up only because the movie is alleged to have been taken out of circulation by Nixon's COINTELPRO in 1972, the year it came out (and the year Nixon had a massive landslide in the presidential election.) This might just be a crock of hype from the people who released the DVD, but then again 1972 was a very strange season.
If you watch this 32 year old exploitation film you'll be surprised where it places its emphasis. Freeman, the "spook" of the title, is trying to get his fellow blacks to shape up and work together. He don't want them to "hate whitey," he wants them to be proud and stand on their own. And fight for freedom of course. Freeman even has an almost fatal fight with a "brother" who works for the white man's system.
I won't give a detailed synopsis of this because you can read the comments at Amazon and get a fair idea. Suffice to say if you turned the race card upside-down as you watch, it'll make as much sense and maybe more. White working class people at the time were as restive as blacks were.
There is a theory, which I agree with, that the movie was shelved (or shut out of wide distribution) because its theme is solidarity and an intelligent white watching this a third of a century after it was made will pick up on it. It's about having a common goal and trusting your group.
It's also dated (!!!) with the styles and music of the early 70s looking even more garishly dated than in the recent Starsy & Hutch comedy. Then again that might be part of the fun.
Just the same, the movie depicts a race war (and a race war leader) from a from a sympathetic point of view. It's worth a look for that alone.