Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 6, 1991 TAG: 9102060050
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Mike Mayo
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
\ "Martin Luther King, Jr. - Legacy of a Dream" is an excellent short overview of the end of state-sponsored segregation in the late 1950s and 1960s.
James Earl Jones narrates the 1974 documentary. It begins with the first bus boycotts and ends with King's death in 1968. Most of the film footage that's used will be familiar to anyone who remembers those years, but those grainy black and white images have lost none of their power.
Bull Connors' fire hoses and police dogs are as ugly and shocking today as they were when they were first broadcast on national television. The anger and naked hatred on the faces of the white Southerners who attacked demonstrators are still horrifying. In that context, King's brilliance behind a microphone is even more pronounced.
The only problem with this tape is that it is too short. With a running time of 30 minutes, it can only describe the largest events of the movement in the most general terms. Of course, that very simplicity makes "Legacy of a Dream" an excellent introduction for younger viewers who are just learning about those eventful times.
\ "The FBI's War on Black America" is more provocative and detailed. This documentary, produced by Denis Meuller and Deb Ellis, is not as objective as it might have been, but then it begins with some damning evidence.
According to documents that were released under the Freedom of Information Act, the stated aims of the FBI's Cointelpro project were:
"1. Prevent the coalition of militant black nationalist groups.
"2. Prevent the rise of a messiah who could unify, and electrify, the militant black nationalist movement.
"3. Prevent militant black nationalist groups and leaders from gaining respectability by discrediting them to the community.
"4. A final goal should be to prevent the long-range growth of militant black nationalist organizations especially among youth."
Given that premise, the producers let key members of the more aggressive side of the civil rights movement remember what the late `60s and early `70s were like. The eloquent and the not-so-eloquent have their say, but they don't make any concrete charges. Mostly they talk about surveillance and suspicion.
The FBI's own words are the strongest part of the argument. When it comes to specifics, the parties who are still alive don't have anything new to say. But then, this isn't an objective look at provable facts; it's a polemic.
From a historical perspective, the film would have been more persuasive if it had given more background on the FBI's long-term efforts to undermine the American left. Instead, it paints the Black Panther Party in flattering light. And when the producers focus on individual cases - the charges against Fred Hampton, for example - they seem to assume that viewers already know the particulars. They don't provide enough details for anyone not familiar with the case to make a judgment about the man's guilt or innocence.
At its best, the film does an excellent job of describing the anger of the 1960s, the emotions that were so close to the surface and the words that people used to defend themselves and to attack anyone who disagreed with them. That side of the film is particularly valuable - even "relevant" - now considering the level of war rhetoric that's flying around.
For those who remember those days, it now seems remarkable that there weren't more killings and violence. There was certainly more than enough anger, paranoia and self-righteousness to go around on all sides.
Unfortunately, the best history of the civil rights movement is still not available on home video. The PBS multipart documentary "Eyes on the Prize" is a thorough and well-balanced examination of those painful years. It tells the complex story better than any single film could.
\ New releases this week:
\ Days of Thunder: Starring Tom Cruise, Robert Duvall, Nicole Kidman.Directed by Tony Scott. Paramount, 110 min. Rated PG-13.
A couple of decades back, "Days of Thunder" would have been a respectable Sun-Belt movie geared to the drive-in trade.
There's an implausible love story about a brilliant and beautiful doctor (Nicole Kidman) and a handsome, gung-ho stock car driver (Tom Cruise). For humor, there's a folksy race-car builder (Robert Duvall) on hand. There are cliches aplenty and a win-one-for-the-Gipper plot device. Shoot, if Elvis had starred in it, the movie's budget might have been more than a million.
But this was made in 1990. The crew of the immensely successful "Top Gun" was also behind this movie. Screenwriting legend Robert Towne fleshed out the script, based on an idea from mega-star Cruise. And the movie's budget was reputed to be $55 million.
"Days of Thunder" was trumpeted as a movie event, but the box office didn't match the hype. Maybe audiences decided to wait for this video release to check Tom out.
Director Scott knows how to make a film look good, and he has the race footage shot from every possible angle. Unfortunately, the movie doesn't confine its wrecks to the track. The driver's reaction to any upsetting situation, whether he's on or off the oval, is to go out and run into cars. Despite Cruise's intelligence as an actor, his character here doesn't seem to be a particularly smart young man.
Like "Top Gun," "Days of Thunder" is a movie with a lot of noise and speed, but not enough story to hang a crash helmet on. - CHRIS GLADDEN
THE ESSENTIALS:\ `Martin Luther King, Jr. - Legacy of a Dream' MPI, 30 min. Unrated, contains no offensive material.
\ `FBI's War on Black America' MPI, about 60 min. Unrated, contains profanity.
by CNB