An intriguing drama about a black sheriff who with the aid of his young white deputy attempt to convict a racist white insurance salesman charged with raping a black female college student. Acting legend Ossie Davis stars in the title role with Ruby Dee, his real life spouse, playing his wife.
Janet Wilder is the young black female who has been sexually assaulted, but because of the trauma of the experience, has minimal recollection of her perpetrator's appearance, but does recall that the assailant was a white insurance salesman. Sheriff Lucas, the California town's recently elected black sheriff, along with his deputy Harve, subsequently follows this lead and find a prime suspect in Larry Walters, a white insurance salesman who has been assigned to sell insurance policies to the town's residents. However, Walters denies that he committed the crime, and Lucas, Harve, and the town prosecuting attorney attempt to compile evidence to convict him.
The movie, released in 1971, effectively captures the generational conflict between young blacks and their elders during the late 60's and early 70's, with the former becoming increasingly frustrated with what they perceive as the latter's passivity and over patience toward America's long standing history of racial injustice. The sheriff's eldest son Vance, who happens to be close friends with Janet, resents his father's faith in the judicial system to bring about justice for Walters' egregious crime, and he along with Janet's father believe that extreme and more radical measures are the the only realistic way that justice can actually be served for Janet's sexual assault.
When watching the movie, you can't help but get the feel that it was a de facto pilot for a potential TV series. Given the strong performances delivered in the movie -- particularly by Ossie Davis in the lead role and his real life wife Ruby Dee in the supporting role as his spouse -- as well as its intense drama, "The Sheriff" certainly seemed to have all the essential elements to have become a hit 70's TV drama series. However, and presumably because it was the early 70/s, network execs probably feared that such a TV series with a black man in the starring role wouldn't have been accepted by the mainstream American viewing audience.
Nevertheless, "The Sheriff" is a compelling made -for-TV movie, with splendid acting performances and gripping drama that can still captivate viewing audiences today.
Additional note: I would like to mention that I disagree with the other reviewer that this movie is a "rip-off" of the 1967 movie "In the Heat of the Night," and contrary to what he asserts, there are minimal, if not any, similarities between the two films. Moreover, the setting of "The Sheriff," unlike "Heat of the Night," was a small California town, and not the South.
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