BLACK LIKE ME (1964)

[earlytalkiebuffRob]

I came across this film during Lockdown after seeing an illustration in an old NFT booklet. The film was based on a book by journalist John Howard Griffin, who arranged to alter his skin colour temporarily in order to find out what it was like to be a black man in the Southern States.

The film, which was recently restored, seems to suffer from the hurdle of having a white actor (James Whitmore) who, to me looked totally unconvincing and who would have aroused immediate suspicion, giving the impression that he was on the lam from a minstrel show and certainly not blending in with the others.

Has anyone else seen this well-intentioned film? And any reactions?

[Dave Pitts]

I have much the same reaction, although I probably haven't seen the film since around 1969. Back then, it was on infrequent rotation on TV. My dad owned the paperback, and I read it twice because it was reasonably well written. What a time capsule, though -- imagine today if someone decided to go blackface to infiltrate the black world!! (Wasn't it Dave Chappelle who did a sketch where a black guy goes white face to find out the perks of being white?) You're right about Whitmore, too -- his everyday look is Irish: pale, some freckles, curly hair. Totally bizarre in the makeup they gave him, but I assume Gene Raymond was too old in '64 to take the part. I also remember the movie as looking low budget and lacking pace.

[Jim Roots]

And then there's 1970's Watermelon Man in which Godfrey Cambridge is a white man who turns black overnight. To effect this, they applied whiteface to the black Cambridge at the start and then took it off. The most noticeable/distracting effect of the whiteface was to give Cambridge heavier eyelids than Robert Mitchum's.

Jim

[sometimes zeppo]

I'd never heard of this film until I caught part of it on PBS a few years ago. I went ahead and read the book before I decided to go back and watch the entire film. The book itself was fascinating and James Whitmore is a phenomenal actor. But you're right, he just seemed miscast for this particular role. I don't know if it was the make up job or his features or a little bit of both. At the same time, I don't know who I'd recommend for the part instead. I can't see a lot of A-listers willing to tackle a picture like this. Maybe that's why they went for a character-type like Whitmore.

[maliejandra]

(Wasn't it Dave Chappelle who did a sketch where a black guy goes white face to find out the perks of being white?)

There's an Eddie Murphy SNL skit like that.

[Dave Pitts]

Thank you! That's the one -- haven't seen it for years. I remembered the free newspaper scene clearly. I think I conflated this sketch with Dave Chappelle's white newscaster character, who looks an awful lot like Eddie's "Mr. White."

[Frame Rate]

Thank you! That's the one -- haven't seen it for years. I remembered the free newspaper scene clearly. I think I conflated this sketch with Dave Chappelle's white newscaster character, who looks an awful lot like Eddie's "Mr. White."

As long as we're citing racial transformations in cinema, let's not forget Keenan Wynn in FINIAN'S RAINBOW (1968), an anti-bigotry/pro-labor union musical that took twenty years to make it to the big screen. Terrific score, great casting, only a few "cringes" from the (now dated) updating of the book and lyrics -- but somewhat visually unsettling in its clash of styles and settings.

[Dave Pitts]

A few more unsettling images: Judy Garland in blackface in Everybody Sing (with little cornrow curls, if I remember it correctly) and a year later with Mickey in blackface too (Babes in Arms.) And of course Joan Crawford in a weird sort of bronzeface in Torch Song. Honestly, didn't their Twitter fans send them a ton of warning tweets?

[silentfilm]

Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder made fun of the absurdity of blackface in Silver Streak.