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Trouble Man

Trouble Man is a 1972 film from the USA, directed by Ivan Dixon, running 99 minutes. reelscum files it under blaxploitation.

Poster for Trouble Man
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Year
1972 · 1970s films
Country
USA
Runtime
99 min
Director
Ivan Dixon
Updated
10 Aug 2026
Obscurity
cult (47/100)

Defined in the glossary: Blaxploitation

Cool to the point of refrigeration, scored by Marvin Gaye the one time he ever bothered.

Robert Hooks plays Mr. T, a Los Angeles fixer so self-contained he barely raises his voice while the double-crosses stack up around him, and the film is happy to let him be the coolest man in every room. The plot is the usual blaxploitation machinery, a frame and a reckoning, handled with unusual restraint by director Ivan Dixon. What everyone actually remembers is the soundtrack, the only film score Marvin Gaye ever wrote, a loose funk suite that is better than the movie under it and completely relaxed about that. Hooks never became a star, which is a small injustice, because the character is as assured as anything in the cycle. Put the record on and let the film play behind it.

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Where to watch

No legal stream, rental or purchase that we could find in the usual regions. For films this obscure that is common, and availability changes, so it is worth checking again later.

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Written about

  • Blaxploitation, 1971 to 1975

    Melvin Van Peebles caught gonorrhea on his own set, filed a workers' comp claim, and bought more film stock with the settlement. Four years later the studios had mined the audience out and moved on.

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