THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR (1973)

Politically provocative, cinematically challenged, actor-turned-director Ivan Dixon’s underground intellectual Blaxploitation pic quickly disappeared from theaters before gaining a niche cult over the decades.*  Once only available on rare subfusc VHS copies, it was saved in the ‘90s and is now getting a refurb look at this year’s ‘virtual’ New York Film Fest.  The set up, co-scripted by Sam Greenlee from his novel, is a promising stab at a sort of INVISIBLE MAN @ the C.I.A.  (Ralph Ellison not  H.G. Wells.)  Trying for some belated racial diversity, the C.I.A. digs up ten finalists to compete for a position as the first Black agent, secretly counting on none making the cut.  But when one does, acing tests & acting the ‘Uncle Tom’ to curry favor as necessary, they’ve no choice but to find a slot for their upstanding Afro-American token.  Unfortunately for the film, the choice is little-known/charisma-free Lawrence Cook, a deadweight the film never recovers from.  And the film was already in the doldrums with Dixon unable to make the training sessions & personality clashes register: service comedy, group talks on Black identity issues, budding up to ‘The Man’ or holding a distance, a myriad of missed opportunities for social commentary & satire.  (Though nice to have Cook end up as receptionist where this ‘invisible man’ will be on constant display.)  Then the film reboots when Cook abruptly quits the service and heads home to Chicago where he hopes to finally get some use out of his Langley education pulling together a ragtag corp of Black Power anarchists to overthrow the entrenched 'White Authority'; organizing a city for/of/by the Blacks; using their special powers of hiding in plain sight as Black custodians, the ultimate Invisible Men . . . no one will know what hit them.  Take that, Ralph Ellison!  Finally, Dixon starts to deliver some clever low-budget set pieces as riots start up; the undertrained, inadequate National Guard shows up (target practice for Cook’s men); even a police shooting of a kid and some proto-Black Lives Matter protests.  It’s not great guerilla filmmaking, Dixon is no Costa-Gavras, with fighting tactics & goals left hopelessly vague (Dixon soon shifted to tv series work), but much in here remains timely.

DOUBLE-BILL: *Something of an ‘arthouse’ Blaxploitation pic, along with PUTNEY SWOPE/’69 and SWEET SWEETBACK’S BAADASSSSS SONG/’71.

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: With so few opportunities for Black actors in starring roles, why the weak cast?  Were qualified actors warned off by mainstream agents?  Was there an informal ban?  Or just too financially iffy?