User Reviews

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS PLOT SPOILERS---

United Artists released this film in 1960, in the midst of Civil Rights-era social turmoil in the United States. Johnny Nash is Spencer, "Spence" to his friends, a 17-year old boy who's looking at graduating high school later this year. He lives with his parents and his maternal grandmother. Spence's dad, Lem, is a bank teller; Spence's mom, May, is a homemaker, but the family also has a maid, Christine (Ruby Dee). You see, Spence's dad earns enough of a living to give his family a middle-class lifestyle, having apparently moved to a suburban locale from the inner-city at least a few years ago. It's inferred that the move took place perhaps just before Spence hit middle school. Additionally, Spence's father may well have a college education, but it is subtly implied that being a teller is as far as he's allowed to advance at the bank.

As the movie opens, Spence's birthday is around the corner, but he's not feeling too enthusiastic. Like a lot of boys his age, Spence is thinking about the future: what is he going to do with his life? Perhaps more important for Spence, where does he belong? You see, Spence's teen angst is aggravated by the culture shock of being black in an all-white community (it's not explicitly stated, but it seems to be suburban Philadelphia or somewhere on the Northeast coast). Hanging around with his white friends was fine before puberty hit. But all of a sudden, because of his race, he's the odd man out when it comes to trying to socialize with the opposite sex. On top of that, he apparently has to cope with other classmates who like to make sly remarks. Things come to a head when Spence mouths off to a bigoted teacher. He gets labeled as a "troublemaker" and is suspended, with risk of expulsion.

Lem and May want Spence to apologize, but he refuses; the only person on Spence's side is his Grandma, who is rather blunt spoken (and not above ethnic slurs herself). Grandma understands that Spence has become alienated, and criticizes his parents for pushing him to assimilate above all else. The ongoing conflict at home becomes too much for Spence, who decides to run away. He finds his way to the inner city where he drifts to a couple of bars, and pretends to be older. Despite this, Spence's greenness is too obvious to most of the people he encounters. Ultimately, he's picked up by a hooker desperate for cash; but Spence just wants to vent about his problems, and the lady of the night has little patience. She kicks him out of her apartment with only bus fare to get home.

Back at home, Grandma's condition takes a turn for the worse, and she dies. Feeling more alone than ever, Spence finally turns to Christine for advice, especially about women. Soon, May abruptly decides to fire Christine; partly this is because of monetary concerns, and partly because she knows her son is attracted to her. Once again struck with anger and frustration, Spence races to the local bus stop to see Christine one more time, and she gives him some wise words about his grandmother and his overall malaise: "If you weren't black, you wouldn't have gotten to know your grandma.."

Back home again, Spence's mom throws a birthday party, and Spence almost skips it, but he finally come to an understanding with his parents about his feelings, and for once, looks forward to the future.

Analysis- That the filmmakers chose to directly address the complicated issues of being black in America was arguably a bold step for a mainstream studio (United Artists/MGM). Johnny Nash's acting career stalled not long after this (though he became a prominent reggae/pop crooner, known for the easy listening hit, "I Can See Clearly Now"), but Beah Richards and Ruby Dee had distinguished roles as character actresses, pioneers for blacks in the profession. The pivotal role of Estelle Helmsley as Grandma is fascinating to watch.

The dilemma of Jim Crow-era black middle-class aspiration is handled admirably, but awkwardly. The dialogue is rather dated by current standards, despite the presence of racial slurs. Ultimately, the film's conclusion ends on a note that defuses Spence's growing militancy, and his character's arc has a "work within the system" subtext. On the plus side, several key points are made, such as when Spence's dad remarks on having to service bigoted clients at the bank, or Spence's mother recalls working for (and perhaps now, socializing with) bigoted whites; Spence's parents not wanting him to damage their status as 'decent folk' (read: unthreatening) to the neighbors; Spence embodying a creeping sense of self-loathing that comes with being racially ostracized, not to mention his romantic frustrations of not having any 'real' dating options. Despite the time-specific setting, several of these issues have varying degrees of relevance in today's culture.

Trivia: Bernie Hamilton, the future Captain Dobey from "Starsky & Hutch", has a bit role here in a bar scene.

I suppose Johnny Nash may sometimes get a little tired of everyone mentioning "I Can See Clearly Now", as if it's the only hit record he ever had. But recently I heard that wonderful song again (possibly one of the best recordings ever made) and decided to do a little online research about Johnny. There's not much there; apparently he's a very private person. But, I discovered he had made one film -- this one -- and decided to order it.

