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Pretty Good

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Since seeing the gorgeous Marki Bey in Sugar Hill I have been meaning to take a look at the Blaxploitation genre,but have never got round to gathering enough titles for a viewing fest of the genre.Talking to a family friend over the weekend about the genre,he mentioned to me a number of Blaxploitation films that he was after,which led to me getting ready to finally take a close look at the genre.The plot:Being unable to deal with a spree of robbers at their underground crap shot games,hustlers Chalky and Pete decide to hire "T",a private investigator who is known for solving trouble that the cops won't touch. Initially having some doubts,T accepts the job in order to keep the streets calm.Going undercover at the games,T is caught up in the middle of a robbery.Unknown to T,Chalky & Pete have set a trap,by arranging the robberies themselves in order to gain power over the leading gangster of the city called Big. Kidnapping Big's main henchman,Pete & Chalky dress him in the same clothes as the robbers. Killing Big's henchman at the robbery that T is caught in, Chalky and Pete contact the police and claim that T did the killing. Realising that he has been set-up,T sets his sights on giving Pete & Chalky a deadly roll of the dice.View on the film:Perfectly setting the mood, Marvin Gaye gives the film an icy score,with Gaye's delicate vocals and soft jazz strings being pinned down by a hard Funk beat which strikes every step T takes on the "hood."Looking absolutely dapper in every scene, Robert Hooks gives an excellent performance as T.Growing up in the "hood",Hooks gives T a charismatic,laid-back nature around the friends who he has spent his life knowing.Finding deceit where his loyalties lay,Hooks rips up T's relaxed attitude to replace it with a burning fury to outsmart all those trying to bring him down.Taking on Hooks,Paul Winfield gives a very good performance as Chalky,who Winfield makes to be a little too friendly,whilst Ralph Waite joyfully hisses as evil whitey Pete.Going from booking scum on the TV beat with Hawaii Five-O to walking the big screen walk,the screenplay by John D.F. Black hits cool cat happenings with a Film Noir stomp.Keeping the viewer ahead of T by showing Chalky & Pete set up their traps,Black builds up anticipation for T uncovering the set-up,as Black gives T a real trusting warmth towards his friends,which is ruined by Chalky's betrayal,which leads to Black unleashing T with a blistering force.For the gripping 30 minute final,director Ivan Dixon & cinematographer Michel Hugo largely keep the movie dialogue free,with Dixon and Hugo saying everything that needs to be said with dazzling Film Noir low-lighting and Blaxploitation pump-action shotgun tracking shots,which circle the unlucky foe facing T.Before getting to the finishing line,Dixon and Hugo give the title an enchantingly glamorous appearance,with bright disco lights,slick cars and sharp suits being covered in shards of burning blood reds,as the gun- welding,kung-fu fighting Mr.T shows that when he brings his "A" game,there is no need for an "A"-Team.

There's nothing particularly distinguished about the blaxploitation actioner "Trouble Man", but it does entertain. A bad ass Robert Hooks plays a character named Mr. T - around a decade before somebody else made that moniker famous - in the story of a cool, calm, and collected problem solver. He's hired by two criminals, Chalky (Paul Winfield) and Pete (Ralph Waite, a long way from 'The Waltons'), to find out the identities of the thieves who have been holding up their gambling operations.Mr. T finds out that things aren't as they seem. We in the audience get tipped off as to where things are heading, early on. Ordinarily this would present a problem as the viewer might get tired of waiting for our hero to play catch up, but T is such a good and smart character that we don't much mind. In the meantime, director Ivan Dixon (also an actor in things like "Car Wash") serves up respectable doses of action and suspense. The screenplay concocted by executive producer John D.F. Black is fairly uncomplicated and consistently enjoyable. The dialogue is often quite amusing. As with so many films in this genre, one of the greatest joys turns out to be the music score. The man responsible for the score in this instance is the soul legend Marvin Gaye.The largely black cast is full of terrific actors. Hooks displays a lot of poise in the lead role, and one may wish that he had had more starring vehicles over the years. Paula Kelly is appealing as his loving girlfriend Cleo. William Smithers does fine as the disapproving white cop who is suspicious of T, who doesn't appear to have a steady source of income but has nice things. Winfield is excellent, as is a perfectly slimy Waite. Julius Harris lends his authoritative presence as a crime boss - unimaginatively named Big. Other familiar faces include singer / actor Bill Henderson, Stack Pierce, Lawrence Cook, Virginia Capers, Tracy Reed, Felton Perry, John Crawford, Gordon Jump, Jeannie Bell, and Harrison Page.The rousing finale and sense of humour help to make this well worth a viewing.Seven out of 10.

Mr T. (no, a different one) runs a small pool hall but his main work is as a local fixer and investigator. T gets approached by two local gang leaders – they run a joint craps game and they are getting hit by unknown others, robbing them and getting away clean. T agrees to investigate but nothing is as it seems and soon T finds himself in the middle of a gang war with the police looking at him for every body dropped. Like many films of this genre and period, you could pretty much play bingo with a card full of things you expect to find. Trouble Man starts out strong in this regard; a soul soundtrack from Marvin Gaye, a tough black lead that the ladies love and the men respect/fear, villainous whites and so on; it does what you expect from blaxploitation, the only question is whether it does anything good with them. The answer is "sort of". The film has a decent enough plot and plenty of action but it delivers it too flatly and without enough genuine danger. T is cool and tough but it would have been good for him to at least break a sweat at some point. As it is everything can be handled and this smooth as silk effect means I didn't get too involved since I knew everything would always be fine.The delivery is solid despite this, with sharp images and decent sets. The acting varies. Hooks is cool but doesn't quite have the presence I wanted – he is a bit too gruff without the charisma to back it up. Winfield is good as Chalky and plays well through the film. Bill Henderson is solid in support, as is Harris (who you'll recognize from Bond movie Live and Let Die). The goons do their thing but generally the main cast are OK – by the genre standards anyway.Quite a decent genre film then; I would have liked it to do more than just tick boxes (which is sort of what it feels like it is doing) but it has enough solid moments about it to make it watchable if not actually memorable or particularly special.

Robert Hooks stars as one sharp dressing, pool hustling, coke drinking, lady pleasing, bad-ass private eye in this cool and groovy seventies blaxploitation classic.As the film title suggests, trouble is very much afoot here after our man becomes embroiled in a potential gang war between rival factions, after one side hires him to find out who has been ripping off their low rent gambling dens. Matters become even more complex when our hero subsequently ends up being framed for a murder. None too pleased with being made the scapegoat however, our man subsequently sets out to get revenge which he does.....in violent style!Chock full of snazzy dialogue, cool music, and some fine action sequences, this is great stuff from beginning to blood soaked end. Hooks is especially cool in his role which makes it somewhat of a shame that there were never any sequels produced as for instance other similarly strong black protagonists of the time such as Shaft and Slaughter enjoyed. Oh well, as it stands, our hero in this is equally as memorable. Be sure to check this out.