I've seen this movie twice and it touches me in a way that compels me to see it again and again. This film touches so many elements of poor southern existence that it feels more current than films made today. Though forty-one years later, with elements of the situational context dated, the film is eerily current. For example, with cotton-picking, day-working and railways section gangs replaced by newer working-class occupations, there remains a race-based hierarchy to life. NBAM brings to mind scenes from Crash minus the shock required for contemporary senses. I can only imagine what it was like to see this film when it was in the theater. As with so many genre-shifting and defing movies, watch it and the DVD extras section.
40 Reviews
Nothing, but one of the must see American films of the 60's.
brefane26 February 2009
Memorable and poignant, Nothing But a Man is one of the glories of independent film; groundbreaking rather than earth shattering, its refusal to sentimentalize or overstate demonstrates true integrity. The film apprehends the simple existence of an ordinary couple in difficult circumstance, and the performances of Ivan Dixon and lovely jazz singer Abbey Lincoln are superbly naturalistic, and a well chosen and evocative supporting cast lends absolute credibility. The direction, editing, and cinematography are all fine, and the dialog is simply and beautifully convincing. Don't miss this rarely shown and extraordinarily rewarding film that, along with Point Blank, Pretty Poison, Rachel,Rachel, The Naked Kiss, Night of the Living Dead, Lolita,Rosemary's Baby,and They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, remains one of the absolutes of 60's American cinema. The multi-talented Ivan Dixon directed The Spook Who Sat By the Door(73) and was on the 60's TV series Hogan"s Heroes.
Well Executed Film
haridam029 December 2006
Director/CoScriptor Michael Roemer is responsible for the overall look and feel of this sensitive drama. Part social commentary, this film depicts a touching, often sad portrait of Americana during a challenging historical period.
Heading the talented cast is Ivan Dixon as Duff, who nicely underplays his role, letting his expression emerge from within. Singer Abbey Lincoln is seen in a nice dramatic turn as his girlfriend turned wife, Josie. Julius Harris renders a moving performance as Duff's spent father.
Robert M. Young's atmospheric black and white cinematography is most striking. Having received excellent critical notices, the film apparently never found a wide audience, and has become a "forgotten gem." Fortunately, it's on DVD to be appreciated by a new generation--who will be educated as well.
Heading the talented cast is Ivan Dixon as Duff, who nicely underplays his role, letting his expression emerge from within. Singer Abbey Lincoln is seen in a nice dramatic turn as his girlfriend turned wife, Josie. Julius Harris renders a moving performance as Duff's spent father.
Robert M. Young's atmospheric black and white cinematography is most striking. Having received excellent critical notices, the film apparently never found a wide audience, and has become a "forgotten gem." Fortunately, it's on DVD to be appreciated by a new generation--who will be educated as well.
SENSITIVE PORTRAYAL OF FLAWED HERO
IboChild19 December 1998
Unlike other well-intentioned films of the period, NOTHING BUT A MAN presents the main character as neither saint nor scoundrel, but as a complex man with human contradictions. Ivan Dixon gives one of the best performances of his career as the lead character of Duff. A film of rare quality and subtlety.
A classic, must-see independent
padbrown17 January 2006
This is an excellent film, and I'm surprised it's not received more plaudits here. An exceptional movie, especially given the period in which it was made, about a young black man trying to "do the right thing" and make a life for himself in the South. Beautifully acted by everyone involved, Nothing But a Man lets you live the struggles that black men live(d) every day. The struggle to find a job, keep a job, be a man, raise a family, all while under the white shadow of racial bigotry. This is not a particularly uplifting film...you never get sense that everything will work out in the end, but because of this, the movie is all the more realistic. This is a CLASSIC, a true sleeper, that should be seen by everyone. The DVD version includes interviews with the cast and film makers 40 years later. In her interview, Abbey Lincoln seems to come undone while reflecting on the movie, the Struggle, and how little real progress has been made.
Terrific Film!
CreamoftheWheat17 September 2001
I thoroughly enjoyed "Nothing But a Man." Unlike other films before it, it shows black men and casts them in lead roles instead of sticking them in white circles. It is an excellent and faithful depiction of problems that blacks faced, such as maratial, familial, and social dilemmas. This film also focuses on black masculinity and what being a black man is about, and it highlights the struggle and contrast of being free and easy and not tied down as opposed to being married and struggling for one's dignity. The film itself is great for its neorealistic style. It is like a documentary in many respects. It is black & white, gritty, and has no soundtracks running (save the Motown and the gospel). Unlike the race films of Micheaux and Williams who used this documentary-style depiction to push their messages, Roemer fearlesssly shows the brutality and bleakness of African-American life, with an ending reminiscent of Orwell's 1984. I loved this movie. It is honest, non-patronizing, and accurate. I saw it in my ethnic cinema class, and I highly recommend it.
The Raging Bull of the 1960s
Aw-komon25 March 2000
Here's an American neo-realist masterwork that captures the temper of black consciousness in the south just prior to the mass upheavals of the era. Long before Scorsese made "Mean Streets" and "Raging Bull," Michael Roemer had made this great film. No other film dramatizes so profoundly the plight of a man whose basic human pride will not be compromised under any circumstances. Ivan Dixon as Duff gives one of the greatest performances in the history of cinema and Abbey Lincoln as Josie, the preacher's daughter he tries to settle down with, is just about perfect in control of nuance. These characters are extraordinary "ordinary" people, truly heroic; yet the tragedy that stalks them may or may not be hopeless at this time in history, due to an apparent shift in black consciousness, a general "fed-up-with-it-all" attitude that needs men like Duff to inspire itself. The entire cast is uniformly excellent and there are too many classic scenes to mention here. The film seems cut directly from the fabric of real life in semi-documentary-Rossellini-style. It is pure. "Little Fugitive" and "Medium Cool" are the only other pre-70s American films I've seen that feel this real. In terms of the subtlety with which racial politics and power relations are exposed through simple gestures and acts rather than rhetoric and melodrama, Martin Ritt's "Sounder" and Paul Schrader's "Blue Collar" are the only films I've seen that come close. Charles Burnett's "Killer of Sheep," also comes to mind. There are a lot of lessons to be learned here, especially by directors like Spike Lee, who I'm sure has seen this movie, and who has made decent films in the past (Do the Right Thing, She's gotta have it), but now wastes his time making laughable, "really hardcore," "I want to transcend puny barriers with overloads of style" cartoons like "Summer of Sam." "Nothing but a Man" is light years away from the nonsense they call "realism" these days. Over and out.
