Main Cast: Lee J. Cobb, Anthony Zerbe, Roscoe Lee Browne, Lola Falana, Lee Majors
Release Year: 1970
Country: US
Run Time: 101 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Justice runs red in the deep South in this powerful drama. Steve Mundine (Lee Majors) is a young lawyer who, shortly after marrying his sweetheart Nella (Barbara Hershey), takes a position with a law firm in a small Southern town, run by his uncle Oman Hedgepath (Lee J. Cobb). L.B. Jones (Roscoe Lee Browne) is a well-to-do African-American funeral director who comes to Hedgepath's firm in search of legal representation. Jones wishes to divorce his wife Emma (Lola Falana), but his grounds make the case a hot potato -- Jones has learned Emma has been having an affair with Willie Joe Worth (Anthony Zerbe), a white police officer who is the father of Emma's unborn child. Worth does not want his affair dragged into a court of law, so he and his fellow officer Stanley Bumpas (Arch Johnson) violently take matters into their own hands. The last feature film from legendary Hollywood director William Wyler, The Liberation of L.B. Jones was based on a novel by Jesse Hill Ford. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Barbara Hershey - Nella Mundine; Yaphet Kotto - Sonny Boy Mosby; Arch Johnson - Stanley Bumpas; Chill Wills - Mr. Ike; Zara Cully - Mama Lavorn; Fayard Nicholas - Benny; Joe Attles - Henry; Lauren Jones - Erleen; Brenda Sykes - Jelly; Larry D. Mann - Grocer; Ray Teal - Chief of Police; Eve McVeagh - Secretary; Sonora McKeller - Miss Ponsella; Jack Grinnage - Driver; John Jackson - Suspect; Dub Taylor - Mayor
Credit
Seth Banks - Costume Designer, Gene Ashman - Costume Designer, Anthony Ray - First Assistant Director, William Wyler - Director, Robert Swink - Second Unit Director, Carl Kress - Editor, Robert Swink - Editor, Elmer Bernstein - Composer (Music Score), Ben Lane - Makeup, Kenneth A. Reid - Production Designer, Robert Surtees - Cinematographer, A. Ronald Lubin - Producer, Frank A. Tuttle - Set Designer, Jack Solomon - Sound/Sound Designer, Arthur Piantadosi - Sound/Sound Designer, Stirling Silliphant - Screenwriter, Jesse Hill Ford - Book Author
The title character, a wealthy African Americanfuneral director in fictional Somerset, Tennessee, seeks legal representation from the local law firm run by Oman Hedgepath and his newlywed nephew Steve Mundine. Jones is seeking a divorce from his considerably younger wife Emma, alleging she had an affair with white police officer Willie Joe Worth, whom he suspects is the biological father of her unborn child. In an effort to avoid a public scandal, Worth begs Emma not to contest the divorce, but she hopes to collect enough alimony to allow her to maintain the lavish lifestyle to which she has become accustomed. When she refuses to cooperate, Worth severely beats her, then - with the aid of fellow officer Stanley Bumpas - arrests Jones on false charges. The man escapes and eventually confronts the two policemen, who shoot and castrate him but are not held accountable for their actions, despite their confession. Bumpas subsequently is murdered by Sonny Boy Mosby in retaliation for a vicious beating he once inflicted on the man.
In his review in the New York Times, Vincent Canby said, "I'm sure that Wyler and his screenwriters . . . were out to make a suspense movie that would also work as contemporary social commentary. In the interests of melodrama, they have simplified the characters from Hill's novel to such a degree that they seem more stereotyped than may have been absolutely necessary . . . Wyler's direction is notable only for the coldness and for an impatience to get on with the story at the expense of any feeling of real involvement . . . I must say I wasn't bored by it, just depressed." [1]
Variety called it "not much more than an interracial sexploitation film." [2]
TV Guide rates it two out of a possible four stars and comments, "Though the cast gives some strong performances, ultimately the film is an empty affair. The questions of racism and southern prejudice had been well handled by other films long before this. Had it been made 10 years earlier it would have been a landmark, but in 1970 it was no longer fresh material. The script is pockmarked with cliches and stereotypes, though the technical aspects are fine. This last film of director Wyler was nothing special." [3]
