This is a sincere depiction of racial issues during the 1960s, with an excellent cast constantly upstaged by the director, Jules Dassin's arty farty camera-work and pace less storytelling. In addition, unless one is familiar with the times UPTIGHT might come off as pedantic. There are some parallels between that era and current times, but compared with true agit-prop movies of the late 60s, such as Robert Kramer's or Melvin Van Peebles' works, UPTIGHT comes off as watered down and Hollywooden. For audiences of the 2010s, an accompanying Cliff Notes version of the 60s black riots would be good to have handy, so that the movie makes more sense.