Deeply insightful, well-made, startlingly realistic film
filmaven4 December 1998
This movie is really honest about the relationships between a man and woman and family (esp. African-Americans), men (esp. black) and society, and Blacks and America (esp. the deep South). The characters were strangely familiar and real; I recognized them from my boyhood growing up a black boy in the rural south. It was startling to see some of my OWN best and worst character traits portrayed on screen. Though made in 1964, the film is still relevant to our present context, notwithstanding that times have changed. Ultimately, though the film is reaffirming, although in a honest, skilful manner that is not trite or facetious. The cinematography and use of real- world sets is excellent (Note the ironic sign on exiting one set, cheap metal stick-ons spelling "...Pool Palor") Highly recommended.
Ground-breaking
MOscarbradley6 October 2018
Before Blaxploitation and the kind of African-American cinema we are used to seeing today there were film-makers like Michael Roemer making films like "Nothing But a Man". Roemer may have been born in pre-war Germany but you would never know it judging from this ground-breaking film about what it was like to be black in sixties America and what, for many, it's still like to be black in America today.
It's a very simple film, almost documentary-like in its approach to its subject and at times almost crude in the way Roemer, who had no real experience in film-making, presents his material. Fundamentally it's a love story between Duff, (and excellent Ivan Dixon), and his school-teacher wife Josie, (the singer Abbey Lincoln), and this is handled without a touch of sentimentality. It's also superbly shot in black and white by Robert Young, who with Roemer also wrote the film, but it wasn't really a success, even in terms of small budget independent art movies and is consequently seldom seen these days. Worth checking out if you get the chance.
It's a very simple film, almost documentary-like in its approach to its subject and at times almost crude in the way Roemer, who had no real experience in film-making, presents his material. Fundamentally it's a love story between Duff, (and excellent Ivan Dixon), and his school-teacher wife Josie, (the singer Abbey Lincoln), and this is handled without a touch of sentimentality. It's also superbly shot in black and white by Robert Young, who with Roemer also wrote the film, but it wasn't really a success, even in terms of small budget independent art movies and is consequently seldom seen these days. Worth checking out if you get the chance.
One of the greatest films about African-Americans ever made. ***Spoilers***
QStrum26 May 2000
This film is probably one of the top five greatest films about African-Americans ever made. I picked up the film at blockbuster and gave it a chance, seeing that the film was rated as one of the best black films ever made. Me wanting to be the judge of this, I took the film home, watched it, became overwhelmed with intrigue, and was emotionally moved by the subtle ending. This film reminds me of the problem that heavily exists in the black community today. Ivan Dixon's performance wasn't over done, making his portrayal of Duff one of the most memorable I had ever seen. The writing was extraordinary, hitting viewers with one fabulous scene after another. The film never dragged and I was equally impressed with the actress who played the preacher's daughter. The writers were able to make me empathize with all the characters, and Duff was written with a certain complexity seen in few other films about African-Americans. The cinematography caught my attention as well with almost every frame featuring enormous composition. The thing that most gratified me about the film is the fact that it is about redemption, showing our main character making certain sacrifices to live a normal and moral life in the end. It shows hope in a world that tends to be hopeless most of the time. And when Duff comes back to his wife and holds her in his arms, which symbolizes his regrets and his self-redemption, I felt like going out and embrace all my sisters who are left to care for their children by themselves. I gave this film a 10 and out of a grade from A+ to a F, I give it an A+. I strongly recommend this film, especially to other African-American filmmakers who plan on sugarcoating the black experience in America. This film told the truth and didn't hold back with fears of stereotyping. I said it once and I'll say it again, "Nothing But a Man" is one of the greatest black films ever made in the world...
An Important Work in the Development of Black Cinema
PolitiCom26 May 2002
Originally overlooked, this picture enjoyed a well-received revival in the early '90s. It is a beautifully crafted snapshot in time providing a human dimension to the issues driving the civil rights movement. Both the interior and location shots are characterized by fluid camera work and a remarkable naturalism. The story is unsentimental in portraying some of the negative aspects of black social pathology that persist to this day. Film buffs will delight in seeing Yaphet Kotto in one of his
early roles. Ultimately uplifting, this film deserves it's place in the history of black cinem
early roles. Ultimately uplifting, this film deserves it's place in the history of black cinem
A TRUE American CLASSIC!
gsait721 November 2005
To me this film is FLAWLESS!!!
Just saw this really amazing little film called "NOTHING BUT A MAN"! I remember seeing this along time ago in the mid 80's on one of the Black History Months, but watching it on DVD last night again just left me speechless. Much thanks to NEW VIDEO for seeking this gem out and giving it a new lease on life on DVD. BRAVO!!!
40 years later it still shines on every level - brilliant job on writing, masterfully directing, powerful acting, just great cinematography...
This inspires me so much! Made on such a modest budget (under 250k... I think!) I'm so grateful to have a copy on DVD to enjoy for a long time.
Just saw this really amazing little film called "NOTHING BUT A MAN"! I remember seeing this along time ago in the mid 80's on one of the Black History Months, but watching it on DVD last night again just left me speechless. Much thanks to NEW VIDEO for seeking this gem out and giving it a new lease on life on DVD. BRAVO!!!
