Nothing But a Man (1964) Soul Noir

Directed by Michael Roemer.

Written by Michael Roemer and  Robert M. Young. The great cinematography was by Robert M. Young and a great diegetic music soundtrack by Martha & The Vandellas, The Miracles, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, The Marvelettes, and Mary Wells.

The film stars Ivan Dixon (Hogan's Heroes TV series, director The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973)) as Duff Anderson, Abbey Lincoln as Josie Dawson, Yaphet Kotto (Across 110th Street (1972), Alien (1979)) as Jocko, Leonard Parker as Frankie, Stanley Green as Reverend Dawson, Eugene Wood as Johnson, Helen Lounck as Effie Simms, Julius Harris (Super Fly (1972), The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) ) as Will Anderson, Duff's father, Gloria Foster as Lee, Gertrude Jeannette as Mrs. Dawson, and Mel Stewart (Odds Against Tomorrow (1959), Trick Baby (1972)).

Duff (Ivan Dixon) is a gandy dancer on a section gang. The section gang does grade work on various pieces of rail line that need it. They live on a work train comprised of converted boxcar and retired passenger pullmans.

Duff (Ivan Dixon)

They are replacing ties on a line near Birmingham, Alabama. They are making comparatively good wages for hard work. On their nights off they either play cards or sometimes head on a motorized rail car to the nearest town that doesn't roll up it's sidewalks at night. There the gang winds down and cuts loose.

Gandy Dancers

Jack hammering spikes

end of day

Gandy Dancer Work Train

Joko (Yaphet Kotto) and Duff off time

town bound

Duff is drinking with Jocko at a pool hall. They get approached by a B- Girl. Joko blows her off but Duff buys her a drink. She asks Duff if he wants her to spend some time with him but Duff, a bit bored, takes off out the door and starts walking.

Joko, B-Girl, Duff

Down the road he hears some gospel music coming from a small church. There is some kind of benefit potluck shindig going on. Duff goes in gets some food and mingles with the brothers and sisters. He meets Josie Dawson the cute preachers daughter.

Josie Dawson (Abbey Lincoln)

They hit it off and begin to date. Josie's parents don't approve. They don't think Duff is good enough for her. They want to fix her up with some good god fearing local boys. Josie tells Duff that all the local boys are too sad.

  Reverend Dawson  (Stanley Green)

Jose likes Duff because he is different. Duff doesn't abide with the "go along to get along" attitude of the blacks in town. Duff, at first, just wants to get laid but after he visits his alkie old man and his four year old illegitimate son in the care of a woman who doesn't really give a shit about him, he gets an urge for more stability for himself and his son, rather than the fly by night life he's living.

Will Anderson ( Julius Harris)

Duff marries Josie and quits the section gang. It all goes Noirsville as the realities of a Jim Crow southern town takes its toll.

Duff's relatively free life on the road is replaced by stress and tension. Duff gets blacklisted. He hates his new father-in-law who he sees as a sell out. He vents to Josie.

Duff: You've never really been a nigger, living with them, in that house.

Unable to keep a job Duff pushes Josie to the floor packs up his gear and takes off telling her that he'll send for her when he gets back on his feet.

Noirsville

Tail Fins

 

Noir is a style that amalgamates with a story, any story about the darker sides of human existence. This film and others show that Noir is not always about Crime, or detectives, femme fatales, murderers, crooks G-Men and police.

It can be about anybody, a hitchhiker, an alcoholic, a junkie comedian, a runaway, a case of mistaken identity, an amnesiac, a truck driver, a prostitute, a stripper, a newspaper reporter, a jazz musician, a war vet, a hobo, a con artist an illegal alien.

Upon the demise of the Motion Picture Production Code creative artists were able to push Noir into all directions including the experimental and exploitive.

For a black man in the Jim Crow South it didn't take much to send his life spinning into Noirsville.
From Ivan Dixon on down all the performances are powerfully spot on. Definitely worth a watch 6-7/10.