feakes I'm a big fan of Walter Mosely's detective Easy Rawlins . Easy led me to Fearless Jones who lead me to Socrates Fortlow. And I am very glad and grateful to make friends with Socrates . The Book Always outnumbered Always outgunned. Told the story of a Convict named Socrates Fortlow who is released from prison after serving a life sentence for the rape and murder of a girl and her boyfriend. The Book tells us that Socrates has sledgehammer hands rock breaking hands . He's a powerful man. And he's full of remorse for the evil act he did. Back in the late 60's Socrates murdered a man and a woman while drunk and now he's paid his whole life for that act. Always Outnumbered Always outgunned. Sums up the story rather well. The Book was broken down into a series of Short stories in which the movie took its script from and tells those stories as a whole movie. And it is a Marvel. The Story is simple. Socrates Fortlow is a Ex Con released from jail ten months ago. He looks for work but the only work available to him is gathering bottles and cans . Socrates becomes involved in the problem of a young boy who witnessed a terrible Crime committed by a street gang. While trying to help the boy grow up to be a man Socrates also becomes involved in the problems of his neighborhood . And while helping others he realizes a man can't run away from his problems he has to help. And By helping he might find redemption. Along the Way Socrates finds a Woman to love. And gets a job. But each story in itself contains a lesson. And that's the point of this wonderful under rated movie. You're always outnumbered Always outgunned but you can't stop. you can't let them win because you're scared. You can't let the world beat you down so that you don't care. You make a stand for something. And you have to have a Code of honor.Something that'll help you along the way. And maybe just maybe you might be more then you thought you were.Wonderful cast. Wonderful Storytelling at its best. highly recommended .

Baptizedinbacongrease I had seen this movie in passing at first, not knowing the name of the movie but with a bit of research I ended up watching the movie in it's entirety on HBO. This was one of my favorite performances by Laurence Fishburne because he had his moments where it felt this was based on a true story. This wasn't a typical story of tragedy, in fact at times his decisions were impossible to be the right ones, but it's a dark side of what some people live with and the circumstances that few people can deal with.The quality wasn't the best, this was obviously a low budget film that never graced the silver screen. There are several forgettable moments in the movie, while others were done exceptionally well. This story isn't one based on great morals, most of the time it was about getting away or having to accept facts or use violence to make things better.My favorite scenes were of Laurence Fishburne's character Socrates being a felon who was doing what it takes to make a living, and the harsh reality it is for people who have served time in prison. The parts where he recycled to make money, getting paid in change, dealing with places who refused to hire him, being haunted by his past kept me captivated in what will happen next. They were in a bad neighborhood and tried to make it better, having to swallow your pride at times but they still managed to see a tomorrow.While there are several flaws with the teenager he decided to look after and basically mentor, it showed a side of Socrates as a man who was very flawed but still able to teach him to stand up for himself and make better decisions. The teenager could have been written much better but it made Socrates much more fragile at times and shed light on a softer side where he was out to help others. In the end, I didn't agree that he made the youngster run away from his problems, but it was a better decision and gave closure to his scenario.For some reason the table being restore was a failed attempt at a metaphor to me, but it was obvious that they had it in the movie as an excuse to eliminate the other love interest and teenager. His love interest with the lady in the restaurant was done fairly well, for the most part, but it worked. Those were some of the better scenes in the movie because he wasn't a romantic guy, he was struggling to find work but had too much pride to start a relationship despite the woman making it clear she was interested in him regardless of his situation.The crackhead part was great, there are some moments where Socrates almost looked like a superhero by disarming teenagers and being fearless in heated situations, but I really liked how he scared the crackhead away. That seems to be the thing I liked about his character, and the same goes with him refusing to buy a gun so his friend could shoot himself after the suffering of being terminally ill. Those parts felt authentic at times, there are moments where you often question if you would make the same decisions, even when some of the characters think the best decision would be to murder someone.I don't know if I liked the ending, I say this based on how I can't think of another way it should have ended. I was disturbed originally but it seems like it was a story written by the narrator, which makes it more flawed, it gives me the impression that the script was rushed and re-written during production. Then again this was a movie never intended to have a theatrical release.When all is said and done, I still think it had some amazing moments and Laurence Fishburne's performance was great. This movie wasn't afraid to address the harsh reality of a tough neighborhood and how the people who deal with poverty get treated. If they polished up the script more, spent more time on production and maybe replaced a few of the actors it would have been a huge hit.

edfou5 A beautiful piece of cinema - don't be put off by the fact that it's listed as a television production - it has more heart and soul and craftsmanship than any fifty contemporary Hollywood films. Fishburne's portrayal of this very intricate character is one of the great male screen performances of his generation. I'll confess that I had more than a few tears rolling down my cheeks at the end of the film. Once again ignoring exceptional small-scale work, the Academy Awards and movie media in general proved themselves to be so much debilitating, meaningless, commercial rubbish by ignoring it. Resist the dumbing down of America and support films like this and, for example, "The Station Agent."

crodley-2 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.