The Liberation of L.B. Jones

L. B. Jones, the wealthiest Black resident of a small Tennessee town, learns that his wife is involved with a white policeman and files for divorce. The moment the case is filed the matter stops being between two people: the white notables of the town do not want it going to court, because what would come out does not suit anyone. This was the last film of William Wyler's forty-five-year career. It was adapted from Jesse Hill Ford's novel, the author having drawn the story from things that happened in his own town. The film shows racism not as a misunderstanding but as a working arrangement, and it hands nobody an easy release. Roscoe Lee Browne, Lee J. Cobb and Lola Falana take the leads. It failed at the box office, and Wyler retired after it.