- A black man and his school-teacher wife face discriminatory challenges in 1960s America.
- Born in Birmingham, Duff Anderson, the father of a male toddler, who lives with a nanny, re-locates to a small town to work on the railroad. He meets with and is attracted to Josie much to the chagrin of her preacher father. The marriage does take place nevertheless, both re-locate to live in their own house and he gets a job in a mill. He decides not to bring his son to live with them. Challenges arise when the Mill Foreman finds out that Duff is attempting to unionize the workers, forcing Duff to quit, and look for work elsewhere. Unable to reconcile himself to working on a daily wage of $2.50 picking cotton nor even as a waiter, he gets a job at a garage. He is enraged at a customer for belittling him and Josie, and is let go. Unemployed, unable to support his wife and son, he gets abusive and leaves - perhaps never to return.—rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)
- A crew of black men are working on the railroad. Driving spikes, laying tracks. A white man is at the controls of the crane, crawling along the tracks. At the end of the shift the crew is in the bunk car where the men play checkers with bottle caps. One man wanders from one worker to another. Five more weeks on this job, maybe six.
Duff Anderson (Ivan Dixon), Frankie (Leonard Parker) and Jocko (Yaphet Kotto) go into a nearby town. In a pool hall a young woman approaches them. She asks Frankie to buy her a beer-business is bad. Frankie tells her to ask Duff. Duff buys her a beer. 'Thanks, Duff. You' a nice guy. Not like Frankie.' Duff leaves.
Duff walks through the town and comes across a Black church meeting. Women of the congregation are serving food in the church yard. Duff is introduced to Josie (Abbey Lincoln), a teacher. She smiles as she serves him food on a paper plate. He smiles back. She went to college; he's working on a train gang, working on railroad tracks. She asks if he's going back into the church service. 'No. Never had much use for hell-howlers. How 'bout you?' 'My father's the preacher.' He asks if she'd come out with him sometime. 'Maybe.' Back in the church, the pastor and the congregation are filled with 'the spirit.' Josie seems singularly detached. Duff observes silently from the doorway, then turns and walks into the night.
Duff borrows a car from Riddick (Mel Stewart), a co-worker on the train gang. Against her family's wishes, Josie goes to a dance hall with Duff. After dancing, Duff and Josie return to their table. Duff is surprised that Josie has come dancing with him. 'You don't think very much of yourself,' Josie replies. Frankie and Jocko enter and asks to sit at their table. 'We were just leaving, fellas,' Duff replies, and leaves with Josie.
Josie and Duff are sitting in Riddick's convertible, talking. It must be difficult working on the train gang, 'you're kinda cut off.' He says its fine with him. 'I don't get along so well most places.' He says she's got a lovely face. She allows him to kiss her.
A young white man appears on Josie's side of the car. Another one whom we don't see asks if they are doing anything. The first one says no. The second one appears, also on Josie's side. They both appear to be barely out of their teens. Duff tells them quietly, 'Get out of here.' Josie tells him, 'Don't.' 'Don't start no trouble, boy,' one boy replies. One shines a flashlight in their faces, then traces the beam from Josie's face to her breasts. He notices Josie is the preacher's daughter, and realizes there'll be trouble. They leave. Duff pockets a knife.
Duff drives Josie home. He asks her why she stays in this town. The kids need a good teacher. She says things used to be worse .Eight years ago, white men tied a black man to a car and dragged him to death. Her father knew who did it, but didn't say anything. 'Scared, huh?' They arrive at Josie's house. She would like to see him again. He asks why. She isn't going to 'hit the hay', and he isn't going to get married. She tells him that when they met the other night, she felt he was different from other men... she would like to see him again.
Duff meets Josie after class, and they talk side by side on a swing in the schoolyard. When he takes her home, there is a white man with her father, Reverend Dawson (Stanley Greene), in the living room. Mr. Johnson (Eugene Wood), the superintendent of schools, is just leaving. He greets Duff cordially, and then turns to the Reverend. 'I'm counting on you, Reverend... Wouldn't do for one of your people to sue at a time like this.' 'I know,' the Reverend replies. After Johnson leaves, the Reverend invites Duff to sit down. They'll be getting a new school. Duff asks, why can't all of the kids go to the same school? We've got to go easy, the Reverend replies. We haven't had any trouble in this town for the past eight years, and we aren't going to have any now. He asks Duff if he is a churchman. Duff replies that he isn't. But, it 'seems to me us colored folks do a whole lot of church-goin'. It's the whites that need it real bad.' The reverend replies that it seems like there isn't much they have to say to each other. He gets to his feet. 'My wife and I don't want you hanging around our daughter.'
