1. King: A Filmed Record . . . Montgomery to Memphis
(Joseph Mankiewicz, Sidney Lumet; 1970) (star)(star)(star)1/2
A classic documentary by quintessential Hollywood liberals Mankiewicz and Lumet, carrying Martin Luther King Jr. from 1955 to 1968, through all the high points of his tragically short life, with archival clips and remembrances including the spine-chilling
“I Have a Dream” speech. (DVD/video)
2. Mississippi Burning
(Alan Parker; 1988) (star)(star)(star)
An exciting, if historically dubious re-creation of the violent Mississippi summer that followed the murder of three Northern civil rights workers, centering on two fictitious FBI agents who crack the case. The FBI pair is memorably played by Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe. (DVD/video)
3. Malcolm X
(Spike Lee; 1992) (star)(star)(star)(star)
A superb biographical epic, which follows Malcolm from his Harlem hustler years through his conversion in jail to his ascension as a furious, eloquent and intransigent Black Muslim leader and finally, at the end, a bridge-building martyr. Denzel Washington, in a great performance, gets it all, though the film skimps a bit on the wily “Harlem Red” Malcolm Little we remember from Alex Haley’s “Autobiography of Malcolm X.” (DVD/video)
4. 4 Little Girls
(Spike Lee; 1997) (star)(star)(star)(star)
A powerful and moving film, the movie is a chronicle of the Sept. 15, 1963, Birmingham, Ala., church bombing that claimed the lives of four children at Sunday school. With brilliant artistry, the movie covers the period of the Birmingham civil rights crusade that led to the tragic bombing and the prosecution 14 years later of Robert Chambliss, Ku Klux Klan assassin. (DVD/video)
5. Boycott
(Clark Johnson; 2001) (star)(star)(star) 1/2
A first-rate TV docudrama about the 1956 Montgomery bus boycott, which began with the casual mistreatment of rider Rosa Parks and ended in a mass protest and a social upheaval that caught the eyes and imagination of the world. The movie is anchored by excellent portrayals of the ministers who led the fight: Jeffrey Wright as Martin Luther King Jr. and Terrence Howard as Ralph Abernathy. (DVD/video)
