J.T. 1969 (ghetto NYC) a black kid befriends a cat

A film from 1969 "CBS Children's Television Workshop"
reviews:
I cant believe I found this movie. I used to watch this movie every year faithfully when I was 6 or 7 yrs old. I cried each time. And I mean I CRIED - bcz I connected immediately & directly with the entire movie - character(s), surroundings and especially the cat. J.T. was from harlem, i grew up in the Bronx, NY. I lived in poverty just as he did - he kept his cat in a stove in an abandoned building. We used to turn our ovens on daily to keep the apt warm bcz we had no heat. My bedroom window faced the back of another building and alley, and in that alley lived a large poor family that always had stray cats. These cats used to breed litters of kittens & I used to always go to their house to play with the kittens. I was ALWAYS bringing a kitten home - always a black kitten - and would beg my mom to let me keep the kitten but she'd always say no. The one or two times she let me have the kitten, after some time, she'd wind up telling me I had to get rid of him. To this day I have a resentment towards her for that - I remember too the stupid boys on my block used to hurt and kill cats - swing 'em by their tail off rooftops or chase the dogs/cats till they got hit by cars. I used to cry all the time, especially because I experienced so much sadness when I saw the stray cats in my neighborhood who I wanted to bring home but couldn't & I'd see these kittens/cats every day. I would play with them, give them what I can to eat. I grew into adulthood acting and feeling the same way towards cats/dogs - feeding strays, feeling sadness because they are strays, wishing I can bring every last one of them home, I'm one of the biggest animal lovers you could know. When J.T. took care of his cat I swear I related so much to him ... the ending of the movie I would cry so hard and I'd be sad for days. This movie stuck me deeply - to the point now, I'm 46 yrs old & still think about this movie, happened to look it up to see if I can purchase it somewhere & found some leads (I hope). I'm definitely buying the DVD & I guarantee you when I watch it again I will be crying just as I did when I was a kid. Today, I am happy as hell to say I own a cat (smiles) - and my cat is black .... just as the kittens were that I used to always bring home & the same as J.T.'s cat (minus the white markings, my cat has a white tip at his tail) .... I still love J.T. and his cat .....

"J.T" is a simple, hour-long story of a young boy living in a New York ghetto, but it tackles some weighty issues. Kevin Hooks is an amazing, natural actor; he feigns indifference to everything in his life, but in his eyes you see his true feelings when he mentions the sick and abandoned cat he has found. Ja'Net Dubois is also great as his worried, exhausted mother, who is firmly mired in poverty, despite working many hours at a store day after day. She sees her son sliding hopelessly downhill into a life of crime, when he comes home with a radio he's stolen. This stolen radio provides the catalyst for the heartache that follows. Theresa Merritt plays Mama Meley, who arrives from down south to visit her daughter and grandson for Christmas, and she's so warm and down-to-earth that her voice can sooth any ill. Merritt was a wonderful actress, and a very under-appreciated one; she gives this show a very real and loving center.

J.T. builds a paradise for the cat, when his mother won't let him bring the animal home; he creates an oasis of comfort for his pet in an abandoned tenement, showing that he still has a huge capacity for love despite his harsh surroundings. This is also a story of a mother's struggle to be independent and support herself and her son, and how such a life can blind her to the suffering her own child is enduring. There is a small subplot with a kind local grocer and his wife; he provides the wonderful surprise at the end of the story, and his actions show that ghetto life has not broken his optimism. He still has hope, and through his gift he gives hope to J.T. and his mother. She sees at last just how hard she's been on the boy and is ashamed.

Everyone who watches this will have tears in their eyes at some point, but that's okay because "J.T." is, in the end, an upbeat film that will make you feel good. It isn't shown on TV much; the last time was 1987 on CBS when they were still committed to showing programs that meant something to young people. If you can find it, don't pass it up; it's marvelous at Christmastime.

Category:

Film & Animation

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[glasscitadel12]

KEVIN HOOKS!

[nicoleayanna]

wow...as a kid i rememeber reading the book in a library !!! for the past 20 years i have always remembered this book ...now to see that they have a movie of it,,,I am sooooo happy to see this !!!

[MandieDiary]

The mom in this movie is Wilona from Good Times

[k1n63d]

@tjfreak

hey...psst. fuck off dumbass

[tjfreak]

@k1n63d Hey...Pssst. TV is not real in any way ! N O N E of it. Not even "reality " TV it's entertainment, & not necessarily accurate view points.

[k1n63d]

never have i seen the life of a black kid portrayed so perfectly. living conditions, attitude towards others, relationship with family members, the way black people even as adults wake up and get dressed in the morning. stealing whatever they like and then stealing from each other too. the list goes on and on. any race that wants to know how black people are in real life needs to see this movie. fake bullshit like the house of payne show pisses me off.

[onelifetolivefan1415]

It disappeared because the liberal media decides what gets shown to the public and what doesn't. And they don't want to remind people that it used to be perfectly acceptable to mention Christmas in the classroom and even have kids write essays about it.

[funch357]

Happy to find this! Loved the film when I was a kid & it first ran on CBS. Then they'd air it every year for a while after that & I'd watch then too. This was significant because I''m white and lived in a white neighborhood and was exposed to a fair amt of racism in my own family. Didn't like it at all. Watching films like this was my small way to protest. In recent years I wondered what happened to this film. I thought maybe it disappeared because there's something politically incorrect in it.

[TheSuperguitarman59]

I lost my cat a month ago, he got away from me when i was taking him to the vet, i have been hart broken and full of guilt that he ran off, than i remembered a movie i saw when i was a kid about a young boy who took care of a little cat, and i never forgot it, i can't believe its here, thank you for posting it.

[JTClarion]

@jojosullivan1024: After spending years tracking this down, the best copy I was able to find came to me with the video and the audio off by about 30 seconds. I used Premiere Pro to line them back up, but there was a 30 second audio gap at the beginning. I added the sirens and the Byrds to fill that gap.