Blood Done Sign My Name

The road to good intentions is littered with ineffectual movies. Based on a book that recounts a racist murder in 1970 in Oxford, North Carolina the film deals strongly in fact and proves that the truth can be stronger than fiction. Even a few years after the Civil RIghts Act of 1964 blatant segregation ruled the South in places like Oxford and BDSMN revels in the disparity between the races.
Director Jeb Stuart, who adapted the book, also wrote and directed Switchback several years, a tasty B-movie that featured a black serial killer. But BDSMN never takes the path of exploitation or other genre origins. This is a straight movie of the week treatment, albeit a cable movie that would fit on TNT better than the Hallmark Channel. A couple of familiar faces pop up with Michael Rooker and Rick Schroder, if they're even familiar to today's audience, but it's mostly cast with television actors.
The action is bracketed with clips of modern day residence of the same town looking back on the past like it was some bad dream. The crux of the drama revolves over the brutal beating and shooting murder of a black youth who spoke to a white woman. Much of the rising action concerns the town's new minister (Schroder) and his attempt to bring his fellow townspeople into the modern day. A ritual cross burning at a Klan rally provides some intense moments early in the film.
The murder and eventual trial are grandiose but lacking in real drama or any sense of tension. But even the 1988 Mississippi Burning looks long in the tooth in retrospect. Reading the personal history of Timothy Tyson, the character in the movie depicted as Schroder's son, makes for a more enlightening experience than its bland recreation on film. Despite its flaws Blood Done Sign My Name boasts top notch production values, particularly sets, clothing and cars.