Lost Man, The (1969)

Former US Army lieutenant Jason Higgs (Sidney Poitier) has organised a payroll robbery of a factory. He will give the proceeds to the families of black demonstrators who are now in jail.

The plan miscarries and a policeman is shot, and the rest of the film concerns the hunt for Jason and his attempts to escape with the help of a white girl friend (Joanna Shimkus).

The merciless onslaught of the police on a peaceful demonstration by black men and women is properly horrifying, but the political and emotional problems never get worked out and Jason – for all that he is played by Sidney Poitier and was presumably meant to be a kind of martyred Robin Hood figure – is no more than a stupid thug.

There is a particularly nasty scene in which the dying Jason is photographed by an ambitious newsman.

Al Freeman Jr. is good, as always, as a non-violent friend.

Jason Higgs
Sidney Poitier
Cathy Ellis
Joanna Shimkus
Dennis Lawrence
Al Freeman Jr.
Inspector Carl Hamilton
Michael Tolan
Eddie Moxie
Leon Bibb
Barnes
Richard Dysart
Photographer
David Steinberg
Sally Carter
Beverly Todd
Orville Turner
Paul Winfield
Reggie Page
Bernie Hamilton
Ronald
Richard Anthony Williams
Police Captain
Dolph Sweet
Terry
Arnold Williams
Theresa
Virginia Capers
Diane Lawrence
Vonetta McGee
Warren
Frank Marth
Miss Harrison
Maxine Stuart
Plainclothesman
George Tyne
Grandma
Paulene Myers
Willie
Lee Weaver
Miller
Morris Erby
Teddy
Doug Johnson
Minister
Lincoln Kilpatrick

Director
Robert Alan Aurthur