40 years later it still shines on every level - brilliant job on writing, masterfully directing, powerful acting, just great cinematography...
This inspires me so much! Made on such a modest budget (under 250k... I think!) I'm so grateful to have a copy on DVD to enjoy for a long time.
Good.
cedrickroberts6 April 2011
This well-acted period piece is still relevant today. As with many movies from the 1960's that address racism in the south, there is always a key character that dares to challenge the status quo. That character, often times, represents the courageous voice of the discontent. Duff, the protagonist, embodies this sentiment but instead of linking his efforts to the civil rights' movement he fights solo. There were many individuals during that period who attempted to carry the mantle alone. I'm not sure what these individual efforts contributed to the collective, but we're better off today. I can't say what I would have done if faced with the same obstacles.
The Defining Movie about a black man's struggles in the south
ruffrider23 May 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Over the years the struggles of blacks in the racist south have been rendered in fiction by books like Faulkner's "Light in August" and films like "Hurry Sundown," (though blacks were relatively minor characters in this film), "Sounder," "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman," "A Woman Called Moses" and "Ragtime." "Nothing But a Man" predates the other films and broke new ground by depicting the plight of a young black man who refuses to knuckle under to the times and the expectations placed on him.
Duff Anderson is a section hand earning good money on a railroad construction gang in the south of the 1960's. Carefree and aimless, he sends money to the woman who raises his little boy and meets his own absentee father for the first time since his childhood, only to be brutally rejected. Duff's life changes dramatically when he falls in love with Josie, whose minister father "gets along" by accommodating the white man and who wants nothing to do with rootless Duff. In spite of the minister's objections Josie and Duff are married, but Duff's attempt to unionize at his new job gets him fired and local whites threaten his life when he refuses to cow-tow to bigots. At the end of the story Duff's father dies after rejecting his son yet again, prompting Duff to admit "I'm just like him." But Duff is a far better man than his father could ever be, for at a time when nonstop adversity would have broken a lesser person, he takes custody of his little son and returns to Josie determined to be a husband and parent, the two roles at which his own father failed so miserably.
Everything in this film rings true, from the opening scenes with the railroad gang to the tearful reunion with his family at the end. The dialog is almost unrelentingly cynical, as Duff comes to see his courtship of Josie through the eyes of his railroad pals and his disapproving father-in-law and views his prospects for employment and success in the light of bitter experiences with back-stabbing co-workers, unsympathetic employers and white racists.
Ivan Dixon is superb as Duff and Abbey Lincoln is equally fine as the supportive wife who must share her husband's fate. The black-and-white filming underscores the seriousness of the subject matter and the bleakness of Duff's life. This is a classic film, not to be missed.
Duff Anderson is a section hand earning good money on a railroad construction gang in the south of the 1960's. Carefree and aimless, he sends money to the woman who raises his little boy and meets his own absentee father for the first time since his childhood, only to be brutally rejected. Duff's life changes dramatically when he falls in love with Josie, whose minister father "gets along" by accommodating the white man and who wants nothing to do with rootless Duff. In spite of the minister's objections Josie and Duff are married, but Duff's attempt to unionize at his new job gets him fired and local whites threaten his life when he refuses to cow-tow to bigots. At the end of the story Duff's father dies after rejecting his son yet again, prompting Duff to admit "I'm just like him." But Duff is a far better man than his father could ever be, for at a time when nonstop adversity would have broken a lesser person, he takes custody of his little son and returns to Josie determined to be a husband and parent, the two roles at which his own father failed so miserably.
Everything in this film rings true, from the opening scenes with the railroad gang to the tearful reunion with his family at the end. The dialog is almost unrelentingly cynical, as Duff comes to see his courtship of Josie through the eyes of his railroad pals and his disapproving father-in-law and views his prospects for employment and success in the light of bitter experiences with back-stabbing co-workers, unsympathetic employers and white racists.
Ivan Dixon is superb as Duff and Abbey Lincoln is equally fine as the supportive wife who must share her husband's fate. The black-and-white filming underscores the seriousness of the subject matter and the bleakness of Duff's life. This is a classic film, not to be missed.
Great Movie
pclarkson-117 April 2007
Even though I was very young when they made this movie I remember it as though it was made yesterday.
You see my father worked on this movie setting up the locations, and so I witnessed the making of this movie. You could tell then that this was one movie that would last through the ages it is timeless. Even though it is dated the issues it takes on are still with us today. I would recommend this movie to everyone. The issues it dealt with are still with us today. So please watch this movie and see what has changed and what had not changed with our world today. Too many people do not believe the conditions that Blacks had to face 40 years ago. And that some of those same conditions exist today as well. By the way the cat that got a box put over it was my grandmothers. The cat was not hurt, just well fed.
You see my father worked on this movie setting up the locations, and so I witnessed the making of this movie. You could tell then that this was one movie that would last through the ages it is timeless. Even though it is dated the issues it takes on are still with us today. I would recommend this movie to everyone. The issues it dealt with are still with us today. So please watch this movie and see what has changed and what had not changed with our world today. Too many people do not believe the conditions that Blacks had to face 40 years ago. And that some of those same conditions exist today as well. By the way the cat that got a box put over it was my grandmothers. The cat was not hurt, just well fed.
simple and effective--it's a great little film
planktonrules23 December 2005
This movie was no doubt completed with at most a very modest budget, but the finished product is so strong and moving--thanks to a very intelligent script and great acting. Although the film stars no "big names", it is chock full of some of the better Black character actors of the 1960s. The leading man, Ivan Dixon, proved he was a fine and competent actor--far better than the role he played on HOGAN'S HEROES. It's a shame that he didn't get more starring roles during his career.
