“If you want to be a rich hoe, move to hollywood”.
One day perusing Shadow and Act, I came across a youtube video. In it was Sam Greenlee, vehemently proclaiming the “rich hoe” line above (see for yourself).
I was immediately taken aback. Not so much for his candor. But in remembering that I had met him more than ten years ago.
Sam Greenlee is the author of the book “The Spook Who Sat By the Door”, a fictional tale of the first black man for the CIA who leaves the agency and uses his skills to start a paramilitary revolutionary organization within the hood of Chicago. Sam later acted as a producer for the movie with Ivan Dixon directing. There were exploding cars, negroes with guns and lines like from the star Laurence Cook such as, “What we got now is a colony, what we want is a new nation.”
In 1973 it was rated PG. I’m not so sure it would get that rating in this day and age.
I met him at a poetry set. One of many on the Southside of Chicago before regentrification really set in. He signed my book. I didn’t even know it was a book at the time. I had been force fed the movie by my father at a young age. It’s not everyday a father gets to show his son a black guy start a paramilitary force against oppression on film. Far from the Amos and Andy reruns of late night television.
Fortune smiled on me again as a friend of mine informed me that Sam lives but a block away from me. I then planned a meeting.
We met at Daley’s on 63rd and Cottage Grove, a main area where Mr. Greenlee staged his 1973 film.
And there we were. He told me bits and pieces about what it took to get the movie made. Sam and company didn’t just make a movie. They stole that muthafucka! No permits, no permission, no fear. They filmed the fictional beginning of a revolution on camera. But they filmed the movie as real, film revolutionaries. The Spook Who Sat By the Door is the revolution…televised. Or at least cinema-tized!
All the excuses we think up as filmmakers melted away for me. Sam and Ivan did it. In 1973. Without a permit! Or much else for that matter.
Over chicken and waffles we talked. He mentioned the new documentary about his film and the state of black film as we know it. I expected bitterness. He surprised me with optimism.
He gushed about the Red Camera and all the potential for filmmakers to make films with new technology. He told me how this was somewhat old hat for him. He’s a mentor for many filmmakers in Chicago. I was honored to be one of many. I wondered what took me so long.
His movie has been painfully hard to get a hold of IF you’re not in the know. But now he’s being revered as a cinematic and literary hero by the mainstream. A documentary, “Infiltrating Hollywood: The Rise and Fall of the Spook Who Sat by the Door” is on the festival circuit and is doing quite well. I haven’t seen it yet. But after having lunch with him, I understood the appeal.
We discussed the new Black Film Renaissance.
Me: I feel a lot of people from my generation seem to reinvent the wheel with a lot this stuff. Sometimes we have a hard time seeking out mentors.
Sam: I noticed that.
A documentary featuring Sam Greenlee? What took them so long?
“Infiltrating Hollywood: The Rise and Fall of the Spook Who Sat by the Door” will play at the 17th Annual Black Harvest Film Festival on Sunday, August 21st at 5:30pm and August 25th at 6:15pm. Click here for more information.
