by Mark Deming
synopsis
Anthony Harvey directed this adaptation of the controversial allegorical drama by African-American playwright Amiri Baraka (aka LeRoi Jones). Lula (Shirley Knight), a slatternly woman with a racist streak, encounters Clay (Al Freeman Jr.), a mild-mannered black man, on a New York subway car. Lula at first attempts to seduce Clay, who is initially resistant, but once he begins to respond in kind, she starts to taunt him viciously, goading him until he explodes into violence. This short feature was at once Harvey's last credit as an editor and first as a director.
characteristics
- Interracial/Cross-Cultural Romance
- Race Relations
- Racist
- Racism
- Ridicule
- Seduction
- Victim
- Subway
- Stabbing
- Seductress
- Allegory
- Naive
- Dehumanization
- Degradation
- Demean
