In the news tonight a riot breaks out in a predominantly black area of Miami after a police chase and a shootout leaves one black man
Dead and top black leaders attend a big tribute for Martin Luther King jr
We'll tell you how you can help those with AIDS Ryan White tells us what he hopes the movie about his life
Accomplishes and Michael's fans beat it to the sports arena as his delayed concerts finally open
on eyewitness news
Growing up in Seoul my friends and I would go off to a special lake where the Sun danced on the water
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For my friends and me who says you can't go home again. Go ahead reach out and touch someone
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Number one in Southern California
Channel 7 eyewitness news with Paul Moyer and Tony Little
Johnny Mountain has weather and Jim Hill with sports
now the Southland's leading news
I
witness news at 11
Racial violence erupts in the city of Miami tonight forcing police to close down a section of that city. Good evening everybody
It's now the 11 o'clock hour
The entire Miami Police Department is out in force tonight after rioting broke out in the mostly black area of Overtown
Police shot a suspected robber on this motorcycle which sparked the rioting
I don't see no reason why nobody shoot him, but I want to know who shot him
Several officers were injured by flying bottles and rocks and the car of a news crew was set on fire
Some black leaders criticized the police for what they called overreaction
And I think by talking rather than showing the muscle of
Riot gears and riot guns is not the answer the answer is treating people like human beings
As you probably remember racial violence has broken out in Miami before as a matter of fact four times in the last year
Four times in the last decade it has been now nearly six hours since today's violence erupted and police say they have contained it to the
Sealed area they hope to prevent a repeat of the violence earlier tonight
Tony well Paul here in the Southland there are charges of police racism being leveled at officers in Long Beach
The accuser is Hawthorne officer Don Jackson seen here last Saturday night when he was stopped by Long Beach police
He was on what he calls an anti-racist sting operation
Operation trying to show that Southland police do harass blacks
What I was looking for is the right for a black person to travel throughout Southern, California free from contempt and harassment by police officers
illegally engaged in acts that are surely misconduct
Jackson is currently on leave from the Hawthorne Police Department Paul Tony the nation today celebrated the birthday of slain civil rights leader
Dr. Martin Luther King jr. And here in Los Angeles Paul Dandridge reports the Reverend Jesse Jackson used the occasion
to blast President Reagan's civil rights record
The Reverend Jesse Jackson before he gave his address of the King birthday dinner took aim at comments made by President Reagan on
60 minutes yesterday. Mr. Reagan said that some civil rights leaders are doing very well keeping alive the feeling that they're victims of prejudice
Jackson said the president expressed more contempt for civil rights and social injustice
First it was beneath the dignity of an American president
An attempt to discredit civil rights leadership and divert attention away from his lack of commitment for civil rights after all, Mr. Reagan
Said that Mr. Bold of South Africa was his geopolitical ally and turn his back on Mandela
He suggested Dr. King was a communist 18 years after he was dead
Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley spoke about the positive effects of Martin Luther King jr. How he gave people pride and hope
Bradley was also critical of the president
It's a sad commentary that the president simply doesn't understand the issues
I think that's part of the problem and he's not the only one who still does not understand that
There are many who still fighting to achieve all of the goals of the people of this community
It's estimated that this dinner will bring in about 100 000 tonight
Many here looking forward to the change of the administration from Mr. Reagan to Mr. Bush on friday and a kinder gentler america
And better opportunities they feel for blacks in the next four years
Reporting from downtown Los Angeles Paul Dandridge channel 7 eyewitness news
Los Angeles was the site of the largest martin luther king day parade in the country that parade started at the new crentshaw mall in baldwin hills and continued down martin luther king boulevard
It featured marching bands floats and television celebrities all along the parade route the crowd was excited to be part of an event celebrating king's accomplishments
And the achievements of the black community
In Beverly hills today close to 30 students wrapped up a weekend sit-in at the south african conference
The anti-apartheid protest was time to take place during the martin luther king holiday
