An excellent drama with a cast of well-developed characters who are easy to empathize with--which is more than most films accomplish--and a perfect ending. A couple of the smaller performances don't quite come together as convincing, and the pace seems almost unbearably slow in the beginning, but it's well worth watching.

It should first be said that this is one of the best written, directed and played family dramas of its time. Its historical and political importance is an added bonus: Many American films before it had dealt with race relations, but to my knowledge this was the first film to feature an almost all black cast, with white faces few and far between. It is also the most realistic and convincing depiction of institutionalized racism and racial discrimination in the U.S. that I've seen on film.

A classic example of old school independent filmmaking, shot in evocative black and white and grappling with big issues in an unadorned, highly humanistic manner. Roemer is interested in exploring the ways that oppression and poverty are outcomes of cyclical systems. To break free, a man needs to defy more than the angry, fearful people blocking his path. He needs to stand up against his own history and the patterns of self-defeat that are too easy to fall into when confronting a world of no.

Plays more like New Wave than a regular black film. At any rate, I found the acting of the two principals to be a problem, especially in their scenes with each other; all that goofy grinning came off pretty fake to me, like they were just playing being a couple. When they got mad at each other though, things improved, and the scenes with Duff and his father (and Lee) were always strong. Anyway, a nicely gritty understated feel through most of it, very cool low-key and realistic.

Totally self-assured and subtle independent filmmaking. Ivan Dixon and Abbey Lincoln couldn't be better - they have a great chemistry both flirting and fighting. And a really young Yaphet Kotto is a hell of a thing.

A powerful movie, probably the best depiction of the effect of racism on the daily lives of blacks in America. It's both specific and universal, and though at times feels like it's thought from the outside in, also burns with strongly-felt conviction. It is not condescending, nor does it provide a happy ending. At its best, it reminded me of Satyajit Ray's films.

Required viewing everyone.