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Trouble Man
Trouble Man
	Theatrical film poster
Directed by	Ivan Dixon
Written by	John D. F. Black
Produced by	John D. F. Black; Joel Freeman
Starring	Robert Hooks; Paul Winfield; Paula Kelly
Cinematography	Michel Hugo
Edited by	Michael Kahn
Music by	Marvin Gaye
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	November 1, 1972;
Running time	99 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Trouble Man is a 1972 American blaxploitation crime thriller film directed by Ivan Dixon and produced and released by 20th Century Fox. The film stars Robert Hooks as "Mr. T.", a hard-edged private detective who tends to take justice into his own hands. It is still of note today for its soundtrack, written, produced and performed by Marvin Gaye.^[1]

Plot summary

An inner-city point man is on the run from both the cops and the crooks in this streetwise drama. T (Robert Hooks) is a combination pool shark, private detective, and all-purpose ghetto fixer who operates out of a billiards parlor in South Central Los Angeles. T has done well for himself—he buys a fancy new car every year, wears expensive suits, and lives in an upscale apartment. But, he also looks out for folks in South Central, has lukewarm connections with both the police and gangsters, and generally knows how to tell the good guys from the bad guys on either side of the law. T is approached by Chalky (Paul Winfield) and his partner, Pete (Ralph Waite), who run floating dice games in the neighborhood. Chalky tells T they've been ripped off several times by a group of four robbers, and they want to hire him to find out who the masked stick-up men are.

T takes it as a routine assignment and is willing to do the job for the right price. What he does not know is that Chalky and Pete are trying to take down rival crime kingpin Big (Julius Harris). They frame T for the killing of one of Big's underlings, who is shot by Chalky moments after a dice game is robbed by four men (T was present at the hold-up). An anonymous informant fingers T for the killing and makes him the target for Big and for LAPD captain Joe Marx (William Smithers), who dislikes T on principle. That sets off a series of cunning twists and confrontations that T is determined to survive, which became complicated when Big is shot and killed in front of T.

Cast

Robert Hooks as Mr. T
Paul Winfield as "Chalky" Price
Ralph Waite as Pete Cockrell
William Smithers as Captain Joe Marx
Paula Kelly as Cleo
Julius Harris as "Big"
Bill Henderson as Jimmy
Wayne Storm as Frank
Akili Jones as Billy Chi
Vince Howard as Preston
Stack Pierce as Collie
Nathaniel Taylor as Leroy
Lawrence Cook as Buddy
Virginia Capers as Macy
Rick Ferrell as Pindar
James "Texas Blood" Brown as Wesley
Gordon Jump as Salter
Jean Bell as Leona

Production

The film was written and executive produced by John D. F. Black, who had co-written Shaft (1971). Black, who had written for various television shows such as Johnny Staccato, hoped to cash in on the trend set by that film. This was the directorial debut of Ivan Dixon, who had become a director in 1970 after trying to hone his craft by asking questions when acting on Hogan's Heroes.^[2]

Black and his wife were interviewed about the making of the film in 2019 for the podcast The Projection Booth.^[3]

Critical reception

The film was featured in the 1978 Harry Medved book, The Fifty Worst Films of All Time.^[4] In contrast, Complex included Trouble Man on its 2009 list of "The 50 Best Blaxploitation Movies of All Time".^[5]

New York Times reviewer Vincent Canby described it as "a horrible movie, but worth thinking about."^[6]

Jimi Izrael of NPR called Trouble Man "a strong film" but one that "never had an entry point for mainstream audiences to grasp."^[1]

In other media

The soundtrack of the film is referred to in the film Captain America: The Winter Soldier^[7] and the associated TV series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier as being essential listening for Steve Rogers in understanding the modern world as it is described as "a masterpiece" that "captures the African-American experience".^[8]

References

^ ^a ^b Izrael, Jimi (December 14, 2012). "'Trouble Man' At 40: A Classic, But Where's Its Cult?". NPR. Archived from the original on May 16, 2017. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
^ "Trouble Was His Business: 50 Years of Trouble Man". 17 November 2022. Archived from the original on 9 February 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
^ "Episode 404: Trouble Man (1972)". Archived from the original on 2023-02-09. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
^ Medved, Harry; Dreyfuss, Randy (1984). Fifty Worst Films of All Time. ISBN 0446381195.
^ "The 50 Best Blaxploitation Movies of All Time". Complex. October 1, 2009.
^ Canby, Vincent (2 November 1972). "'Trouble Man' Arrives". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 31 January 2024. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
^ Ricks, Mark (21 October 2019). "Why Did Falcon recommend Trouble Man in Captain America: The Winter Soldier?". Mark Ricks. Archived from the original on 8 October 2024. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
^ "The Falcon and The Winter Soldier episode 3". DisneyPlus. Retrieved 26 April 2023.