The Spook Who Sat by the Door

“Their first mistake was letting him in. Their biggest mistake was letting him out!”

The CIA recruits Dan Freeman (Lawrence Cook) as its token Black trainee, and he plays the quiet, agreeable man they expect while he learns every tactic they teach. Ivan Dixon adapts Sam Greenlee's 1969 novel, a satire of the civil rights struggle that also takes Black militancy seriously. Freeman leaves the agency for Chicago, where the young Black recruits he will train as "Freedom Fighters" are waiting.