The plot involves people living in a small Southern town in the mid-1960s--after segregation was no longer legal but was still very rampant. Dixon just wants to be treated like a man--no more, no less. He is not asking for handouts but respect. Unfortunately, the people living in this town are so used to the status quo that they just feel it is futile to buck the system. As a result, Dixon faces major uphill battles--mostly on his own except for his lovely young wife. In addition, there are subplots concerning fatherhood and responsibility that greatly enhance the movie's message.
This film would be wonderful for anyone--in particular kids, as they will realize in watching this just how far we have come. Most young kids today just don't realize how tough things were for Black Americans in this country and how acceptable this maltreatment was. It deals effectively with these issues without being preachy or heavy- handed. A great film.
The plot involves people living in a small Southern town in the mid-1960s--after segregation was no longer legal but was still very rampant. Dixon just wants to be treated like a man--no more, no less. He is not asking for handouts but respect. Unfortunately, the people living in this town are so used to the status quo that they just feel it is futile to buck the system. As a result, Dixon faces major uphill battles--mostly on his own except for his lovely young wife. In addition, there are subplots concerning fatherhood and responsibility that greatly enhance the movie's message.
This film would be wonderful for anyone--in particular kids, as they will realize in watching this just how far we have come. Most young kids today just don't realize how tough things were for Black Americans in this country and how acceptable this maltreatment was. It deals effectively with these issues without being preachy or heavy- handed. A great film.
"Where are the African Gods?"
mailbob14 June 2012
In the early 1960's during the unfolding of the civil rights movement, when Martin Luther King marched on Washington, when three northern civil rights workers were murdered in the south, and when four children died in a Birmingham church bombing, Michael Roemer and Robert Young, two Jewish guys from Harvard, headed south and crafted, in the opinion of many, the most authentic film ever made of the black experience in America. Although racial relations have since altered, the film depicts the essence of racism, including the subtle and less than subtle forms of oppression still present in President Obama's America.
Roemer and Young have expressed some embarrassment at the naiveté and pure chutzpah they demonstrated in their attempt to make a film that truly represented the black experience. (The term "African-American" was not in vogue at the time.) Yet they insist that in the early 1960's, no one else was doing it. Today, they say, it would be "unnecessary", if not impossible, for whites to make the film. Perhaps the fact that director Roemer grew up in Nazi Germany and at age 10 was witness to the destruction of his grandfather's family store on "Kristalnacht" gave him the chops to understand oppression.
Few involved in the making of the film suspected they were making a film that would join Citizen Kane and Casablanca as one of American "classics" on the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.
Set in early 1960's Alabama, it tells the story of Duff Anderson, played by Ivan Dixon, a proud black man who won't submit to his expected role. It explores the devastating impact of racism on his working life, his marriage, and his dignity. There is no bloodshed, but the threat of violence is always present. We are told that a lynching took place in the small town only 8 years before. The threats are as subtle as whites pulling into a gas station and asking attendant Duff for "38-cents worth of gas, and mind you don't make it 39." Or when a white supervisor, making a lame joke at which Duff refuses to laugh, says: "What's a-matter, boy, you don't think that's funny?" The everyday intimidation is humiliating enough, but the primary impact is economic. Duff won't allow his pride to be violated. "I don't get on so well in most places," he tells Josie, the preacher's daughter played by Abbey Lincoln. He isn't a political militant; for him it is personal. When workers are exploited, he doesn't have an agenda mapped out by a union organizer, he simply wonders aloud to his fellow workers why they don't "stick together" to make reasonable demands. Of course he is then labeled a trouble maker.
Critics loved the movie, but if universally praised, it was and still is rarely seen. A 40th Anniversary special edition DVD was released in 2004. It shows to best advantage the stunning black and white high- contrast low-light style of co-writer Young, who also doubled as cameraman due to an absurdly limited budget. The early Motown soundtrack, whose rights the fledgling filmmakers somehow managed to secure, contributes to the mood; performers include The Marvelettes, "Little" Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Martha and the Vandellas, and others who later became household names. The script, penned by Roemer and Young, is remarkably understated. Emotions boil under subdued, almost perfunctory dialogue. Viewers feel the action; it never clobbers them over the head.
But the film wouldn't be the same without Dixon and Lincoln, who are stellar in their powerhouse performances as Duff and Josie, the couple struggling for dignity in a racist world. As they tell us years later, the actors play themselves. Dixon IS Duff, Lincoln IS Josie. This is the story of their own lives.
Be sure to watch the extra features in the 40th year edition. It is a privilege to see and hear Dixon, Lincoln, and Julius Harris (who plays Will, Duff's alcoholic father), then in their 70's and 80's, talk about the film they made 40 years earlier. Fortunately for us, the interviews of the actors came in time; sadly, all three have since died. There is also a 30 minute unscripted discussion between Roemer and Young in which they tell the story of their experience in researching and making the film, and their feelings about it 40 years later. This is a rare peek into the chaotic craft of film-making.
Abbey Lincoln is better known as a jazz vocalist than an actress. In her remarkable interview, she believes that family is the salvation for blacks. In the film, fatherhood takes the thematic center stage, as personified by Duff's father Will, and by Duff's illegitimate son. "A man who doesn't take care of his children is nobody," Lincoln says. Her interview is a monologue, more poetry than prose, more sung than spoken. "Where are the African Gods?" she wails. "We don't know our names we live without our ancestors...Where are the African Gods who will save us from this misery and shame? Where are the African Gods who live and set us free?" She tearfully proposes the answer: "WE are the African Gods, you and me." The African Gods have been stolen. It is Duff and Josie who must set themselves free.
Abbey Lincoln's tears in the interview, like Josie's in the film, are no act. And when the script calls for Duff to push Josie to the floor in a frustrated rage, concerned director Roemer offers to cheat: "I can fake the fall," Roemer says he told Lincoln. He recalls her response: "I'm going to take that fall for all the black women." The fall is one of those classic moments, like so many others in the film, that emotionally freezes the viewer, and remains etched in our memory.
