The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973)

A black man plays Uncle Tom in order to gain access to CIA training, then uses that knowledge to plot a new American Revolution.

Director:

Ivan Dixon

Writers:

Sam Greenlee (screenplay), Melvin Clay (screenplay) (as Mel Clay)

Stars:

Lawrence Cook, Janet League, Paula Kelly

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Lawrence Cook	...	Dan Freeman
Janet League	...	Joy
Paula Kelly	...	Dahomey Queen
J.A. Preston	...	Dawson
Paul Butler	...	Do-Daddy Dean
Don Blakely	...	Stud Davis
David Lemieux	...	Pretty Willie
Byron Morrow	...	General
Jack Aaron	...	Carstairs
Joseph Mascolo	...	Senator Hennington
Elaine Aiken	...	Mrs. Hennington
Beverly Gill	...	Willa
Bob Hill	...	Calhoun
Martin Golar	...	Perkins
Jeff Hamilton	...	Policeman

Storyline

In order to improve his standing with Black voters, a White Senator starts a campaign for the CIA to recruit Black agents. However, all are graded on a curve and doomed to fail, save for a soft-spoken veteran named Dan Freeman. After grueling training in guerrilla warfare, clandestine operations and unarmed combat, he is assigned a meager job as the CIA's token Black employee. After five years of racist and stereotyped treatment by his superiors, he quietly resigns to return to his native Chicago to work for a social services agency...by day. By night, he trains a street gang to be the vanguard in an upcoming race war, using all that the CIA has taught him...

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Plot Keywords:

cia | blaxploitation | explosion | exploding car | riot | 

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Taglines:

Their first mistake was letting him in. Their biggest mistake was letting him out!

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Crime

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 December 1981 (France)

Also Known As:

Notre agent de Harlem

Filming Locations:

63rd Street & Cottage Grove Avenue, Woodlawn, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bokari

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The actor who played Pretty Willie (David Lemieux) was a member of the Black Panthers and later became a Chicago police detective.

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Quotes

Dan Freeman: [confronting members of the Cobras street gang] Shut up... and listen! The big-time, bad-ass Cobras. Pumpin' away at the Pigs from the rooftops during the riots last summer? Oh, yeah! I know what ya's into. With .22 rifles and pistols did about as much damage as a mosquito to a elephant's ass! What did you expect to hit from that range, with those weapons at night? You might as well as *thrown* the damned pieces at the Pigs! You *really* wanna mess with Whitey? I can show you how. *I* can show ...

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Connections

Spoofed in Black Dynamite (2009)

User Reviews

Greatest guerrilla movie ever made

This is one of the undiscovered treasures of cinema people, if you haven't seen it you need to. They never paid for one permit and they did this movie for about $90,000USD, but they don't skip a beat. Same editor as Schindler's List; if you watch the movie you can tell why Spielberg uses this guy, he is a master.

Even if you don't agree with the films message you have to agree that this is one of thee finest made independent films in existence, and considering the subject matter it is a surprise this film was ever shot, because the book had a pretty hard time getting published too.

I think this film is everything Melvin Van Peebles wanted SweetBack to be.