The Spook Who Sat by the Door | Lawrence Cook, Ramon Livingston

The Spook Who Sat by the Door | Lawrence Cook, Ramon Livingston | The best Anti-Establishment Films Ive ever seen!!!

DVDs:

The Spook Who Sat ...

	The Spook Who Sat by the Door Lawrence Cook, Ramon Livingston Monarch Video, 2004 average customer review:based on 36 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Almost perfect

The film itself gets 5 stars from me, but this DVD only 4. It is seriously lacking a commentary track, any subtitles, and is presented in full frame instead of letterbox.

(UPDATE: The disc IS in widescreen, but is optimized for the newer widescreen TV sets, so you'll have to re-set your DVD player's output. Check the owner's manual.)

But beggers can't be choosers, and I've been begging someone, ANYONE, to get a good quality print of this long-suppressed film onto DVD. And this DVD is made from the master negative that has been in a vault for over 30 years!

After watching only pirated VHS copies and badly worn Canadian releases for so long, this film looks and sounds fresh and crisp.

For those uninitiated to this film, or the book it is based upon, here's a quick summary...

A White U.S. Senator, looking to improve his standing among Black voters, sponsors a drive for the CIA to recruit Black agents. However, everyone is graded on a curve, so all are condemned to flunk...save for soft-spoken Dan Freeman. After going through grueling training in self-defence, guerilla warfare and underground operations, he is recruited to be a "reproduction chief" (he runs a photocopier in the sub-basement), and serves the CIA as a token Black employee (the term "spook" used here is both a racial slur, and a slang term for a spy).

After 5 years, he leaves the CIA to work in his native Chicago for a social services agency...by day. By night, he's using his CIA training to teach a street gang to be the vanguard in an upcoming race war...

Understandably, this film raised a lot of fears among Whites when released, and despite box office success, it vanished from distribution after only three weeks. The film-makers insist it was pressure on the film's distributors by the FBI and their COINTELPRO program against Black Nationalist groups.

Long available only on bootleg video copies and screened only on college campuses, it became an underground classic. And now, it's legitimately available on DVD.

The DVD includes the rarely seen coming attractions trailer and TV spot, as well as interviews with the book's author, Sam Greenlee (in his 70's and still as vocal as he ever was!) and film-maker Robert Townsend, who says that this film literally changed his life.

Believe the hype! This film was made against the odds (The producer struggled just to make payroll, and the outdoor scenes in Chicago were shot without permits!), and despite the years, has not lost any of it's punch!

In short: Buy it now!

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The best Anti-Establishment Films Ive ever seen!!!

If you are into fighting against the establishment, then this is the film for you. No wonder the government pulled it, and squashed all publicity of the movie. It is about a black social worker from Chicago that joins the FBI as the "first negro agent." He learned everything he could and used the knowledge obtained to turn a Chicago street gang into the largest internal threat the U.S. Government has seen since the civil war. Ironically, the government discounted the possibilities that the force was black.

American Nightmare 101

This wasn't just a"stick it to the Man" movie then current(and profitable-for the Man) but a rather documentary like approach to showing a Brother on a mission. The actors were not the then current Hollywood Black A list but actual actors who conveyed the emotions of the film's message - Quit asking Start Demanding clearer than the current A list will allow themselves to be seen in. Can one imagine Denzel in the Dan Freeman part? Or Morgan? The picture was not meant for a warm fuzzy "let's get along "feeling at the end. Too intense. Angry. It could happen. The Nixonites pulled this movie with a quickness. And pumped flicks like Sounder to defuse the then current situation. Whenever Black films start focusing on the Real along comes a Mainstream tonerdown Menace II Society - Driving Miss Daisy. Get Spook Who Sat by the Door. And hear the Man's trembling knees.

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TAKE NOTE MY PEOPLE

AFTER HEARING ABOUT THE BOOK FROM SEVERAL FRIENDS AND FAMILY MEMBERS, I RUSHED OUT TO BY IT, THANK GOODNESS I GOT THE LAST COPY IN THE STORE. I READ THE BOOK IN ONE DAY AND COULD'NT PUT IT DOWN. WE MUST LOOK AT THE REAL WORLD AND TAKE NOTE OF HOW WE ARE LIVING. IN OUR LIFETIME WE SHOULD LOOK AT THE IMOPORTANT THINGS THAT WILL MAKE US RICH IN KOWLEDGE AND NOT IN MATERIAL THINGS, THAT ARE SHORT LIVED. ONCE YOU ATTAIN KNOWLEDGE NO ONE CAN TAKE IT AWAY. UNDERSTAND HOW WE ARE BEING USED AND MANIPULATED. FOR SO LONG OUR EDUCATION HAS BEEN SUPRESSED, BECAUSE WE WERE NEVER ABLE TO GO TO QUALITY SCHOOLS AND LEARN ABOUT OUR HERITAGE. TO SURVIVE IN THIS DAY AND AGE WE MUST BE EDUCATED AND TRULY UNDERSTAND THE SOCIETY WE LIVE IN AND OFFER POSITIVE ROLE MODELS FOR OUR YOUNG PEOPLE. GREAT BOOK I RECOMMEND IT TO ALL!!!! CAN'T WAIT TO PURCHASE THE DVD.

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We need more like this today

Unfortunately I have not read the book but the movie gives the viewer a visual on how us as african americans can come together and make a difference. If your looking for great acting, and action your looking in the wrong place because it has a deeper meaning than what is shown on the screen, it's almost like a teaching tool. This movie definately recieves five stars from me, and we really need more movies like this to influence each other to work together as a whole.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, page 6, 7, 8

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