The students staged their sit-in calling for the u.s sanctions against south africa and for the removal of the south african consulate from our community
Paul tony another news tonight if you were watching you know that abc aired a touching movie called the ryan white story about a boy with AIDS
How has ryan been doing since his family died in the
1980s well according to his mom life's a little better i really feel like there was a big pressure lifted off of him
And now he says now even now he said if everybody else wouldn't bring it up because i'd forget i even have it you know
Ryan believes the best way to fight aids is through education and today on good morning america he shared his thoughts on the movie
Well in the show doesn't have a lot of money
And they're not really looking forward to it coming out that you know the point is that you know that
We moved to the cicero. It was a lot better
And we lived in cocomono went to western
You know they just didn't want us anywhere around i just hope they you know that edgy hope they learn that education works
Last year car dealers in cicero indiana bought uh ryan white's car
For his 16th birthday now with a little acting under his belt ryan plans to come to los angeles this summer
To become a movie director trainee
Tony well paul many people are touched by the discrimination suffered by aids patients and there are those who wish they could do something to help
Joanna shamina is here now to show us what we can do to lend a helping hand
Well tony what's going on here in the cicero indiana
Help joanna shamina is here now to show us what we can do to lend a helping hand
Well tony ryan white may have won his battle against discrimination
But for the other aids victims it is a continuing fight and without committed individuals and agencies who care and reach out to help
There may be no relief for those people and no cure for the future
Now one way you can make a difference is with aids project los angeles
this agency
Depends on volunteer help. Uh, we have approximately
1500 volunteers
But that number has reached the plateau that's why apla would like to get new and energetic people
Some to work directly with aids patients others to help indirectly behind the scenes
For instance if you can type or file or answer phones
Your help is always needed and appreciated right here at the apla headquarters office or at the other facilities countywide
Uh, there are a variety of different symptoms of hiv infection
There's also a big need for volunteers to staff its vital information hotline
Volunteers here are offered extensive training so that they are informed and able to handle questions and make referrals
Similarly volunteers are trained to be one-on-one companions to aids patients in the buddy program
To give lonely aids clients someone to talk to and do things with
Of course if you're already a professional a dentist a lawyer or therapist your services are needed too
Even if only part-time and one program which is a one-stop shopping center providing free food and household supplies to aids patients
Also couldn't run without volunteers people to fill the orders stock the shelves and load the trucks gary hensel is one such volunteer
Um, I come in here. I work. I donate a day. I pick up groceries for clients who come in here. Um,
Bag them up for them take them all the way to their car talk to them
They get to know you they come in and they're looking for a friendship and someone to be supportive to them
It gives us as participants
a sense of
well-being
to see regular faces when we come back
um, it builds a personal rapport and uh
I think most of all it makes us feel very comfortable
So the phone numbers to call if you want to lend a hand
If you want to lend a hand as a volunteer that number for you is two one three eight seven six eight nine five one
And for general information, there's the southern california regional hotline of one eight hundred nine two two aids again
Those numbers will be repeated for you later in this newscast and the bottom line message here is that everyone
Can do something not only to help those who have aids but those who are committed in the fight against it
Let's hope it makes a difference. We sure do. Thank you. Julian. Okay
Okay, next up tonight johnny mountain will be here to tell us if we're going to have another beautiful spring-like day tomorrow
john's next
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A strong earthquake was reported tonight in new britain in the south pacific seismologists gave it a preliminary reading of
6.5 on the richter scale they said it was centered 270 miles northeast of port moresby which is in papua
That's in new guinea. There you have it paul. We've got a time for the weather now, but wait a minute
See john joins us with but not so fast john a little surprise for john tonight. We have
The weather question now we went out among them tonight. We had one of our viewers ask