Roemer and Young have expressed some embarrassment at the naiveté and pure chutzpah they demonstrated in their attempt to make a film that truly represented the black experience. (The term "African-American" was not in vogue at the time.) Yet they insist that in the early 1960's, no one else was doing it. Today, they say, it would be "unnecessary", if not impossible, for whites to make the film. Perhaps the fact that director Roemer grew up in Nazi Germany and at age 10 was witness to the destruction of his grandfather's family store on "Kristalnacht" gave him the chops to understand oppression.
Few involved in the making of the film suspected they were making a film that would join Citizen Kane and Casablanca as one of American "classics" on the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.
Set in early 1960's Alabama, it tells the story of Duff Anderson, played by Ivan Dixon, a proud black man who won't submit to his expected role. It explores the devastating impact of racism on his working life, his marriage, and his dignity. There is no bloodshed, but the threat of violence is always present. We are told that a lynching took place in the small town only 8 years before. The threats are as subtle as whites pulling into a gas station and asking attendant Duff for "38-cents worth of gas, and mind you don't make it 39." Or when a white supervisor, making a lame joke at which Duff refuses to laugh, says: "What's a-matter, boy, you don't think that's funny?" The everyday intimidation is humiliating enough, but the primary impact is economic. Duff won't allow his pride to be violated. "I don't get on so well in most places," he tells Josie, the preacher's daughter played by Abbey Lincoln. He isn't a political militant; for him it is personal. When workers are exploited, he doesn't have an agenda mapped out by a union organizer, he simply wonders aloud to his fellow workers why they don't "stick together" to make reasonable demands. Of course he is then labeled a trouble maker.
Critics loved the movie, but if universally praised, it was and still is rarely seen. A 40th Anniversary special edition DVD was released in 2004. It shows to best advantage the stunning black and white high- contrast low-light style of co-writer Young, who also doubled as cameraman due to an absurdly limited budget. The early Motown soundtrack, whose rights the fledgling filmmakers somehow managed to secure, contributes to the mood; performers include The Marvelettes, "Little" Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Martha and the Vandellas, and others who later became household names. The script, penned by Roemer and Young, is remarkably understated. Emotions boil under subdued, almost perfunctory dialogue. Viewers feel the action; it never clobbers them over the head.
But the film wouldn't be the same without Dixon and Lincoln, who are stellar in their powerhouse performances as Duff and Josie, the couple struggling for dignity in a racist world. As they tell us years later, the actors play themselves. Dixon IS Duff, Lincoln IS Josie. This is the story of their own lives.
Be sure to watch the extra features in the 40th year edition. It is a privilege to see and hear Dixon, Lincoln, and Julius Harris (who plays Will, Duff's alcoholic father), then in their 70's and 80's, talk about the film they made 40 years earlier. Fortunately for us, the interviews of the actors came in time; sadly, all three have since died. There is also a 30 minute unscripted discussion between Roemer and Young in which they tell the story of their experience in researching and making the film, and their feelings about it 40 years later. This is a rare peek into the chaotic craft of film-making.
Abbey Lincoln is better known as a jazz vocalist than an actress. In her remarkable interview, she believes that family is the salvation for blacks. In the film, fatherhood takes the thematic center stage, as personified by Duff's father Will, and by Duff's illegitimate son. "A man who doesn't take care of his children is nobody," Lincoln says. Her interview is a monologue, more poetry than prose, more sung than spoken. "Where are the African Gods?" she wails. "We don't know our names we live without our ancestors...Where are the African Gods who will save us from this misery and shame? Where are the African Gods who live and set us free?" She tearfully proposes the answer: "WE are the African Gods, you and me." The African Gods have been stolen. It is Duff and Josie who must set themselves free.
Abbey Lincoln's tears in the interview, like Josie's in the film, are no act. And when the script calls for Duff to push Josie to the floor in a frustrated rage, concerned director Roemer offers to cheat: "I can fake the fall," Roemer says he told Lincoln. He recalls her response: "I'm going to take that fall for all the black women." The fall is one of those classic moments, like so many others in the film, that emotionally freezes the viewer, and remains etched in our memory.
Forgotten Gem Gives an Honest Appraisal of One Black Man's Experience in the Deep South
EUyeshima14 January 2013
What a genuine find this obscure 1964 film is. In the midst of Sidney Poitier's breakthrough as a mainstream leading man of the big studios, director Michael Roemer made a groundbreaking independent film that fully captured the black experience at the dawn of the civil rights movement without exploiting the controversial subject or introducing a non-threatening component that would have made the story more palatable for white audiences. The latter was especially the case in Poitier's biggest movies at the time like "Lilies of the Field" and "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" where he played variations on the over-idealized black man, a point made ironic by the fact that the legendary actor turned down the lead role in this film. In a perceptive screenplay co-written by Roemer and Robert M. Young, the protagonist, Duff Anderson, is anything but idealized. He is a laborer who suffers as much from his own self-loathing as he does from the deeply ingrained racism surrounding him.
In early 1960's Birmingham, Alabama, Duff is an itinerant worker, a member of a section team for the railroad company. At a church social one evening, he meets Josie Dawson, a well-educated schoolteacher who happens to be the minister's daughter. In spite of her father's disapproval, the two quietly fall in love and get married. They face one hardship after another as he tries to find stable work while dealing with a troubled past which includes an estranged, embittered father whose life he appears to be emulating against his will. Duff also supports a four-year-old son whom he hasn't seen for two years even though he's not certain he's the father. While racism is presented honestly and produces moments of genuine dramatic tension, it never becomes a manipulative device to move the plot forward. Things begin to unravel between Duff and Josie through the course of the story but not with excessive melodramatic flourishes. In fact, the film is so truthfully matter-of-fact in Roemer's documentary-like approach that when Duff has an explosive moment late in the story it feels shocking but utterly real.
