Director: Joseph Sargent
Cast: James Earl Jones, Martin Balsam, Burgess Meredith, Lew Ayres

With The Unknown Movies being more and more popular with every passing year, you can be sure there are many fans of this website as well as members of the media who want to learn more about the person behind it. It goes without saying that I am asked many pointed questions due to my power and influence. One of those questions I am asked is, "Do you have any plans to run for a certain political position?" Well, whenever I am asked that question, I remember what Italian actor Bud Spencer (Crime Busters and Aladdin) said when in 2005 he threw his hat in the race for regional director in the administrative region of Lazio: "In my life, I have done everything. There are only three things I haven't been - a ballet dancer, a jockey, and a politician. Given that the first two jobs are out of the question, I'll throw myself into politics." Although Spencer subsequently lost the election, the fact that he gave it a go suggests that a critic of unknown movies could also try his hand at anything from being a counselman to the leader of a country. I certainly know how to properly research even the most obscure topics regarding the world of unknown movies, and come up with sound conclusions to my research. So I think that indicates I could weigh in on other topics and concerns, and steer the populace under me in the right directions. What about other challenges, such as rival politicians either in my country or in other countries? Well, in my lifetime I have come across a number of bullies, so by now I know what to do when someone irritates me one way or another - get back at them in subtle or unsubtle ways in order to make their lives miserable. Budgeting? I paid off my student debt completely. Lobbyists? I'd just take their bribes and say I will think about their argument... thinking about it just for a second before making my ultimate and totally correct personal decision, whether I agreed with them or not.

But to tell the truth, if I had the opportunity to try and be in some kind of public office, while those thoughts (and many others) I listed in the previous paragraph would go through my head for the first few seconds, after those few first seconds of considering all the perks, I would simply say, "No thanks" to the person or people offering me the opportunity to try and go for it. Why would I turn down the chance to throw my hat into the ring? Many reasons, as it turns out. The first reason is that when you are in public office, quite often your privacy is reduced somewhat, or completely. Although I am happy to make my case when it comes to movie reviews, the tool of the Internet helps me to keep enough privacy. I am actually quite a private person in many respects, so having the public spotlight constantly on me and shining brightly... well, that would be too much for me to handle. Another potential problem for me in politics would be that history has shown you have to have really good people skills, and be really really good at using and juggling various skills. I'm not a very good people person in real life, and being forced to always be on my toes and give instant good decisions... well, that would be too much for me to handle. The third reason I would be reluctant to take up public office is that I would have very little time to play. In my personal life, I love to take several hours a day to surf the Internet on various topics that interest me, watch television, and listen to music. The job that I currently work at gives me enough time to do that, but I know that with many politicians, free time is a very rare luxury, if there is any free time at all. All those and other reasons are why I agree with the philosophy of comedian Pat Paulsen when he ran for president on the television show The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour: "If nominated I will not run, and if elected I will not serve."

So I think that I am pretty safe from being in any kind of political position - I am a lover, not a leader. All the same, I cannot predict what might happen in the future. While I am pretty confident that I would make a voluntary effort to be in a political position, what if the circumstances were that I was essentially (or completely) forced into a position of leadership? The immediate thought I have would be that I would be overwhelmed. I don't want all that responsibility, to be in charge concerning maintaining the well-being of many people under me. That's not to say I wouldn't try, but I'm pretty sure in short notice I would be screwed one way or another. Still, I find the idea of someone having leadership thrust onto them unwillingly very interesting. It's an idea that's been used by creative artists over the years, such as the TV show Designated Survivor, which was about a low-ranking person suddenly becoming President of the United States. But did you know that same basic idea was done earlier, in the 1972 movie The Man? That idea was one reason why I was interested in watching the movie, but the premise had one extra twist to it, which I will illustrate with the following plot synopsis: The President of the United States, along with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, have just been killed by a collapsing building while at a European summit. Although American law says that in a circumstance such as this that the Vice President of the United States would immediately become president, Vice President Noah Calvin (Lew Ayres, Donovan's Brain) is extremely ill and in no shape to take on such a big leadership role. It's very quickly determined that the next in line to take over the Presidential role is the second-highest-ranking official of the United States Senate, the president pro tempore. That man is Douglass Dilman (James Earl Jones, The Last Remake Of Beau Geste), and he happens to be African-American. Dilman is promptly sworn into being President. Being the first African-American President, you might have guessed he has a bunch of problems instantly on his hands. Certainly, there are racist politicians like Senator Watson (Burgess Meredith, Oddball Hall) who object to an African-American being the leader of the country and start a scheme to get Dilman removed. But there are other politicians who want to manipulate Dilman for their own interests, such as the Secretary of State Arthur Eaton (William Windom, Funland), who in turn is manipulated by his power-hungry wife Kay (Barbara Rush, Death Car On The Freeway). But even Dilman's own daughter Wanda (Janet MacLachlan, ...tick...tick...tick...) has misgivings about her father's new position, and there are various hot topics in the country Dilman now has to deal with, such as the South African government accusing an African-American student of making an assassination attempt in their country and wanting the student extradited for trial. What courses will President Dilman take?

