Cast:
Kyle Johnson (Newt Winger), Alex Clarke (Marcus Savage), Estelle Evans (Sarah Winger), Mira Waters (Arcella Jefferson), George Mitchell (Jake Kiner), Richard Ward (Booker Savage), Malcolm Atterbury (Silas Newhall), Russell Thorson (Judge Cavanaugh), Zooey Hall (Chauncey Cavanaugh), Dana Elcar (Sheriff Kirky), Felix Nelson (Jack Winger), and Joel Fluellen (Uncle Rob) Written, Producted, and Directed by Gordon Parks (#610 - Shaft (1971) and #1045 - Shaft's Big Score!)
Review:
It should only makes sense that the summer of '69 would see the first studio film to be directed, written, produced, and composed by an African American director, one released by Warner Bros.-Seven Arts (as the company was known from 1967-69) with Gordon Parks being the key man for the job, and he would hire as many black technicians as he could to do the film (as opposed to utilizing all-white unions in Hollywood) in a decision supported by the studio. It is an adaptation of his 1963 novel of the same name, one that was loosely based on his upbringing in Fort Scott, Kansas (the son of a farmer, one of a group of African Americans that migrated to Kansas that is referred to as the "Exodusters"). Elements of the novel/his life are present here, such as the fact that one of his high school teachers told him that going to college would be a waste of money (he was the youngest of fifteen children, incidentally). Parks was born in 1912, and he had to fend for survival after he moved to Minnesota shortly after his mother's death at the age of fourteen, which led him to work in various positions such as piano player, singer and bus boy. It was at the age of 25 that he became interested in his first career: photography. He would work in a variety of positions from freelance work to fashion to work with the government (such as the Farm Security Administration and the Office of War Information). Consider that Parks did not become a film director until he was nearly sixty years old. In the course of his life, he would be noted as a pioneer for black filmmakers (one who made five feature films from 1969 to 1976) alongside his other talents in photography and music before his death in 2006 at the age of 93.
Within its coming-of-age story is a tender experience that manages to tell a worthwhile story without falling prey to turning into sentimental goo; it wasn't the first black film based on one's personal experience (The Homesteader (1919) is one example, although Oscar Micheaux's film is lost), but it certainly has a key place when it came to the next phase of American cinema in regards to black filmmaking when talking about facing harsh realities and developing self-determination (which would be done over and over again in later years with other memoir films). As one might expect, this film was shot in his home state of Kansas, with principal location shooting being done around his own hometown; of course, Warner Bros.-Seven Arts did send studio folks out to check on the production from time to time to keep things on track, and there was lingering friction between some of his contemporaries in the town and Parks before it was shot in 1968. As the lead actor Johnson (the son of Nichelle Nichols) had been acting for nine years before he was cast in this film, which would be his first main starring role as a seventeen-year-old actor, and Parks had him undergo four screen tests that actually gauged the abilities of the other actors as opposed to him (as it would turn out, this ended up being the role he is best known for). He works quite well here, as we see him carry a story of learning with an earthy charm that keeps the film working through its episodic pace with no bumps in the road. Clarke (also in a key role that he is remembered for more than anything) makes a fair adversary, one who represents the other side of the coin in terms of differing points when it comes to growing up as a black man facing the realities of the time (Kansas in the 1920s) that makes the inevitable confrontation all the more interesting. Evans, Nelson, and Ward all represent distinct parental figures to the characters in worthy effectiveness. The film manages to roll with a story of hard learning with bittersweet effectiveness that works to viewers familiar with stories that had been told for decades prior (this time with a black voice) without falling prey to corny cliches. As such, it manages to hold up well after five decades as both a worthy debut for Parks and a worthy piece of African American cinema that should be seen at least once.
Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.
Next Time: Come Back, Charleston Blue.