The performances completely surprised me. Best known as the quiet communications specialist Sergeant Kinchloe on the long-running sitcom "Hogan's Heroes", Ivan Dixon brings unerring gravitas to his conflicted character. He doesn't take any short cuts in presenting Duff as a man who makes his own decisions no matter how harsh the consequences. As Josie, jazz great Abbey Lincoln ("For Love of Ivy"), with her infectious smile, is genuinely affecting as a woman who becomes attracted to Duff because she thought the two of them "might have something to say to each other." One wonders in hindsight how powerfully she might have portrayed Billie Holiday if given the chance she was supposed to have before Diana Ross got cast in "Lady Sings the Blues". Julius Harris makes his few scenes count as Duff's belligerent father, while Gloria Foster (later the Oracle in "The Matrix") etches a vivid impression as a beaten-down woman who remains inexplicably faithful to him. In one of his earliest roles, Yaphet Kotto ("Alien") is recognizable as one of Duff's railroad buddies. The well-used Motown soundtrack is a nice surprise as well. This forgotten film is well worth seeking out. Strongly recommended.
In early 1960's Birmingham, Alabama, Duff is an itinerant worker, a member of a section team for the railroad company. At a church social one evening, he meets Josie Dawson, a well-educated schoolteacher who happens to be the minister's daughter. In spite of her father's disapproval, the two quietly fall in love and get married. They face one hardship after another as he tries to find stable work while dealing with a troubled past which includes an estranged, embittered father whose life he appears to be emulating against his will. Duff also supports a four-year-old son whom he hasn't seen for two years even though he's not certain he's the father. While racism is presented honestly and produces moments of genuine dramatic tension, it never becomes a manipulative device to move the plot forward. Things begin to unravel between Duff and Josie through the course of the story but not with excessive melodramatic flourishes. In fact, the film is so truthfully matter-of-fact in Roemer's documentary-like approach that when Duff has an explosive moment late in the story it feels shocking but utterly real.
The performances completely surprised me. Best known as the quiet communications specialist Sergeant Kinchloe on the long-running sitcom "Hogan's Heroes", Ivan Dixon brings unerring gravitas to his conflicted character. He doesn't take any short cuts in presenting Duff as a man who makes his own decisions no matter how harsh the consequences. As Josie, jazz great Abbey Lincoln ("For Love of Ivy"), with her infectious smile, is genuinely affecting as a woman who becomes attracted to Duff because she thought the two of them "might have something to say to each other." One wonders in hindsight how powerfully she might have portrayed Billie Holiday if given the chance she was supposed to have before Diana Ross got cast in "Lady Sings the Blues". Julius Harris makes his few scenes count as Duff's belligerent father, while Gloria Foster (later the Oracle in "The Matrix") etches a vivid impression as a beaten-down woman who remains inexplicably faithful to him. In one of his earliest roles, Yaphet Kotto ("Alien") is recognizable as one of Duff's railroad buddies. The well-used Motown soundtrack is a nice surprise as well. This forgotten film is well worth seeking out. Strongly recommended.
Not an easy film to watch, but worth the effort
richard-178711 February 2013
This is a very fine movie, but I won't lie to you: it's not always easy to watch. It recounts the story of a Black man in the 1960s American South (outside Birmingham, AL), his problems with relationships, with white men who mistreat him, etc. Sometimes he reacts in admirable ways, sometimes he does not. Because of that, and because of the very fine acting, the characters in this movie come off as very real, not at all Hollywood caricatures. But that doesn't always make the movie easy to watch.
It's more than worth the occasional discomfort, however, because it's really a very fine movie, one that presents very real people going though all too real life situations and dealing with them in very human ways. Not a movie you will forget quickly, I can promise you, and very definitely not a waste of your time to watch.
It's more than worth the occasional discomfort, however, because it's really a very fine movie, one that presents very real people going though all too real life situations and dealing with them in very human ways. Not a movie you will forget quickly, I can promise you, and very definitely not a waste of your time to watch.
Beautiful
nancybw21 January 2020
This movie should have received much higher greater release. It's amazingly well done and acted. A stark reminder of what 1964 was like. With the last lynching in town only eight years in the past. I'm so glad this movie has been restored and that TCM has presented it.
The best film you've never seen
Red-1251 October 2013
Nothing But a Man (1964) was co-written and directed by Michael Roemer. It's one of the defining films about race relations in the South as the civil rights movement was in high gear, bringing about the end of centuries of abuse by Whites of African-Americans.
This movie takes place in a very rural region in the deep South. Although people--both Black and White--are aware of the civil rights movement, it really hasn't taken hold here. For example, the schools are still segregated. The Superintendent of Schools (White, naturally), is pleased to announce that they're going to build a new school. It will surely be a great improvement over the old school, but it will still be segregated--for Blacks only.
Ivan Dixon plays Duff Anderson, an intelligent, capable, and hard-working railroad worker. These railroad jobs were considered very desirable, because the workers were unionized, the pay was good, and White people basically left the workers alone. Of course, the work was physically demanding, but conditions were not brutal. The drawback was that the workers moved from site to site. It was virtually impossible to have a wife and family. You grew old with an ever-shifting group of friends, moving from town to town and from bar to bar in the evenings.
Duff meets Josie, played wonderfully by Abbey Lincoln. She's a college graduate, a teacher, and the minister's daughter. Normally, Josie would be out of Duff's league as a potential spouse. However, there aren't too many men who are in Josie's league, and she herself, recognizes something special in Duff. He's intelligent, strong, and honestly loves her.
The problem--in this context--is that Duff isn't willing to compromise. He will maintain his dignity despite the wall of segregation that surrounds him. He won't back off from a fight. His attitude--admirable to us, but not to the people around him--causes him to lose his job, and eventually to be blacklisted. His lack of work leads to anger and aggression, directed as much to Josie as to the people who are causing the basic problem.
