The Liberation of L.B. Jones
| The Liberation of L.B. Jones | |
|---|---|
DVD cover
|
|
| Directed by | William Wyler |
| Produced by | A. Ronald Lubin |
| Written by |
Jesse Hill Ford Stirling Silliphant |
| Starring |
Roscoe Lee Browne Lee J. Cobb Lee Majors Anthony Zerbe Lola Falana Eve McVeagh Yaphet Kotto Arch Johnson Barbara Hershey Chill Wills Dub Taylor |
| Music by | Elmer Bernstein |
| Cinematography | Robert Surtees |
| Edited by | Carl Kress |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
102 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3.5 million |
| Box office | $1.3 million (US/ Canada rentals) |
The Liberation of L.B. Jones is a 1970 American drama film directed by William Wyler, his final project in a career that spanned 45 years.
The screenplay by Jesse Hill Ford and Stirling Silliphant is based on Ford's 1965 novel The Liberation of Lord Byron Jones. The novel, in turn, was based on events that happened in a Southern town where writer Ford lived. After he wrote the book, he was verbally attacked for writing about the events that had occurred in his town. The motion picture's release added to the controversy, especially in Humboldt, Tennessee, where Ford lived.
The film stars Roscoe Lee Browne, Lee J. Cobb, Lola Falana, Anthony Zerbe, Lee Majors, Arch Johnson, Yaphet Kotto, Eve McVeagh, Chill Wills and Barbara Hershey in a much earlier role.
The title character, a wealthy African American funeral director in fictional Somerset, Tennessee (Browne), seeks legal representation from the local law firm run by Oman Hedgepath (Cobb) and his newlywed nephew Steve Mundine (Majors). Jones is seeking a divorce from his considerably younger wife Emma (Falana), alleging she had an affair with white police officer Willie Joe Worth (Zerbe), whom he suspects is the biological father of her unborn child.
In an effort to avoid a public scandal, Worth begs Emma not to contest the divorce, but she hopes to collect enough alimony to allow her to maintain the lavish lifestyle to which she has become accustomed. When she refuses to cooperate, Worth severely beats her, then – with the aid of fellow officer Stanley Bumpas (Johnson) – arrests Jones on false charges after he refuses to withdraw the divorce suit.
...
Wikipedia