It certainly makes a statement that William Wyler chose The Liberation of L. B. Jones as his final directorial film in a career that traced back to the silent era. He always chose his films wisely, and to end at the very top of a new decade, with a film that touched on all the hot topics of the modern era, showed his audience that even though he was going to retire, he was still relevant.
The plot feels like an Otto Preminger movie: a black man in the South is divorcing his pregnant wife because she's had an affair with a white man. The man about to be named correspondent is a policeman, and there will be a huge scandal in the small town if it gets out. Roscoe Lee Browne is the title character, and Anthony Zerbe plays the villainous cop. I'm not spoiling anything by revealing Zerbe as the bad guy; he beats up his pregnant lover pretty early on in the movie and then is even more violent and gruesome to her husband. Lee J. Cobb plays Browne's lawyer, and Lee Majors is his nephew. There's a lot of fuel for those who are interested in the law or get frustrated when sometimes loopholes or foul play allow the bad guys to get away with... you know.
There are parts of the movie that feel quite dated, but there are also scenes that could absolutely be found in a modern movie. Unfortunately, race relations ebbed and flowed and have recently returned to the heightened emotions of the 1970s, so much of the racism in this 1970 drama doesn't feel out of place in 2022. There's a particularly upsetting scene where Lola Falana gets harassed and nearly assaulted by police officers, making the infamous scene from Crash look like a picnic. I wouldn't really recommend this movie unless you are very invested in race relations films that spread a message and leave the viewers feeling lousy. If you fall in that target audience, check out Tick, Tick, Tick next, a similar film from 1970.
Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to violence, I wouldn't let my kids watch it.
The plot feels like an Otto Preminger movie: a black man in the South is divorcing his pregnant wife because she's had an affair with a white man. The man about to be named correspondent is a policeman, and there will be a huge scandal in the small town if it gets out. Roscoe Lee Browne is the title character, and Anthony Zerbe plays the villainous cop. I'm not spoiling anything by revealing Zerbe as the bad guy; he beats up his pregnant lover pretty early on in the movie and then is even more violent and gruesome to her husband. Lee J. Cobb plays Browne's lawyer, and Lee Majors is his nephew. There's a lot of fuel for those who are interested in the law or get frustrated when sometimes loopholes or foul play allow the bad guys to get away with... you know.
There are parts of the movie that feel quite dated, but there are also scenes that could absolutely be found in a modern movie. Unfortunately, race relations ebbed and flowed and have recently returned to the heightened emotions of the 1970s, so much of the racism in this 1970 drama doesn't feel out of place in 2022. There's a particularly upsetting scene where Lola Falana gets harassed and nearly assaulted by police officers, making the infamous scene from Crash look like a picnic. I wouldn't really recommend this movie unless you are very invested in race relations films that spread a message and leave the viewers feeling lousy. If you fall in that target audience, check out Tick, Tick, Tick next, a similar film from 1970.
Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to violence, I wouldn't let my kids watch it.