That certainly was to ask uh you a question. So tonight john here is tonight's viewers request. All right. Here we go
Should be back here's tonight's viewer request. I told you waiting for it. Ah
Well, here's tonight's
I want it to be at least 85, please
What it wanted to be 85 begging he wants it to be 85 man said he wanted it to be 85
We didn't get the rest of it. No, he wants it to be he wants it to be 85. Okay, try june
Uh, no, he wants it tomorrow. Well, we can't do that
I could I could strike a match under the guy kind of a question was that well
It's it was it was a question. We didn't get all of it
What was the question but we've got the answer a little bit for tomorrow. So let's go outside right now
Let's all these new things take time. It takes they take time and we're a little confused with it
But clear skies and right now the temperature is the speed limit at 55
The humidity at 30 percent winds northeast at 7th pressure is at 3015 and here we go with our normal temperature, which is 66 not 85
73 was the official high for today 46 the overnight low type of sunrise at 7 o'clock and sunset at
506. All right, let's show you where it might be
85 would be down here someplace wouldn't it? But no we're up here folks
the system to the north of us is bringing wind and also some gusty rain and uh the heavy activity across the entire country is
Located right there 70 mile per hour winds with strong gusty winds throughout the washington and oregon continue tonight and uh
This is the drawing that we had from today
most of the rest of the nation under the influence of high pressure both from utah down into texas and on into the tennessee and
Ohio valley leaving us with clear skies east and west out west though
You can see that frontal system that is is riding in right now
Again, it will move across the country tomorrow the net result right here in the south land
Even though it is not in the 80s. It is in the 70s and apt to stay so for the next few days
As a matter of fact, let's look at our forecast 45 overnight
It'll have about 20 mile per hour winds below those canyons and the high for tomorrow should be 74 sunny and mild
Which is uh for us abnormally warm temperatures not at 85 though check out the low temperatures overnight and those highs for tomorrow
The valley should be in the lower 70s where a lot of people will be tomorrow
So people out of riverside will get up to about 72 there out of the distance
It'll be about 68 now. We're going to be back a little bit later on with the five day
We're holding that since this is your first day back and you love it so much here tomorrow
Tomorrow night's weather you think tonight's was a binger. Okay here tomorrow. Okay, that was great johnny. We liked it a lot
Oh good. Thank you. Thank you
Okay coming up next jim hill has the sports the lakers take on houston in the battle of the wild west
And the 49ers may have lost one of their most important weapons for super bowl sunday jim is next
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We've got something to tell you about you better wait until later in the week to find out if these star players gonna be at
Full strength in miami two big stories tonight
One is the riots that are going on in the city
The other is the condition of jerry rice the 49ers super wide receiver who hurt his ankle in practice today
And is questionable for next sunday's super bowl
Well, he twisted an ankle in practice. I heard about it after the fact and uh, we held him out the rest of the day
He went in had ice as a treatment
We'll keep him out of practice wednesday
And thursday most likely rest him completely
We feel he'll be okay. We're a little haunted by it because he went through much of the year
Uh without with a with a ankle problem
Maybe six to eight straight games
and uh he played
well, but not
as a great player
Meanwhile in pro basketball the lakers had another matinee game today this time against the houston rockets
And even though the world champions have trouble on the road at home. It's still nothing but perfection
We don't want to lose at home. You know, I think every team
Owe it to their fans and to themselves to to do their best at home
Oh akim elijah won got the rockets off to a fast start as he goes around kareem for slam dunk
Now the lakers behind magic start a surge of their own as this prayer is answered
Later, it's magic with a great pass to ac green who has no trouble scoring
Then it's james worthy on the fast break and the showtime express is in high gear
There the lakers didn't let up in the second half as byron scott does his version of magic with a nifty pass to kareem
And when scott hits from three point range the lakers are cruising along now 83 66
And after that there was no way the rockets could catch the lakers as thompson takes a no look pass from magic
houston didn't get many chances at second shots in the second half as worthy makes the block and the lakers went at
124 to 113 and their record at home is a perfect 15 and 0
What did you guys do to take?
