...tick...tick...tick...
| ...tick...tick...tick... | |
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1970 movie poster
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| Directed by | Ralph Nelson |
| Produced by |
James Lee Barrett Ralph Nelson |
| Written by | James Lee Barrett |
| Starring |
Jim Brown George Kennedy Fredric March |
| Music by | Jerry Styner |
| Cinematography | Loyal Griggs |
| Edited by | Alex Beaton |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
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Release date
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Running time
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100 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $2,144,000 (US/ Canada rentals) |
...tick...tick...tick... is an American crime drama movie made in 1970, directed by Ralph Nelson. Racially provocative for its time, it stars Jim Brown in the role of an African American man elected as the sheriff of a rural county in the American South. It has become something of a cult classic for its cutting-edge portrayal of racial relations and its tense narrative.
In a small Mississippi town, deputy Jim Price is elected sheriff over John Little, the incumbent. Racial tensions exist in the community, and Price gets little assistance from Little, leaving office, or from Mayor Parks, who insists he be consulted on any decision the new sheriff makes.
A white man, John Braddock, is arrested on a manslaughter charge after his drunken driving causes the death of a young girl. Braddock's father carries considerable influence and demands his son be freed. Price's deputy, Bradford Wilkes, is beaten by Little's former deputy, Bengy Springer.
Another arrest is made, this time of a black man, George Harley, accused of rape. The townspeople's mood turns uglier by the minute, particularly when Braddock's father threatens to spring his son by force if necessary.
Little's conscience gets the better of him. He agrees to become Price's new deputy. Together, they try in vain to persuade other men in town to side with them against Braddock's vigilantes and to convince the mayor to call in the National Guard for help. Alone against the mob, Price and Little form a barricade and prepare for the worst when their fellow townsmen suddenly join them in the street.
A radio advertisement for the film summarized the story simply: "tick...tick...tick is the sound of time...running out."
The movie was released the same year as Nelson's Soldier Blue.
The story can be viewed as something of a counter-narrative to In the Heat of the Night, which featured Sidney Poitier as a Philadelphia detective who helps the white chief of police (played by Rod Steiger) investigate a murder in a small town in Mississippi. Poitier's character comes to earn the respect of Steiger's, but he remains an outsider, able to navigate the complexities of being black in a small Southern town because of the unfamiliarity of his style. In contrast, ...tick...tick...tick... places a local African American fully in charge of the police, aided somewhat by the white former sheriff.
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Wikipedia