Native Son

The second film version of African-American author Richard Wright's novel Native Son, like the first, misses the mark. Bigger Thomas (Victor Love) is a discouraged, inarticulate, frustrated, and deeply angry young black man in Chicago in the 1930s. He gets a job as a chauffeur for the Daltons, a rich, white, liberal family. His first night on duty, Bigger is told to drive Mary (Elizabeth Mcgovern), the impetuous daughter, to her evening college class. Once in the car, Mary tells him to drive downtown to a Communist meeting hall where she meets her boy friend, Jan (Matt Dillon), a young, idealistic Communist. By the time Bigger gets Mary home, the girl is ext...