The Spook Who Sat by the Door
Fri 5/30/2025 • 7:30PM PDT
Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer Museum
In-person:
Professor Christine Acham, University of Hawaii; Nomathande Dixon, daughter of Ivan Dixon; UCLA Distinguished Professor Robin D.G. Kelley; Natiki Hope Pressley, daughter of Sam Greenlee; actor J.A. Preston.
The Spook Who Sat by the Door
U.S., 1973
35mm restoration world premiere!
The parallels between the story told in The Spook Who Sat by the Door and the film’s production are striking and powerful. Based on the explosive 1969 novel by Sam Greenlee, who co-wrote the screenplay, director Ivan Dixon’s pull-no-punches adaptation follows the CIA’s first Black agent (Lawrence Cook) — recruited as part of a Potemkin integration policy — from the halls of power to the streets of Chicago where he uses the agency’s own training to foment a violent Black revolution. For his part, Dixon shot the film guerrilla-style, deploying the action tropes of Blaxploitation to revolutionary ends, using their camera as a weapon in the ongoing cultural war of self-representation. The Archive is honored to present the world premiere screening of a new 35mm restoration of this underground classic.
35mm, color, 102 min. Director: Ivan Dixon. Screenwriters: Sam Greenlee, Melvin Clay. With: Lawrence Cook, Janet League, Paula Kelly.
Restored by The Library of Congress and The Film Foundation. Funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.