Back in 1979, Harry Medved brought out a funny and interesting book entitled "The Fifty Worst Films of All Time". Considering that Medved was only 17 at the time and that video and cable were only in their infancy, it was a truly amazing book. Since then, I have tried to see as many of his 50 worst films--and TROUBLE MAN is about #35 for me. However, as was sometimes the case with a few of his selections, TROUBLE MAN wasn't that bad a film. Shallow and violent and not as good as most films of the blaxploitation genre, sure--but not exactly bad.<br /><br />The main character, called "Mr. T" (not THAT Mr. T) is played by Robert Hooks. He doesn't have a huge amount of charisma but he's apparently one bad mutha that drives a Lincoln and lives in a cool pad with lots of mylar wallpaper and 70s do-dads. How he got all this expensive stuff is a bit vague. He describes himself as a private detective but he didn't do much of that in the film--instead making his money through gambling and "fixing things".<br /><br />Paul Winfield and Ralph Waite (the father from the TV show "The Waltons") are gamblers who hire Mr. T to help put a stop to robberies occurring at their dice games. The problem is that this is all a set-up--there are no robberies and it's just a scheme to take over "Mr. Big's" territory. By the way, I love how people are called things like Mr. T and Mr. Big--what great clichés.<br /><br />Well, after being jerked around through most of the film by Winfield and Waite, Mr. T becomes a tad perturbed and goes on a killing spree that is basically brainless entertainment. If you like seeing a bad mutha killing mobsters with his .45 again and again, then you are in for a treat. My problem with the film was that there was practically no depth to the story--little back story and Mr. T was a very wooden character. Compared to films such as COFFEY or even BLACULA, TROUBLE MAN lacked emotional range and substance.<br /><br />Still, even with its many shortcomings, it still was a long way from 50 worst territory. While I am not exactly an expert on blaxploitation, it isn't the worst of the genre. For example, BROTHERHOOD OF DEATH is much worse when it comes to acting and production values.