Hurricane

Theatrical Release Date: 1999 12 29 (USA)

UPC: 025192071928

Studio: Universal Studios

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Violence, Profanity]

Summary: In 1966, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter was a top-ranked middleweight boxer whom many fight fans expected to become world champion. When three people 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 questioned by police. Although the police asserted that Carter and Artis "were never suspects," a man named Alfred Bello, himself a suspect 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 murder, and Carter was given three consecutive life sentences. Throughout the trial, Carter proclaimed his innocence, saying that his African-American race and work as a civil rights activist were the real reasons for his conviction. In 1974, Bello and Arthur Bradley, who also claimed that Carter was present at the scene of the crimes, recanted their testimony, but Carter and Artis were reconvicted. In the early 1980s, Brooklyn teenager Lesra Martin worked with a trio of Canadian activists to push the State of New Jersey to reinvestigate 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. Carter was finally freed, and he summed up his story by saying, "Hate got me into this place, love got me out." The Hurricane is based on Carter's incredible true story and stars Denzel Washington as Carter, Vicellous Shannon as Lesra Martin, and John Hannah, Liev Schreiber and Deborah Unger as the Canadian activists. Veteran filmmaker Norman Jewison directed. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Best Picture - Drama – null Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama – null Best Director – null Best Actor – Screen Actors Guild Best Actor – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Silver Bear for Best Actor – Berlin International Film Festival Best Director – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Picture - Drama – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama – Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Features: Spotlight on location: "The Making of The Hurricane"
Feature commentary with director Norman Jewison
Deleted scenes with special introduction by the director
Theatrical trailer
Production notes
Cast and filmmakers
DVD-ROM features

Hurricane

Format: DVD

Release Date: 07/11/2000

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Theatre Wide-Screen

Audio: 5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1, 2 PCM stereo

Runtime: 146 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French

Subtitles: English

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1
1. Champion (Main Titles) [:08]
2. Murder at the Lafayette [:27]
3. The Book Picks You [:58]
4. The Kid From Paterson [6:20]
5. A Liberated Man [:54]
6. The Warrior Scholar [4:55]
7. Like a Hurricane [2:10]
8. The Setup [1:27]
9. Guilty [6:20]
10. The Hole [1:16]
11. Lesra's Letter [4:04]
12. Lazarus & the Hurricane [1:45]
13. New Friends [4:21]
14. Carter's Foot Soldiers [2:30]
15. The Dangerous Truth [6:23]
16. The Private Eye's Secret [1:24]
17. The Last Stand [3:14]
18. Risen From the Dead [3:33]
19. The Judge's Decision [:51]
20. Epilogue/End Titles [6:21]

Karl Williams

The true-life story of an up-and-coming boxer convicted of a bloody crime he probably didn't commit, this drama has more heart than the stereotypical prison drama because it's cleverly told from a unique perspective: that of an inspired youth attempting to get his jailed hero freed. The script by Dan Gordon, who successfully mapped unjustly imprisoned territory once before with Murder in the First (1995), is a top-notch affair that keeps the pace moving -- an admirable bit of work considering the film's rather dour subject matter. Denzel Washington is a mask of pride and barely contained rage in a role that will likely stand as a career highlight for the intense actor and his left-leaning, socially conscious director Norman Jewison. While playing at times like a narrative goulash into which a little bit of every drama genre is thrown (including sports, courtroom, ghetto, and prison), The Hurricane is a moving, powerful story that's stylishly told on every level: visually, emotionally, and intellectually. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Christopher Young  Composer (Music Score) 
Marc Abraham  Executive Producer 
Armyan Bernstein  Producer 
Armyan Bernstein  Screenwriter 
Norman Jewison  Director 
Norman Jewison  Producer 
Tom Rosenberg  Executive Producer 
Irving Azoff  Executive Producer 
Rudy Langlais  Executive Producer 
William Teitler  Executive Producer 
Thomas A. Bliss  Executive Producer 
Dan Gordon  Screenwriter 
John Ketcham  Producer 
Denzel Washington  Actor 
Vicellous Shannon  Actor 
Deborah Kara Unger  Actor 
Liev Schreiber  Actor 
John Hannah  Actor 
Dan Hedaya  Actor 
Debbi Morgan  Actor 
Clancy Brown  Actor 
David Paymer  Actor 
Harris Yulin  Actor 
Rod Steiger  Actor 
Garland Whitt  Actor 

Country: USA