Trouble Man

This guy sports no mohawk, full beard, camouflage pants or 500 k in gold chains, and yet this Mr. T is just as supremely bad-ass as his more famous namesake. Over a decade before B.A. Baracus first pitied fools with the "A-Team", 'Trouble Man' Robert Hooks kicked asses through grindhouse cinemas in this highly entertaining blaxploitation flick of 1972. Mr T. (Robert Hooks) is a super-tough and super-cool player, private eye and basically the man for every business that calls for balls - the 'Trouble Man'. As one of the promotional lines promises: "He carries two guns, one to stop trouble and one to make trouble." If a job is dangerous and needs to be done, Mr. T is the man to do it. Trying to trick him, however, is not recommendable...

While "Trouble Man" is, as far as I am concerned, no highlight of 70s blaxploitation cinema (films like "Coffy", the original "Shaft" or "Truck Turner" come with my highest possible recommendations) it is a film that every fan of the black Exploitation sub-genre should appreciate. The story is not the most original ever, but good enough. The film is full of action and violent shootouts, the score by Marvin Gaye is cool (even if not quite as cool as the contemporary scores by Isaac Hayes), and Robert Hooks is great in the lead. Some more female eye-candy certainly wouldn't have bothered me, but overall the film shouldn't be missed by blaxploitation fans. Highly recommended to my fellow lovers of 70s cult-cinema.

There's nothing particularly distinguished about the blaxploitation actioner "Trouble Man", but it does entertain. A bad ass Robert Hooks plays a character named Mr. T - around a decade before somebody else made that moniker famous - in the story of a cool, calm, and collected problem solver. He's hired by two criminals, Chalky (Paul Winfield) and Pete (Ralph Waite, a long way from 'The Waltons'), to find out the identities of the thieves who have been holding up their gambling operations.

Mr. T finds out that things aren't as they seem. We in the audience get tipped off as to where things are heading, early on. Ordinarily this would present a problem as the viewer might get tired of waiting for our hero to play catch up, but T is such a good and smart character that we don't much mind. In the meantime, director Ivan Dixon (also an actor in things like "Car Wash") serves up respectable doses of action and suspense. The screenplay concocted by executive producer John D.F. Black is fairly uncomplicated and consistently enjoyable. The dialogue is often quite amusing. As with so many films in this genre, one of the greatest joys turns out to be the music score. The man responsible for the score in this instance is the soul legend Marvin Gaye.

The largely black cast is full of terrific actors. Hooks displays a lot of poise in the lead role, and one may wish that he had had more starring vehicles over the years. Paula Kelly is appealing as his loving girlfriend Cleo. William Smithers does fine as the disapproving white cop who is suspicious of T, who doesn't appear to have a steady source of income but has nice things. Winfield is excellent, as is a perfectly slimy Waite. Julius Harris lends his authoritative presence as a crime boss - unimaginatively named Big. Other familiar faces include singer / actor Bill Henderson, Stack Pierce, Lawrence Cook, Virginia Capers, Tracy Reed, Felton Perry, John Crawford, Gordon Jump, Jeannie Bell, and Harrison Page.

The rousing finale and sense of humour help to make this well worth a viewing.

Seven out of 10.

1972 is the premiere year of some of the best so-called "BLAXPLOITATION" films. Underrated stage, film and television actor Robert Hooks plays the character of "T". "T" is a super cool Brother that bends the rules while getting the job done for his unsavory, criminal clients who can't go to the police when trouble arises in there criminal underworlds.

"T" is asked by the salt and pepper criminals, Chalky and Pete to solve a series of dice game holdups only for "T" to realize that he is part of criminal underworld takeover between up and coming hoodlums and an established Black Los Angeles gangster that goes the name of "MR.BIG". By the end of this film "T" will have to fight his way out of a web of murder, thievery and deceit. "TROUBLE MAN" warranted a sequel but one was never made. This film also includes an excellent score by "MARVIN GAYE". I put this movie right up there with "SHAFT", "SUPERFLY", "BLACK CAESAR" and "THE MACK". Great performances also by Paula Kelly, Paul Winfied, Ralph Waite and Julius Harris. I rate this film **** stars/excellent. It's on video. GET IT!

Judging by the low number of votes for this film on the IMDB, it appears not too many people have had a chance to see this movie, which is a real shame. I saw it on the Fox Movie Channel last night, and was thoroughly impressed. "Trouble Man" has a good plot, good characters, good performances, and a good script. Robert Hooks is great in the lead as the badass private dick "T". I would add that, in my opinion, this film is as good if not better than "Shaft". That's high praise, perhaps, but see the movie and you might agree. I should put it in more blunt terms: if John Shaft and T were ever to have some beef with each other, T would definitely hold his own, and at the very least, give Shaft an ass whuppin' he would not soon forget.

In 1972, Paul Winfield had an interesting year: he starred in the Oscar-nominated Sounder (of which he got a nod) with Kevin Hooks as his son. Then he also played one of the villains in Trouble Man which starred Hooks' father, Robert. As for the star, he's real cool here as he goes like Shaft playing pool, making love to his lady (Paula Kelly), and knowing when to shoot without messing up his suit! While I rarely watched "The Waltons", I knew the other bad guy was played by Papa Walton, Ralph Waite, and boy, does he really get it! And how about the future Arthur Carlson from "WKRP in Cincinnati", Gordon Jump, playing a slum landlord who has to apologize to a woman whose baby almost got killed by a railing but not before getting his butt whooped by Mr. T (Robert Hooks' character)? Julius Harris was as cool as Mr. Big here as he was in Hell Up in Harlem a year later. Most cool of all is Marvin Gaye's main title theme and the entire score he composed. Really, what else to say except Trouble Man is solid, you dig? And, no, I really don't think this deserves to be in the book "The Fifty Worst Films of All Time".