This isn't always an easy movie to watch, but it's well-crafted and important for everyone to see. We saw the film at the Dryden Theatre in Rochester as part of the wonderful Labor Film Series. It was shown in a new, pristine 35mm print, which was a treat. However, it's a powerful and important movie, and it's worth seeing in any format that's available. Find it and see it.
This movie takes place in a very rural region in the deep South. Although people--both Black and White--are aware of the civil rights movement, it really hasn't taken hold here. For example, the schools are still segregated. The Superintendent of Schools (White, naturally), is pleased to announce that they're going to build a new school. It will surely be a great improvement over the old school, but it will still be segregated--for Blacks only.
Ivan Dixon plays Duff Anderson, an intelligent, capable, and hard-working railroad worker. These railroad jobs were considered very desirable, because the workers were unionized, the pay was good, and White people basically left the workers alone. Of course, the work was physically demanding, but conditions were not brutal. The drawback was that the workers moved from site to site. It was virtually impossible to have a wife and family. You grew old with an ever-shifting group of friends, moving from town to town and from bar to bar in the evenings.
Duff meets Josie, played wonderfully by Abbey Lincoln. She's a college graduate, a teacher, and the minister's daughter. Normally, Josie would be out of Duff's league as a potential spouse. However, there aren't too many men who are in Josie's league, and she herself, recognizes something special in Duff. He's intelligent, strong, and honestly loves her.
The problem--in this context--is that Duff isn't willing to compromise. He will maintain his dignity despite the wall of segregation that surrounds him. He won't back off from a fight. His attitude--admirable to us, but not to the people around him--causes him to lose his job, and eventually to be blacklisted. His lack of work leads to anger and aggression, directed as much to Josie as to the people who are causing the basic problem.
This isn't always an easy movie to watch, but it's well-crafted and important for everyone to see. We saw the film at the Dryden Theatre in Rochester as part of the wonderful Labor Film Series. It was shown in a new, pristine 35mm print, which was a treat. However, it's a powerful and important movie, and it's worth seeing in any format that's available. Find it and see it.
Nothing But the Black Experience in Truth
higherall717 March 2016
Warning: Spoilers
When I went to see this film with my friend Donald Mack as it was being hosted by this Socialist group that wished to manipulate us more into adopting their party line than anything else, I'll never forgot his comment about one third of the way through this film. He looked at me and said, "- this ain't no movie, this is real!" Naturally, his assessment of this film was as spot on as one of those stiff jabs he would use to bloody my nose with when we would spar around with those Karate gloves I got from Warrior Arts Supplies down on Woodward in Highland Park. This wasn't your usual Blaxsploitation fare meant to make money off the projection of stereotypes about the Black Race. There was something about the black and white documentary in your face style of independent film-making that made it seem like a home movie about our friends and family in their most unguarded moments.
The characters were like people we both knew from our own immediate experience. Whether it was Duff or Josie or Duff father's Will or Lee or Jocko, there was an undeniable reality to these characters, albeit they came across a little more subdued and restrained than the people on my block. But most of the people we knew were newly urbanized and assimilating the rhythms and tensions of a dynamic city life. These people were from Down South and known to be more easy going and relaxed, perhaps even more level headed and sober in their relations with each other and the limitations of the cultural atmosphere in which they dwelt.
Will Smith might grouse about being snubbed by the Academy for an Oscar winning performance, but when Ivan Dixon and Abbey Lincoln don't win Best Actor and Best Actress for their performances, you know the cultural bias fix is in and alive and well. The cast is all first rate here from Yaphet Kotto to Gloria Foster to Will Anderson and their portrayals are a clinic and a kind of primer on the attributes of natural acting. There seems to be struck not a false note anywhere in this story, and when it come to its challenging conclusion it seems over far too soon. There is an even and gradual flow to the narrative that absorbs more and more of your attention as it moves forward in time.
The main quality of this film resounds with dignity. It is not the stiff dignity of people eager to protest or defy, but the simple matter-of-fact dignity of people dedicated to live and to prosper so as to enjoy the fruits of that dignity and all the other values they hold dear. There is a poetry to the interactions between the characters and a sense of something close to cinema verite' if not exactly the thing itself. When Hemingway spoke of grace under pressure he was speaking of what emerges between Duff and Josie approaching the end of their transformative journey in this film.
The characters were like people we both knew from our own immediate experience. Whether it was Duff or Josie or Duff father's Will or Lee or Jocko, there was an undeniable reality to these characters, albeit they came across a little more subdued and restrained than the people on my block. But most of the people we knew were newly urbanized and assimilating the rhythms and tensions of a dynamic city life. These people were from Down South and known to be more easy going and relaxed, perhaps even more level headed and sober in their relations with each other and the limitations of the cultural atmosphere in which they dwelt.
Will Smith might grouse about being snubbed by the Academy for an Oscar winning performance, but when Ivan Dixon and Abbey Lincoln don't win Best Actor and Best Actress for their performances, you know the cultural bias fix is in and alive and well. The cast is all first rate here from Yaphet Kotto to Gloria Foster to Will Anderson and their portrayals are a clinic and a kind of primer on the attributes of natural acting. There seems to be struck not a false note anywhere in this story, and when it come to its challenging conclusion it seems over far too soon. There is an even and gradual flow to the narrative that absorbs more and more of your attention as it moves forward in time.
The main quality of this film resounds with dignity. It is not the stiff dignity of people eager to protest or defy, but the simple matter-of-fact dignity of people dedicated to live and to prosper so as to enjoy the fruits of that dignity and all the other values they hold dear. There is a poetry to the interactions between the characters and a sense of something close to cinema verite' if not exactly the thing itself. When Hemingway spoke of grace under pressure he was speaking of what emerges between Duff and Josie approaching the end of their transformative journey in this film.