Apparently this film was seen as being very provocative back in 1959 and had trouble being distributed, even though it was produced by Burt Lancaster's company. Today, of course, it seems pretty tame.

There are problems here. And I blame them entirely on the director and the screenwriters. Some of the dialog -- particularly in the opening scenes of the film -- is just pathetic. Fortunately, it improves. Some of the staging is a bit awkward, again, particularly early in the film.

In terms of the acting, Johnny does okay here. I think he could have turned into a very good actor. I wonder why he didn't go further in that field.

Estelle Hemsley is superb as the grandmother (despite some of the dialog) and was nominated for a supporting actress award. Ruby Dee was building her career at this point, and is quite good as a maid. Frederick O'Neal, as the father...well, I was not impressed, and it seems as if he was more important in terms of the profession of acting than he was at actually acting...at least based on this film. One of my favorite supporting actress is here -- Beah Richards -- who I particularly remember from "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner"; here she plays the mother.

The underlying problem of this film is that it can't ever quite decide what it's trying to accomplish. It switches back and forth between being the story of a Black youth during the time of desegregation who is trying to fit into a mostly White culture. Other times, it becomes a coming of age story, a rather unseemly one at that.

Some of the later scenes are quite powerful, particularly when his mother (he is 18) tells him that he should know his place. That he should never talk back to a White woman...even if she is wrong in teaching about racism. About how his behavior could result in a lynching in the South. And how she wishes he had never been born.

While it's not a perfect movie, it really got me thinking about what we rarely see in films -- the story of the kids that lived through desegregation. Not the history part of it,, but the human part of it.

I felt that the ending was not well thought out. I guess it was saying that he finally realizes his home town situation is his past, that his future is education...at the state college, and although it is unsaid, the impression is that he realizes he will meet other Black students there.

The value here is not in what is, but how the film may get you thinking. Recommended.

And Johnny, thanks for being a special person.

This is a wonderful film about the tensions of growing up Black in what seems like another's Time and Space. Johnny Nash comes into his own as Spence Scott, an angry, troubled youth suffering from a bad case of African American culture shock. I agree with Mark Waltz that the problem is in the Exposition, where you never really get a good sense of Spence confronting the limits of his teacher's insight into the true roots of American Culture. Dialogue was a must here simply to size up the contrasting views of History from Black and White perspectives. It also would have been great to have his teacher be the likes of Virginia Mayo or even Jeanne Crain or Lauren Bacall to play up the Sexism angle. This would have made an excellent counterpoint to Spence's meeting with The Girl in the Bar played by Ellen Holly, who was straddling the fence between being a good middle class housewife to giving up her sexual virtue simply to pay the rent. But the natural cinematic prejudice for the visual over the verbal, as in other cases, holds sway here. A shame because here was a wasted opportunity to get inside and demonstrate what all the angst was about.

Spence grumbles about Frederick Douglass not being mentioned as contemporaneous with leading nineteenth century history makers. But how he got this information which is somehow beyond the ken of his teacher, is never fully explored. It is ostensibly suggested because he is too angry about it. This is an experience similar to what happened to me, but whereas I was simply mystified about it, Spence is shown from the very beginning to be boiling with rage. Strange too that his father, Lem Scott, as played by Frederick Douglass O'Neal does not seize this opportunity to go into more detail about this. I'll tell you one thing, it would have been interesting if he had gotten his information about Frederick Douglass from Lena Horne, Dorothy Dandridge or Eartha Kitt! But then, I suppose that tells you everything about the cultural atmosphere and its limits to growth in 1959.

The main thing this movie has going for it is its evocation of the critical and hostile environment that blacks find themselves consciously or unconsciously recreating in themselves and their surroundings due in large measure to their experiences on plantations and earlier than this on slave ships where they were at the behest of Slave Masters. One has to be curious and wonder how this has colored their behavior even in Modern Times. But here it seems to be suggested that this is beyond the scope of this medium at this time. It would have been interesting to hear Lem Scott and May Scott, as played by Beah Richards, sit down and have a heart to heart talk about the hidden contributions of African Americans to the American Empire and World Culture for that matter. But it seems to me that the main thing Spence's parents wanted to get across was how their son should comport himself so as to keep from getting lynched or causing them to have their house burned down!

