Trouble Man (1972)

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Gripping story with well-crafted characters

Disturbing yet enthralling

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

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.

Robert Hooks as Mr. T is a skilled and licensed private eye with contacts in the underground gambling scene (higher stakes crap games) in 1970s Los Angeles. He's cool enough to have both the crooks and the cops trying to figure out what his next move will be. He finds out about an intense competition for the illicit gambling business between a faction led by an impressively sleazy Ralph Waite and his seemingly junior partner played by Paul Winfield and another cool character named Big (Julius Harris) who operates the other syndicate. The black actors play tough parts but so do Waite and the white actors who play his protection, wielding some nifty looking sawed off shotguns. The movie is directed with a pace that moves along well by Ivan Dixon, though some of the stuff Mr. T pulls off is a bit too cool to be believed. But most of Trouble Man looks to be shot on actual locations in the classic color cinematography of the 1970s capturing seedy LA's early 70s essence.

Trouble Man 6 out of 10: Lovers of Seventies high fashion will be in heaven in this blaxploitation film. All the finest Italian suits (many of which still look good today unlike most seventies fashions) are on display as well as that horrible interior decorating (Mirrors as wallpaper seems top be a theme as well as burnt orange and brown.) Also on display is a wonderful sense of cool.Mr. T (a low key "cool" performance by Robert Hooks) fights of both Chalky (the always watchable Paul Winfield) as well as Mr. Big. (Julius Harris) and assorted lowlifes that clearly don't have his fashion sense (Bad seventies fashion is copious on our antagonists.) The movie is a pretty straightforward affair and is filmed almost as a seventies television crime drama rather than a true blaxploitation film. It has neither the intensity nor the plotting of a good 70's crime story such as Across 110th St or The Talking of Pelham 123 nor does it feature the sleaze of a Shaft in Africa or Coffey (Or dozens of lesser efforts.) There is basically no sex (despite Playboy Playmate Paula Kelly as the love interest) and the violence is subdued (fake blood gunshots are about it). The "R" rating is most likely theme or language induced. It really wouldn't be out of place as an ABC movie of the week.Trouble Man is generally well done (How this made Medved's 50 Worst Films of all Time book is beyond me) fast paced and it is certainly worth a rent. At the very least there are wonderful fun moments such as WKRP's Gordon Jump in duel roles as well as a shooting in front of a mirror that was lifted 8 years later by Scarface. And of course there are those $500 Italian suits. How can you not be cool wearing those?

"Mr. T", aka "Mr Trouble", aka "Trouble Man" (Robert Hooks) is the kind of guy who can do it all: run interference in the underworld, kung fu bad guys, schmooze it up with the cops, beat a pool shark at his own game, fake a crime scene, invade a gang's hideout, intimidate a landlord, and look good doing it to, baby. Mr. T takes a job from Paul Winfield (!) and Pa Walton himself, Ralph Waite (!!!) to find out who's been knocking over their crap games. Everything's not as it seems, though, and before you know it ol' Mr. T's in a world of hurt.Amiable blaxploitation epic doesn't have a lot of action, really: it's more content to cruise along with a sense of style and a hip attitude. Both are pretty well conveyed, though. Even better is the script, which, while no masterpiece, is tight and complicated: you do have to pay attention to keep aware of what's exactly going on and who's messing with who. (It's interesting that such a level of craft was devoted to what was essentially throwaway B product. If only people cared that much about today's throwaway B product. ) Classic Marvin Gaye soundtrack.