Assassinato na Louisiana

It's 1987 and there are still parts of the Deep South that haven't quite digested the changes that civil rights have brought. One of them is this bayou parish in Cajun Louisiana where a man who was from a noted white Cajun family was busy running down a black man for sport. Out from a window emerges a shotgun and he's killed.

The woman who leases the property on which most of these black people share crop is Holly Hunter and she means well, but has a patronizing attitude towards 'her' people. The man from whose house the shotgun was fired from is Lou Gossett.

But shotguns leave no forensics and as Gossett's contemporaries gather all with shotguns all recently fired any one of them could have done the deed. And as the movie unfolds they all give rather good motives for the crime.

Sheriff Richard Widmark has to sort it all out and keep at bay an element in the white community that hasn't quite accepted civil rights.

A Gathering of Old Men features a bunch of fine performances by some black actors already qualified for Social Security and Lou Gossett who is made up to look like one. The ending in terms of the crime itself and Widmark's handling of the case might surprise you, but I think it's a just one, given the times.

Unfolding more like a play than a TV movie, A Gathering of Old Men amasses a worthy cast to slowly drive home a point about racism that shouldn't need making ... but with this group of talent, is still strong.

The story begins with Charlie (Breaux), a black man, on the run from a tractor (!) driven by an angry white Beau vowing to kill him. Charlie disappears into a shack, and when Beau follows him into the yard with a shotgun, another shotgun appears from the door of the shack and shoots him dead. Charlie and Mathu (Gossett) emerge, Charlie stammers some excuses to take off, and Mathu shoos him away just before firebrand Candy (Hunter), who's known and "protected" Mathu and his people all her life, appears. Without asking, she assumes he's the murderer and begins to recruit every elderly black man in the surrounding quarter to appear with a recently fired shotgun -- all know what she's up to, and all fall in like soldiers fighting their own last, great war to protect Mathu by assuming the mantle of guilt. After all, each has a reason to hate the racist Beau and his family, so each has a reason to stand tall and claim the murder regardless of who pulled the trigger.

Along with a taciturn Louis Gossett Jr, most of the "old men" are familiar as supporting and background actors, and one could stretch the point that the fierce pride and determination each brings to his lifetime-of-indignity role comes from a career often stifled by the Hollywood hand that should have fed him. But even without the big plot moments like Joe Seneca's emotional speech about his son's unjust death, their screen presence -- one wears a suit, another has donned his old Army uniform -- makes a telling point. Add a soundtrack by jazz bassist Ron Carter and the live musical presence of legendary fiddler Papa John Creach as one of the old men, and the production explodes with atmosphere.

The film is based on the novel by Ernest J. Gaines (Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman), adapted by Charles Fuller (A Soldier's Play/Story), and directed by Volker Schlöndorff (Palmetto). Gaines' novel is told from numerous points of view, and Fuller and Schlöndorff use this device just often enough to confuse an otherwise straight story line. Other weaknesses, mostly from the "white" side of the tale, drag the pace and weaken the overall message. The issues the story would like to cover are just too deep to fit into a 90-minute movie.

But aaaaieee -- what a gathering of talented "old men"!

The cast of "A Gathering of Old Men" is quite impressive for a made for TV movie, with Lou Gossett, Holly Hunter and Richard WIdmark, among others.

The story is set in rural Louisiana and when it begins, a nasty white guy is tracking down a black man and he intends to kill him. However, the victim manages to get a shotgun and he manages to kill the attacker. Because the local Cajuns are a very racist lot, there are fears that they'll start hanging black men...using the clearly justified killing as a justification. As for the local Sheriff (Widmark), he doesn't want any lynchings...but he is a racist and a brute to boot. As for the black community and the white landlady (Hunter), they ALL claim to have killed the guy...making it impossible to arrest anyone. How will this all end?

The film has some good acting and is interesting, albeit a bit talky. But the ending isn't great, as the fate of the killer is never really determined....just the reaction of his black neighbors. Odd...but still worth seeing.

In the Louisiana sugarcane fields, white farmer Beau Boutan is chasing a black man Charlie. Charlie seeks shelter at the home of Mathu (Louis Gossett Jr.) and Beau is shot to death. Candy Marshall (Holly Hunter) arrives to see Mathu with a shot gun. She gathers a group of black locals to defend Mathu and tries to claim the shooting for herself. Her family used to own the vast land. The local whites are mostly Cajuns who leased the land from Marshall. The group of elderly blacks start claiming the shooting for themselves. Lou Dimes (Will Patton) tries to talk Candy down. Sheriff Mapes (Richard Widmark) investigates the shooting with too many willing suspects. Beau's progressive brother Gilbert returns home from college urging caution but anger is rising.

I need the movie to start with a definitive year. The book is supposed to be set in the 70s. The lack of a date leaves me questioning whether it's 1987. The decade makes a big difference. The list of black actors is stacked. Louis Gossett Jr. isn't even the best. The best is probably Joe Seneca. The Cajun side needs better actors. They are mostly a bunch random white thugs. The story has potential but the tension is limited.

In 2005, some people in my state still want the Confederate battle flag on their state flag. Yes, racism is no longer fashionable for most people, but don't believe that it doesn't still exist - the KKK wants to adopt a highway in the northern part of the state, so they can, in my opinion, get free advertising for their "fraternal organization."

The actors in this movie have familiar faces, but rarely does one get to see this many older experienced black actors together in an ensemble where each one has their own story to share. Holly Hunter delivers a strong role as an advocate for these special men, who all say -- "I did it, I killed him." An undercurrent of humor and a continuing opportunity for the unexpected to happen keeps the plot moving. As a southerner, I cared for all these people - the women who don't want to see their husband beaten and jailed; the sheriff who, like George Wallace, tries to give the voters what they elected him for.

The tragedy for everyone is the continuing disease of racism, which is not confined just to the American South, or even to whites. Every culture tends to have their "we are special because ..." - which is important, but needs to have included Edward James Olmos' visionary statement: " First of all we are all members of the human race." A movie for viewers who want more than "shoot-em-ups" or automobiles that turn into powerful monsters, it delivers the message that not all whites are murdering bigots, but standing up for what you believe in can be liberating, and have an impact.

Visually exciting and remarkable photography and a quirkish musical background makes it easy to keep watching and wondering what will happen next.