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Review: Mackie leads a little-known story in ‘The Banker'

by AP Film Writer
| March 20, 2020 12:03 AM

The Banker ” is an odd title for this film. It has the effect of underselling a fascinating story about a black business savant that was inspired by real events. In the 1950s and early 1960s, Bernard Garrett (Anthony Mackie) became a real estate mogul in Los Angeles and (eventually) the owner of a bank in his Texas hometown at a time when all the cards were stacked against him. At the very least, “The Banker” doesn’t seem like the best way to describe Bernard, his accomplishments or even reflect what it's is about: the de facto and legal ways that African American were excluded from fairly participating in real estate and business.

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