Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Laurence Fishburne is superb as Socrates Fortlow in the HBO movie of Walter Mosley's adaptation of his first book of Fortlow stories. Mosley wove his stories together fairly well in the screenplay. The quest for a job, the serious undertaking of mentoring Darryl, dealing with the dealer/mugger and with the car-jacker are cinematic. Daniel Williams' portrayal of Darryl as a vulnerable discarded child who has to act tough is very, very good. The friendship with Right Burke (Bill Cobbs) is plausible, but having "Right" narrate the film seems unnecessary to me. We can see in Fishburne's performance the kind of many Socrates is without Right telling us how heroic he is. The relationships with women are less convincing, or at least less compelling. I don't remember what Luvia (Cicely Tyson) has against Socrates. His relationship with Iula Brown (Natalie Cole) lacks chemistry (and screen time).

"You can't save me"Worthwhile movie; almost experimental in its creativity and effort to avoid cliche's. Doesn't really matter whether I think this movie is "Good" or not; it is there; you have time. Watch it; feel it; think it for yourself.

What was the purpose of this film? To show us what it's like for a poor black man to live...? Lawrence Fishburne is a good actor, and he always will be, but this movie was just plain boring and never got my attention as "moving". The plot was nowhere to be seen. This movie began and ended with no sense to it. No thought was put into the movie, only how a poor can-collecting black man can hassel a grocery store into getting him a job. My suggestion of course is to not see this movie, but if your a huge Fishburne fan, go right on ahead, you might enjoy it. The only enjoyment I recieved was how Fishburne took no BS from anyone and how he taught a bad kid a lesson. That was really it, and this was my score: 5/10

This is a compelling story of a man and his efforts in having principles in an unprincipled world. Socrates Fortlow is an ex-con released and struggling with a variety of issues in Watts. The different threads to this story range from heart breaking to downright thrilling. The interesting thing about Lawrence Fishburne's character is that while he is a hero in his attitude, he is not an unblemished creature. He let's his emotions take him where he'd rather not be at times, much like most of us. He reflects feelings like anger, frustration, loneliness, and regret in very realistic fashion. Bill Cobbs is also captivating as Socrates elderly friend. He does double duty as the infrequent, and unobtrusive, narrator. The scene where Socrates confronts a flashy thief who shows contempt for his average ways is a movie classic. This is a must see movie in my opinion. You need not be an African American to relate to this movie, just someone who fights with right and wrong in his or her own life. I wish Hollywood would put out sequels to fine movies like this instead of only action movies.