Synopsis:
A sultry, psychotic white woman (Shirley Knight) seduces a young black man (Al Freeman, Jr.) on a New York subway.

Genres:

• Cat-and-Mouse
• Femmes Fatales
• Play Adaptation
• Race Relations
• Trains and Subways

Review:
Based on Amiri Baraka’s incendiary, Obie-award-winning 1964 play, Dutchman qualifies as one of the most unusual — and certainly one of the shortest — listings in Peary’s Guide For the Film Fanatic. At just 55 minutes, it’s barely a feature-length film, and seems more like an experimental venture than a fully fledged narrative. Indeed, the film’s “simple” premise — a white woman seduces, then humiliates, a gullible black man — is widely regarded as allegorical: Lula (Knight) represents both a seductive Eve (she chomps continuously on apples) and a provocative, wasteful white America (she throws away said unfinished apples with abandon), while Clay (Freeman) embodies an assimilated Black America perpetually taunted by the elusive promise of mainstream acceptance.

Director Anthony Harvey and cinematographer Gerry Turpin do a reasonably impressive job cinematizing what is by its very nature a claustrophobic, geographically-limited playlet, and John Barry’s pulsating score is appropriately jarring — but the truth is that Dutchman (even at such a short running time) remains a bit of a chore to sit through, due primarily to Knight’s insufferable central performance. While subtle characterizations are perhaps too much to ask for in such a heavily weighted allegory, Knight’s performance is (as noted in Nathan Rabin’s DVD review for The Onion) nonetheless “embarrassingly theatrical, a tour-de-force of histrionics that only underlines the pretentious, feverishly overwritten nature of Jones’ script.” Freeman — infinitely subtle in comparison — fares somewhat better, but can’t help being overshadowed by Knight’s hideous gargoyle of a femme fatale, an evil seductress who puts all other such conniving dames of cinema to shame.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• Al Freeman, Jr. as Clay
  
• Gerry Turpin’s b&w cinematography
  
• John Barry’s percussive score

Must See?
No; this one will primarily be of interest to theater buffs rather than film fanatics. Listed as a Personal Recommendation in the back of Peary’s book.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• MRQE (Movie Review Query Engine)
• NY Times Original Review
• Roger Ebert’s Review
• Onion A.V. Club Review
• Variety Review Excerpt
• Chicago Capsule Review
• Time Out Capsule Review (spoilers alert)