'The Brother from Another Planet' star Joe Morton on the film's 40th anniversary: 'I think audiences ran to them because they were going to be good stories'

" The Brother From Another Planet " celebrates 40th anniversary on Sept. 7 .

The film reflected the realities of race relations, immigration, police injustice, poverty and the drug epidemic that existed throughout that so-called Black “renaissance” The film barely made an impact at the box office, save for devotees of its writer-director and indie film auteur John Sayles .

The Brother is a fugitive from his planet’s own version of NYC police — de facto slave hunters — desperate to bring him back.

Despite failed attempts to understand who he is, local bar heads welcome the alien into the fold as their own — an unhoused, harmless Black man they call “ The Brother” Morton 's character is equal parts wide-eyed, empathetic and fascinating.

“Brother” was a way for him to show a glimpse of what it was like walking the Earth with the appearance of a Black man.

Morton was 36 years old by the time “ The Brother from Another Planet ” hit theaters, 10 years after he earned his first Tony nomination for Broadway ’s “Raisin” Morton said the idea of post-racialism only exacerbates the racial hierarchy.