Black Like Me (film)

Black Like Me
Black Like Me
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Carl Lerner
Screenplay by	Carl Lerner; Gerda Lerner
Based on	Black Like Me; by John Howard Griffin
Produced by	Julius Tannenbaum
Starring	James Whitmore
Cinematography	Victor Lukens; Henry Mueller II
Edited by	Lora Hays
Music by	Meyer Kupferman
Production; company	The Hilltop Company
Distributed by	Continental Distributing
Release date	May 20, 1964;
Running time	107 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Black Like Me is a 1964 American drama film based on the 1961 book Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin. The journalist disguised himself to pass as an African-American man for six weeks in 1959 in the Deep South to report on life in the segregated society from the other side of the color line. The film was directed by Carl Lerner and the screenplay was written by Carl and Gerda Lerner. The film stars James Whitmore, Sorrell Booke and Roscoe Lee Browne.

Plot

John Finley Horton is a liberal white journalist who darkens his face and hands (and to some degree his body) using various means, sufficiently to pass for a black man. He travels for several weeks in the Deep South in order to report from the other side of the color line in the segregated society. He spends time in places from New Orleans to Atlanta, and encounters racism from both white and black people.

Cast

James Whitmore as John Finley Horton (Black Like Me author John Howard Griffin)
Sorrell Booke as Dr. Jackson
Roscoe Lee Browne as Christophe
Al Freeman Jr. as Thomas Newcomb
Will Geer as truck driver
Robert Gerringer as Ed Saunders
Clifton James as Eli Carr
John Marriott as Hodges
Thelma Oliver as Georgie
Lenka Petersen as Lucy Horton
Richard Ward as Burt Wilson

Reception

Critical reception for the film has been mixed. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times described the film as "melodramatic and unsubtle". He said it failed to place the viewer inside an African American's skin, and to convince the audience that the protagonist "is truly passing for black".^[2]

Reviewing the film after the 2012 DVD release, Leonard Maltin awarded the film a positive 3 out of 4 stars. He said that, although some aspects of the film felt dated, the film's themes were still timely.^[3]

Release

The film made its DVD debut on February 12, 2002, by VCI Home Video. It later was re-released by Video Service Corp on December 11, 2012.^[4] This DVD release includes a documentary titled Uncommon Vision about John Howard Griffin, the journalist on whom the main character is based.^[5]

References

^ Black Like Me at Rotten Tomatoes
^ Crowther, Bosley. "Black Like Me (1964) James Whitmore Stars in Book's Adaptation". The New York Times. Retrieved September 8, 2015.
^ Maltin, Leonard (2014). Leonard Maltin's 2014 Movie Guide. New York, New York: Penguin Press. p. 138. ISBN 978-0-451-41810-4.
^ "Black Like Me (1964) - Carl Lerner". Allmovie.com. AllMovie. Retrieved September 8, 2015.
^ Hartel, Nick (February 14, 2013). "Black Like Me: DVD Talk Review of the DVD Video". DVD Talk. The DVD: The Extras. Archived from the original on February 16, 2013. Retrieved November 10, 2013. The film's bonus disc features a 60-min feature length documentary, Uncommon Vision: The Life and Times of John Howard Griffin on the film's real-life subject.