Um elijah won out of the game you started off tough, but then you guys shut him down
Well, we had to get to him quicker before
And right at the beginning we weren't getting to him fast enough and he was just turning and doing whatever he wanted to do
But then we started doubling real fast and uh make him have to be a passer
We thought that was going to be the key
The lakers may have had their problems on the road, but when they're home, they're tough. There's no question about that
You know, they're very tough at home. They run their offense very well
Play good defense. They're very tough to beat at home
In other nba action this evening cleveland rolled over phoenix and golden state beat seattle
It was denver stopping sacramento the new york nicks defeat san antonio by 10
Charlotte beat the sixers in overtime while detroit handled boston easily and atlanta topped washington
Meanwhile in college basketball tonight number 10 ranked nevada las vegas was tied in the final seconds by cal state fullerton sedrick
Cabello's on as he can a three-pointer
But vegas came right back with time running out greg anthony hit a three-point prayer of his own from the top of the key
And the running rebels defeat fullerton 66 to 63
In other college action tonight the university of connecticut upset 11th ranked syracuse behind cliff robinson's 24 points including that three-pointer
Now syracuse matt roe made four of nine three-point attempts, but it just wasn't enough the orange man lost tonight final score
68 to 62
And that's a look at sports for this evening paul time certainly was all right. Thank you jimmy
Coming up next comedians get together to raise money for aids and michael jackson's long-awaited concert finally gets underway at the sports arena
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Michael jackson was back in the southland tonight with one of his final appearances of his tour
Or francesca capucci reports many of the fans are hoping tonight's rescheduled concert is not one of jackson's last
Michael jackson showed his fans tonight that he was worth the wait
Yeah
But before michael hit the stage fans were filled with anticipation
We talked to two lucky ones who had front row center seats, but i'm trying to like
Hold it, you know just keep a cool
I'm sorry, you feel numb like it's not happening. I know i'm gonna wake up
You don't want to think about it. You know what I mean?
But your stomach hurts. It's like you're gonna get like
When you were in school, you're getting your grades back and your stomach is going
I'm hoping that since he couldn't do the shows the last time he's gonna be full of a lot of energy
Michael jackson really dazzled him tonight and if the rumors are true that these shows will be his last
Then it is fitting that he finished in his hometown francesca capucci channel 7 eyewitness news at the los angeles sports arena
Earlier tonight abc aired a movie about ryan white the little boy who has aids and also at uh here in los angeles
And pastine at the ice house tonight some comics got together to uh stage a benefit the proceeds of which will go to children
Who have aids we would like to give you some phone numbers to help in the fight against aids if you missed them earlier
We can give them out again here. They are once again number for the aids project volunteers is two one three
Eight seven six eight nine five one the number again two one three eight seven six eight nine five one
The southern california aids hotline number is one eight hundred nine two two aids again one eight hundred nine two two aids
And the national aids hotline number given at the end of tonight's abc movie the ryan white story is one eight hundred
Three four two aids again one eight hundred three four two
Two aids twenty and fall when we come right back. Johnny mountain's going to be back with us if we can take it
He's going to give us five day forecast and the offers are already coming in for the soon-to-be out of work. Ronald reagan
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President reagan could be in for another career change on friday
He's going to be out of a job but a local film company is hoping he'll take up acting again
The la production group is making a movie about basketball great pete maravich
They're hoping the gipper will consider returning to the screen to play a role in the movie
Maybe he will johnny question about the five-day forecast we do johnny mountain has it right now
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What would martin luther king have thought about this movie
Good evening. I'm forest sawyer and this is nightline
On the day when the nation marks the birthday of martin luther king jr
We'll focus on a film about the civil rights era that's touched off a firestorm of controversy
Mississippi burning it's a very truthful film a very honest film a very tough film to talk about the fbi
The heroes and to ignore what happened with it with the movement and the presence of the movement a strong movement in mississippi was I think
unforgivable
Our guests the star of mississippi burning gene hackman and a veteran of the civil rights struggle of the 1960s
julian bond
This is abc news nightline
Substituting for ted koppel and reporting from new york forest sawyer
It was back in 1915 the director dw griffith took a little-known book about the ku klux klan
And turned it into a feature film called the birth of a nation its extraordinary success firmly established
Hollywood is the newest and best creator of american legends a quarter of a century later the success was even greater
Gone with the wind rewrote history portraying the civil wars more about a lost romantic age than about slavery
Both films helped shape the way america saw its own past
And now comes another equally powerful film about race relations
Mississippi burning but this film does not romanticize it is about the murder and hate of the 1960s and it has stirred
a violent controversy
Does this fictionalized version of a real event capture the bravery of the movement martin luther king led?
Or does it leave us with another distorted picture of our history?
