Take a Giant Step

Take a Giant Step 1959 is a comingofage drama film, directed by Philip Leacock about a black teenager living in a predominantly white environment and having trouble coping as he reaches an age at which the realities of racism are beginning to affect his life more directly and pointedly than they had in his childhood. Adapted from the Broadway play by Louis S. Peterson, the film stars Johnny Nash, who would ultimately become more well known for his singing career, including the hit song I Can See Clearly Now, as the lead character, Spencer Spence Scott. Costars included Ruby Dee as the Scott familys housekeeper, Estelle Hemsley as Grandma Martin Hemsley was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for best supporting actress, and Beah Richards as Spences mother. The movies executive producer was Burt Lancaster through his HechtHillLancaster production company.

Spence confides in Gram Estelle Hemsley, his ailing but wise grandmother, but he cannot face the prospect of telling his parents Frederick ONeal, Beah Richards what has happened, so he decides to leave home, catching a bus into a black neighborhood. His time on his own is shortlived, however, as he is socially unprepared for an adult world. Although he is intelligent and wellread, he finds that his academic knowledge doesnt carry him far, as he approaches an attractive older woman in a bar, presenting to her a very logical case as to why hed be a good boyfriend, and assuring her that hed be willing to marry if they were to fall in love. He is disillusioned to discover that the woman is unhappily married and wants only to find a man in the bar who has some money and a nice car, so that she can have a onenight fling with him to temporarily escape from her troubles.Upon returning home, Spences parents berate him for not having stayed in his place when dealing with white people, as they have learned to do. Spence tells them that he ashamed of them for that attitude and Gram comes to Spences defense, chiding the couple for not supporting him in his stance against his teachers racism. She notes that they moved to the middleclass neighborhood to help instill in Spence a sense of selfrespect that he might not have attained if hed grown up in a slum, but they are now angry at him for displaying that very selfrespect. She also criticizes their emphasis on providing him material comforts, as opposed to spending time with him, as evidenced by the fact that they are completely unaware of his having recently become something of an outcast among his peers. ........

Source: Wikipedia