One of the most exciting times in my life was running into Baba Sam Greenlee near the DuSable Museum of African American History in Chicago. He was humble, unassuming, and generous with his time. I recall being distressed when I realized that Mr. Greenlee scrapes by with virtually no income. We really should do better by our elders...
The screen adaption of Sam Greenlee's Spook Who Sat by the Door is one of my all-time favorite movies. It is what black media should be. The plot: a black man infiltrates the CIA, quits, trains local black gangs in military tactics to bring down da Man.
Greenlee also wrote Baghdad Blues, a quasi-memoir of his previous career as a foreign service officer during the late 50s (?) in Iraq. A key theme in the book is the historical moment wherein Iraqi and African American revolution intersected on a the larger geopolitical canvas of the "third world" non-alignment movement.
Mr. Greenlee calls his craft "guerilla filmmaking"--a shorthand description of how a filmmaker must navigate around the many barriers erected to discourage politically informed and socially conscious revolutionary black filmmaking:
Freedom Dues
If we're gonna be outsiders, man, take advantage of being outside. If you wanna be a rich ho, then go to Hollywood. If you wanna say something true about black people, then do what we did. Raise the money from the black community and shoot what you want.
— Sam Greenlee, "One on One"
Yes, they do make good athletes.
— General (Byron Morrow), The Spook Who Sat By the Door
"The bling blings are looking for a white audience," says Sam Greenlee in an interview included on Monarch's DVD of The Spook Who Sat By the Door. "My audience is not white." Comparing his own experience with today's hiphoppish excesses, Greenlee is understandably skeptical of commercial processes. Writer of the 1966 novel on which Ivan Dixon's 1973 film is based, Greenlee's frustrations with history between then and now are palpable.
The Spook Who Sat By the Door remains one of the few uncompromised representations of black armed resistance in the United States. Dewayne Wickham,USA Today columnist, provides context in the DVD's introduction to the film: "It was a story of aggressive reaction to white oppression." On its initial release, the film garnered mixed responses. Whereas, according Wickham, "There was violent reaction in some parts of white America," for many black viewers, it was a wakeup call. Theaters in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and Oakland sold out for the three weeks the film was in release. Greenlee and Dixon contend that the FBI pressured the distributor to pull the film (in keeping with other tactics deployed the Bureau's COINTELPRO [Counter Intelligence Program]).
Read entire review here.
Listen to W.E. A.L.L. B.E. interview of Mr. Greenlee 10pm east coast time (EST) here.
Read W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Blog entry on Sam Greenlee here.
Topic: The Spook Who Sat By The Door 40 Years Later: A Conversation With Sam Greenlee
Featured Guest...
The Honorable Bro. Sam Greenlee
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