Sam Greenlee

So why is there such a fear of books when they seem to function as their own kind of kryptonite for young people? In all seriousness, so look, in all seriousness, "The Spook Who Sat by the Door," while perhaps no longer frightening to the establishment, is still a very good film and rather underrated.

To give you an idea of why, here's an excerpt from our guest Matt Hatchett's article in Current Affairs titled, "The Classic Revolutionary Film America Tried to Suppress." "Greenlee has said that prior to writing 'The Spook Who Sat by the Door,' he spent close to a decade traveling to post-colonial countries in order to learn how they gained freedom.

Specifically, Greenlee was in Iraq when the British-backed Hashemite monarchy was overthrown in 1958.

His 1976 novel, 'Baghdad Blues,' was based explicitly on these experiences.

What he learned would become the basis for what Freeman teaches the Cobras in the film.

We're gonna do all these afterschool programs." But they're, you know, all done through the private sector.

Mm-hmm.

Um, speaking on Ebony magazine, uh, first, uh, I do wanna point out that Sam Greenlee and Yvonne Dixon, when they were trying to get funding for the film, they went to John H. Johnson, the founder of Ebony magazine, and he told them, "Get out my face, man.

Um, you know, I, I literally do feel like the spook who sat by the door.

That's, um, gosh, what is, whose name is that? That's, um, oh gosh i'm going to have to his name is sam greenlee sam greenlee that's right the the spook who sat by the door that's my life so if you've never read a cia agent who was black um is that's what i'm doing i'm the sake who sat by the door and that's my job so um Yeah.

If you really want to get to know what it's like, check that out.

Check out that book.

I haven't read it

... originally it was a 1969 novel by Sam Greenlee, um, with the same name.

But the se- 197- 1973, excuse me, movie was directed by, um, Ivan Dixon.

Oh, nigga, I'm ...

Love it.

I gotta find that shit.

Now, what I did see in looking this up, um, even though the story takes place in Chicago, where the author Sam Greenlee was from, Mayor Richard J. Daley refused to give the production permission to shoot there.

Absolutely.