Chris burea begins tonight's report with a look at mississippi in fact
and fiction
It is a hollywood version of mississippi hell a state blazing with bigotry
Starring jean hackman and william defoe
Mississippi burning is based on the fbi's investigation into the disappearance of three civil rights workers during the summer of 1964
Wow, did you hear me?
we hope
to to send into mississippi this summer
upwards of 1 000
teachers
ministers
lawyers and students
They came by the hundreds to register black voters only to be met by white hate
Andy goodman and michael schwerner both white new yorkers arrived to work with james cheney a black mississippian
In june the three disappeared after being jailed for speeding near philadelphia, mississippi
For six weeks hundreds of fbi agents searched the swamps of neshoba county in august the bodies of goodman schwerner and cheney
Were found buried in an earthen dam the popular county sheriff his deputy and 17 others were arrested for conspiracy to murder
One by one it could be your son
The true story is chilling full of emotion and conflict
But in the movie fact and fiction mingle so freely that the film's makers stand accused of distorting history
I think that
A lot of people are going to see mississippi burning and come away from it and think they know something about what happened
In mississippi in 1964 and they'll be wrong. No, I don't think it distorts it. I think that it's a
It's a very truthful film a very honest film a very tough film
It is a fiction. We we've admitted it's fiction
We've admitted that it's a drama a drama whose heroes are white fbi agents whose blacks are mainly
Relegated to the back seat or the background
That is a serious sin of omission critics say that ignores not only the leaders of the movement but the courage of ordinary blacks
Klansmen beat bud cole nearly to death for attending a church meeting on voting rights. It left him crippled
I broke my jawbone jawbone and I knocked home my head
Kept me in the back and hit me back with something else and so I fell on my knees and began to pray
Asked the lord to spare my husband life. Can you forgive the people who beat you up if i'm trying to?
I'm trying to you forgive them
It's hard though. It's hard
We were the heroes. We were the heroes
You know and what they do is they make the anti-heroes the heroes and that was the fbi
According to an acclaimed documentary on the period j. Edgar hoover's all-white fbi was dragged kicking and screaming into the investigation
We most certainly do not and will not give protection to civil rights workers
We nail them any way we can even your way
In the movie the fbi resorts to violent clan-style terrorism, but a few years later
To violent clan-style terrorism, but a 30 000 fbi payment to an informant is what really broke the case
Joseph sullivan now retired led the investigation
If the tactics in that film had been used by fbi agents, they would be stuffed and mounted in fbi exhibit rooms right now
So that didn't happen
The makers of mississippi burning played fast and loose with the facts critics charge in pursuit of a box office smash
Hollywood really doesn't um, believe that the american public will go to see black heroes and heroines unless they are victims
There was no effort in any way to water this movie down or to make it appeal to whites or blacks
This movie didn't change its nature in order to appeal to hollywood or fit some sort of some sort of racist code
And even critics agree the movie authentically portrays the brutal bigotry of Backwoods, Mississippi in 1964.
Here in Neshoba County where the killings took place, many people are ambivalent about the movie and the memories it has stirred up.
Mississippi burning depicts a shameful time and an ugly state of mind that many here would just as soon forget.
It sort of died down now, and I think that's where it should stay.
It is something that we don't need to hide, we need to recognize.
It's the best thing that could ever be happening to Mississippi for it to be shown.
They showed it in Mississippi for the first time this weekend.
Two Mississippi burnings.
The story had to be told. Some of it was true.
There's a joke in the movie that says, what has four eyes and can't see?
What?
Mississippi.
I disagree, whereas once we were blind, now we see.
Even the sheriff, implicated and acquitted in the murder conspiracy, sees things differently.
Now, Lawrence Rainey works as a security guard, and his boss is black.
You were not prejudiced against blacks?
No. If I had, I wouldn't be working for one.
Things have changed in Mississippi.
We have more black elected officials than any other state in the union.
And I hope that the history books will never forget that Goodman, Cheney and Swerner really paid the supreme price
for people to begin to have rights and privileges to vote and be elected to public office.
In spite of the conflicts between history and Hollywood,
the question is, can Mississippi burning still serve to illuminate a terrifying time?
