The Hurricane Movie Review 1999

Moving, albeit truncated account of the true story of middleweight boxing champ Rubin "Hurricane" Carter (Washington--in peak physical and professional form), who was falsely accused and convicted of murder and who spent 20 years in prison. Anchored by a transcendent performance by Washington, pic came under fire for its liberal rearrangement of the facts behind the case. If you want a full lowdown on the case, read one of several books written about this unique court battle by Carter himself ("The Sixteenth Round") or "Lazurus and the Hurricane," which served as the basis for the film; but if you want to see acting that can lift one to a higher spirtual plane, give "The Hurricane" a look. Carter was immortalized in Bob Dylan's 1976 protest song, "Hurricane."

Distribution

Universal Studios Home Video, 100 Universal City Plz., Universal City, CA 91608-9955, Phone: (818)777-1000, Fax: (818)866-1483, URL: http://www.universalstudios.com, Remarks: Does not handle retail queries from consumers; contact your local video distributor.

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 125 minutes.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Boxing, African America, True Stories, Men in Prison, Order in the Court

Screenplay

Armyan Bernstein, Dan Gordon

Cast

Denzel Washington, Vicellous Reon Shannon, Deborah Kara Unger, Liev Schreiber, John Hannah, David Paymer, Dan Hedaya, Debbi (Deborah) Morgan, Clancy Brown, Harris Yulin, Vincent Pastore, Rod Steiger

Cinematography

Roger Deakins

Director

Norman Jewison

Music

Christopher Young

Producer

Universal Studios

Awards

Golden Globes 2000: Actor--Drama (Washington).