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Trouble Man
[20th Century Fox]
1972; color
Directed by Ivan Dixon
Starring: Robert Hooks, Paul Winfield, Ralph Waite, William Smithers, Paula Kelly, Julius Harris & Bill Henderson
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Trouble Man stars Robert Hooks as Mr. T. (The original Mr. T; not the mohawked, gold chain-wearing, ex-bouncer / toughman competitor turned actor who came on the scene a few years after this was filmed.) T. - which may or may not stand for Trouble, man, because that's what you'll be in if you get on his bad side - is kind of like a neighborhood godfather, holding court at the local pool hall and dictating to his flunkies who should be called to pull what strings to help someone out of a jam. (He's not a completely benevolent godfather though because, when the time is appropriate, he knows how to be very persuasive to get the job done.) Two locals, Chalky and Pete, who run a floating crap game that keeps getting robbed, enlist T to help them figure out who's behind the robberies and stop them from happening. He doesn't really trust either of them but reluctantly agrees and, soon enough, witnesses not only a robbery but the shooting of one of the robbers as well. In an interesting coincidence, he's charged with the shooting only a couple hours later. Needless to say, this trumped up charge only piques his interest in the whole thing even further. He talks to "Mr. Big," the local hood who controls all the action and seems to be behind everything, but Big denies all of it - which is actually the truth. As the plot winds around, T sets up a meeting between Big and Chalky and Pete to get to the bottom of things. When the meeting is broken up by fake cops shooting Big (with T's gun no less), he figures out Chalky and Pete have been setting him up all along to take the fall so they can move him out of the way and control the whole territory. Clearly this means it's time for some trouble to rain down on these two and their goons, and that's what T proceeds to do in a precise and lethal fashion. (All with guns secretly lifted from the police evidence locker, which he just as secretly returns when he's done.) Trouble Man, although it's a bit confusing plot-wise, has all the hallmarks of a classic blaxploitation flick. From the LA hood (read: Compton) setting to the grooooovy fashions to the Marvin Gaye soundtrack, if you're looking for a movie with jive, jive turkeys and honky muthafuckas, look no further.
—the Kommandant
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