SPECIAL SCREENING

THE MURDER OF FRED HAMPTON

USA, 1971, 89 min., English

Director: Mike Gray & Howard Alk
Producer: Mike Gray & Emmett Grogan
Cinematography: Mike Gray, Howard Alk, and Gordon Quinn
Editing: Howard Alk & John Mason
Production Company: Canyon Cinema
Print Source:
Facets Multimedia
1517 West Fullerton Ave.
Tel: 773.281.9075
Fax: 773.929.5437
Email: theatrical@facets.org
www.facets.org




The Murder of Fred Hampton

This riveting documentary chronicles the short life of Fred Hampton, the founder of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, who, at the age of 21, was killed during a raid of the BP headquarters by the Chicago Police Department. The first half of this thought-provoking film focuses on the dichotomy of the charismatic young activist's life and work. Scenes of Hampton rallying people to rise up kill police and act out against oppressive forces lie in contrast to those that show Hampton setting up free clinics and providing pre-school meals in poor neighborhoods. The film's chilling second half centers on Hampton's death and begins in the pre-dawn moments of December 4, 1969; the day that police stormed BP headquarters and Hampton was shot. Shocking crime scene footage and assassination accusations gives way to police accounts that Hampton fired his gun first. What really happened? Police press releases and filmed raid reenactments are contrasted with the recollections of BP members present at the scene, as well as expert testimony. Ultimately, the grizzly recollections and site visits make it perfectly clear that the police's account of their raid cannot be true.

Mike Gray

Like several other Hollywood realists, Mike Gray comes from a documentary film background. Gray grew up in the small farm town of Darlington, Indiana, and after graduating from Purdue University with an engineering degree in 1958, he worked in New York as an editor for Aviation Age. In 1965 he joined with Jim Dennett to form The Film Group, a Chicago based production company. After moving to Hollywood in 1973, Gray began writing the screenplay that was to become the eerily prophetic China Syndrome. His years of research were confirmed less than two weeks after the movie's release by the accident at Three Mile Island. In 1981 Gray wrote and directed the theatrical feature, Wavelength, a science fiction thriller starring Bobby Carradine and Keenan Wynn (New World). Gray and John Mason also rewrote the screenplay for Code of Silence (Orion), and a pilot for ABC based on the film Starman. In 1988 they were hired as writer/producers for the Paramount Star Trek series. Gray's second book, Angle of Attack: Harrison Storms and the Race to the Moon, was purchased by Tom Hanks for the TV series, From the Earth to the Moon. Mike Gray lives in Los Angeles.

Filmography:

Starman(1986), fiction;
Wavelength (1983), fiction;
The Murder of Fred Hampton (1971);
American Revolution 2 (1969).

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4 AT 9:00 PM./DOC FILMS

THURSDAY, APRIL 5 AT 7:00 PM./FACETS CINEMATHEQUE