The worst drama ever, LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this is a great movie

A first rate independent drama based in Alabama and was about blacks coming up against racism. It was sad and beautiful.

The acting performances are excellent by every actor. The black and white cinematography is excellent. The story is simple and very good. But it is the truth that it tells, that makes this a must watch movie. Even about 100 years after the civil war when this was made, blacks in the Unites States were still lynched, oppressed, segregated, patronized and treated as inferior, not only in, but uniquely in the south. 50 plus years after this film, things have improved greatly in some ways. But to think that the mentality that underlies 250 years of slavery, and 100 plus years of overt oppression is gone would be naive. Ivan Dixon went on to be in Hogan's Heroes not long after this film, and then did much of his work behind the camera as a director in television for several more decades. But this was probably his best acting of his career. This may have been Yaphet Kotto's first credited role on film. Abbey Lincoln's performance is also outstanding. Please watch this if you have a chance. I echo Peter Bradshaw's professional critic review.

Firstly I was amazed that I had never even heard of this movie until I came across it one night on TCM. I am 52 years old and consider movies my hobby! It has an unbelievable cast of familiar faces and such an understated story. The performances are subtle and real. I almost felt it was a documentary. This is no shiny, polished Hollywood story. I don't think this movie gets enough attention. It really captured a part of American history. When it was over it made me feel like I had missed something because I hadn't seen it when I was younger.

Heartwrenching and heartwarming. A powerful film addressing the difficulties in being a black man in America and connecting with others.

Nothing but a Man is a film about a railway worker who falls in love with a pastor’s daughter. The two have to try to make a relationship work despite her disapproving parents, racial tensions that surround them, and his dysfunctional past. Most of the plot in this film was extremely familiar, as if I’ve seen dozens of movies with these plot elements before. Perhaps at the time it was more poignant, but I wasn’t struck by much that stood out as unique or special in the film. I did appreciate the story shows that in some cases life can continue in this endless cycle of failure, and we are left wondering if Duff will be able to break from this cycle. It gave me something to care about. I know this is an inexpensive independently-produced film, and because of that cheap production budget I was willing to accept some of the claustrophobic sets, and the way they kept everything so small in scope. However, I cannot excuse the acting. I was amazed how terrible the performances were in this film. The line delivery sounded like a bunch of kids reading oral reports in a classroom. It was wooden, flat, and shockingly unnatural. I’ve heard computer voices with more expression to them. There were perhaps 2 actors in the entire film that weren’t cringe-inducing in the way they delivered lines, but then someone would respond back to them like a machine. It’s amazing how one element can sink a film for me. I was moderately invested in the story of Nothing but a Man. I think the end was a great way to wrap things up so that it felt satisfying even though not everything was perfectly resolved. There are a number of positives that I could see in this movie, but I kept getting distracted from them because of the dialogue. While I do think a similar story has been done a number of times since, and probably better, there’s enough good bones in Nothing but a Man that it could be turned into something special. Sadly, as it stands, it totally doesn’t work for me and I’ll probably forget all about it soon.

I wanted to like this a lot more than I actually did. There's no disputing that this is a landmark film and a work of merit. The problem is that for every strong performance (and 1 or 2 are excellent) the rest of the cast is populated with wooden amateurs. As a result I constantly found myself being broken from concentrating on the story.

A straight forward, slice of life drama about how a man searches for common dignity in segregated Alabama in the 1960s. No bell or whistles, this classic is a soft spoken character study about how a man chooses his paths in life. Often mentioned as Malcolm X's favorite film. Watch this film to get an accurate portrayal of life in the South during his era.

A sincere, intelligent, and effectively acted independent feature whose historical import as a peripheral civil-rights document can't be understated.

A glimpse inside black families and communities in Alabama in the early 60s via a narrative feature which has a bit of the look and feel of documentary. Effective at both telling a story and illuminating aspects of the black experience.

From my 'Debra Granik's Essential Films Independent Study': From Debra's list of American Classics I chose to watch Nothing But A Man, a film the inspired Debra as she works on her latest film (which, like Nothing But A Man, deals with lower class 'black issues'). The 1964 film follows the life of Duff, a hard working railway worker that falls in love with a school teacher, who also happens to be the daughter of an 'upstanding preacher'. The film highlights class divisions between African Americans and the tension that ensues when the human value Duff believes he has is not the same as his co-workers. Duff is a proud man who came from a terrible childhood. At the beginning of the film we see him working on the rail system, and hear about how he's stood up to the white man and how that's cost him more prestigious (and well paying) jobs. One day he happens to catch the attention of a school teacher and the two start to get to know each other. However, the school teacher's father is highly opposed to the situation, disliking both the fact that Duff works on the railways & that he's not willing to bend to the white man's will in order to live a better life (a life he certainly wants for his daughter). Still, the couple marry and the father does his new son-in-law a favor by getting him a construction job. Duff excels at the job, but (subtly) does not stand for the jabs and disrespects his white bosses and co-workers aim at both himself and his fellow black co-workers. Instead of being inspired by Duff, his African American collogues become worried (and probably more so jealous) of Duff's determination in keeping his pride and decide to oust him by themselves leaving Duff (and his bride) jobless. The whole plotline is genuine and feels realistic to the nature of the situation, which is uncommon practice in mainstream American filmmaking. Even while Sidney Poitier was dealing with racial issues two years earlier in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and In the Heat of the Night, mainstream American cinema couldn't hold a candle to the complexities of being an African American like is depicted in Nothing But A Man. Roemer's film isn't scared of pointing fingers in multiple directions and exposing the weaknesses within all of its characters (we even see that Duff neglects his child from a previous relationship) while being compassionate enough to understand why they bend to prejudices. The film is powerful, unglamorous, and truthful to human complexities, which is what a good film should be.

