Join us to celebrate the brilliance of Marvin Gaye in a rare cinema screening of the 1972 Blaxploitation film for which he famously wrote the score: Trouble Man. This cool and cult-status streetwise drama is centred around a renegade South Central L.A. character known as “Mr T” (played by Robert Hooks). Part pool-shark, part private detective and part ghetto-fixer, Mr T is a one-cat army who moves to the beat of his own drum and the grooves of Motown’s greatest soul-man. Despite the fancy clothes and cars, T has always teetered on the right side of the law. That is, until now. Taking an assignment for floating-craps operator Chalky (Paul Winfinfield) and co. it’s a routine decision that sets in motion unforeseen action twists involving crime kingpin Big (Julius Harris). Now the finger is pointed firmly at our hero. Alongside his love interest Cleo (singer/actress Paula Kelly), Mr T is determined to survive. Luckily, “T has one edge, and that’s his cool.”

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Motown label and would also have been the year Marvin Gaye turned 80, had his life not been tragically cut short in 1984. Now 35 years after his death, a new double album called You’re The Man, which was recorded in the same year as this film, has surfaced and will be available on vinyl for a special price at the cinema tonight alongside some giveaway goodies. Though sidelined these days, Marvin’s soundtrack for Trouble Man was a major success in 1972, reaching almost the same chart heights as it’s predecessor What’s Going On. The soundtrack also represents one of the rare Mavin albums where the singer was in complete control, writing and producing the score solo and recording it with musicians from the Funk Brothers and Bohanon. Directed by Harlem-born civil rights activist Ivan Dixon (yes, “Klinch" from Hogan’s Heroes) and co-written by John D.F. Black (Shaft), Trouble Man is a pro-Black Blaxploitation film with arguably a little more politics weaved into its plot than some other films in the genre, insisting the “whitey ride in the back of the bus, this trip! ...You dig it?” Please Note: Gift Passes are not redeemable for this special event. Golden Age Film Club members may still use their membership codes to enjoy discounted tickets.