The Spook Who Sat by the Door, is a 1973 action crime–drama film based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Sam Greenlee (which was first published in the United Kingdom by Allison and Busby after being rejected by American publishers).[1][2] It is both a satire of the civil rights struggle in the United States of the late 1960s and a serious attempt to focus on the issue of Black militancy. Dan Freeman, the titular protagonist, is enlisted by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in its elitist espionage program, becoming its token Black person. After mastering agency tactics, however, he becomes disillusioned and drops out to train young Black people in Chicago to become "Freedom Fighters". As a story of one man's reaction to white ruling-class hypocrisy, the film is loosely autobiographical and personal.
(Synopsis): The Spook Who Sat By The Door is one of the 50 Most Influential Black Films. The Spook Who sat by The Door is a cult classic and named one of the most influential Black films of the 1970"s (by Torriano Berry and Venise Berry in their book The 50 most influential Black films).
Dan Freeman, the "spook who sat by the door", is enlisted in the CIA's elitist espionage program as it's first Black agent. Upon mastering agency tactics, he returns home to Chicago with a mission to train street gangs as "Freedom Fighters." Quickly, they become experts in urban guerrilla warfare and plan to launch a war against the white power structure in every major US city.
The spook Who Sat by the Door is the first release in the new Obsidian Gold series which is devoted to restoring forgotten Black movie classics.
It was an overnight success when it was released in 1973, but every print of the film mysteriously disappeared. The filmmakers say it was suppressed by the government. Driven underground and available only on bootleg video, this controversial political thriller was nearly lost. Obsidian Home Entertainment was granted full access by the filmmakers to digitally restore the movie from the original camera negative which has been hidden in a Hollywood vault for 30 years.
(Starring): Lawrence Cook as Dan Freeman, Janet League as Joy, Paula Kelly as Dahomey Queen, J. A. Preston as Dawson, Paul Butler as Do-Daddy Dean
Don Blakely as Stud Davis, David Lemieux as Pretty Willie, Joseph Mascolo as Senator Hennington, Beverly Gill as Willa, Bob Hill as Calhoun, Martin Golar as Perkins, Frank E. Ford as Cobra member.
Directed by: Ivan Dixon, Written by: Melvin Clay, Sam Greenlee, Produced by: Ivan Dixon, Sam Greenlee, Language: English, Running Time: 102 Minutes, Features: 16:9 Widescreen, NTSC All, with lots of special features.
