Main Cast: Raymond St. Jacques, Ruby Dee, Frank Silvera, Roscoe Lee Browne, Julian Mayfield
Release Year: 1968
Country: US
Run Time: 104 minutes
Plot
Uptight is an updated remake of John Ford's The Informer (35). The Irish Republican rebels of the original are replaced by black activists, Dublin becomes the Cleveland ghetto, and "the troubles" of 1921 are transformed into the days just following the assassination of Martin Luther King. Julian Mayfield plays an itinerant street sweeper who betrays his militant friends to the fuzz, resulting in an underground all-points bulletin to exact vengeance on the squealer. Ruby Dee portrays a prostitute who befriends the snitch as he eludes his revolutionary ex-buddies. Jules Dassin's unrelenting directorial pace is complemented by the driving jazz score of Booker T. Jones. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Janet MacLachlan - Jeannie; Max Julien - Johnny; Juanita Moore - Mama; Richard Anthony Williams - Corbin; Michael Baseleon - Teddy; Ji-Tu Cumbuka - Rick; John Wesley Rodgers - Larry; Robert DoQui - Street Speaker; Leon Bibb - Mr. Oakley; Lovyss Bradley; Isabelle Cooley; James McEachin - Mello; Ketty Lester - Alma; Alice Childress; Mello Alexandria; Van Kirksey; David Moody
Credit
Phillip Bennett - Art Director, Theoni V. Aldredge - Costume Designer, Martin Hornstein - First Assistant Director, Jules Dassin - Director, Robert Lawrence - Editor, Booker T. Jones - Composer (Music Score), Booker T. Jones - Songwriter, Alexandre Trauner - Production Designer, Boris Kaufman - Cinematographer, Jules Dassin - Producer, Ray Moyer - Set Designer, David Forrest - Sound/Sound Designer, Terry Kellum - Sound/Sound Designer, Ruby Dee - Screenwriter, Jules Dassin - Screenwriter, Julian Mayfield - Screenwriter, Liam O'Flaherty - Book Author
