Brother John (1971)

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

I'm going to tell you a lot of key points about this movie, so if you haven't seen it, stop reading now.The story of Lot and the destruction of Sodom and Gommorrah is foretold in this movie, with Sidney Poitier as an angel moving among the people of a small Southern town, looking for the righteous. Several pieces right out of Genesis are reproduced in non-religious terms, but it becomes particularly obvious as Richard Ward speaks up to the police to protect Sidney Poitier -- although he does not, like Lot, offer to let the cops have their way with his daughters.Sidney Poitier gives one of his typical graceful performances as 'Brother John', exuding an air of compassionate, disinterested watchfulness in his role. Except, of course, with pretty young women.But I think the strain of playing these superior beings was getting to him. Shortly he would try his hand at raunchy comedies and then disappear behind the camera for more than a decade.

Samuel Jackson's character in Pulp Fiction may want to walk the earth like Kane in Kung Fu, but i think he'd be even better at walking the earth like Kaine in Brother John.Before director James Goldstone was directing disaster movies in the late 70's, he made some pretty good little films, and Brother John is one of them. This film would make for an interesting double feature with In The Heat of the Night, as they share many similarities. The only difference in Brother John being that Poitier's character isn't a police officer.Every time one of John Kaine's relatives dies, he suddenly reappears in his home town to visit them on their death bed. No one can understand how he's able to know when to come, since no one in town has his address or phone number. He's traveled the world, "going where the wind takes him", and apparently knows every language in existence.I'm surprised that this film has so few votes here on IMDb and isn't more known. It's been out on Region 1 DVD since 2003, although i think it's going out of print now, unfortunately.

I only saw the movie once, back when it came out, but it left an impression on me. John is an enigma, one we discover more puzzling things about but never anything that is a solid answer. Like Will Geer's character, we can guess things about John and the reasons for his return, but we will never know the answers.... At least not until John chooses to act.By the way, the film makes an interesting mirror to IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT. Consider that film as if it were an X-Files episode....

I found the movie thought provoking when I first saw it. So much so, I purchased and read the book. Will Geer gives a performance that should have gotten him at least an oscar nomimation. The conversations between Poitier's character and Geer's are simple yet profound in what they imply. Not an action movie, more of a prophetic drama. Not a lot of people I have talked to have seen it but of those who have seen it, they have liked it. Its a great discussion group movie.