Trouble Man
Encyclopedia
- For the soundtrack album, see Trouble Man (album)Trouble Man (album)Trouble Man is a soundtrack album by soul singer Marvin Gaye, released December 8, 1972 on Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records. As the soundtrack to the 1972 blaxploitation film of the same name, the Trouble Man soundtrack was a more contemporary move for Gaye, following his landmark...
.
Trouble Man is a 1972 blaxploitation
Blaxploitation
Blaxploitation or blacksploitation is a film genre which emerged in the United States circa 1970. It is considered an ethnic sub-genre of the general category of exploitation films. Blaxploitation films were originally made specifically for an urban black audience, although the genre's audience...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
produced and released by 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
. The film stars Robert Hooks
Robert Hooks
Robert Hooks is an American actor of films, television and stage. With a career as a producer and political activist to his credit, he is most recognizable to the public for his over 100 roles in films and television, as well as his political and civil rights activities...
as "Mr. T.", a hard-edged private detective who tends to take justice into his own hands. Although the film itself was unsuccessful, it is still of note today for its successful soundtrack, written, produced and performed by Motown artist Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
.
Like Isaac Hayes
Isaac Hayes
Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr. was an American songwriter, musician, singer and actor. Hayes was one of the creative influences behind the southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwriter and as a record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the...
and Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Lee Mayfield was an American soul, R&B, and funk singer, songwriter, and record producer.He is best known for his anthemic music with The Impressions during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's and for composing the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film Super Fly, Mayfield is highly...
before him, Gaye became the next in a line of soul music
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
stars who recorded soundtracks for films aimed at African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
audiences. While the Trouble Man film was a flop, the Trouble Man soundtrack
Trouble Man (album)
Trouble Man is a soundtrack album by soul singer Marvin Gaye, released December 8, 1972 on Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records. As the soundtrack to the 1972 blaxploitation film of the same name, the Trouble Man soundtrack was a more contemporary move for Gaye, following his landmark...
and single became successes for Gaye.
The movie had the distinction of being featured in the 1978 Michael & Harry Medved book, 'The 50 Worst Films of All Time".
Plot synopsis
An inner-city point man is on the run from both the cops and the crooks in this streetwise blaxpolitation drama. T (Robert Hooks) is a combination pool shark, private detective, and all-purpose ghetto fixer who operates out of a billiards parlor in South Central Los Angeles. T has done well for himself -- he drives a fancy new car, wears expensive suits, and lives in an upscale apartment. But, he also looks out for folks on the block, has lukewarm connections with both the police and gangsters, and knows how to tell the good guys from the bad guys on either side of the law. T is approached by Chalky (Paul WinfieldPaul Winfield
Paul Edward Winfield was an American television, film, and stage actor. He was known for his portrayal of a Louisiana sharecropper who struggles to support his family during the Great Depression in the landmark film Sounder which earned him an Academy Award nomination. Winfield also portrayed Dr....
) and his partner, Pete (Ralph Waite
Ralph Waite
Ralph Waite is an American actor, whose most notable role was playing John Walton Sr. on the 1970s CBS TV series The Waltons, which he also occasionally directed...
), who run a floating dice game in the neighborhood. Chalky tells T they've been ripped off by a band of thieves several nights running, and they want to hire him to find out who the masked stick-up men are. T takes it as a routine assignment and is willing to do the job for the right price. However, it turns out Chalky and Pete are trying to take down rival crime kingpin Big (Julius Harris
Julius Harris
Julius W. Harris was an American actor who appeared in more than 70 movies and numerous television series in a career that spanned four decades.-Early life and career:...
) and have pinned T with the killing of one of Big's underlings who is shot during a dice game robbery (T was present at the hold-up). T is blamed for the crime by both Big and police captain Joe Marx (Bill Smithers), setting off a series of cunnning twists and confrontations T is determined to survive, at the expense of the rival groups. Trouble Man also stars Paula Kelly as T's love interest, and features an original score by Marvin Gaye.
Cast
- Robert HooksRobert HooksRobert Hooks is an American actor of films, television and stage. With a career as a producer and political activist to his credit, he is most recognizable to the public for his over 100 roles in films and television, as well as his political and civil rights activities...
- player as Mr. T - Paul WinfieldPaul WinfieldPaul Edward Winfield was an American television, film, and stage actor. He was known for his portrayal of a Louisiana sharecropper who struggles to support his family during the Great Depression in the landmark film Sounder which earned him an Academy Award nomination. Winfield also portrayed Dr....
- as Chalky Price - Ralph WaiteRalph WaiteRalph Waite is an American actor, whose most notable role was playing John Walton Sr. on the 1970s CBS TV series The Waltons, which he also occasionally directed...
- as Pete Cockrell - William Smithers William SmithersWilliam Smithers is an American actor, perhaps best known for his recurring role as Jeremy Wendell in the television series Dallas. He appeared in the series in 1981 and from 1984 to 1989...
- Captain Joe Marx (as Bill Smithers) - Paula KellyPaula Kelly (actress/dancer)Paula Kelly is a dancer and actress in motion pictures, television and theatre.-Early life and career:...
- as Cleo - Julius HarrisJulius HarrisJulius W. Harris was an American actor who appeared in more than 70 movies and numerous television series in a career that spanned four decades.-Early life and career:...
- as Big - Bill HendersonBill HendersonBill Henderson is a Canadian singer/songwriter. He first appeared on the Canadian music scene as a member of the group The Collectors, but he is best known for his work with the group Chilliwack in the 1970s and 1980s, who produced such hits as "Lonesome Mary", "California Girl", and "My Girl "...
- as Jimmy - Wayne Storm - as Frank
- Akili Jones - as Billy Chi
- Vince HowardVince HowardVince Howard is an American actor who has made many guest appearances on television.-Television appearances:* General Hospital * Dallas * Murder, She Wrote * Hill Street Blues...
- as Preston - Stack PierceStack PierceStack Pierce is an actor who prior to becoming an actor was once a boxer and then later on a pro baseball player -Acting career:His acting career mainly began in the early 1970s with film roles in Night Call Nurses , Fred Williamson's film Hammer and Cool Breeze as well as many acting roles in...
- as Collie - Lawrence Cook Lawrence Cook (actor)Lawrence Cook was an African American actor.Cook starred in The Spook Who Sat By The Door. In that film, Cook portrayed Dan Freeman, a secret black nationalist who is trained by the CIA and later trains and leads black freedom fighters in an uprising against the U.S...
- as Buddy (as Larry Cook) - Virginia CapersVirginia CapersEliza Virginia Capers was an American actress.-Early life:Born in Sumter, South Carolina, Capers attended Howard University and studied voice at the Juilliard School in New York City. She made her Broadway debut in Jamaica in 1957...
- as Macy - Rick FerrellRick FerrellRichard Benjamin Ferrell was an American professional baseball player, coach, scout and executive. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball from to for the St. Louis Browns, Boston Red Sox and Washington Senators. Ferrell was regarded as one of the best catchers in baseball during the...
- as Pindar - James 'Texas Blood' Brown - as Wesley