Or, as critics contend, is it just a lucrative lynching of the truth that insults all those who risked
and sometimes lost their lives in the cause of racial equality?
This is Chris Puri for Nightline in Neshoba County, Mississippi.
When we come back, we'll be joined by the star of Mississippi burning, Gene Hackman,
and by civil rights activist and former Georgia State Representative Julian Bond.
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He's appeared in some 50 films.
He won an Oscar for his role in The French Connection and is expected to be an Oscar nominee for Mississippi Burning,
a part for which he already has won the National Board of Review Citation for Best Actor.
Gene Hackman is with us in our Chicago bureau.
Julian Bond, who joins us in our New York studios, was publicity director for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee from 1960 to 1965.
Although he was based in Atlanta, he spent a great deal of time in Mississippi during those years,
including that summer when Mississippi Burning takes place.
Mr. Bond is currently a visiting professor of history and politics at Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Hackman, in fairness, I should say that Alan Parker, who was the director of this film
and who declined to join us this evening, he is most responsible, of course, for the vision of the film, but you're the star of it.
Alan Parker has commented a number of times about the film.
He said he's satisfied with everything about it and he defends against all criticism.
Do you agree with that or do you have a more ambivalent position?
Well, I think that as a performer, you're given a script and you perform it the best you can,
but I think beyond that, that one does have a responsibility to the material that you do.
I don't think that everything in the film is defendable in terms of what blacks would like to have happen in this film,
but I think that from a filmmaker's point of view, that you have to have a view,
and their view was one of trying to do a film from the FBI's point of view.
Whether or not the FBI really solved this case, I don't know.
They found the bodies. They supposedly paid an informant $30,000 for information.
If there would have been a black protagonist in the film, would it have been a better film?
I don't know. It would have been a different film.
You know that there are some critics who say that maybe there's a more cynical reason for this film having been made.
Perhaps it was that they saw an opportunity to make some money off a piece of history.
In fact, I see a little quote here from you in which you say the producers, quote,
looked at how much platoon made and they went, yeah, what other causes can we make some money on? Is that what they did?
Well, whether or not they did that, that sounds fairly cold.
I'm not too sure that they did that. I may have said that. I don't know.
But filmmaking is not an altruistic endeavor.
You put 17 million bucks in a film and I suppose they would like to see some of it back.
They still have a responsibility to do an honest story about a piece of history.
I think in many ways it is a good film because from my view, let's take what I was doing in those days.
I was trying to make a career for myself in New York. I didn't know anything about what was going on in Mississippi.
And that's, I suppose, reprehensible in many ways.
But in the end, maybe if I've enlightened anyone to part of my character and part of those events, then maybe I've done a job. I don't know.
Mr. Bond, here's the argument. Certainly if you're going to look at a piece of history and one that is as sensitive as this one,
you do have a certain responsibility as a filmmaker.
But they wanted to take a point of view and the point of view they wanted to take was the FBI's.
And so they made a film that was as accurate to the spirit of the times as they could. What's wrong with that?
Well, first it's not accurate to the spirit of the times. The spirit of the times for the FBI was to be hostile to the civil rights movement.
This movie glorifies the FBI. And Mr. Hackman, it's not what blacks want to see in the movie.
It's what people who know about this period want to see in this movie.
I read a review tonight in the New Yorker of the movie. It said, Gene Hackman is superb. The movie is morally repugnant.
The movie paints a picture of Mississippi, of the Klan, of black people in Mississippi at the time, of the civil rights movement that's just far from the truth.
The producer calls it honest, and then he says it's fiction. Well, honest and fiction just don't go together, and they don't go together well in this movie.
Have you seen the film, Mr. Bond?
I've seen the film. It reminded me of Rambo Meets the Klan.
Rambo Meets the Klan. How would you like to see the film?
I wouldn't at all. It didn't have to have a black protagonist from my point of view.
The detective story of the FBI finding out who killed these three young men seemed to me an exciting story in and of itself.
There were church bombings that could have been a part of it. There was violence and there was brutality.
It seems to me this would have made a tremendously exciting movie.
