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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
If you've got trouble, call T and leave a message...service is prompt, efficient, and deadly!, January 24, 2006
It's interesting another should mention his/her disappointment over the music included for the DVD release of Trouble Man (1972), composed by the legendary Marvin Gaye. The way I understand it Gaye wasn't pleased with how the music came out for the movie when originally released back in the day, and went back and re-recorded it for the soundtrack album (I got this information from another website)...I'm unsure if this is true or not, but it might explain why the music for the film is different than the actual music on the soundtrack album. Written by John D.F. Black, who worked on a slew of television series ("The Fugitive", "Hawaii Five-O", "Mary Tyler Moore"), along with a film or two, most notably Shaft (1971), and directed by Ivan Dixon, who also worked on a great many television series like The Rockford Files" (1974), "Starsky and Hutch" (1975), and "Wonder Woman" (1976), to name a few, Trouble Man stars Robert Hooks (Airport '77, Fast-Walking). Also appearing is silky voiced actor Paul Winfield (Damnation Alley, Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, The Terminator), William Smithers (Deathsport), Paula Kelly (Soylent Green, Uptown Saturday Night), blaxploitation veteran and one time Bond villain Julius Harris (Superfly, Black Caesar, Live and Let Die), Bill Henderson (Cornbread, Earl and Me), and Ralph Waite, whom many 1970s television viewers may recognize as patriarch John Walton Sr., from the series "The Waltons".
Hooks plays T (Mr. T if you're nasty), a licensed private investigator (which means he can carry a gun), among other things, who dresses sharply, maintains an office in a pool hall, drives a big, fancy car, and whom people turn to when they have no other recourse and need fast action. An example of this is seen early on when someone comes to T relating how a baby got hurt because of a negligent building owner, and T pays a visit to landlord, played by Gordon Jump (the hapless station manager from the TV show "WKRP in Cincinnati"), and lays it on the line. After their little talk, the hospital bills are taken care of, an apology is made, along with a promise to fix the problems with the building...street law in action...anyway, T is approached by two mid-level hustlers, Chalky Price (Winfield) and Pete Cockrell (Waite), who run various illegal gambling operations, with a problem. Seems some masked men are hitting their games, and they want T to find out whom. T's price is steep (he seems to have little love for the men, but is willing to take a whole lot of their money), but the men agree, as they know he'll get the job done. Turns out the hustlers have set up a somewhat elaborate scam, one where they're going to try and pull a fast hustle on their main rival Big (Harris), setting up T as the fall guy which turns out to be one of those things that sounded good at the time, but now seems like a really bad idea as T is out to settle the score, his way (his way involves some serious beat downs and a whole lot of shooting).
A strong, proud, African American lead character, who is a private investigator type people turn to when they got nowhere else to go, plays both sides of the law, feared and respected by the criminal element, loved by the ladies, consistently hassled by The Man, dresses sharp, plays it cool, and sees things to the end...if this sounds familiar it is because we saw the same thing a year earlier in the film Shaft (1971) which writer John D.F. Black co-wrote with Ernest Tidyman, the latter being the actual author of the novel. In essence, Trouble Man is Shaft in California, substituting Robert Hooks for Richard Roundtree...not that that's bad, but just not entirely original. While Trouble Man does exhibit many of the qualities of movies within the blaxploitation genre at the time, funky music, dated fashions, sleazy characters, a whole lot of violence, etc., it is missing one, common element in that of female nekidness, but that didn't bother me as it made up for it in action, copious usage of profanity, and a whole lot of attitude. Actually, while watching the movie, I got the impression the absence of nudity may have been deliberate, a conscious, respectful choice by the filmmakers not to mire themselves in the sleazier aspects of the genre, but rather focus on the strengths, those being strong characters, a solid story, and a good deal of action. Hooks, not really a regular for these types of films, does very well, providing a tough, smart, infinitely cool no nonsense lead, one who uses his head, but isn't afraid to mix it up when he has to...I thought one scene particularly interesting when T set up a meeting between Big, Chalky, and Pete in the pool hall (neutral ground), and Big's men show up first to check things out. Big's main thug, a large man named Preston, seemed fairly antagonistic on arrival, itching for a fight, but T manages to diffuse the situation, allowing for both men to save face, displaying a calm, cool, intelligent demeanor as T shows the other the lack of value in their getting into a brawl, which helped elevate Hooks' character beyond that of what one would normally expect from a movie like this...I'd credit this to solid writing, but probably more so to Hooks himself, who seemed like a exceptionally good actor, and one with a strong screen presence. All in all I've seen better, more memorable blaxploitation films, but not a lot, as this is definitely above the average, and worthy of owning, especially if you're a fan of the genre.
The film, presented in both fullscreen (1.33:1) and widescreen anamorphic (1.85:1), looks beautiful, blowing away whatever bootleg or copied from TV version you may own (I'm unsure the film has ever seen an official home video release up until now). The audio, presented in Dolby Digital stereo, comes through strong and clear. There aren't really any extras except for an original theatrical trailer, and a few previews for other films including Man on Fire (2004), The French Connection (1971), and Sugar Hill (1994).
Cookieman108
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