Race and the Revolutionary Impulse in The Spook Who Sat by the Door

239 Pages·2018·7.022 MB·English

by  Michael T. Martin, David C. Wall and Marilyn Yaquinto (eds.)

Race and the Revolutionary Impulse
in THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR
Studies in the Cinema of the Black Diaspora
MICHAEL T. MARTIN AND DAVID C. WALL
Published in cooperation with the Black Film Center/Archive,
Indiana University
Indiana University Press
RACE AND
THE REVOLUTIONARY IMPULSE IN
MICHAEL T. MARTIN
Edited by ,
DAVID C. WALL MARILYN YAQUINTO
, and
This book is a publication of
Indiana University Press
Office of Scholarly Publishing
Herman B Wells Library 350
1320 East 10th Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA
iupress.indiana.edu
© 2018 by Indiana University Press
This publication supported by funding from the Black Film Center/Archive,
Indiana University
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information
storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The
Association of American University Presses’ Resolution on Permissions constitutes the
only exception to this prohibition.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI Z39.48–1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Martin, Michael T. editor. | Wall, David C. editor. | Yaquinto,
Marilyn editor. | Greenlee, Sam, 1930-2014. Spook who sat by the door.
Title: Race and the revolutionary impulse in The spook who sat by the door /
edited by Michael T. Martin, David C. Wall, and Marilyn Yaquinto.
Description: Bloomington : Indiana University Press, 2017. | Series: Studies
in the cinema of the black diaspora | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017020635 (print) | LCCN 2017015154 (ebook)
| ISBN 9780253031808 (eb) | ISBN 9780253031754 (cl : alk. paper)
| ISBN 9780253031792 (pb : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Spook who sat by the door (Motion picture) | Racism in motion
pictures. | Race relations in motion pictures. | African Americans in
motion pictures.
Classification: LCC PN1997.S653 (print) | LCC PN1997.S653 R33 2017
(ebook) | DDC 791.43/72—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017020635
1 2 3 4 5 23 22 21 20 19 18
In Memory of Sam Greenlee

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: The Spook Who Sat by the Door ■
Michael T. Martin and David C. Wall 1
1. Writer/Producer’s Statement: The Making of The Spook
Who Sat by the Door ■ Sam Greenlee 25
2. “Duality is a survival tool. It’s not a disease”: Interview with
Sam Greenlee on The Spook Who Sat by the Door ■
Michael T. Martin and David C. Wall 28
3. Cinema as Political Activism: Contemporary Meanings in
The Spook Who Sat by the Door ■ Marilyn Yaquinto 60
4. Persistently Displaced: Situated Knowledges and
Interrelated Histories in The Spook Who Sat by the Door ■
Samantha N. Sheppard 92
5. Subverting the System: The Politics and Production of
The Spook Who Sat by the Door ■ Christine Acham 121
6. The Spook Who Sat by the Door, Screenplay ■ Sam Greenlee
and Melvin Clay 134
Appendix A: Press Kit 197
Appendix B: National Film Registry Entry, The Spook Who
Sat by the Door ■ Michael T. Martin and David C. Wall 205
Appendix C: Sam Greenlee: Biography and Select Bibliography 211
Appendix D: Ivan Dixon: Biography and Select Filmography 215
Index 221
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
project such as this is inevitably the work of many more hands
A than merely those of the editors. It is to all those people we must
offer a general thanks for their support, encouragement, and useful
and necessary criticism. There are, however, some more specific thanks we
would like to offer. Firstly, we must acknowledge the support of the Black
Film Center/Archive (BFC/A) at Indiana University, Bloomington, which
hosted the Cinematic Representations of Racial Conflict in Real Time sympo-
sium in the spring of 2010 from which this book derives. Equal thanks must
go to Indiana University for their awarding of a New Frontiers grant to the
BFC/A without which the symposium itself would not have been possible.
As we have gone through the process of putting this collection together
many people have committed their time and energy in countless ways in
an effort to ensure the quality and relevance of the contributions herein. At
Indiana University Press, Janice Frisch and Kate Schramm have given us
invaluable support and advice. Their patience with the progress of the book
(as well as us!) has been exemplary. We must also extend heartfelt thanks
to Rachelle Pavelko of the BFC/A for her constant efforts in dealing so ef-
fortlessly and cheerfully with the organizational and technical limitations
of the editors! We must also thank the contributors, the range and qual-
ity of whose work serves as a testament not only to the importance of the
film but also to the ever-burgeoning body of scholarship being undertaken
around the subject of black cinema. Lastly, our greatest thanks must go to
ix