Duff leaves. Josie catches up with him on the porch. She apologies for her father, and says she's free tomorrow. He's going to Birmingham tomorrow to see his kid, he replies. 'I didn't know you had one...are you married?' 'No, I ain't married,' he says, and leaves.
Duff boards the bus to Birmingham. He makes his way to the back, and Josie is waiting for him, an empty seat next to her. She smiles at him. 'I'm just going to do my shopping.' She slides over so he can sit next to her.
Duff is in a Black section of Birmingham, AL. He finds his address. The door opens and Effie Sims (Helen Lounck) is holding an infant. When Duff introduces himself, she replies: 'Bout time you showed...James Lee, come and meet your Daddy.' His son's mother, Wilma, has gone to Detroit, she says. She's got herself a husband now. Regarding James Lee she says, 'They don' want him 'round. And I tell you...I got no use for him neither.' Duff says he's been sending Wilma money; Effie hasn't received any, and Duff had better find a place for the boy real quick. She leads him to another room. James Lee, about four years old, is with two other infants, and doesn't acknowledge his father. Duff gives him a toy and returns to the outer room. He hands Effie some cash. He'll be sending her the money from now on.
Still in Birmingham, Duff visits his father, Will (Julius Harris), who is lounging in a bed. Duff has to introduce himself. Will offers him a drink. He's waiting on some insurance money, then he's got plans. His partner, Lee (Gloria Foster), enters. I wouldn't have made it without Lee, Will says. The three go to a bar for a celebration. Will asks Duff if he's got a woman, advises him not to get married. They'll take all your dough. Duff and Lee dance. Lee tells him of Will's problems. After the dance Will asks Duff what did he 'come bother me for?' Lee replies, He's your son. Will tells Duff to beat it. 'I get the point,' says Duff. He drops some cash on the bar counter and leaves.
Later that night Duff and Josie meet in the bus depot. Duff's been thinking. About getting married. He presses her. She warns him not to 'push' her. But then says yes. Later, back in the bunk car, he tells the guys in the train gang the news. Frankie and Jocko think he's out of his mind. He'll have to quit his job on the railroad, and settle for $20 a week, if he's lucky, compared to the $80 he's making on the railroad.
Josie and Duff check out an abandoned house. 'It'll be okay when were done with it,' Josie says. Across the yard are their neighbors, Barney and Bessie (Alfred Puryear, Jary Banks) with their children. Barney works at the mill, Josie says.
At Duff's and Josie's wedding, Josie's father is officiating. Only Duff and Josie are smiling.
Duff gets a job at the mill. The white foreman notices Duff working. 'Hey, Jack!...Hey, boy!...I'm talkin' to you.' 'The name's Duff.' The foreman compliments him on his work, notices that Duff doesn't say much.
A white mill hand is having lunch with the black men. Josie's the best looking colored girl in town, he says. He helps himself to a piece of Barney's pie. Barney's wife can cook too. Barney's doing his best work at home. No wonder he's dragging his tail on the job. No one laughs. The white mill hand addresses Duff. 'What's the matter, boy? Never smile?' 'I smile when it's funny.' The mill hand says he thought it was funny. Asks the black workers if they thought it was funny. They all agree it was. He turns to Duff. You ain't got a sense of humor. You ought to smile more. He leaves. The black mill hands warn him. 'Yeah, you want to get along, act the nigger.' Like hell, Duff says.' if you fellows stuck together 'stead of letting them walk all over you, they might not try it.' Joe (Charles McRea), who's been silent until now, gets to his feet. 'Man, you sound like a trouble man.'
Duff's friends from the train gang are invited to dinner with Duff and Josie. Duff shares his experience at the mill, and how frightened his fellow black mill-workers are for speaking up, or talking back. They've all got families to support, says Jocko. Josie changes the subject and asks the men if they'll continue working on the railroad. Frankie says, no, they'll be shipped all 'over the map.'
The men leave. Josie and Duff are getting ready for bed. Josie tells him she's pregnant.
In the locker room at the mill, a white supervisor pulls Duff aside. 'I hear you're tryin' to organize this place!' Duff says he doesn't know what he's talking about. 'That's no way to talk, boy.' He asks Duff if he's a union man. Duff replies that he was, when he worked on the railroad. The supervisor asks 'Now what's all this talk about stickin' together?' Duff looks at his fellow mill-workers, who avoid his eyes. The supervisor adds: 'All I want you to do is tell these boys here you didn't mean what you said about stickin' together an' all.' Duff says nothing. 'Want to keep your job, boy?' Duff looks at the supervisor in silence, then turns and opens his locker. 'Boy, you're actin' like a nigger with no sense. All right, go down' to the office and get your pay. Tell them you're through.'
