Political Film Society awardwinner John Sayles has directed yet another small-town slice of life, this time Blacks living in rural Alabama during the 1950s, in Honeydripper. The pace is slow, and every word is spoken as if an epigram. Tyrone Purvis (played by Danny Glover) has retired as a traveling musician to his hometown and has bought Honeydripper, a jukebox beerhall. But he has been unable to make payments because his offering of singer Bertha Mae (played by Mable John) fails to compete with alternative entertainment nearby. Guitar Sam, whom Purvis hires to offer trendy New Orleans rock, fails to show up due to illness. To bail out Sonny Blake (played by Gary Clark, Jr.), in jail for “vagrancy,” in order to masquerade as Guitar Sam, he approaches Sheriff Pugh (played by Stacy Keach), who agrees on three conditions—a $50 payment, a share of the business, and fried chicken prepared on demand by Tyrone’s spouse Delilah (played by Lisa Gay Hamilton). Without a sign of indignation, Purvis agrees. Will the masquerade work instead of a crude con as a backup? Find out in Honeydripper, which does not live up to Sayles’s reputation as the Ken Loach of American film. Nevertheless,the casual way in which Blacks accept racism by focusing on positive aspects of their lives, especially through music, may provide some insight into the resilience of African Americans, particularly in the South. MH
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