Uptight

Like any good guilty whitey I watched Afro American themed movies on MLK day. Started with Nothing But a Man, which I have seen a few times and is probably the greatest film ever made. But I was taken aback by the authenticity and pungency of Uptight, which has largely gone unappreciated. An unblinking, unsentimental agitprop made in the immediate aftermath of the MLK assassination, it was one of a kind at the time as the world awaited the arrival of Melvin Van Peebles and Sweet Sweetback. This authenticity comes as a particular surprise as the film was helmed by Jules Dassin, a good guilty whitey from the Hollywood establishment, albeit one who was blacklisted.

Set in Cleveland and ripe with documentary footage shot by the great D.P. Boris Kaufman, Uptight is a Judas Iscariot story, a remake of John Ford's Oscar-winning The Informer (1935). The Judas is Tank (Julian Mayfield), who sells out Johnny Welles (Max Julien), the charismatic leader of the rebellion for whom the MLK murder is the final brick in the wall, for a thousand pieces of gold. Like Gypo Nolan in the original The Informer, Tank is thick of body and mind, and is wholly unsympathetic until...he is not.

The film is hurt a bit by the casting of Mayfield. Mostly a teacher and activist IRL, Mayfield was enlisted by Dassin to write the screenplay adaptation, then was cast in the meaty lead role. He is just not much of an actor, and he is not ultimately able to carry the film on his shoulders. The rest of the cast, however, primarily Afro American, is top notch. The luminescent Ruby Dee is here as Tank's patient but ultimately fed up woman, the fierce Raymond St. Jacques as another rebellion leader bent on avenging Johnny's betrayal, and, as an elegant stool pigeon, Roscoe Lee Brown, channeling James Baldwin and stealing every scene he is in.

Soundtrack by Booker T. and the M.G.'s!

Uptight can be found on the TCM app if you are lucky enough to have it. It is also available on the TCM channel on HBO Max.