Duff tells Josie he's been fired. She tells him he'll find another job. He applies at another mill yard. 'Yeah, we can use you,' says the hiring boss, a white man. He checks Duff's application. He asks where he's worked before and what his name is. Duff tells him. The hiring boss checks a file folder, 'Sorry, boy, there ain't nothin' here.'
Duff is sitting at a lunch counter at a restaurant. Joe, one of the mill hand co-workers sits down beside him. He says, there was just one guy who talked; they should have acted different...they've never seen anyone stand up before, took them by surprise.
Duff looks for another job, but he refuses the jobs that are available, picking cotton at three dollars a day, being a bellhop at ten dollars a week plus tips and lunch. Not for him, says Duff. At a grocery store, the manager says, he's already 'got a boy, thanks.' Duff has to borrow money from Josie to fix his car. Desperate, Duff boards a truck to pick cotton. They'll get $2:50 a day, not the usual $3, cause there won't be much of a crop this year. Duff turns and leaves.
One night Josie is sewing on the porch. Duff is a few feet away, fixing a chair. Josie says they have enough money, and she can work, even after the baby comes. 'What the hell could you do?' 'Day work.' 'You ain't goin' to no white home. I seen the way they look at you when you go down the street.' He jumps up and smashes the chair. She's clearly upset. 'I can't stand to see you like that. I know you can't help it,' she says. Stop being so damn understanding, Duff says.
Josie's father is in Duff's and Josie's living room. He knows how Duff feels, he assures him. But you're going about it the wrong way. Make 'em think you're going along and get what you want. 'It ain't in me,' Duff replies. 'How do you intend to support your family,' the Reverend asks. He feels sorry for Josie. He knew it wouldn't work out. 'Well, at least she ain't married to no white man's nigger,' Duff says, and moves inches to the Rev's face. 'You've been stoopin' so long Rev, you don't even know how to stand straight no more. You're just half a man.' In the kitchen, Josie overhears the conversation and accidentally cuts her hand on a piece of glass. She cries silently. Rev. Dawson says he'll ask a friend at a gas station if there's any work available there. He leaves.
In their bedroom, Duff asks Josie why doesn't she hate the white folks? She's not afraid of them, she says. They can't touch me on the inside. 'The hell they can't. They can reach right in and turn you on and off.' 'Not if you see them for what they are.'
Duff gets a job at the gas station. One night, he is called out to tow a vehicle that hit a tree on a deserted back road. As he's jacking the car up, it slips. The white motorist yells at Duff, harangues him relentlessly: Don't do her no good to get banged like that. Duff replies, don't do her no good to go into a tree. 'What'd you say, boy?' 'I said she was in great shape.'
Duff is at work back at the filling station. A car speeds up and screeches to a halt. There are four white men in it. The motorist who was stranded is in the back seat. They specifically ask for Duff, and they want exactly thirty-eight cents worth of gas. Better not make it thirty-nine. And we got business with you. You going to apologize to our friend here. They goad him into apologizing. 'That'll be thirty-eight cents,' Duff says. They fantasize about having their way with Josie. Duff tells them to get out of there. The driver threatens Duff--there'll be some dying around here. Duff threatens them right back. The gas station owner suddenly appears. The driver tells him to get rid of Duff, or this place won't be around-and he ain't kiddin'. Duff is fired.
Back at home, a pregnant Josie says she called the gas station. She was worried. She loves him. He shoves her violently clear across the room. 'I never should have married you in the first place.' He leaves Josie on the floor, crying. Later, Josie is in bed. Duff is packing. 'You'll be better off without me. I'm not fit to live with no more.' He picks up his suitcase, promises to write, and leaves.
Duff visits his father in Birmingham. Will is sweating, drunk, disoriented. Hel touches the back of his head, 'Got a thick feeling' here.' Duff and Lee take him downstairs and bundle him into the back of Duff's car, to take him to the hospital. Will is in the back seat, his face in Lee's lap. On the way, Lee says calmly. 'Duff, he's stopped breathing.'
At the funeral parlor, the undertaker prepares for the funeral. He asks Duff basic questions about his father. Where was he born? His profession? Duff doesn't know. How old was he? Forty-eight, I guess.
On the way back from the cemetery, Lee invites Duff to stay with her, until he can get back on his feet. He declines. What're you gonna do, she asks. He's going to back to the town, make more trouble. As Duff leaves, Lee defends Will: 'Don't be too hard on him.' 'Hell, I'm just like him.'
Duff gets his son, James Lee, and puts him in the front seat of his car. He drives him back home, lays him down on the couch. Josie smiles at James Lee and says 'Hi.' She goes to Duff, falls into his arms, and places her head on his chest. Crying, she holds him tight, and he embraces her just as tightly. 'It ain't gonna be easy, baby,' he says, 'but it's gonna be alright...Baby I feel so free inside.'
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