Further, all local DMVs are closed, so I have to schlep my happy ass all the way across the other side of the city- a good 45 minute trip- to wait outside the only one that's open for what amounts to curbside service since they aren't technically open, per se.
Basically, you show up, call them and hope they answer the phone, so that someone can come outside, have you sign a sign-in sheet, and then later call you in to do what you gotta do to renew. In short, it's gonna be another all-day thing.
I'm not going to be doing that until next week, but you can probably count on it being another two article week in the meantime. Not that big of a deal, true, but I was hoping to get back to normal by next week at the latest, and I don't think it's going to happen- but we'll see. It's only one day, but because we're going early, it'll probably throw my whole week off.
One thing I do know, though- come hell or high water, I'm getting that license renewed, so that I can vote in November, because I think the vast majority of us have had quite enough of the murderous President Tangerine, thank you very much. That is, those of us who are still alive by November. 😷
Anyway, I'll keep you posted. I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming...
Back in the day, when Tarantino first hit the scene, I, like a lot of people of a certain age, did a deep dive into the Blaxploitation subgenre. I've seen and, in many cases, own a lot of the classics: the Shaft movies, most of Pam Grier's classic era stuff (Foxy Brown, Friday Foster, Sheba Baby, etc.), Super Fly, The Mack, the Dolemite flicks, and so on. Somehow, though, this one got by me. Not sure why.
Anyway, I hate that it took me so long to get to it, because it's a stone cold classic. Robert Hooks stars as... wait for it...
Mr. T! I thought that it might be where the celebrity actor of the same name might have adopted his moniker, but a little research proved that not to be the case, as the IRL Mr. T. started going by that name in 1970, several years before this film was released, so it's possible it may be the other way around, though Mr. T. didn't really become a public figure until the early 80's.
I pity the fool that tries to steal my name!
Mr. T! I thought that it might be where the celebrity actor of the same name might have adopted his moniker, but a little research proved that not to be the case, as the IRL Mr. T. started going by that name in 1970, several years before this film was released, so it's possible it may be the other way around, though Mr. T. didn't really become a public figure until the early 80's.
Regardless, if you grew up as a fan, like I did, it's endlessly amusing to watch a movie in which someone is constantly referred to as "Mr. T." in spite of looking nothing like the celebrity all of us 80's kids know and love. Be that as it may, this Mr. T. is nothing short of a cool customer in his own right, so I can't imagine the better-known one has a problem with the fictional one. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he's a whole-hearted fan, as I became after seeing this one in action.
Basically, this Mr. T. is a private detective in the "hard-boiled" mode, which is to say, a PI working within the seamier side of society, typically the criminal underworld, and, as a direct result, who has adopted a certain hard-scrabble approach in his own right, as is the case here. In other words, Mr. T. is basically an antihero. You root for him in the movie, but at the same time, IRL, you would probably want to steer clear of him, lest you end up on his bad side. He's often just as bad in his methods as the bad guys, in other words.
What sets this one apart is his street smarts. Mr. T. often seems one step ahead of everybody else, though that doesn't stop him from getting hoodwinked- literally- early on, leading him to spend the rest of the movie getting himself extricated from the situation someone else created in order for him to take the fall for other people's dubious shenanigans. But that is, as you might have guessed, easier said than done. Some people you just don't want to be on the wrong side of, you know?
The set-up- emphasis on "set-up"- is this: Mr. T. is a private investigator and occasional "fixer"- think Ray Donovan or "Mr. Wolf," from Pulp Fiction- that works out of a pool hall in South Central Los Angeles. In terms of the latter, for instance, when a child falls off a balcony and is hospitalized when they almost die because of a faulty railing, Mr. T. pays the landlord a visit and gets him to go to the hospital to apologize and compensate the victim by paying their medical bills and then some. Or else. That sort of thing.
One day, Mr. T. is approached by Chalky (Paul Winfield) and Pete (Ralph Waite), who run a gambling ring in LA on the sly, which changes locations every game to evade the law. However, lately the games have been ripped off by masked robbers, and it's starting to affect their business, as people are getting wary of going to their games, for obvious reasons- why bother to gamble your money, when you're just going to get robbed afterwards, whether you win or lose? It's literally a lose-lose proposition.
