SCREEN: USING THE C.I.A.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01365R000300210057-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 29, 2004
• Sequence Number: 57
• Publication Date: September 22, 1973
• Content Type: NSPR

P _ U(A) CC/vl
Approved For Release 2005/01/13 : CIA-RDP88-01365R00030021005 2 J
50 L' ? 00i<
MEN YORK TI,SES
2 2 SEP 1973 s+T- b y t
'Scree ne in thy, C'.. A.
Ex-A gent in `Spook
Who Sat by the Door'
By VINCENT CANBY
In "The Spook Who Sat
by the Door," Dan Freeman
(Lawrence Ccolc), a mildman-
nered, bespectacled, black
social worker who seems to
know his place, allows hiln-
self to become the token by
which the Central Intellig-
ence Agency becomes inte-
grated.
There is, of course, no
thought of ever rending Dan
into the field. Black nmen,
otherwise invisible, have a
tendency to be conspicuous
as spies. They stand out. ]Ian
is kept around the home of-
fice where he says "yes, sir"
rnd. "no, sir," and escoris
sightseeing parties though
the nonclassified sections.
That, hov ever, is just one
side of: Dan.
rs
The other side is Dan Free-
man as the sureri>lack na-
tionalist.. Attcr Dan has
learned everything that the
C.I.A. has to teach hint
about guerilla. warfare and
weaponry, lie returns to Chic-
ago to orr nize a black revo-
lution that, at the end of the
film, is about to bring white
America to its l~lfees.
Like Dan Grcnlce's novel,
on which it. i based, "Fir.>,
Spook Who Sat by the Door"
is a difficult work to judge
coherently. It is such a inix-
ture of passion, humor,
hindsight, prognecy, preju-
dice and rf ;felon that the
fact that it's not a very
well ]r rule movie, anri is sel-
(10111 convincing as molo-
'dranla, is almost beside the
;point.
The Cast
THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR,
d.rc,.teJ 1w Ptan Ui .,; s, tar by
Sun Grc ) zrd cisln Clay, bawl
on noun So Mr. Gw: 'aa: produced
by Sr. '.Dlxan r ..d music,
Her.`,ie Har coca; ci rcof r.heto9-
r,-ay, A%:, !1,16 Hue' itar, k.icytel
Ka.hn; a Boca rip L+'., Stribvled
t'r cd k_ riwq fine: 102
rnim.nr;. At 1,^ U,, heater, Sew
u.rh Avenue at .17th 5'ro t, aid JulIet 2
ii rd Avr?;rce at 53rd Street.
Tr.is film has Lien chirp i;led PG.
D:m FrBCrnan............ La r;rence cc.,tc
r'a'oaey Q::_aen......... F'aura Lav:rence
Jay .......................Janet Lcaue
P a: ;on.................U? A. Preston
['a Ca-ids Dean .............. Pail batter
S d Uavis .............. Don Blasely
Prat, Willla........... .David Lemieux
C_,~,,:I .................Byron Morrow
Carstairs ....................Jack Aaron
The rage it projects is real,
even though the means by
which that rat=e is projected
are stereotypes. Black as
well as white.
Mr. Greenlee, who adapted
his novel for the screen with
Melvin Clay, and co-produced
the film with Ivan Dixon, the
director, couldn't care less
about convincing white audi-
ences of anything except
black anger. 't' he white
characters are even more
idiotic than can easily be
explained by their roles as
C.T.A. oiiicials and United
States Senators. '1ihc blacks
are either poetic proles or
members of the corrupted
black middle class.
tD
"This Is not about hating
white folks," Freeman says
as the black revolution is
about to begin. "I"bis is
about loving freedom enough
to light and die for it."
In sprite of what Dan Free-
man says, the ill-,1 equates
the t.v:o, "Thy Snook Who
sat. by the Door" stacks its
cards, and in 6;ing so, it
raises Mack corisc'.:0'JSness by
trivializir Levee al hundred
years of black neglect.
Approved For Release 2005/01/13 : CIA-RDP88-01365R000300210057-2