But to place the FBI as the heroes, to have the character William Defoe plays marching in the funeral of James Chaney,
to have a black FBI agent, when we know there were no black FBI agents in 1964,
to have your characters threaten murder and castration and fake kidnappings, I mean these things just did not happen.
People come away from this and say, boy, the FBI really was on the case during that period,
and they must have wondered to themselves, why were those three guys killed? What were they doing that was so bad?
Mr. Hackman, in fairness, let's say again that this was not your vision. It was Alan Parker's vision.
But did you worry about these kinds of things as you were making the film?
Yes, I did.
Did you have any sense that this criticism might arise?
I worried a lot about it before I did the film, and there were some changes made that we felt needed to be changed,
to bring exactly what Mr. Bond was talking about, to bring some of that into the proper perspective.
I think that my character in many ways is reprehensible.
I think that a man who would do what he did to get his way is not the proper way. I don't believe in that at all.
But I think it's an interesting film, whether or not, I suppose because it's a sensitive part of history,
people find it repugnant to have done that to that event. That may be so.
And I would apologize for making people uncomfortable if that's what has happened, but I still think it's a good film.
Now, that's an interesting point. We can leave it right there.
Your character does advocate violating civil rights in a very violent kind of way,
and a lot of people have criticized that. Let's return to that point when we come back.
We'll continue the conversation in just one moment.
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We are continuing our conversation with Gene Hackman in Chicago and Julian Bond in New York. Mr. Hackman, just a moment ago you said that you feel that the character that you played in the movie Mississippi Burning was in a sense morally repugnant.
I suppose in part because he helps in the kidnapping of a mayor of a town and the fake lynching of a man.
But the fact is the movie that I saw in the theater, when that happened, by the time it had built up to that point, there were people who were literally cheering when the FBI got to that point.
I presume in part because of the power in which you played the role.
Do you have a sense that there's a problem with the ending because of that?
No, I think that if you give people enough violence, they're going to like you.
I mean, if you set up some bad guys and then you give a character in a film a way to do away with them, they're going to pull for you. They're going to like you.
You know, I can't defend that part of it. The part that I find that may be repugnant is the violence that the man committed in the name of Wright.
I love doing that as a character because that's very rich and full and that's what I feel my job is as an actor.
So I can personally say that I might dislike a character, but that doesn't mean I don't want to play him as fully as possible.
How about it, Mr. Bond? Is that part of the film that troubles you?
It troubles me because it's supposed to be true or it's based on fact. It's a docudrama. The producer tells us honest and fair.
But the FBI didn't do that. They just didn't do that. They were reluctantly dragged into this.
They didn't break the law in investigating these kinds of crimes. They did break it when they investigated other kinds of crimes.
And people have got to come away from this thinking they've seen the true story of what happened in Mississippi in the summer of 1964, and they won't.
They're going to have a mistaken idea about that time, and that in turn gives them a mistaken idea about a very, very important part of American history and our common past.
Now there's another aspect about this, Mr. Bond, that you mentioned earlier in the film, and that is that while it is about the civil rights movement,
and the leaders of the civil rights movement were, of course, black, the primary figures in this film are white.
I presume it is an accurate quote of Alan Parker, since I've seen it in a couple of places, when he says that two heroes in this story had to be white.
It's a reflection of our society. They wouldn't have accepted a film in which blacks were the protagonists in the film. Is that right?
I'm not sure. It may be true in this case, because there were no black FBI agents, even though there was a black FBI agent in this film.
The American movie going public goes to movies with blacks as characters. They went to see The Color Purple. They went to see Soldier Story.
They've been to see dozens, I guess, of other movies where black people play prominent roles.
What's wrong with this one is not that a black man or woman aren't hero and heroine, but that they almost don't appear at all.
They have no names. We get no sense of who they are, what they're doing.
And when the characters playing Goodman, Cheney, and Schwerner are killed, that's the first five minutes of the movie. They're gone.
They're called the Civil Rights Boys. We don't get a real sense. Why were they there? What were they doing? Why were they the target of this attack? Why were they killed?
I'm just afraid of the people who go to see it and come away having this notion of the FBI and the American South in 1964. It's just wrong.
Well, