Keep the Faith, Baby (2002) (TV)

Director:

Doug McHenry

Writer (WGA):

Art Washington (written by)

Release Date:

11 February 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Awards:

3 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

Harry J. Lennix	...	Adam Clayton Powell Jr. (as Harry Lennix)
Vanessa Williams	...	Hazel Scott
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Don Allison	...	President Lyndon B. Johnson
Rodger Barton	...	John Rankin
Richard Blackburn	...	Congressman Devine
Kedar Brown	...	Randolphe Aide (as Kedar)
J. Winston Carroll	...	Congressman Van Deerlin
Linda Carter	...	Mattie Powell
David Clement	...	Congressman Hall
Michael Copeman	...	Congressman Morris Udall
Jim Cordington	...	Congressman John Coyer Jr.
Rufus Crawford	...	Asa Phillip Randolph
Paul De La Rosa	...	Elevator Operator
Andrea Garnett	...	Gwen Jones
Naomi Gaskin	...	Isabel Powell
Trevor Gray	...	Skipper Powell
Lisa Heyden	...	Member of Congress #3
Brian Hill	...	Robert F. Kennedy
Russell Hornsby	...	Joe Schiller
Brian Kaulback	...	Reporter #4
John F. Kennedy	...	Himself (archive footage)
Geza Kovacs	...	Politico
Colm Magner	...	Mike Quill
Donald Marshall	...	Waiter
Larry Marshall	...	Adam Clayton Powell, Sr.
Sean McCann	...	John McCormack
Joseph McCarthy	...	Himself (archive footage)
John Nelles	...	Congressman Gross (as John E. Nelles)
Allan Price	...	Reporter #1
Pat Profito	...	Mayor LaGardia
Jim Ramney	...	Suit #1
Lance Reddick	...	Jay Raymond Jones
Karen Robinson	...	Hattie Dodson
Hadley Sandiford	...	Shackelford
Cliff Saunders	...	O'Malley
Julian Sedgwick	...	Suit #2
Mark Shultz	...	FBI Agent
Mark Shultz	...	FBI Agent
Cedric Smith	...	U.S. President Truman
Aron Tager	...	Chairman Emanuel Celler
Ian Thurbide	...	Member of Congress #2
Robin Ward	...	Lester Wolff
Bazil Williams	...	Limo Driver

Also Known As:

The Adam Clayton Powell Story (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for mild language and thematic elements.

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico

Company:

L23 Productions

Goofs:

In the scene where Hazel confronts Adam about the rejection she received from Constitution Hall, Adam says, 'they did that to Marian Anderson 5-years ago'. Marian Anderson's rejection occurred in 1939, which would make 1944 as the time-frame for the scene. It would be a year later when Powell would be actually elected Congressman.

A solid, sympathetic portrait of the controversial Congressman (retitled "Keep the Faith, Baby"

I caught "Keep the Faith, Baby" in a preview screening in a college auditorium with comments by Powell's son, New York State Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV, who was one of the film's producers and worked for 10 years to get it made. Not surprisingly, it's a sympathetic portrait of the controversial Congressman who was the nation's foremost black leader during the late 1940s and through the 1950s. Nevertheless, it doesn't flinch from dealing with the tough parts of Powell's career -- his failed marriages, his flamboyant personality, his censure by his fellow Congressmen, who stripped him of his committee chairmanship. They're all there, albeit in soft focus and a favorable light.

Told in flashback from the end of Powell's life (he died in the early 1970s), it holds together well as a dramatized semi-documentary, but sometimes is hard-put to give all the details of his eventful career their due. Harry Lennix seems to be a near-perfect Powell, projecting his charisma, his passion and quite a few of his mannerisms. I'm surprised he's not better known (he has a bit part in "Collateral Damage"). The star turn, however, belongs to Vanessa Williams as Powell's glamorous second wife, the jazz singer Hazel Scott. Nitpickers may note that casting for a couple of the historic portrayals, like Lyndon Johnson and Robert F. Kennedy, could have used better impersonators. This won't ever hit the moviehouses (it was made for Showtime), but check it out when it turns up on TV or at Blockbuster. It's well worth your time to get acquainted with this man who was a major figure in the mid-20th century fight for civil rights and social justice, a man who now is mostly forgotten. I saw it with an audience steeped in black history, including several people who had seen and heard Powell when he was alive, and they liked it a lot.