With a movie like The Man, it seems appropriate that the first thing I should discuss is The Man himself - actor James Earl Jones, and the character he plays. I could simply say that if you know Jones well from other movies, his superb performance comes as no surprise, but I want to get into the different ways he makes President Dilman so convincing. For one thing, Jones shows a human side to his character. In the beginning of the movie, once he learns that he has suddenly become the President, he acts like you or I would with power suddenly thrust upon ourselves. He is confused, ill at ease, and when his character uses the word "numb" to express how he's feeling, you believe him. His transition from slight befuddlement and nervousness is gradual; you see that he slowly understands that he must do something because so many people are depending on him. All the same, he does cling for a while onto the lifelines from other politicians and a friendly advisor (Martin Balsam, Cry Onion), but at the same time you sense his frustration of people doing things for him. Eventually, when Dilman suddenly bursts out in a near fury at a press conference and chucks away the notes that were given to him so he can express his own feelings and opinions, it does not only feel inevitable, it feels natural and what we might do in his shoes. While from that point on President Dilman is in control, Jones makes sure to keep Dilman human in our eyes. He is not without humor, dryly commenting to his daughter that his suit is what makes him now look presidential. Also, while Dilman has sworn to lead his country down the best path, when he offers help to the African-American student accused with assassination, while it does at the surface look like the reasonable thing to do at the time, Jones does add the sense that Dilman has a personal stake in this. With the often-terrible times African-Americans and other people of African origin from other countries have had, you can understand why he feels he should use his power to help out one of his own.

Thanks to Jones, you might not approve of everything President Dilman is seen doing, but you will understand where he is coming from, so you'll sympathize with him. Unfortunately, while we do see President Dilman use his position of power to aid the accused African-American student, we see very little of what else he does in the Presidency role. For some reason, the screenplay by Rod Serling (The Twilight Zone), which was based on a book by the same title by Irving Wallace, seems reluctant to show what else Dilman does. Instead, the most we get is a dialogue-free montage of scenes showing Dilman working hard while music by Jerry Goldsmith (Lionheart) plays in the background. It would have been really interesting to see what Serling guessed what big actions an African-American President back in 1972 would enact. I should also add that Serling also seems reluctant to show what the reaction of Americans, or people of other countries, to the first African-American. Aside from a small scale gathering of African-Americans singing We Shall Overcome, and Dilman talking to a group of African-American senators, you don't get a sense of the outside atmosphere. Still, The Man does illustrate fairly well what some of the inner surroundings would be like. President Dilman has a sometimes-uneasy relationship to his college daughter who has her own politics, the ways various politicians in the inner circle try to manipulate Dilman so that their own interests can be met do feel pretty convincing, and those on the inside like the Senator Watson character who resent the idea of an African-American being the President are pretty careful to keep their hostilities from visibly bubbling over when they are in front of the President or other politicians.

As you might be expecting, some of the characters in The Man who don't want Dilman to be President for one reason or another do eventually come up with a scheme that they hope will have him removed. Though thankfully, it's not a wild scheme like holding Dilman's daughter hostage or uncovering salacious photographs, but instead a plan that while being kind of sneaky, does have some validity to it. Much more realistic, though I was kind of disappointed that by the end of the movie, while Dilman did do various actions towards quelling that sneaky plan, it still feel to a degree unfinished, one additional reason being that the fates of the people against Dilman don't come to a real conclusion. Though maybe that was intended, showing that while Dilman at the end of the movie ends on a somewhat positive note, that some issues may not go away for him quickly - or at all. Again, a much more realistic touch. Though there was one touch in The Man that I didn't feel was realistic enough, and that was the look and feel of the entire enterprise. While this movie was released to theaters, it was actually originally made with the intention of being a movie of the week on television. As a result, the movie does feel a bit rushed at times, not only like that aforementioned montage sequence, but with some awkward and lengthy exposition. Also, some of the production values are clearly not what they should be. This ranges from not enough background extras to sets that are very clearly on a studio soundstage. But despite those and the aforementioned issues I had with The Man, I thought the movie worked more than it didn't. It's definitely worth seeing, though you'll have to click the YouTube link below if you want to watch it, since for some strange reason, the movie has never been released on home video, even when Barack Obama was elected President. Maybe whosever "The Man" when it comes to the movie's ownership doesn't want it rereleased for whatever reason.

(Posted March 30, 2023)