''Free, White and 21'' is a

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cov ...

movie by self-proclaimed "schlockmeister" director

Larry Buchanan Larry Buchanan (January 31, 1923 − December 2, 2004), born Marcus Larry Seale Jr., was a film director, producer and writer, who proclaimed himself a " schlockmeister". Many of his extremely low-budget films have landed on "worst movie" lists or ...

. It was based on the true story of the controversial trial of a black man accused of raping a white woman in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

in the 1960s. The title is a version of the archaic American idiomatic phrase " free, white, and twenty-one", which means "beholden to no one".

Plot

The central conflict in this film is whether African-American businessman Ernie Jones (played by

Frederick O'Neal Frederick O'Neal (August 27, 1905 – August 25, 1992) was an American actor, theater producer and television director. He founded the American Negro Theater, the British Negro Theatre, and was the first African-American president of the Actors ...

) raped Swedish immigrant and civil rights Freedom Rider Greta Mae Hansen (played by Annalena Lund). Jones was the proprietor of the hotel at which Hansen decided to stay during her time in Dallas. The movie is primarily a courtroom drama, with many of the key events portrayed in flashback sequences as Jones and Hansen testify.

Production

The movie was based on a true story about an English girl who stayed at a motel owned by Tony Davis, a black disc jockey. She later claimed Davis raped her and he was arrested. Davis was a friend of Buchanan, and agreed to work with him on the film even before the trial concluded. Before the film was completed, Buchanan showed an assembly cut to

James H. Nicholson James Harvey Nicholson (September 14, 1916 – December 10, 1972) was an American movie producer, film producer. He is best known as the co-founder, with Samuel Z. Arkoff, of American International Pictures. Early life Nicholson was born on ...

and

Samuel Z. Arkoff Samuel Zachary Arkoff (June 12, 1918 – September 16, 2001) was an American producer of B movies. Life and career Arkoff was born in Fort Dodge, Iowa, to Russian Jewish parents. He was the son of Helen (Lurie) and Louis Arkoff, who ran his ...

American International Pictures American International Pictures (AIP) is an American motion picture production label of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution company known for producing and releasing fi ...

(AIP), who agreed to distribute it.Goodsell, Greg, "The Weird and Wacky World of Larry Buchanan", ''Filmfax'', No. 38 April/May 1993 p 63

Release

The film was released with the gimmick of having the audiences act as a jury and be given ballot papers to mark deciding whether the accused was innocent or guilty. The movie was successful at the box office and led to a series of collaborations between Buchanan and AIP. Samuel Z. Arkoff encouraged the filmmakers to produce a similar film specifically targeted at younger audiences. The resultant picture, ''Under Age'', was released in 1964 and featured several of the same actors reprising their roles from ''Free, White and 21''.

Critical response

A contemporary review in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' described the film as a "low-budget courtroom drama" in which "both protagonists emerge as unpleasant and unsympathetic characters," and that "some socially conscious spectators will find the subject matter significant enough to overlook the film's unconvincing dialogue, awkward acting and total absence of cinematic technique."

References

External links