King: A Filmed Record… Montgomery to Memphis (FILM REVIEW)
King: A Filmed Record… Montgomery
to Memphis
Film Review
by Kam Williams
Oscar-Nominated, 1970 Documentary Chronicling Career of
Dr. Martin Luther King Returns to Theaters
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was
arrested in Montgomery, Alabama for refusing to surrender her seat
to a white person. Four days later, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the
recently-ordained minister of Dexter
Avenue Baptist
Church decided to
organize a boycott of the city’s buses.
“When the history books are written
in the future,” he predicted that evening that “somebody will have to say,
‘There lived a race of people, of black people, who had the moral courage to
stand up for their rights.’” After citing both the Constitution and the Bible
as the source of inspiration, the 26 year-old pastor explained to the
congregation that embracing a philosophy of non-violent resistance was critical
in order to be able to live with white people as brothers “when the day comes
that segregation is completely crumbled.”
And with that, the Civil Rights
Movement was launched. A wave of Ku Klux Klan bombings simultaneously ensued,
but Dr. King remained confident about his prospects for success, even after his
own home had been blown up. He did hope, however, that future generations would
appreciate “that these new privileges did not come without somebody suffering
for them.”
The most powerful, cinematic
reminder of those many sacrifices is King: A Filmed Record…
Montgomery to Memphis. Produced by Ely Landau and associate
Richard Kaplan, this poignant account of Dr. King’s tireless crusade was
nominated for an Academy Award in 1971 in the Best Documentary category.
The monumental,
B&W epic is a compelling collage cobbled together from a mix of newsreels
and rare footage of marches, speeches, protests and arrests. This
newly-restored, HD version co-produced by the Library of Congress and the
Museum of Modern Art was narrated by a number of celebrities, including Harry
Belafonte, James Earl Jones, Ruby Dee and Paul Newman, to name a few.
But those
luminaries merely played a support role in service of the stirring story of how
the Birmingham
boycott blossomed into a nationwide effort to end Jim Crow segregation. Whether
it’s the sit-ins, freedom rides or voter registration drives, again and again,
we witness a determined people undeterred by police dogs, teargas, billy clubs,
firemen’s hoses and the constant threat of state-sanctioned, vigilante attacks.
Dr. King’s
followers were perhaps comforted by their charismatic leader’s mild-mannered assurances
that, “Once you conquer the fear of death, you’re free.” The picture’s high
points are invariably his words, whether in a letter written behind bars in a Birmingham jail, in a spellbinding speech delivered before
hundreds of thousands at The March on Washington,
or in a prophetic address in Memphis
on the night before his assassination in 1968.
A timeless
tribute to a selfless martyr who led his people to the Promised Land by holding
fast to his fervent faith that their willingness to endure suffering along the
way would exceed their enemies’ capacity to inflict suffering.
Excellent
(4 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 181 minutes
Distributor: Kino
Lorber / Kino Classics
To see a trailer for King:
A Filmed Record, visit:
To check local listings for theatrical screenings of King: A
Filmed Record in your area, see below, or visit: http://www.kingdocumentary.com/
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Alabama
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Mobile
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AL
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Hollywood Stadium 18
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Huntsville
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Mobile Stadium 18
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Mobile
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Arizona
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Sedona Film Society
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Sedona
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Tucson
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Little Rock
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AR
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North Little Rock
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AR
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Los Angeles
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CA
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Jack London 9
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Oakland
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CA
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Colorado
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Sie
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Denver
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CO
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Chief Theater
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CO
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Miami
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FL
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Orlando
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FL
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Marketplace St
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Jacksonville
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Miami
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FL
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Atlanta
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Calhoun
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Chicago
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Circle
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Indianapolis
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Notre Dame
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IN
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Baton Rouge
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LA
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Majestic Stadium 20 + IMAX
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Silver Spring
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MD
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Boston
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Raleigh
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Columbia
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Grand Palace
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Houston
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San Antonio
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Virginia
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Macarthur
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Northfolk
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Richmond
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VA
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Tacoma
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WA
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Seattle
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WA
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DC
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Washington
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DC
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