On N List of Movie Reviews
(For optimum viewing, adjust the zoom level of your browser to 125%.)
Nothing But a Man (1964)
Rate:
7
Viewed:
1/25
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 in spite of
having seen A Raisin in the Sun and
A Patch of Blue. He has done a fine job here; his role was
first turned down by Sidney Poitier and James Earl Jones. Abbey Lincoln is no actress, but she's better
this time compared to 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 that's also Esther Rolle singing in the
church. This is the first film to use music from Motown Records.
There's something that I don't understand. If Duff's friends were around, it 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
him. I hate to say this, but the black couple should've moved to the North if they want a better life.
All in all, Nothing But a Man is a fine choice if you want to know what it's like being a
black person in the Jim Crow South.