Released in 1972 while the blaxploitation movement of the times was picking up steam, Trouble Man has never enjoyed an official release on home video, and has only had a handful of airings on television. Still, the film has earned legendary status, if for no other reason than the killer soundtrack provided by Marvin Gaye during the height of his creative genius.

Robert Hooks stars as Mr. T (not to be confused with the other Mr. T, iconic star of The A-Team), a professional trouble shooter. If you've got yourself a problem, and the money to pay him, Mr. T can fix it. Sometimes, he'll even take on a case for free, like when a small child is hurt in a rundown tenement. But for the most part, Mr. T is a hired gun who takes on the tough cases that require a tough guy. Enter Chalky Price (Paul Winfield) and Pete Cockrell (Ralph Waite), a salt-n-pepper pair of criminals that run a floating crap game that keeps getting ripped off. The dastardly duo hire Mr. T to find out who keeps ripping them off, but it isn't long before T discovers he's being set up. It takes him a bit longer to figure out who is screwing him and why than it should, thanks in no small part to a script slightly lacking in intelligence. But once he knows the score, Mr. T sets out to settle some scores. Next thing you know the hot lead is flying, and the dead bodies are piling up.

When all is said and done, Trouble Man is little more than a Shaft-wannabe. In fact, Trouble Man plays out like a Los Angeles version of Shaft, which was set in the gritty streets of New York. The similarities between the two films are no great coincidence. Trouble Man was written by John D. F. Black, who co-wrote and executive produced Shaft, while Joel Freeman produced both films. Obviously both men decided to stick with a formula that had already proven to be successful – the morally ambiguous black asskicker who operates on both sides of the law, playing by his own rules. This character would become the staple of the blaxploitation genre, and while Richard Roundtree's John Shaft is more recognizable and closely associated with the black action hero of the 1970s, Hooks is the better actor, and Mr. T is the better character. What's interesting is that Mr. T is more like the Shaft character in Ernest Tidyman's original books than his cinematic incarnation. Or maybe it's just that Hooks is more capable of playing a complicated man that no one understands but his woman. One of the founding members of The Negro Ensemble Company, which has helped to shape some of the finest black artists of all time, Hooks appeared in very few films during the blaxploitation era, but his performance in Trouble Man is the stuff of legend.

As a film, Trouble Man is not the greatest blaxploitation flick, nor the best film of the 1970s. Director Ivan Dixon next film, 1973's The Spook Who Sat by the Door, does, however, qualify as one of the best blaxploitation films of all time, and one of the best films of the 70s. Trouble Man, by comparison is just a decent film – a solid bit of genre entertainment that's short of sex and nudity, but goes a long way to deliver bullet-riddled action. This could have just as easily been a Charles Bronson or Lee Marvin vehicle as a blaxploitation film, but it wouldn't have changed the final outcome.

More than anything, the one thing Trouble Man has going for it the Marvin Gaye soundtrack. Along with Curtis Mayfield's Superfly and Isaac Hayes' Shaft, this is one of the best soundtracks of all time. There is a marked and noticeable difference between the music we've all come to know and love from the album and that which is heard in the film. The story goes that Gaye was unhappy with the work as it was recorded for the film, so he went back and re-recorded everything.

Video:
Trouble Man is presented in both 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and 1.33:1 full screen (it's a two-sided disc). The picture quality is amazingly clean and crisp. It looks like the film was transferred from a video master that had been in a vacuum sealed vault, and had never been used until this transfer was made.

Audio:
Trouble Man is presented in Dolby Digital stereo. The sound mix is very good, especially compared to the bootleg video versions that have been floating around out there, with solid levels that won't require you cranking the volume all the way up.

Extras:
There are no extras other than a handful of theatricals, including the original preview for Trouble Man (which also looks like it came from a very well preserved master source).

Final Thoughts:
If you are a fan of blaxploitation, you will want to own this film. It is not as good as some of the best films of the era, but it does rank pretty high. Likewise, if you like 1970s tough guy flicks with funky fashions and even funkier soundtracks, you won't do much better than Trouble Man.