Raymond St. Jacques Movies
One of the most dynamic of the '60s "new wave" of African-American actors, Raymond St. Jacques had originally intended to become a social worker. Thankfully, he did not allow his richly theatrical voice and imposing physique to go to waste, and decided upon an acting career, specializing in Shakespeare. Whenever "at liberty", which was often in the mid '50s, St. Jacques was obliged to take the menial jobs then open to black males; his theatrical career picked up momentum after he underwent training at New York's Actors Studios. His big break was in the ongoing off-Broadway production of Jean Genet's The Blacks, a play that boosted the careers of virtually all the major African-American actors of the early '60s. While roles were still comparatively scarce for non-white performers, St. Jacques did quite well for himself in feature films (Black Like Me [1964], The Pawnbroker [1965], The Green Berets [1967], Cotton Comes to Harlem [1970]) and as a TV guest star. In 1973, St. Jacques produced, directed and starred in The Book of Numbers, a minor but lively film about a pair of black confidence men in the South of the '30s. One of his last assignments was as Frederick Douglass in the 1989 historical drama Glory; his agent was unable to negotiate proper billing, so St. Jacques willingly played the role sans screen credit. Raymond St. Jacques died at age 60 of cancer of the lymph glands. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1972
- PG
This sequel to Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970) brings back Coffin Ed Johnson (Raymond St. Jacques) and Gravedigger Jones (Godfrey Cambridge), two freewheeling African-American police detectives working the beat in Harlem. Joe (Peter DeAnda) is a famous photographer who has mounted a crusade to drive drug dealers out of Harlem, but his intentions are hardly civic-minded; he hopes that by cutting out as much competition as possible, he can take over the business and corner the neighborhood's dope market. Caspar (Maxwell Glanville), one of Harlem's biggest dealers, is the only one who has figured out Joe's angle, and he carefully guards his territory. When a few local dealers begin turning up dead, Joe announces that the ghost of a powerful Harlem gangster, Charleston Blue, has returned to clean up the neighborhood; the small-time dope men are a suspicious lot, and many of them flee the city. But Coffin Ed and Gravedigger know that something fishy is going on, and they struggle to get the goods on Joe and Caspar, as well as solving the mystery of Charleston Blue. Like its predecessor, Come Back Charleston Blue was based on a novel by crime writer Chester Himes. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Godfrey Cambridge, Raymond St. Jacques, (more)
Ossie Davis makes his directorial debut a smashing success in the trend-setting action crime comedy Cotton Comes To Harlem. Coffin Ed (Raymond St. Jacques) and Grave Digger Jones (Godfrey Cambridge), two plainclothesmen on the Harlem detail, are assigned to investigate the goings-on of suspicious local preacher Deke O'Malley (Calvin Lockhart), whose "Back to Africa" political movement turns out to be a scam to bilk the community of their hard-earned cash, with the scam-money hidden in a bale of cotton. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Godfrey Cambridge, Raymond St. Jacques, (more)
- 1969
- R
A married couple struggles to adjust when the husband's brain is transplanted into the skull of a black man. David Rowe (Raymond St. Jacques) is the white district attorney who must now live life as a black man. His wife Margaret (Susan Oliver) tries to deal with the transformation of her husband's appearance as David feels the stings of racial prejudice for the first time. Sheriff Webb (Leslie Nielsen) is the local lawman who resents the district attorney, but after the sheriff kills his own black mistress, he must rely on David for his legal defense. Margaret has trouble being intimate with the man she knows is still her husband. David investigates the murder of the young black woman as his superiors, friends and family treat him differently. Although the premise is implausible, excellent acting helps make things more believable. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Raymond St. Jacques, Susan Oliver, (more)
- 1968
James Lake (Raymond St. Jacques) is an escaped black convict imprisoned for a murder he didn't commit. Leslie Whitlock (Kevin McCarthy) offers James money to kill his wife, Ellen (Dana Wynter). He declines and tries to look up his old flame Lily (Barbara McNair), but discovers his own brother is now married to the sultry nightclub singer. James returns to Leslie, and the trio travel towards a mountain retreat. James and Ellen escape and try to find the murderer who had framed James years before. He experiences prejudices from police and civilian alike before the trail leads to the dead girl's stepfather. Due to the constant sexual and racial overtones this film is considered an exploitation feature. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dana Wynter, Raymond St. Jacques, (more)
