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Nothing But a Man (1964)

Rate: 7
Viewed: 1/25

NothingMan
1/25: The message of Nothing But a Man is: it doesn't pay to be an "uppity nigger" in the Jim Crow South.

Hence, life sucks. It was sucking before then. So, why make things worse? That's pretty much what the slow-paced picture is about with everybody's head down. Sure, it's realistic, but the United States never cared. If it did, the government would've done something years ago. Yet it didn't, hence the rise of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. That took time, but things eventually changed for better.

While the photography is excellent, the acting passes muster. I'm not familiar with Ivan Dixon despite having seen A Raisin in the Sun and A Patch of Blue. He has done a fine job; his role was first turned down by Sidney Poitier and James Earl Jones. Abbey Lincoln is no actress, but she's better here than in For Love of Ivy.

There's only one face that stood out in the crowd at the beginning, and I thought it was him before checking online. Yep, it's Yaphet Kotto in his screen debut, setting off a long career in Hollywood. Ditto for Julius Harris as Duff's father. And yep, that's Esther Rolle singing in the church. This is the first film to use music from Motown Records.

There's something I don't understand. If Duff's friends were around, that meant they're still working on the railroad, and one of them said there were five weeks left to complete the job. So, why didn't Duff continue with it? That's eighty dollars per week...better than two to three dollars a day that everybody else was paying. I hate to say this, but the black couple should've moved to north if they want a better life.

All in all, Nothing But a Man is the perfect choice if you want to know what it is like being a black person in the Jim Crow South.