Unless the author of the original novel Jesse Hill Ford who also contributed to the screenplay meant the liberation from life with death for the title character, I'm not sure what The Liberation Of L.B. Jones is all about. Certainly Roscoe Lee Browne comes closer to sainthood than Sidney Poitier ever did in his work which is the usual criticism directed toward Poiter films.
Browne is L.B. Jones, town undertaker who is married to a young slut of a wife in Lola Falana. She's openly carrying on with white deputy Anthony Zerbe and she's even been knocked up by Zerbe. The problem for Browne is that if he goes for a divorce and he's finally had enough to do that, the relationship comes out in the open and Zerbe does have a wife and kids. She's obviously not the one giving him a spring in his step however.
Enter Yaphett Kotto who's come back to town on a mission of his own, he wants to kill Zerbe's partner Arch Johnson for the murder of a 13 year old kid some years back that Kotto witnessed. Shades of the infamous murder of Emmett Till. He's taking a Hamlet like approach to doing the deed until Jones is killed by Zerbe.
The Liberation Of L.B. Jones was done in those transitional days when the new civil rights law and voting rights act were making radical changes in the South. Helping to adapt the screenplay is Stirling Silliphant who did the same for the much better In The Heat Of The Night. The fault lies I think in that Roscoe Lee Browne for what he put up with ought to be listed in the Book of Martyrs. The heavy handed symbolism in the end with Browne being hung in the junkyard like a crucifiction was over the top.
The whites in this story, especially those in the establishment fail miserably. From Mayor Dub Taylor, to sheriff Ray Teal, to city attorney Lee J. Cobb they all are far more concerned with order than law. And order translates keeping the black population in their place.
Lola Falana really makes the film work in her scenes though. What a sexy morsel she was back then. She was more interested in the nightclub scene than films however, had her priorities been the other way she could easily have been promoted as a black Rita Hayworth.
The Liberation of L.B. Jones is a downbeat film both in content and the way it's presented. Not a bad film, but William Wyler the director should have had Funny Girl as his swansong.
Browne is L.B. Jones, town undertaker who is married to a young slut of a wife in Lola Falana. She's openly carrying on with white deputy Anthony Zerbe and she's even been knocked up by Zerbe. The problem for Browne is that if he goes for a divorce and he's finally had enough to do that, the relationship comes out in the open and Zerbe does have a wife and kids. She's obviously not the one giving him a spring in his step however.
Enter Yaphett Kotto who's come back to town on a mission of his own, he wants to kill Zerbe's partner Arch Johnson for the murder of a 13 year old kid some years back that Kotto witnessed. Shades of the infamous murder of Emmett Till. He's taking a Hamlet like approach to doing the deed until Jones is killed by Zerbe.
The Liberation Of L.B. Jones was done in those transitional days when the new civil rights law and voting rights act were making radical changes in the South. Helping to adapt the screenplay is Stirling Silliphant who did the same for the much better In The Heat Of The Night. The fault lies I think in that Roscoe Lee Browne for what he put up with ought to be listed in the Book of Martyrs. The heavy handed symbolism in the end with Browne being hung in the junkyard like a crucifiction was over the top.
The whites in this story, especially those in the establishment fail miserably. From Mayor Dub Taylor, to sheriff Ray Teal, to city attorney Lee J. Cobb they all are far more concerned with order than law. And order translates keeping the black population in their place.
Lola Falana really makes the film work in her scenes though. What a sexy morsel she was back then. She was more interested in the nightclub scene than films however, had her priorities been the other way she could easily have been promoted as a black Rita Hayworth.
The Liberation of L.B. Jones is a downbeat film both in content and the way it's presented. Not a bad film, but William Wyler the director should have had Funny Girl as his swansong.