The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973)

This is one of the undiscovered treasures of cinema people, if you haven't seen it you need to. They never paid for one permit and they did this movie for about $90,000USD, but they don't skip a beat. Same editor as Schindler's List; if you watch the movie you can tell why Spielberg uses this guy, he is a master.Even if you don't agree with the films message you have to agree that this is one of thee finest made independent films in existence, and considering the subject matter it is a surprise this film was ever shot, because the book had a pretty hard time getting published too.I think this film is everything Melvin Van Peebles wanted SweetBack to be.

This movie will make you think. What if an ordinary citizen joined the CIA with an agenda and was then able to carry it out? The believability of the storyline is what makes this so chilling. Even though the movie was released 31 years ago the idea is still fresh. Lawrence Cook was a one man show, playing an intelligent, accomplished and intense individual who becomes the first African American to join the CIA. There was not a hint of flash or style with him. Instead, he was like your brother or next door neighbor, the last person you would expect to start a revolution. The last line of the movie says it all.When I read this book in High School, it quickly became one of my favorites. Now, as a movie it is an even more vivid reminder of the importance of never underestimating your opponent. When a motive is strong enough and that motive meets opportunity, watch out!

Okay, by the low budget standards of blaxploitation films-- say, Three The Hard Way, which also deals with revolution on a cartoon level-- this is relatively intelligent, even witty (the idea that black men can sneak in anywhere-- as long as they look like janitors), and not full of howlingly silly things. That said, like Ganja and Hess it has been wildly overrated just because it's not ridiculous; it still has the snail's pace, relative lack of action and just-better-than-Oscar- Micheaux production values that mark the 70s genre. Say what you will about today's gangsta exploitation movies, they've got film-school style and a snappy pace even when they have nothing else.

I viewed this film in a Pan African Studies class at California State University, Northridge in 1993. Professor James Dennis who was a Civil Rights activist who made the Mississippi Freedom Rides told us this was the best film about and by African-Americans, and I agree with him wholeheartedly! I would like to get this video and show it in the classes I teach in history. This film was ahead of its time. Sam Greenelee is a very good writer and captures the essence of the struggle for African-Americans.