THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR Screens at The St. Louis Public Library October 1st – ‘Banned Books Week’

“Cause it’s WAR, Honky!”

Celebrate Banned Books Week at the Central Library! THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR screens Saturday, October 1st at The St. Louis Public Library Central Branch (1301 Olive Street St. Louis) at 1pm as part of “Banned Books Week”. This is a FREE event. The film will be introduced by Calvin Wilson from the St. Louis Post Dispatch, and will be followed by Q & A led by Wilson.

In order to improve his standing with Black voters, a White Senator starts a campaign for the CIA to recruit Black agents. However, all are graded on a curve and doomed to fail, save for a soft-spoken veteran named Dan Freeman. After grueling training in guerrilla warfare, clandestine operations and unarmed combat, he is assigned a meager job as the CIA’s token Black employee. After five years of racist and stereotyped treatment by his superiors, he quietly resigns to return to his native Chicago to work for a social services agency…by day. By night, he trains a street gang to be the vanguard in an upcoming race war, using all that the CIA has taught him.

THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR (1973) is a cult classic from the height of the Blaxploitation era, and is considered one of the most influential black films of the ’70s. THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR is a faithful adaptation of Sam Greenlee’s controversial novel of the same title, and a haunting look at what might have happened in the USA during that turbulent period of history known as the early ‘70s. THE SPOOK…was shot on a small budget but wields a powerful message: Never underestimate anyone! Not even “the spook who sat by the door”!

As a motion picture, THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR does have technical weaknesses, but the drama is well-played, the plot is very tight, the characters are believable, and it still packs a punch. A white dude (like myself) may find the diatribes against “whitey” shocking, but this film was made during a time of great racial strife. It echoes those times and may be the perfect film to watch again in 2016. And you’ll have the chance to see it on the big screen when it plays at  The St. Louis Public Library Central Branch (1301 Olive Street St. Louis) Saturday October 1st at 1pm.