Nothing But a Man is an excellent showcase for Ivan Dixon and Abbey Lincoln
tavm18 February 2011
Continuing to review movies featuring African-Americans in chronological order for Black History Month, we're now at 1964 when an independent film about the struggles during the segregated South gets released to critical acclaim. Ivan Dixon, previously Joseph Asagai in both play and filmed versions of A Raisin in the Sun, is Duff Anderson, a railroad worker who one day falls for schoolteacher Josie played by Abbey Lincoln. Despite her parents', especially her preacher father's, disapproval, they get married and they try to get along with many bigoted white folks. It turns out to be too much for Duff, however, as he also has to deal with an alcoholic father (Julius Harris) and an upcoming baby. There's more but I'll just say that this was a very realistic drama about what it was like living in such humiliating times for a black man. Dixon is at turns both smartly observant and righteously angry during the film and you can't help feeling sorry at times for him even when he does do things that get him in trouble. Ms. Lincoln herself has such a quiet intensity about herself here that you hope she doesn't regret her love for Ivan's character. So on that note, Nothing But a Man comes highly recommended. P.S. Among the many people of color in the supporting cast worth noting are Gloria Foster as Lee, Yaphet Kotto as Jocko, Mel Stewart as Riddick, Moses Gunn as one of the mill hands, and Ester Rolle as one of the church woman. Also, as a Chicago native, I'd like to note that both Ms. Lincoln and Ms. Foster were born there as well.
A FILM STILL RESONANT TODAY...!
masonfisk4 June 2022
A 1964 drama which figures into the life of a struggling black man, played by Ivan Dixon (who I remember growing up on Hogan's Heroes), who works an okay job but when the powers that be find out he has intimations of unionizing, he gets canned for his efforts which strains his recent marriage w/a preacher's daughter, played by Abbey Lincoln, as he hits the streets to find another berth. Trying to hold his own in the white South of the 60's (where adversity is around every corner), Dixon tries to maintain but his son from a previous marriage, his father, played by Julius Harris, a constant drunkard down on his life, Lincoln's father who never accepted his marriage to his daughter all weigh on his mind. Will the insurmountable obstacles conquer him? Dixon, who has said in interviews this role justified his acting career, is excellent here as a man ready for change in a society that to this day still fights it as we see every slight, affront & outright insult or incitement to fight has to be subsumed w/Dixon being the better man at every turn. Also starring the late, great Yaphet Kotto as one of Dixon's workmates, the late, great Gloria Foster (the Oracle from the original Matrix films) as Harris' woman & blink & you may miss her the late, great Esther Rolle (from TV's Good Times) as a church parishioner. Cool fact Kotto & Harris would co-star as villain & henchmen in 1971's Roger Moore Bond outing, Live & Let Die.
Navigating casual bigotry
st-shot23 January 2020
Duff Anderson (Ivan Dixon) has a dangerous habit of questioning authority and the status quo, especially for a black man living in the South. Earning a decent wage as a railroad hand he meets school teacher Josie (Abbe Lincoln) marries her against the wishes of her minister father and attempts to settle down. When he suggests organizing to fellow workers on his new job he's fired. He's then fired from a filling station job for rubbing some locals the wrong way. The marriage becomes rocky while a child back in Birmingham that he is not sure is his needs attention. He has a tenuous meeting with his old man (Julius Harris) and realizes he is turning into him.
Nothing but a Man is a powerfully sober telling of what it is to be a black man in Jim Crow South unwilling to commit philosophical suicide. A hard worker and easy to get along with Duff refuses to Tom and he ends up isolated between white supervisors and black co-workers. Fighting his own personal demons around parenthood he is a man battling on several fronts with several issues.
Suffering the indignities of second class citizenship, ignorance and out right racism as Duff, Ivan Dixon gives an outstandingly stoic portrayal of a man facing a world that seems entirely against him. As his patient suffering wife Abbe Lincoln pairs off well with Dixon, her sensitivity heartbreaking to witness. As Duff's dissipated father Julius Harris lends a supporting gem of a performance.
Eric Roemer's subdued direction adds to the impact of the storyline by foregoing the burning crosses and out of control mobs to instead concentrate on the everyday banality of bigotry, the cruelly cutting nature of forever being referred to as boy and other indignities.
Well edited and visually (Robert M Young) impressive it is a claustrophobic piece that works as both metaphor and at capturing the dead end squalor of Birmingham. Throughout Roemer maintains a realistic melancholy mood as well as a deceptive energy such as the track laying opening or listening to a Motown catalogue in a juke joint. It is a restrained work without a hint of the sensationalized conventionalism from around that era and more than likely the reason that it holds up better than a modest estimate of 90% of the films from back then, its witness to the era ideal viewing for those divorced from it.
Nothing but a Man is a powerfully sober telling of what it is to be a black man in Jim Crow South unwilling to commit philosophical suicide. A hard worker and easy to get along with Duff refuses to Tom and he ends up isolated between white supervisors and black co-workers. Fighting his own personal demons around parenthood he is a man battling on several fronts with several issues.
Suffering the indignities of second class citizenship, ignorance and out right racism as Duff, Ivan Dixon gives an outstandingly stoic portrayal of a man facing a world that seems entirely against him. As his patient suffering wife Abbe Lincoln pairs off well with Dixon, her sensitivity heartbreaking to witness. As Duff's dissipated father Julius Harris lends a supporting gem of a performance.
Eric Roemer's subdued direction adds to the impact of the storyline by foregoing the burning crosses and out of control mobs to instead concentrate on the everyday banality of bigotry, the cruelly cutting nature of forever being referred to as boy and other indignities.
Well edited and visually (Robert M Young) impressive it is a claustrophobic piece that works as both metaphor and at capturing the dead end squalor of Birmingham. Throughout Roemer maintains a realistic melancholy mood as well as a deceptive energy such as the track laying opening or listening to a Motown catalogue in a juke joint. It is a restrained work without a hint of the sensationalized conventionalism from around that era and more than likely the reason that it holds up better than a modest estimate of 90% of the films from back then, its witness to the era ideal viewing for those divorced from it.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
