Brother John

This film begins with a small-town doctor known simply as "Doc Thomas" (Will Geer) advising a young woman named "Sarah" (Lynn Hamilton) to check into the local hospital for some tests. Although he advises her not to worry, he fully realizes that she has a terminal case of cancer and as such she doesn't have long to live. Prior to her leaving, however, he asks whether she has spoken with her brother "John Kane" (Sidney Poitier) who left town years ago and seems to have completely disappeared. After replying that she doesn't even know where he lives, she then leaves the clinic and checks into a hospital. The scene then shifts to a demonstration being held outside of a local factory where some of the workers are trying to form a union. With tensions running high Doc Thomas' son--the conservative District Attorney "Lloyd Thomas" (Bradford Dillman)--advises his law enforcement officials to be on the lookout for suspicious strangers appearing hoping to further inflame the situation in the union's favor. Not long afterward, John Kane just happens to appear right before his sister dies. Even so, Lloyd and the county sheriff "Ramon Bieri" (Orly Ball) become convinced that he's also there to stir up trouble. Doc Thomas, however, is not convinced and marvels at the fact that John seems to have an uncanny knack for mysteriously showing up whenever one of his family members is dying. What he suspects-and nobody else seriously considers--is that there is more to John than meets the eye and death always seems to follow him wherever he goes. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that I liked the performances of both Sidney Poitier and Will Geer along with those of Beverly Todd (as "Louisa MacGill") and the always underappreciated Paul Winfield ("Henry Birkardt"). I also liked the manner in which the overt racism endemic in the South was exposed for all to see. That said, however, I must admit that I would have preferred a more heightened sense of mystery combined with a bit more suspense than what was displayed. Be that as it may, I still enjoyed this film for the most part and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

I first saw this movie when it was released in the UK and although similar politically to most of his movies of that time and with the usual script aimed at making Sidney Poitier appear to be the super human that we all know he is.It was still in my opinion one of his more meaningful but less celebrated rolls with little or no publicity when it was released in the UK.Having said that,when you think of the standard of performance Mr Poitier gives in the movie and the talent the casting agent managed to muster(all fine journeymen actors)as a supporting cast one wonders why I feel I am the only person in the UK who saw this movie.The other major plus is the soundtrack(I would love to have a copy)it is so good.

First of all Vincent Canby was wrong. Poitier's character John Kane is not an angel. He is very much a living breathing earthly being capable of error as evidenced by a scene where he thoughtlessly lets slip a bit of information he should not have mentioned. Do I know exactly who or what John Kane was meant to be taken for by Ernest Kinoy the screenwriter? Definitely not. Does that at all detract from the enjoyment of this film. Absolutely not. Think of Mark Twain's The Mysterous Stranger or the sci-fi film classic "The Day The Earth Stood Still" Both of these works are scathing indictments of the pettiness and baseness of human kind. If you have any knowledge of how wisdom is communicated in the eastern religions such as Budhism you will be mesmerized by the conversation that takes place in the jail cell between the world weary Kane and Dr. Thomas. It is significant that it is a physician who more accurately than any other character understands what Kane is up to. Who else but a physician is actually trained to see man as he really is, with all pretenses and garments removed? Dr.Thomas has in his own way been performing the same task as Kane all his life making dispassionate clinical observations. The fact that none of the social issues and conflicts portrayed in the film are fleshed out or resolved in any satisfying way is not a problem for this film. They are all just symptoms of the underlying disease. In my opinion Kinoy is saying the disease itself is simply the nature of man. Perhaps the beating and humiliation of an officer of the law (even a blatantly racist and evil one)- by an African American that takes place in this film was simply too radical in 1971 for it to be aggressively promoted or to be supported by critics. Don't let this film's obscurity keep you from superb performances by Mr Poitier and Will Geer.

No doubt about it this may be the strangest role Sidney Poitier ever took on. But at the same time he did a haunting performance as Brother John whose arrival in town for his sister's funeral is cause for speculation in the southern town he hails from.

Will Geer the town doctor upon hearing Poitier is in town says that Poitier has never returned but for family members when they die, both parents and now his sister. He keeps in no touch, but always knows.

He muses out loud to his district attorney son Bradford Dillman who in turn talks to redneck sheriff Ramon Bieri and let's say they perform their own highly illegal investigation because this man hasn't done anything. But he's a well dressed black man with good speech and manners so who knows what he could be up to. There's a strike going on in town at a factory which is their largest employer and he could be some leftwing agitator, a communist who knows.

Poitier isn't getting along any better with the black people he grew up with. They think he's a snob and the girl he dated at one time Beverly Todd can't figure him out.

Poitier is one of those humans who apparently has been granted certain insights the rest of us don't have. It's not in their nature to make really close friends. We've seen this in several films, two I can cite are The Passing Of The Third Floor Back with Conrad Veidt and one who was granted a bit more than insight to is Michael Clarke Duncan in The Green Mile.

The beautiful thing about a film like Brother John is that you can put almost any kind of interpretation on it. Watch it and create your own.

I only saw the movie once, back when it came out, but it left an impression on me. John is an enigma, one we discover more puzzling things about but never anything that is a solid answer. Like Will Geer's character, we can guess things about John and the reasons for his return, but we will never know the answers.... At least not until John chooses to act.

By the way, the film makes an interesting mirror to IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT. Consider that film as if it were an X-Files episode....