The Spook remains incredibly faithful to the source material; and as such, it can become very frightening in its implications. Both the book and the film vividly show the beginning of a race war many people thought was imminent during the late sixties and early seventies. So it really should come as no surprise, that the film was met with mixed reactions. It came out in 1973, receiving mixed reviews, but pulling in record box office totals. Inner-city theatres in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and Oakland filled to capacity while people lined up around the block to see the film. And then, after less than three weeks, The Spook Who Sat by the Door was pulled from theatres, and mysteriously disappeared. Both Greenlee and director Ivan Dixon assert the removal of Spook from theaters was a result of FBI pressure on the distributor, claiming the movie would incite race riots. Given the FBI's tactics and reasoning with COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program), such a theory is not all that far fetched.
