TMBDOS! Episode 363: "The Spook Who Sat by the Door" (1973).

TMBDOS! Episode 363: "The Spook Who Sat by the Door" (1973).

From They Must Be Destroyed On Sight! by Lee Russell

March 2, 2026 · 1h 54m · Episode 472

About this episode

The episode discusses the film 'The Spook Who Sat by the Door' and its deeper political implications.

Lee is joined this week by friends and fellow podcasters Matt and Vaughn to cover a film unfairly slotted into the Blaxploitation genre, and a film that was alleged to have been pressured out of the theatres by the FBI, and thought lost for years: Ivan Dixon's "The Spook Who Sat by the Door" (1973), based on the controversial 1969 novel of the same name by Sam Greenlee. The three white as snow hosts have a pretty good conversation about a very black film, that's politically far deeper and more angry than most other black films of the era. The hosts also talk about what they've watched as of late. Join the Cobras with us, and lets take down the white establishment! "The Spook Who Sat by the Door" IMDB Check out Matt on the Movie Melt podcast. Check out Vaughn on the Motion Picture Massacre podcast. Lee on Bluesky, Instagram, and Letterboxd. Featured Music: "Man with a Mission" by Keith Mansfield & "The Spook Who Say by the Door" by Herbie Hancock.

People in this episode

Host: Lee Russell

Guests: Matt, Vaughn

Topics covered

  • Blaxploitation
  • film analysis
  • political themes
  • lost films
  • cinema history

Keywords

  • Blaxploitation
  • FBI
  • Ivan Dixon
  • Sam Greenlee
  • political cinema
  • film review
  • 1973 film

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: FBI, Movie Melt, Motion Picture Massacre

Books & works: The Spook Who Sat by the Door

More episodes of They Must Be Destroyed On Sight!

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the They Must Be Destroyed On Sight! podcast page.