A Gathering Of Old Men (1987)

A white plantation owner (Holly Hunter) learns that a Cajun farmer (Richard Whaley) has been shot and killed in an elderly black man's (Lou Gossett Jr.) front yard. The old man admits he killed the farmer but she enlists the aid of the other black elderly men in the area who all show up with shotguns. When the sheriff (Richard Widmark) shows up to arrest the perpetrator, all of the old black men and the girl claim to have shot the farmer. Based on the novel by Ernest J. Gaines and directed by Volker Schlondorff (THE TIN DRUM). I've not read the source material but I'm told it follows the novel very closely. Perhaps it works better on the page than on the screen. This is one talky movie as most of the film takes place in a front yard as all the characters go back and forth with their own stories and reasons. At first, with Hunter's character gathering all the black men to stand together it seems that this might be another "white savior" helping poor blacks movie but it's not. The novel's author is an African American and Hunter's character in spite of her good intentions is shown as not being that different than the slave owners of the previous century (she refers to them as "my people"). Foreign directors often bring a fresh perspective to views of America but in this case, Schlondorff seems more of a traffic cop than anything else. With Will Patton, Joe Seneca, Woody Strode, Julius Harris and Papa John Creach.