[3][4][5] The film was directed by Martin Ritt, starring James Earl Jones, Jane Alexander, Chester Morris, Hal Holbrook, Beah Richards and Moses Gunn.

Jefferson, meanwhile, prepares for a few more matches, but he lets his guard down by courting the beautiful, and white, Eleanor Bachman, and when everyone, including Jack's black "wife", discover this, the tensions grow to fever pitch.

Jack's close black friends become scared over his pushing the envelope of success and the white authorities conspire to frame him for unlawful sexual relations with Eleanor and thereby take away his title.

"[7] Critic Vincent Canby referred to the film as "One of those liberal, well-meaning, fervently uncontroversial works that pretend to tackle contemporary problems by finding analogies at a safe remove in history".

The towering rages and unrestrained joys of which his character was capable are portrayed larger than life.” On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 43% based on reviews from 7 critics.