A man generally known as T (Robert Hooks) – that’s Mr. T (no relation) to you and me, or we’ll have to suffer the consequences, I suppose – is working as a bit of a problem solver in an urban black neighbourhood, keeping one leg on the line of the law and one casually crossing over, meting out justice where it is needed, going into macho postures and keeping the peace as best as one can without actually trying to change the world.
When minor crime bosses Chalky (Paul Winfield, in that stage of his career before he started to project distinction as his basic mode of operation and did instead slimy very well) and Pete (Ralph Waite, so sweaty he’s gotta smell, probably not welcome on a certain farm this way) ask T to help them capture a group that has been robbing their craps games, it looks like just another day in the life of a cool dude. However, T soon finds himself confronted with attempts at framing him for murder as well as a convenient scape goat for your typical gangster business.
Though how convenient this particular choice of goat will really turn out to be is questionable, for our hero combines unflappable coolness, a sharp mind, a disinterest in working things out in a lawful manner that would probably get him killed or arrested for something he’s completely innocent of, with a talent for all things two-fisted.
More people will probably know Ivan Dixon’s Trouble Man for its (unfortunately more workmanlike than great) Marvin Gaye soundtrack than will actually have seen it. That’s a bit of a shame, for the film is a great example for the less exploitative, less crazy arm of blaxploitation cinema. In fact, I’m not even completely comfortable calling it blaxploitation instead of simply treating it as crime movie with a black protagonist. But then, trying to define genres, sub-genres and marketing labels too closely will only give a guy a headache, and blaxploitation can mean very different things to many different people at the best of times.
After a stint as an actor on “Hogan’s Heroes”, Dixon – one of the actual African Americans directing movies in the genre – became a clearly well-respected and hard-working TV director. This and the excellent spy movie The Spook Who Sat by the Door are his main feature films, and they certainly suggest a man with quite a bit of talent. Sure, Dixon isn’t one for obviously sexy stylish flourishes, but he manages to provide the handful of sets and locations he’s working with here with a genuinely lived in feeling, presenting the a bit too cool and competent to be likeable T as a part of an actual community, suggesting all the ways an at best ignored part of a population goes about building their own support structures when the rest of society ignores their needs (again, at best).
It’s a low budget movie kind of community, of course, but Dixon is genuinely good with the broad stroke characterisation that comes with that, and the actors are all the sort of pros that do well with a set-up like this.
Speaking of set-ups, while not terribly plausible (it may make sense to try and frame a guy who might genuinely be able to get away with murder, but T’s obviously the man you simply want to keep out of your business completely), the plotting works well. T’s way of finding out what’s going on follows a classic private eye film structure (and methods) in a satisfying way, until things do climax in the appropriate amount of gunplay, so there’s little about Trouble Man that isn’t at the very least satisfying to watch.
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