TROUBLE MAN is a movie that seems like it was tailor made to be a Fred Williamson vehicle, but Fred Williamson is nowhere to be found it this extremely well made, and entertaining crime thriller from director, Ivan Dixon, who also brought us the just as righteous, yet offbeat Blaxploitation classic, THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR. Unfortunately, Dixon would leave the genre behind after SPOOK and would mainly work in TV as a director as well as an actor. It’s a real shame because Dixon really brought a sense of class to the genre. In fact he seems to be such a talented director that his two Blaxploitation entries don’t even really feel like exploitation at all, but serious drama/thrillers—thoughTROUBLE MAN, is much higher on the action and bad-azz-mofo-attitude, thanks to the tremendous performance by Robert Hooks in the lead role, as T, or Mr. T if you’re nasty.
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I know, I know—Robert Hooks? I was not familiar with the actor prior to seeing TROUBLE MAN, but apparently his most notable work was before my time. Besides TROUBLE MAN, he was probably most remembered to some for his role as, Det. Jeff Ward on the cop show, N.Y.P.D. back in the late 60’s. After TROUBLE MAN, Hooks wouldn’t land too many big screen gigs, and mostly stuck to TV. With one viewing of TROUBLE MAN, one would have to come to the conclusion that the fact that Robert Hooks never snagged a leading role in a movie again was a severe missed opportunity for Hollywood. Oh well, Hollywood’s loss is this genre-freak’s gain. Hook’s performance in this film is so strong that he gives such genre giants as the aforementioned Fred Williamson, as well as Richard Roundtree and Jim Brown a serious run for their money. Hook’s, Mr. T is such bad motherfucker that by the end of the film you have to wonder why anyone would want to mess with him in the first place—but of course that is exactly what happens.
Hooks play a private investigator, yes, like Shaft—but Mr. T is no Shaft knock off, Hooks brings his own vibe to this character, and I never felt like I was watching a Shaft clone. Anyways, Mr. T is a P.I., and he’s a sex machine to all the chicks and a bad mother—okay, that’s just a coincidence--he's not Shaft--really!. T is basically a P.I. so he can legally carry a gun, his main duties consist of being ‘the man to see if you need a problem fixed’ in the community. Got a slumlord that needs roughed up? T’s your man. Need someone tracked down? T’s your man. Got a hot female ass that needs tapped? T’s your man. Need a gang war intercepted? T’s your man. Unfortunately for T, the last one gets him in hot water with the cops, when he’s used as a fall guy for two crime bosses named Chalky and Pete.
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Chalky (Paul Winfield) and Pete (Ralph Waite) set T up to take the fall on the murder of one their rival’s head goons. T, being a man of superior caliber is able to use his brains to maintain his innocence, not once but twice, when Chalky and Pete try to pin another murder rap on T, when the first one doesn’t stick. Like I mentioned earlier, at this point one has to wonder why anyone would push such a bad ass like T this far. Well, “because they’re morons”, would be the correct answer. T manages to stick and move every time either Chalky and Pete, or the Captain of police throw a metaphorical punch (as well as literal punches). T is the kind of guy that you can push only so far, and he manages to turn the tables, and make Chalky and Pete wish they'd given more thought to their plan.
TROUBLE MAN is a straightforward, and coherent crime thriller, with not a whole lot of twists and turns, but it is carried mainly by Hook’s incredible performance, Dixon’s stylistic direction, and some seriously well-written dialogue. There is not a bad performance in the whole film. Paula Kelly plays T’s #1 lady and her role is small, but she does very well. Kelly was also in THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR, and also had memorable performances in SOYLENT GREEN, UPTOWN SATURDAY NIGHT, TOUGH GUYS and the first season of Night Court (which is where I first saw her). Given her facial features, she does come across as Pam Grier–esque, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she was the go-to lady when Grier wasn’t available. Plus, like Grier, she’s got a body like a brick shithouse, with an ass that doesn’t stop! Paul Winfield, a veteran genre and TV actor does a great job here as well, as does Ralph Waite as Pete—the ultra slimy racist-white-devil-type-villain that comes across even more evil than Chalky, even when the two are 50/50 partners in the whole thing. Other notable performances come from William Smithers and Lawrence Cook; Smithers as the police Captain who wants to see T behind bars because he’s jealous of T’s hero status ,and rule-bending ways. Cook has a small role as a goon, but it would land him the leading role in Dixon’s next flick.
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Dixon certainly had an eye for style. I’m a huge sucker for everything 70’s—be it film, music, furniture, décor, cars, hair, clothes—you name it. I have an almost sick obsession with wood paneling that borders on being a fetish. Every frame of TROUBLE MAN is absolutely lacquered with 70’s style, from the set pieces, the furniture—everything! If my eyeballs could get an erection, they would have been at full salute.
All great Blaxploitation flicks come with a great soundtrack, and TROUBLE MAN follows suit. This time around, it none other than soul legend, Marvin Gaye providing the smooth background sounds. While it is a great score, I think I was expecting something a bit more from Gaye—that being said, it’s still a great score and as funky as all get out. I think the main problem with the score is it’s competition, which could probably be said about the whole film in general. The score has to compete with incredible soundtracks from Willie Hutch (THE MACK, FOXY BROWN), Isaac Hayes (SHAFT, TRUCK TURNER), James Brown (SLAUGHTER’S BIG RIP OFF), and Curtis Mayfield (SUPERFLY) just to name a few. The film itself competes with those same films, and Hook had to stack up to all the Blaxploitation heavyweights of the era—a tall, tall task indeed. Like I mentioned at the beginning of this review, the role of T seems tailor made for Fred Williamson, which kind of makes TROUBLE MAN the best Fred Williamson movie that Fred Williamson wasn’t in. Not to take anything away from Robert Hooks (nothing at all—he’s great here), but if Williamson had starred in this film, not only would it probably be considered Williamson’s best film, TROUBLE MAN would have a much larger fan base, and certainly be less obscure.
TROUBLE MAN trailer