- 1968
Uptight is an updated remake of John Ford's The Informer (35). The Irish Republican rebels of the original are replaced by black activists, Dublin becomes the Cleveland ghetto, and "the troubles" of 1921 are transformed into the days just following the assassination of Martin Luther King. Julian Mayfield plays an itinerant street sweeper who betrays his militant friends to the fuzz, resulting in an underground all-points bulletin to exact vengeance on the squealer. Ruby Dee portrays a prostitute who befriends the snitch as he eludes his revolutionary ex-buddies. Jules Dassin's unrelenting directorial pace is complemented by the driving jazz score of Booker T. Jones. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Raymond St. Jacques, Ruby Dee, (more)
The Green Berets is an exciting war film that was lambasted by critics who at the time of its release opposed the war in Vietnam. Wayne's role is similar to his part in The Longest Day (1963), but it was evident to the worldwide public that the same bravado that flew well in World War II crash-landed in 1968 in the wake of a very different war and political time. Wayne plays the hard-nosed rough-and-ready Colonel Mike Kirby who heads a courageous bunch of tough-as-nails Green Berets determined to capture an important enemy general. They are accompanied by a skeptical reporter who soon becomes a gung-ho red-white-and-blue patriot as the Colonel and the others lecture and show him why they must defeat the "commies." Interestingly, despite the massive anti-war sentiments of the times, the film grossed over $11 million at the box-office and is especially notable for the fine battle scenes. The film also features the hit song "Ballad of the Green Berets," sung by Sgt. Barry Sadler. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, David Janssen, (more)
It's a seemingly peaceful spring morning in New York City -- graduation day at the Police Academy -- and Police Commissioner Anthony X. Russell (Henry Fonda) is looking forward to giving a speech to the new officers. But all isn't well: Russell's been given apparently incontrovertible evidence that his oldest friend, Chief Inspector Charles Kane (James Whitmore), is shaking down a bar owner, and a black minister (Raymond St. Jacques) is claiming that his son was brutalized when he was picked up for questioning in a rape/assault case. Then Russell gets a call informing him that two first-grade detectives, Daniel Madigan (Richard Widmark) and Rocco Bonaro (Harry Guardino), allowed small-time hood Barney Benesch (Steve Ihnat) to get the drop on them, steal their guns, and escape while they were trying to pick him up for questioning at the request of Brooklyn detectives -- and Benesch is now a suspect in that earlier murder in Brooklyn. Madigan has other problems, including the fact that the commissioner -- his ex-captain -- doesn't trust him, always believing him to be a loose cannon who has taken advantage of the badge in accepting favors and cutting corners where peoples' rights were concerned. Madigan also has a beautiful, upwardly mobile wife (Inger Stevens) who loves him but can't abide all the time his job takes him away from her or crimps her socializing; and he has never fully gotten over Jonesy (Sheree North), a saloon singer he knew before he was married. Madigan and Bonaro are given 72 hours to bring in Benesch and begin beating the bushes for leads. They get help from "Midget" Castiglione (Michael Dunn), a bookmaker and an old enemy of Benesch's, and a nervous, long-haired punk named Hughie (Don Stroud). While the clock ticks away on Madigan's and Bonaro's careers, the commissioner must decide how to deal with Kane, whose father -- also a police officer -- was like his own, and he must also fathom how a four-star chief could be involved with anything as tawdry as pressuring a tavern owner. Russell genuinely believes that there must be "one standard, one rule" for any member of the department, but in the course of this one weekend, he finds this notion shattered by what he discovers about Madigan, King, and himself. Meanwhile, Benesch is still on the loose, acting like a complete psycho and a threat to anyone who crosses his path. Russell's and Madigan's paths finally cross personally, as the detective proves -- and the commissioner discovers -- just how good a cop he is. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda, (more)
- 1967
