Story of movie The Hurricane 1999 Film : The Hurricane is a 1999 American biographical sports drama film directed and produced by Norman Jewison. The film stars Denzel Washington as Rubin "The Hurricane" Carter, a former middleweight boxer who was wrongly convicted for a triple murder in a bar in Paterson, New Jersey. The script was adapted by Armyan Bernstein and Dan Gordon from Carter's autobiography The Sixteenth Round: From Number 1 Contender To 45472 and the non-fiction work Lazarus and the Hurricane: The Freeing of Rubin "The Hurricane" Carter by Sam Chaiton and Terry Swinton.
| The Hurricane | |
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Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Norman Jewison |
| Produced by |
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| Screenplay by |
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| Based on | Lazarus and the Hurricane by Sam Chaiton & Terry Swinton The Sixteenth Round: From Number 1 Contender To 45472 by Rubin Carter |
| Starring |
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| Music by | Christopher Young |
| Cinematography | Roger Deakins |
| Edited by | Stepjem Rivkin |
Production company | Beacon Pictures |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 146 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $50 million |
| Box office | $74 million |
The film depicts Carter's arrest, his life in prison and how he was freed by the love and compassion of a teenager from Brooklyn named Lesra Martin and his Canadian foster family. The film received positive reviews, but has been criticized for inaccuracies by some media outlets and participants in Carter's trials.
Screenplay
The film tells the story of middleweight boxer Rubin "The Hurricane" Carter, who was convicted of committing a triple murder in a bar in Paterson, New Jersey. His sentence was set aside after he had spent nearly 20 years in prison. The film concentrates on Rubin Carter's life between 1966 and 1985. It describes his fight against the conviction for triple murder and how he copes with nearly 20 years in prison.
A parallel plot follows Lesra Martin, an underprivileged Afro-American youth from Brooklyn, now living in Toronto. In the 1980s, the child becomes interested in Carter's life and circumstances after reading Carter's autobiography. He convinces his Canadian foster family to commit themselves to Carter's case. The story culminates with Carter's legal team's successful pleas to Judge H. Lee Sarokin of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.
In 1966, Rubin "The Hurricane" Carter was a top-ranked middleweight boxer, expected by many fans to become the world's greatest boxing champion. When three victims, specifically the club's bartender and a male and a female customer, were shot to death in a bar in Paterson, New Jersey, Carter and his friend John Artis, driving home from another club in Paterson, were stopped and interrogated by the police.
Although the police asserted that Carter and Artis were innocent and thus, "were never suspects," a man named Alfred Bello, a suspect himself in the killings, claimed that Carter and Artis were present at the time of the murders. On the basis of Bello's testimony, Carter and Artis were convicted of the triple homicide in the club, Carter was given three consecutive life sentences.
Throughout the trial, Carter proclaimed his innocence, claiming that his race, his boxing career and status and his work as a civil rights activist were the real reasons for his conviction. Eight years later, Bello and a co-suspect, Arthur Bradley, who also claimed that Carter was present at the scene of the crimes, renounced and recanted their testimony. However, Carter and Artis were convicted once again.
Afterwards, the plot goes back to Lesra Martin, who works with a trio of Canadian activists to push the State of New Jersey to reexamine Carter's case.
In 1985, a Federal District Court ruled that the prosecution in Carter's second trial committed "grave constitutional violations" and that his conviction was based on racism rather than facts. As a result, Carter was finally freed, and he summed up his story by saying, "Hate got me into this place, love got me out."
- Denzel Washington as Rubin "The Hurricane" Carter
- Vicellous Reon Shannon as Lesra Martin
- Deborah Kara Unger as Lisa Peters
- Liev Schreiber as Sam Chaiton
- John Hannah as Terry Swinton
- Dan Hedaya as Det. Sgt. Della Pesca, based on Vincent DeSimone
- Debbi Morgan as Mae Thelma Carter
- Clancy Brown as Lt. Jimmy Williams
- David Paymer as Myron Beldock
- Harris Yulin as Leon Friedman
- Rod Steiger as Judge H. Lee Sarokin
- Vincent Pastore as Alfred Bello
- George T. Odom as Big Ed
- Beatrice Winde as Louise Cockersham
Background
Norman Jewison got interested in a "Hurricane" Carter biopic in 1992. Armyan Bernstein purchased the filming rights through Beacon Pictures, and went on to write the first scripts while establishing a financing partnership with Irving Azoff. At first, Jewison felt the story was so extensive that it would fit better as a television miniseries. Once Denzel Washington signed to play the title character, he went through long boxing training, and worked closely with Rubin Carter. Washington said, "He went through pots and pots of coffee and packs of cigarettes. I'd drink a little coffee. It's interesting and challenging when the person is there, alive and in the room." Filming began in November 1998, with locations in both New Jersey – East Jersey State Prison in Trenton and the cities of Avenel and Paterson – and Toronto.
Soundtrack
| The Hurricane Soundtrack | |
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| Soundtrack album by Various Artists | |
| Released | January 11, 2000 |
| Recorded | 1999 |
| Genre | R&B, soul, hip hop, pop rock |
| Label | MCA |
| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| HipHopPlus |  |
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