Second viewing, first viewing with original audio; first seen on February 5, 2000.
An unemployed black man in 1948 Los Angeles is hired to locate a missing woman, supposedly the sweetheart of a politician. He gets in a lot of trouble.
This is a decent black noir, in which white characters are depicted either as oppressive towards the black characters, or as otherwise repugnant. The farcical treatment of violence sets the film apart from most neonoir incursions. The cast is mostly impeccable, the exceptions being the lady who plays 'Daphne' (she is not very good, but not bad enough to ruin the movie), and the guy who plays 'Mouse', whose performance in this film has been vastly overrated. Of course, an exceptionally good director could improve such deficiencies, but that does not seem to be the case here. Now, consider this dialogue near the end:
[begin quote]
Easy: If you got a friend that you know does bad things -- I mean real bad things -- can you still keep him as a friend even though you know what he's like? You think that's wrong?
Odell: All you got is your friends.
[end quote]
This has interesting conceptual connections with the hue and cry over allegedly racial incidents in recent times. In a broader view, I am convinced that black films bring important matters for reflection to discerning white viewers.
Rating: 60 (up from 49)
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