After 30 Years, a Controversial Film Re-emerges

Crisis, The, Nov/Dec 2003 by Joiner, Lottie L

Imagine if the toughest street gangs in the inner city were trained to use the latest military weaponry and technology. But instead of terrorizing each other, the gangs used their knowledge, skills and weapons to protect their communities.

That's the premise of the 1973 movie, The Spook Who Sat by the Door. In the film, the nation's first Black CIA agent, Dan Freeman, learns the intense fighting techniques of the government agency. He leaves the CIA and returns to the ghettos of Chicago. Freeman trains young Black gang members in guerrilla warfare tactics, martial arts and the use of explosives. When the National Guard kills a 14-year-old Black girl during a riot, the new "freedom fighters" put their training to work, terrorizing the government's military.

"One of the things I was saying with that film is that gangs could become the protector of the community rather than predators," says Sam Greenlee, author of the novel of the same name. "It's a training manual for urban guerrilla warfare. That's why it scared the White folks so much."

The film's underlying message of cooperation among the oppressed in the fight for freedom and equality is just as important today as it was 30 years ago, says Greenlee, 73. he says the purpose of the film was to encourage Blacks to create an action plan to "survive in the belly of the beast" rather than always reacting as victims of a racist society.

"I wanted to show a brother who had an objective and a plan," says Greenlee from his Chicago home.

The Spook Who Sat by the Door cost $1 million to make. Greenlee and producer/director Ivan Dixon estimate that they raised between $750,000 and $850,000 from Black investors. They sold the distribution rights to United Artist Studios to finish the film. It was released in theaters nationwide, but was often closed within two or three days of opening. Greenlee blames the FBI, which he says characterized the film as subversive, ruining his career, which stalled after the release of Spook.

"I've been underground ever since," says Greenlee, who says he has traveled throughout Europe and Africa and published three volumes of poetry.

Dixon also speaks of a Hollywood backlash. he couldn't find work for about a year after the release of Spook, but eventually went on to direct television shows such as The Waltons, Rockford Files and Magnum P.I. Despite the government criticism, Dixon says he's proud of the film.

"It expressed everything I felt about race," says Dixon, who's retired and lives in Southern California.

Three years ago, however, Green lee met husband and wife team Tim and Daphne Reid at the Gwendolyn Brooks Writers Conference at Chicago State University. When the Reids learned that Greenlee and Dixon owned the rights to the film, they expressed an interest in distributing it through their Obsidian Home Entertainment company, which is based at the couple's New Millennium Studios in Petersburg, Va.

"The Spook Who Sat By the Door is arguably one of the most significant Black films ever made," says Tim Reid. "We felt this movie was ahead of its time and deserved a wider audience. Even now, it stands out from the crowd in Black cinema."

The Reids digitally re-mastered the film, which will go into limited theatrical release in January 2004. The DVD will be available about the first of the year. The film also will premiere in early 2004 on the new Black-owned network TV One, where Reid serves as the senior supervising executive producer.

"It's a political thriller and a true Black classic," says Reid. "The film was banned from theaters and suppressed for over 30 years hidden in a vault in Hollywood...until now."

Lottie L. Joiner is senior editor of The Crisis.