Nothing But a Man

When Ivan Dixon died last weekend, those who didn’t know him, but knew of him, may have remembered Dixon only as some guy that used to be on “Hogan’s Heroes”. I have no remembrance of Dixon in that show, having seen maybe a total of 12 minutes of it over the years in re-runs. But what I do remember of Dixon was his appearance in the great 1964 film, Nothing But a Man.

There, Dixon played Duff Anderson, a black man trying to make it against long odds in 60’s Alabama. Duff’s vision for the future included the love of minister’s daughter/school teacher Josie (jazz singer Abbey Lincoln). Duff was too cotton-field for Josie’s father, Josie could ‘do better’. Duff is an outsider, a drifter – a man who moves from job to job in order to assert what little control over his own destiny that he can. Josie and the Reverend Dawson live under the assumption that they have fit in, have found their place. Their place though, is not one that Duff ever cared to inhabit. Still, Josie comes to see the rough nobility that Duff represents.

A black and white film that was bold for the time, in that it was about the real lives of black people and was a movie with a mostly black cast. A rarity for the time – and maybe for ours as well. It was relegated – naturally – to the college and art-house circuit. Some three years ago, it was finally made available on DVD.

Dixon played the role with an understated intensity that is quite wonderful. Essentially, Dixon acted the role of a man refusing to act the role expected of him in 60’s Alabama.

But what I remember, as fine as all this is, as really ground-breaking as the film was for the time – is the soundtrack: Little Stevie Wonder’s original hit, Fingertips, Pt 2, Mary Wells’ You Beat Me to The Punch and Bye Bye Baby, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles (including You Really Got a Hold on Me), and The Marvelettes. But the peak moment was a truly smokin’ Martha and the Vandellas (Love is Like a) Heat Wave. It’s a particularly hot and steamy night in Alabama at a roadside bar, the ceiling fan moving the still air around as best it could, the sweat dripping off everyone – and this song cues up on the soundtrack. It never sounded so good.

So, Ivan Dixon? Bye Bye Baby. You left behind something of which you can be very proud.