cinehunch
A FILM WORTH A CLOSER LOOKTHE FEATURE PRESENTATION
IF THIS ONE STAYED WITH YOU
Keep the feeling.
SIMILAR PICKS / A PERSONAL CONNECTION
01
Why this pick
Like The Spook Who Sat by the Door, it turns political militancy into a tense, street-level drama, balancing ideological conviction with paranoia, betrayal, and the pressure placed on a movement from within.
02
Why this pick
Its urgent pseudo-documentary realism, urban guerrilla strategy, and unsentimental view of state power closely match the tactical tension and political bite of Ivan Dixon’s film.
03
Why this pick
A fiercely confrontational, documentary-styled political thriller about repression and resistance. Its improvised realism and escalating institutional menace make it a strong companion to The Spook Who Sat by the Door.
04
Why this pick
This raw, formally audacious landmark shares the original’s revolutionary Black politics and anti-establishment anger, delivered with a more kinetic, confrontational visual style.
05
Why this pick
Haile Gerima’s austere Los Angeles drama channels systemic racism into simmering radical consciousness, echoing the way The Spook Who Sat by the Door links personal survival to political awakening.
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01 / THE STORY
The story takes place in the early 1970s in Chicago. The CIA has been required for political reasons to recruit African Americans for training. Only one of them, Dan Freeman (Lawrence Cook (actor)), secretly a black nationalist, successfully completes the training process. He becomes the first black man in the agency and is given a desk job—Top Secret Reproduction Center Sections Chief (which means he is in charge of the copy machine). Freeman understands that he is the token black person in the CIA, and that the CIA defines his function as providing proof of the agency's supposed commitment to integration and progress. Therefore, after completing his training in guerrilla warfare techniques, weaponry, communications and subversion, Freeman puts in just enough time to avoid raising any suspicions about his motives before he resigns from the CIA and returns to work in the social services in Chicago.
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02 / FACES IN THE FRAME
Dan Freeman
Dahomey Queen
Dawson
Do-Daddy Dean
Stud Davis
