The Man (1972 film)

The Man
File:Poster of The Man (1972 film)).jpg
Directed by	Joseph Sargent
Produced by	Lee Rich
Written by	Rod Serling
Starring	James Earl Jones
Music by	Jerry Goldsmith
Cinematography	Edward Rosson
Edited by	George Jay Nicholson
Production company	ABC Circle Films Lorimar
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release dates	19 July 1972
Running time	93 min.
Country	USA
Language	English

The Man is a 1972 political drama directed by Joseph Sargent and starring James Earl Jones. Jones plays Douglass Dilman, the President pro tempore of the United States Senate, who succeeds to the presidency through a series of unforeseeable events, thereby becoming both the first African American president and the first wholly unelected one. The screenplay, written by Rod Serling, is largely based upon The Man, a novel by Irving Wallace.

In addition to being the first black president more than thirty-six years before the real-world occurrence, the fictional Dilman was also the first president elected to neither that office nor to the Vice Presidency, foreshadowing the real-world elevation of Gerald Ford by less than twenty-five months.

In an interview with Greg Braxton of the Los Angeles Times that ran January 16, 2009, four days before Barack Obama was inaugurated as president, Jones was asked about having portrayed the fictional first black U.S. president on film. He replied: "I have misgivings about that one. It was done as a TV special. Had we known it was to be released as a motion picture, we would have asked for more time and more production money. I regret that."

Plot

President Fenton and the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives are killed at a summit in Frankfurt, West Germany when the palace hosting the legation collapses. By law the serving President upon the death of the elected one, Vice President Noah Calvin is suffering from a terminal condition and refuses to assume the office.

Arthur Eaton, the Secretary of State, corrects the popular assumption that he is the next in the line of succession, explaining that it had been amended by the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, and that the next successor is the President pro tempore of the United States Senate, who is Douglass Dilman. Dilman, a Black man, is sworn in and arrives at the White House to assume office. Eaton's outspoken wife, Kay, berates her husband for not pushing to become President, even though it would violate the succession order. Eaton assures her that he will become President once Dilman proves unable to handle the job.

In the morning, Eaton and his advisers arrive at the Oval Office and Eaton begins maneuvering himself into a position as the "power behind the throne". Eaton gives Dilman a binder of briefing notes, including responses to News media questions that support the positions of the Fenton administration.

Dilman meets the press for the first time as President. He initially follows Eaton's instructions. When Dilman stops to consult notes after each question, an aggressive reporter accuses Dilman of being a puppet. Eaton scribbles a note and has it taken forward to the President. Dilman realizes that he's being manipulated, crumples Eaton's note, and shoves the briefing binder aside. He proceeds under his own initiative, deciding that as President he will have to make his own decisions.

Dilman, a political moderate, is confronted by activists and extremists about his skin color. Robert Wheeler (Georg Stanford Brown), a young Black man, is sought for extradition by South Africa for an attempt to assassinate the defense minister of that country; Dilman offers his help when the young man claims he was in Burundi at the time of the assassination attempt.

Senator Watson introduces a bill that would require Congressional approval of any dismissal of a cabinet member by the President. Eaton doesn't tell Dilman about it, but several Black congressmen have a meeting with Dilman to discuss their concerns. Dilman believes they are talking about a minority rights bill and pledges his support, until one of the congressmen corrects him. Dilman subsequently reprimands Eaton and a group of senior leaders, questioning why such an important bill is not being brought to his attention.

Senator Watson visits the South African embassy. The ambassador comments that his own country would never have a Black man as President. He shows a news film to Watson that proves Wheeler was in South Africa during the assassination attempt. The scandal threatens Dilman's Presidency. Dilman obtains Wheeler's confession and hands him over for extradition. The act alienates his activist adult daughter, Wanda. Wheeler calls the President a "House Person"; the President responds that "Black men don't burn churches and kill four children; they don't hunt down a Martin Luther King with a telescopic sight. Passion may drive you to the streets to throw a brick, but to buy a gun, plant an alibi and travel 5000 miles and kill a human being is bloodless, worthy of the selective morality of Adolf Eichmann." The President addresses reporters, explaining that some people think violence is the only answer, but he will rely on diplomacy and peaceful means. He washes his hands of the Wheeler issue.

A reporter asks if he's going to run for the Presidential nomination in the next election. Dilman replies that he is going to "fight like hell" to win the nomination. To the tune of "Hail to the Chief," he is introduced to the party's National Convention.

Cast

• James Earl Jones as Douglass Dilman
• Martin Balsam as Jim Talley
• Burgess Meredith as Senator Watson
• Lew Ayres as Noah Calvin
• William Windom as Arthur Eaton
• Barbara Rush as Kay Eaton
• Georg Stanford Brown as Robert Wheeler
• Janet MacLachlan as Wanda
• Patric Knowles as South African Consul

Trivia

1. REDIRECT Template:Importance section

• This is a redirect from a page that has been moved (renamed). This page was kept as a redirect to avoid breaking links, both internal and external, that may have been made to the old page name. For more information follow the bold category link.

William Windom's character sought the Presidency in this movie. A year earlier, in Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Windom played the President.

Lew Ayres previously played a Vice President elevated to the Presidency in Advise and Consent, and portrayed the President in the made-for-TV film Earth II.

Martin Balsam played a top White House adviser in Seven Days in May.

James Earl Jones played a Presidential assassin in the 1990 HBO film, By Dawn's Early Light.

The South African consul declares to Senator Watson that his country will never have a Black president; Watson replies that, twenty-five years earlier, he would have said the same thing about the United States. Less than twenty two years after the film's release, Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as South Africa's first Black president.

Wanda asks her newly-elevated, widowed father what the daughter of a President does. He dismisses the question with allusions to guiding Girl Scouts through the Smithsonian and leading the Easter egg roll on the south lawn. As the President's closest female relative, she would traditionally have been expected to serve as First Lady or "White House hostess" as many presidential daughters, daughters-in-law, sisters, and nieces have done.

See also

• List of American films of 1972

External links

• The Man at IMDb