Uptight *** (1968, Raymond St Jacques, Ruby Dee, Julian Mayfield, Frank Silvera, Roscoe Lee Brown, Janet MacLachlan, Max Julien, Juanita Moore) – Classic Movie Review 7991

Producer/director Jules Dassin boldly remakes John Ford’s 1935 classic The Informer in 1968 as Uptight, with an African American cast headed by Raymond St Jacques, Ruby Dee, Julian Mayfield, Frank Silvera, Roscoe Lee Brown, Janet MacLachlan, Max Julien and Juanita Moore.

The director and stars Mayfield and Dee rewrote Liam O’Flaherty’s source novel for their new screenplay. O’Flaherty’s story and Ford’s film were based on the Irish rebellion against the English in the early Twenties, but it was Dassin’s plan to remake The Informer with an all-black cast and set it in inner-city America. He saw black-white relations in the US in the Sixties as a reflection of the original situation and setting, with the idea of history repeating itself . 

Julian Mayfield plays Tank Williams, the street cleaner who betrays his band of African American militant revolutionaries, who then seek revenge.

This intriguing thriller is tough, tense and sometimes exciting, with powerful acting pacing the movie across the dull patches of dialogue.

Also in the cast are Dick Anthony Williams, Michael Baselson, Ji-Tu Cumbuka, John Wesley, Ketty Lester, Robert DoQui, Leon Bibb, James Mceachin and Vernett Allen.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7991

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