It is also obvious that with Spence being 'the only one' who was black in his class or let's say charitably one of the few blacks at his high school, that many of the whites were fascinated with his presence there. Since he was a relatively good looking healthy male, this probably included even a few relatively good looking and healthy females. But this dimension of his sexual angst is off limits in this drama. And did you notice that as Spence moved from the all-white suburban environment to the all-black ghetto environment things immediately went South? He goes from the benefits of higher education and wholesome family life to the confines of a seedy bar and call girls! The subliminal message being that everything good the whites have and all the dregs are left for the blacks! Seems like a stereotype rearing its hoary head to me! Isn't possible that somewhere in the predominantly black environment there was also higher education and wholesome family life? Isn't it also possible that before Spence had mainly white friends here in suburbia that he might have had mainly black friends in his previous environment? Do you think it might have been interesting to explore whether or not his earlier friends ever made efforts to try and contact or visit him? Also, wouldn't it have been a dramatic moment to have Johnny, Bobby, Tony and Frank confront his old friends simply see what kind of cultural fireworks would go off? It wouldn't have to start on the street, it could have been during a debate between high schools or a chess tournament and then boil out into the streets!

But then I digress...

The point is producers Julius J. Epstein and executive producer Burt Lancaster had their hearts in the right place in dealing with what is still a highly charged subject. A subject which by all accounts has befuddled the wits and lowered the intelligence of even the most well meaning citizens. I for one was astonished to discover that Frederick Douglass O'Neal was such a force in American and British Theater and quite the activist as well. It reminds me of the line Ruby Dee, playing Christine the maid to the Scott family, utters to Spence as she catches her bus after receiving her walking papers. It's one of three great lines penned by Louis S. Peterson from his play and screenplay that are worth the price of admission. Estelle Hemsley is also a treat as Gram Martin, and I am glad I met her before she took her giant step...

Young Spence (Johnny Nash) is an intelligent and sensitive teen-aged black kid who stands up against ignorance in his mostly all white high school classroom, is caught smoking, and expelled. He must face the wrath of his parents and confides what happened to his beloved grandmother (the excellent Estelle Hemsley). His parents are not going to be understanding, he fears, and only his grandmother and the family maid (a young Rubby Dee) are interested in listening to what he has to say. After getting some money out of his grandma, he heads to the black neighborhood where he ends up in a bar and encounters a group of three argumentative roommates who are obviously hookers. After they leave, he meets the sweet-faced Ellen Holly, an attractive married woman who confesses, she too, has turned to prostitution as a way of getting money she needs since her husband, with his own two jobs, doesn't earn enough. He ends up in the room of one of the three roommates, and by this time his fears over the streets make him realize he has to return home to face the music. Once there, his father (Frederick O'Neal) lambastes him for his actions, while his slightly more understanding mother (the always excellent Beah Richards) tries to calm tensions, which isn't helped by Grandma's constant wisecracks towards her son-in-law. Tragedy strikes, and Nash must find a way to keep his pride yet find his place in a world he isn't sure he can make it in because of his race.

This is based on a basically forgotten play, which like "A Raisin in the Sun", is an amazing tale of a young man's coming of age. In "Raisin", the young man is an adult who hasn't fully emotionally matured, while here, the young man is a teenager who must face up to some sad facts about what life was then about for young blacks in middle-class America. Nash has young white friends, including the class nerd who is devoted to him unlike the others who have been forced to limit their contact with him because of their girlfriend's family prejudices. After an emotional outburst with his proud father, Spence sobs, "I realized you don't have to be black to be unhappy". His loving but emotionally distant father replied, "No, but it sure helps". The roles of the parents are well developed as an older generation fearful of changes they aren't ready for. The father tries his best to understand, but can't find the words to console his son or bring them closer. The mother holds in all of her frustrations until one key scene which results in an explosion that will guide the last 10 minutes of the film. Richards and O'Neal are both outstanding, and Nash is a real find as Spence. He is truly likable and yet not a one dimensional goody goody. His scenes with Hemsley are the highlight of the film. I was delighted to discover that Hemsley was nominated for a Golden Globe, as her performance is definitely award worthy.

In smaller roles, such familiar faces as Paulene Myers, Frances Foster and Ellen Holly are excellent. Fans of the early days of "One Life to Live" will be thrilled to see its original heroine, Carla Scott, in a major role. And yes, that is "Guiding Light's" Vera, who always referred to Alexandra Spauling as "Peanut", as one of the three roommates. This is a nice change from other teen movies of the era which were either rip-offs of "A Summer Place" or overloaded with stereotypical gangster characters, such as "The Delinquents". My only complaint is that it would have been dramatically wise to have included the confrontation in the opening scene rather than to have it be silent. But that's minor. This is a film worth exploring on many different levels. I certainly would not mind seeing this back on stage.