Claudine (1974)

Review by All Movie Guide
The early '70s are remembered for the flowering of the so-called blaxploitation films, the action pictures that gave urban audiences a new set of screen heroes to cheer for. But there were also more serious films produced at the time about African-Americans, too -- Lady Sings the Blues, Sounder, and this heartfelt drama about a single mother finding romance with a burly garbage man. Roop (James Earl Jones) is no knight in shining armor, however. He is supporting wives and children from two previous marriages, and his motives for romancing Claudine Price (Diahann Carroll) don't run to commitment and further responsibilities. Claudine hides her employment as a domestic, plus Roop's presence and presents, from her welfare worker, knowing that discovery of any of them will reduce her payments. The film also tries to deal with oldest son Charles' (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs) growing political militancy and oldest daughter Charlene's (Tamu) budding adolescence. Although it's unclear what Charles and his cohorts are fighting for, Charlene's personal (and predictable) crisis precipitates one of the film's strongest scenes, a violent confrontation with her mother. The subtext here is the return to American filmmaking of blacklisted director John Berry. The subject of minorities struggling for a sense of dignity is clearly one that would engage his sympathies, but he is saddled with a script that is by turns repetitious and sketchy, and the film's hasty wrap-up looks like the filmmakers either ran out of money or time. However, both leads are strong and believable, and as Charles, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs has some memorably brooding moments. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide