A Fable
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Al Freeman Jr.
Al Freeman Jr.
Hildy Brooks
James Patterson
George Bowers
Leroi Jones
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Amid race riots, an armed black militant leader, who has turned mean-spirited, enters the home of his white ex-wife and her second husband, a liberal university professor. After killing his two beloved daughters who live with his ex-wife, he confronts her. Their bitter conversation is wrought with recriminations and allusions to their past and eventually reaches an impasse. When the husband tries to get the gun away from the leader, he is shot, and explosions from the riots outside destroy the house, killing the ex-wife. Sometime in the future, the now ex-leader sings a ditty about his self-respect.
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of the film was The Slave, which, according to the New York Times review, was changed due to its similarity to director-writer Herbert Biberman's 1969 production Slaves . The film was based on the play The Slave, which opened off-Broadway in 1964 according to a May 1971 Variety article. Both the play and the screenplay were written by LeRoi Jones, who also wrote under the name Imamu Amiri Baraka.
A May 1971 Variety article reported that the film was shot at actor Burgess Meredith's Pomona, NY, home in late 1970 for approximately $100,000. The article stated that the film was financed by a Los Angeles-based business executive who had never before produced a film. Although it has not been confirmed, the company name M.R.F. Productions May stand for Meredith, Ramos and Freeman. A Fable marked the directorial debut of actor Al Freeman, Jr., who also appears in the film in the role he originated in the off-Broadway production. Producer Vic Ramos, Jr., who was a casting director on such films as Midnight Cowboy and Little Murders (see entries below), cameraman Bruce Sparks and editor George Bowers also made their feature film debuts in A Fable.
The Variety review described the film as a "picture of racial incomprehension that can lead to an extreme case of complete stalemate between...black extremists and their old allies, the white liberals." According to a May 1971 Variety article, a North American distribution deal had not been set at the time the film opened at the Cannes Film Festival; no additional information on its release in the U.S. has been found.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States 1971
Released in United States 1971