So, Chalky and Pete hire Mr. T. to suss out who the culprit is, so that they can get to the bottom of things and get back on track to having a successful "business" once again, or as successful as a revolving door dice game can be, I guess. They invite him to go undercover at the next game, and lo and behold, there's another robbery. However, there's also a twist- Chalky shoots one of the robbers, who turns out to be one of their chief rival's men.
Except that he really isn't one of the robbers at all- it's a set-up to make it look like Mr. T. killed the man instead, thus incurring the wrath of both the police and said rival, Mr. Big (Julius Harris). Then an anonymous informant calls the cops, tells them the location of the body and fingers Mr. T. for the crime, which inevitably gets back to Mr. Big. The idea being, I guess to kill two birds with one stone by eliminating both their chief rival and pinning it on Mr. T. in one fell swoop.
Of course, Mr. T. is not so easily manipulated, and spends the rest of the film getting to the bottom of things and managing to evade one obstacle after another in skillful fashion. I gotta say, it's a real kick to see a black hero that is smarter than anyone else in the movie, slyly outfoxing whites and blacks alike.
Usually in these movies, the black heroes take charge by kicking ass and taking names, and Mr. T. does some of that, too, but his chief skill is his intellect, which is a really refreshing change in a subgenre that can often be a bit silly and even demeaning at times, depending on the film, i.e. the Dolemite movies. Here, invariably, Mr. T. is the smartest guy in the room at all times.
Usually in these movies, the black heroes take charge by kicking ass and taking names, and Mr. T. does some of that, too, but his chief skill is his intellect, which is a really refreshing change in a subgenre that can often be a bit silly and even demeaning at times, depending on the film, i.e. the Dolemite movies. Here, invariably, Mr. T. is the smartest guy in the room at all times.
I know what you're thinking- if he's so smart, how did he get mixed up with and duped by these fools in the first place? Easy. He was hired to investigate a case that was rigged from the start. The very guys that hire him ARE the criminals. The robbery angle is something they themselves set up to frame Mr. T. for a murder he didn't commit, in order to ostensibly eliminate the competition. What they didn't count on was Mr. T. having the wherewithal to figure it out before it was too late and beat them at their own game, as it were.
Though the main cast may not ring a bell at first glance, if you like this sort of thing, you'll probably recognize some of the faces, if not the names. Star Robert Hooks, for instance, is a familiar face for his many guest spots on TV, in everything from Police Story and Streets of San Francisco in the 70's, The Facts of Life, T.J. Hooker, Dynasty, Murder She Wrote, A Different World and V in the 80's, and L.A. Law, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Family Matters and Seinfeld in the 90's.
He was also in the movies Hurry Sundown (alongside such luminaries as Jane Fonda, Michael Caine and Faye Dunaway), Black Brigade (aka Carter's Army, with Richard Pryor, Billy Dee Williams and Glynn Turman), Airport '77 (with Jack Lemmon and James Stewart), Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Passenger 57, Posse and Fled. Hooks also co-founded the famed Negro Ensemble Company, which launched the careers of many black actors, and started two all-black theatre companies to boot.
He's a famed theatre actor with many awards under his belt, including an NAACP Image and Trailblazer Awards and he's a renowned activist. He's also the father of famed actor-turned-director Kevin Hooks (Prison Break, Lost, The Punisher), who directed his father in the aforementioned feature films Passenger 57 and Fled. The guy's a freaking National Treasure.
Perhaps even better-known is actor Paul Winfield, who played Chalky. He was perhaps best-known for his Oscar-nominated turn in the 1972 classic Sounder (he was in the Disney remake in 2003 as well, albeit in a different role, which was directed by none other than Kevin Hooks, who was in the original as well) and his Emmy-nominated turn as Martin Luther King in the TV miniseries King. Like Hooks, he also has a long illustrious stage career as well.
Notable movies include Gordon's War, Huckleberry Finn, Hustle, The Greatest, A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, The Terminator, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Presumed Innocent, Cliffhanger, Original Gangsters, Mars Attacks and lots of TV shows to boot, dating back to the 60's through to the early 2000s.
