Last night I pulled out my DVD and re-watched the 1973 film  The Spook Who Sat by the Door.

The central plot of the film is Dan Freeman becomes the CIA’s first black officer but the processing is in reality nothing more than a stunt to lift a Senator’s sagging re-election prospects. After enduring years of racism and menial assignments Freeman resigns from the Agency and returns as a social worker to his home the mean streets of Chicago. However, Freeman has no intention of being a mere cog in the vast system and subverts his old street gang and utilizing his training from the Agency begins crafting a violent Black Liberation movement. Along the way his relationships with former lovers and close friends are tested by his radicalism and when Freeman’s devotion to his cause comes with a terrible price he doesn’t hesitate to pall in full.

Given the unrest, protests, and injustice currently flowering in our nation this film has been mentioned by several podcasts I listen to prompting me to revisit the movie. Laboring under budget and resource constraints the director, Ivan Dixon best known for his role as an actor in the sit-com Hogan’s Heroes, manages to produce a film that is tight, compelling, and without any fat. Watching the film, it is impossible to determine if the conservative directorial choices area  product of limitations or are an influence from Dixon’s long television career, either way Dixon’s makes the most of limited camera set-up and location to explore the characters and their conflicts. The only major weakness in the script is the late introduction of Freeman’s close friend Dawson, played with screen-grabbing presences by J.A. Preston. Given the emotional weight the character brings to the story and the powerful final scenes the film would have been better served introducing him in the first act along with a little revelation of Freeman’s personal history.

The film, though inducted into the National Film Registry for its cultural and historical importance, is not available on any rental or streaming service and to watch it you much, as I did, buy the DVD.

With the resurgence of racially challenging media in the wake of Get Out’s astounding financial success, there is a new adaptation of the novel in development as a series but it is unknown if this will be executed as a period piece or if the event will be transposed into the current day. I think it should remain a period piece, if for no other reason than as a faithful adaptation of the source material.

I have discovered that there is a documentary about the production of the movie Infiltrating Hollywood: The Making of The Spook Who Sat by the Door, but so far, I have been unable to locate a copy, damn it.