Green Book

New York City bouncer Frank “Tony Lip” Vallelonga is searching for new employment after the nightclub he works at is closed for renovations. He is invited to an interview with “Doc” Don Shirley, a black pianist who is looking for a driver for his eight-week concert tour through the MidWest and Deep South. Don hires Tony on the strength of his references. They embark with plans to return to New York on Christmas Eve. Tony is given a copy of the Green Book by Don’s record label: a guide for black travelers to find motels, restaurants, and filling stations that would serve blacks.[10]

They begin the tour in the Midwest before eventually heading further south. Tony and Don initially clash; as Tony feels uncomfortable being asked to act with more refinement, while Don is disgusted by Tony’s habits. As the tour progresses, Tony is impressed with Don’s talent on the piano, and increasingly appalled by the discriminatory treatment the latter receives by their hosts and the general public when he is not on stage. A group of white men threaten Don’s life in a bar and Tony rescues him. He instructs Don not to go out without him for the rest of the tour.

Throughout the journey, Don helps Tony write letters to his wife, which deeply move her. Tony encourages Don to get in touch with his own estranged brother, but Don is hesitant, observing that he has become isolated by his professional life and achievements.

Don is found in a gay encounter with a white man at a YMCA pool and Tony bribes the officers to prevent the musician’s arrest. Don is upset that Tony “rewarded” the officers for their treatment. Later, the two are arrested after a police officer pulls them over late at night in a sundown town and Tony punches him after being insulted. While they are incarcerated, Don asks to call his “lawyer”, and uses the opportunity to reach Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, who orders the governor to release them. Tony is amazed by the experience, while Don is humiliated. This leads to an argument where Tony angrily considers himself “blacker” than Don. Having reached his breaking point, Don laments to Tony that his affluence prevents him from identifying with people of his race while his race prevents him from being accepted by white people, making him feel truly alone in the world.

On the night of the final performance on tour in Birmingham, Alabama, Don is refused entry into the whites-only dining room of the country club venue. Tony threatens the owner, and Don refuses to play since they refuse to serve him in the room with his audience. Tony then takes Don to get dinner at a predominantly black blues club where Don rouses the crowd with his music. Tony and Don head back north to try to make it home by Christmas Eve. Don takes over driving duty during a snowstorm when Tony gets tired, and they make it in time for Tony’s family dinner, to which he invites Don. The latter returns to his apartment, but ends up going to Tony’s, where he is welcomed by all after a brief silence and is thanked by Tony’s wife for helping him write his letters.

Classification: 12A