As Chalky's partner-in-crime, Pete, there's character actor Ralph Waite, no doubt best-known to older generations as John Walton, Sr. on the long-running TV series The Waltons. However, modern audiences probably know him better as Gibbs' dad on NCIS and Booth's dad on Bones. His lengthy film resume includes Cool Hand Luke, Five Easy Pieces, the Magnificent Seven Ride, Desperate Hours, The Bodyguard, Cliffhanger (also by Kevin Hooks and co-starring Winfield), Sunshine State and Silver City and plenty of TV, too.
If Mr. Big looks familiar, he should, especially if you're a big Blaxploitation fan. Julius Harris was in the stone-cold classics Shaft's Big Score, Super Fly, Black Caesar, Let's Do It Again, Friday Foster and Hell Up in Harlem, but also the massive hit, Live and Let Die, one of my all-time favorite James Bond flicks. He was the one with a steel pincher for a hand.
Other notable movies include: The Taking of Pelham 123, King Kong (the one with Jeff Bridges and Jessica Lange), Islands in the Stream, Looking for Mr. Goodbar, Gorp, First Family, Full Moon High, Going Berserk, Crimewave, My Chauffeur, To Sleep With Anger, Darkman, Prayer of the Rollerboys, Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man, Maniac Cop III and Shrunken Heads.
Other familiar faces include Gordon Jump (WKRP in Cincinnati, Growing Pains) as Salter; William Smithers (Dallas, Papillon) as Captain Joe Marx; Jazz musician Bill Henderson (Clue, Fletch, City Slickers) as Jimmy, the Pool Hall owner; Stack Pierce (Good Guys Wear Black, V, WarGames) as Collie; Nathaniel Taylor (Rollo on Sanford & Son, Willie Dynamite, The Hunter) as Leroy and Lawrence Cook (Cotton Comes to Harlem, The Spook Who Sat by the Door, Colors) as Buddy.
Amongst the ladies, there's Paula Kelly (Soylent Green, Drum, Three Tough Guys, Uptown Saturday Night) as Cleo; Virginia Capers (Lady Sings the Blues, The Toy, Ferris Bueller's Day Off) as Macy and then-rare African American Playboy Playmate Jean Bell (TNT Jackson, Three the Hard Way, Mean Streets) as Leona.
There's also another big star involved with Trouble Man and is the main reason the movie hasn't been forgotten over the years: musician Marvin Gaye, who provided the memorable soundtrack and title tune. This was his only score, but it makes you wish he did a lot more. If it sounds familiar, that's because it was prominently featured in the movie Four Brothers as well, including the title track.
Gaye is, of course, the legendary soul singer and Motown artist behind such classics as "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," "Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing," "What's Going On?", "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)," "Let's Get It On," "Got to Give It Up" and the immortal "Sexual Healing," among many other hits. If you don't know, you better recognize and educate yourself.
Actor-turned-director Ivan Dixon (Raisin in the Sun, Porgy & Bess, Car Wash, TV's Hogan's Heroes) made his motion picture directorial debut with this film, following it up with the critically-acclaimed The Spook That Sat By The Door. However, most of his directorial output was on TV, including episodes of The Waltons, Starsky & Hutch, Wonder Woman, The Rockford Files, The Greatest American Hero, Magnum P.I. and Quantum Leap.
Trouble Man is a lot of fun and more considered and well-thought-out than your average Blaxploitation flick. They were churning out so many of these things at the time, that little thought went into most of them beyond getting well-known African American stars involved and assembling a solid, groovy soundtrack.
Not so this film, which always manages to stay one step ahead of the viewer, while Mr. T. himself manages to do the same with his foes. I can't for the life of me figure out why this one isn't better regarded, but I'm certainly glad I rectified the situation.
Not so this film, which always manages to stay one step ahead of the viewer, while Mr. T. himself manages to do the same with his foes. I can't for the life of me figure out why this one isn't better regarded, but I'm certainly glad I rectified the situation.
Astonishingly enough, it even made critic Harry Medved's "Worst Movies of All Time" book, though Complex later rectified this mistake by including it on its own "50 Best Blaxploitation Films of All Time" list- where it made the Top 25. I'd have to say it's one of the best I've ever seen. Props to FXM for bringing it to my attention- it's currently airing uncut there this month, for those who have access to that channel. It's also readily available on DVD and Blu-Ray.
By all means, check this one out- it's a keeper. 😎
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