The humorous title of this story taken from the novel by Graham Greene gives the viewer the wrong impression. The story concerns the residents of a once-posh hotel in Haiti and the fate of the country's people under the despotic dictator Papa Doc Duvalier. Martha (Elizabeth Taylor) is the philandering wife of a South American ambassador Peter Ustinov. She seeks solace in the arms of hotel-owner Brown (Richard Burton), whose main focus is to keep making improvements on his crumbling building. Alec Guinness plays Jones, the suave charlatan who claims to be a retired military officer to hide his vocation as a shadowy weapons dealer. Brown later gets a sudden twinge of morality and decides to go off to the mountains to help the rebels in their heroic cause. Watch for silent film great Lillian Gish as Mrs. Smith in this plodding drama. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, (more)
- 1966
James Garner plays a man who awakens in Central Park with no memories at all. This drama chronicles his search for his identity. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Garner, Jean Simmons, (more)
- 1965
A scam artist is forced to pose as a miracle worker in this adventure tale with comic touches. Joe Moses (Robert Mitchum) is a confidence man and jewel smuggler from America who somehow finds himself in Africa, attempting to pull a fast one on some natives who quickly prove to be sharper than he expected. Tossed into the river for his troubles, Joe floats downstream, where he's eventually rescued by Julie Anderson (Carroll Baker), the daughter of Rev. Anderson (Alexander Knox), a missionary doing the Lord's work in a small village. The village is to be flooded when a new dam becomes operational in a few days, but while government functionary Robert (Ian Bannen) attempts to relocate the villagers, most of them refuse to budge. Robert has told them that they cannot bring their animals with them, and since they consider their animals members of the family, they would prefer to stay and face the inevitable. Hoping to amuse the people who helped save his life, Joe performs a few sleight-of-hand tricks for the natives and sets a bush on fire. Soon they believe that Joe is the Moses that they've heard about from the Holy Bible, and that he's come to lead the people of the village to safety. Joe's not so sure that he's the right man for the job, but when Julie hears of Joe's criminal past, she gives him the option of helping to save the villages, or being turned in to the police. However, Ubi (Raymond St. Jacques), a native who was educated in the U.S., has the feeling that Joe is up to no good, and doesn't appreciate the way he's been preying on the naiveté of his people, even if it is supposedly for their own good. This was Carroll Baker's last film before her massively-hyped title role in the biopic Harlow, whose box office failure proved disastrous to her career. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Mitchum, Carroll Baker, (more)
Critically acclaimed Rod Steiger plays Sol Nazerman, a Jewish pawnbroker who survived imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp, even though his wife and family did not. The devastating experience and unrelenting memories inhibit Sol from emotional involvement with life. He has no faith in religion and less in mankind. Though he carries on an affair with a woman who was also a victim of the Nazi camps, it is without emotion and Sol grows increasingly bitter and callous, withdrawing still further from the world around him. As his small shop in Harlem is run with little care or attention, it becomes a convenient cover for a local racketeer. Finally, a caring social worker tries to appeal to his humanity, but Sol's emotional wounds may prove to be too great to overcome. Based on a book by Edward Lewis Wallant, The Pawnbroker features the skilled camera work of Boris Kaufman, who had previously worked with director Sidney Lumet on films such as 12 Angry Men (1957) and Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962). The score is composed by Quincy Jones, who would contribute to Lumet's 1978 musical, The Wiz. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rod Steiger, Geraldine Fitzgerald, (more)
- 1964
Black Like Me is the true story of white journalist John Howard Griffin, who "became" a Negro in the late 1950s. Feeling that the best way to understand what it was like to be black in a segregated south was to experience the feeling first-hand, Griffin (James Whitmore) undergoes extensive-and sometimes painful-skin pigmentation treatments. Though he tends to look more like Al Jolson or Eddie Cantor rather than African American, Whitmore does a creditable job playing a proud man forced into subservience by an unfeeling white society. Unfortunately, the film falls prey to stylistic affectations, notably an overabundance of confusing flashbacks. Though dating and occasionally patronizing, Black Like Me is still a worthwhile effort. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Whitmore, Sorrell Booke, (more)
