By Melissa Antoinette Garza
I love Ron Stallworth’s book. His story of infiltrating the Klan is a marvelous one. I was a bit wary when Spike Lee got his hands on it. I was even more skeptical when I heard Alec Baldwin was portraying a racist villain named Dr. Kennebrew Beauregard. I was fearful that Stallworth’s story would be forgotten in effort to make parallels to today’s political climate and figureheads.
The film opens in the 1970s with some clips of old films including THE BIRTH OF A NATION (1915). Beauregard goes full Nazi narrator and spouts out evil, old, racist, white man drivel. Let’s just say it was a role Baldwin excelled at playing -almost as if he were portraying a slightly more unhinged version of himself. (I am not a Baldwin fan. Fuck that misogynistic prick! I am forever Team Basinger!)
After that opening, we are introduced to Ron Stallworth (John David Washington). He’s being interviewed by Chief Bridges (Robert John Burke) and Mr. Turrentine (Isiah Whitlock Jr). Turrentine pushes Stallworth hard. He asks what Ron will do if faced with an asshole who calls him the N word. He says if forced, he’ll turn the other cheek. This satisfies Bridges and Turrentine who welcomes Stallworth to the force.
Bridges has a hard-on for the Black Panthers and sends Stallworth in to infiltrate them. He goes undercover. His coworker Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver) helps him get ready before sending him into the club. He’s a fish out of water, but hits it off with Fem Goddess Patrice (Laura Harrier). The two connect beautifully. Patrice is all sorts of 70s fashion fabulousness. They share a quick sweet convo, before Stallworth take a seat and listens to Kwame Ture (Corey Hawkins) give a speech. In real life, Ture was targeted unjustly by J. Edgar Hoover and the counter-intelligence program. They fucked him horribly by lying and saying he was working with the FBI. Nearly everyone turned against him. Seriously, fuck Hoover and fuck COINTELPRO!
The same reason Hoover feared Ture was what captivated Stallworth. Though he was there to observe and report, he heard some truths and felt entranced by the unity of the scene. After, he scores a date with Patrice and they meet at a bar. She still doesn’t know he’s a cop and she mentions how she was pulled over. During the stop, the police were rough and complete fuckwits. Stallworth is getting pulled by two very different worlds, but the heat between him and Patrice can’t be denied.
The whole thing makes me think of Samuel L. Jackson’s SHAFT (2000)when he says, “too black for the uniform, too blue for the brothers.” That’s an awesome piece of dialogue. Don’t get me wrong, Richard Roundtree will always be MY Shaft (that sounds more X Rated than I intended), but Jackson’s flick was good.
Patrice and Ron hit the dance floor and rock it to some cool tunes. I like good music and this flick has some good music. Point to Spike Lee.
Back at the station, the Chief is none too happy about Kwame Ture and for some reason seems pissed that he no longer goes by Stokley. Both Ron and Flip tell the Chief that Ture isn’t trying to start a race war. He’s trying to motivate. Bridges isn’t sold on it, but let’s it go.
Stallworth meanwhile gets a phone call from the Klan. He spouts off some racist white guy garbage and the Klan thinks they found an ally. They don’t know Stallworth is black. That could go poorly. I don’t believe they’d welcome him in because the Klan is racist as fuck!
Thankfully, Stallworth gets his buddy Flip to play the white man in person. Stallworth gets to be racist whitey on the phone while Flip who is Jewish plays the KKK recruit face-to-face. The KKK is pretty anti-semitic too so there is all sorts of crazy danger that these renegade cops are putting themselves thru, but they’re doing it to stop the Klan, which makes it worth it. They’re still fucking heroes! They actually did that shit.
Movie aside and theatrical elements accounted for, the guys risked their lives for something spectacular and they came out the other side talking about it. It’s amazing! I love these dudes.
Stallworth accidentally used his real name so that’s another element that could fuck with them at any time, but they don’t cut and run. They roll with it. Stallworth teaches Flip how to talk in his white man voice so they sound alike and use the same affectation.
Flip meets up with Mr. McRacist Klansman. He introduces himself as Ron and gives a bit of the same backstory Ron initially made up. The driver is a spazz cadet – well he’s in the KKK so that goes without saying, but he’s beyond. He tells Flip not to call the KKK, the Klan. He needs to refer to it as the organization. Fuckwits! Then they load some guns because they’re super alpha males, I guess.
Flip is then brought in to meet the McRacist Klansman that Stallworth spoke to originally. This clown’s name is Walter Breachway (Ryan Eggold). Breachway’s cronies accuse Flip of being Jewish, but he plays the Nazi card and they think he’s one of them.
Soon Stallworth and Zimmerman are diving deeper to see what crazy terrorist bullshit the Klan is plotting. They hook up with David Duke (Topher Grace) who is all sorts of bad news. Those of us old enough remember when that fucker ran for president.
Overall, this is a pretty decent flick. It’s about what I expected. I would have preferred a less glossy telling of Stallworth’s tale, but I get why Lee went this route. I like the music, I like the glam and the action feel is pretty decent. Still, I think it would have had a deeper impact if it played it more low-key like IMPERIUM (2016). That said, there are far worse choices of movies to watch. The acting is phenomenal.
Scared Stiff Rating: 5.5/10
