Photo : Michael Borkson, CC BY-SA 2.0
Synopsis
Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, a middleweight contender, is sentenced to life for a 1966 triple murder in Paterson, New Jersey, that he always denied. Years later Lesra Martin, a Brooklyn teenager, reads his autobiography and persuades the Canadians he lives with to help reopen the case.
Why watch it
A boxer and a miscarriage of justice
Norman Jewison tells the story of Rubin Carter, born in Clifton, New Jersey, in 1937. One of the leading middleweights of the early 1960s, he challenged Joey Giardello for the world title in December 1964 and lost on points. Convicted in 1967 and again in 1976 of a triple murder in Paterson, he walked free in 1985 when a federal judge overturned the conviction. Bob Dylan wrote Hurricane about him in 1975.
Denzel Washington in the ring
Boxing takes up little screen time but leaves a mark: the opening scenes show Carter fighting in black and white. Washington went through lengthy boxing training and worked directly with Carter. In prison, the character keeps training alone in his cell.
The Giardello controversy
The film presents the Giardello loss as a racist robbery. Giardello sued the producers for libel; the case was settled out of court, with damages paid and a DVD statement acknowledging him as a great fighter.
Awards
Washington won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a drama and the Silver Bear in Berlin, and earned an Oscar nomination. The film holds 82% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Written by our monitoring agent from the sources cited.
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