I'm so moved. Touched. Completely mesmerized by this slow soulful beauty of a film.

The Hard Choices a Man Has to Make There are some movies which I watch and about which, in the end, I don't think I can manage five whole paragraphs. That isn't always a negative statement about the film itself. It's often easier to write more about a bad film, though I suppose it's also difficult to write about a neutral film--I can rave about a movie, or I can rip on a movie, but if it's "meh," what is there to say? Still, sometimes, a movie is so simple that there's just not that much to bring out of it. In most cases with a movie like that, I just don't write a review. This is why I watch more movies in any given year than I review, even leaving aside that I rewatch movies all the time. (I watched a movie the other day that I reviewed five years ago today, for example.) Sometimes, there is not enough memorable about the movie to share anything about it. This is almost, but not quite, in that category. It is only that I think more people should watch it that is making me try. Duff Anderson (Ivan Dixon) is a will-o'-the-wisp. He has a son that he never sees, and he drifts from job to job. He is now a railroad worker in a small town somewhere near Birmingham, Alabama. He goes to a church function, and he meets Josie Dawson (Abbey Lincoln), daughter of the reverend (Stanley Greene). Her people all tell her that he's trouble, and the men at the mill all tell him that she's too good for him. However, they hit it off right away, and they spend time together. One day, he goes into Birmingham to see his father (Julius Harris), and he decides that he doesn't want to live that life. He asks Josie to marry him. Some other local men decide that Duff is the perfect type to help with the advancement of the local Civil Rights movement, but the only effect we see is that Duff gets fired while Josie is pregnant and has a hard time finding another job. And perhaps he will be like his father after all--or maybe he won't. In the special features, Julius Harris tells the story of running into Malcolm X on the street. Malcolm X told him that he'd seen the movie and quite liked it--and that was all he said. Harris also says that Malcolm X was the only black person who'd ever told him that they'd seen this movie. And in fact, very few people at all have seen this movie. Perhaps that is in part because it doesn't have a very happy ending; its ending is ambiguous at best. Perhaps this is because it is a quiet movie about black people made in 1964 by two Jewish guys. There are plenty of people here who are vaguely familiar, but no one who is famous--Sidney Poitier turned down the role of Duff, and Ivan Dixon is probably best known as the Token Black Guy on [i]Hogan's Heroes[/i]. It has lived a life of obscurity, and it's the sort of thing I probably only would have encountered the way I did--because I got to "nothing" in the library's catalog, and there it was. In many ways, Duff's life does not depend on his being black. His is a story that could be about many other kinds of men. Yes, the reason he gets blacklisted around town is that he is trying to get his coworkers to stick together against white prejudice, but that's hardly the only kind of prejudice which can cause trouble, especially in a small town. Heck, [i]Mystic Pizza[/i] and [i]Norma Rae[/i] are both small towns full of prejudice that aren't really "about" black-white relationships. It is true that black families in America have known a great deal of separation, but it isn't just black families where fathers abandon children; Norma Rae's children have different fathers, and I don't remember the Arujo girls' father being mentioned much at all. If Duff and Josie hadn't been black, the film might have gotten more attention in 1964, but I'm not sure the same level of desolation might have pervaded. After all, there were ways out for Norma Rae and the Arujo girls, and wherever Duff and Josie go, they're still black. Really, I think what the film is most "about" is Duff's feelings of masculinity. He gets called "boy," because black men are treated as children by racist whites. Even before Duff got fired, Josie as a teacher was making better money than he was, but they couldn't have her go back to teaching after the baby was born, because a man supports his family. And of course, the way he was taught how to be a man was by his absentee father's behaviour. At the beginning of the movie, we see that Duff is not the kind of person who will actually patronize the prostitute, but he is also not the kind of man to be needlessly cruel to her. He wants a better world for his children, but he doesn't know if he is the kind of person who is capable of creating it. There are people who doubt that he is good enough for Josie, and in the end, he comes to doubt it himself. And maybe he isn't, but what's important is whether or not he is willing to work to be as good to her as he can. Even if that means letting her be the one to earn the money.

Excellent film. So silent and powerful.

An important film that's topic of racism isn't overshadowed or diminished by good drama and romance.

A great film. Opens your eyes...one of my treasures. So glad I came across this film.

This movie was made by a couple of neophyte filmmakers, young well-meaning Jewish kids who had spent some time in the South and wanted to testify about the daily indignities of black life in an openly racist society. It stars an actor best known for his role in "Hogan's Heroes." So what do you expect? Earnest, preachy, clunky, dated, embarrassing. Part of what makes this film wonderful is how it defies expectations. The action and characters are surprisingly well-observed, the story surprisingly nuanced (it isn't ALL about race). It's respectful without being reverent, hard-hitting without being sensationalistic. Not worth seeking out as a historical artifiact... just worth seeking out, period.

Shot in black and white, this simple, poignant film tells the tale of one man's struggle to break the chains that bind him to a life of drink, servitude, and irresponsibility. Set in the racialised south of 1960s America, and written and directed by two Jewish filmmakers, this is one of the best movies I've seen on how racial prejudice stifles manhood, destroys families, and shatters communities. With stellar performances from the two main leads, Ivan Dixon and jazz singer, Abbey Lincoln, this should be compulsory viewing in Sociology lessons and film schools. Excellent.

Great, great film about black life in America.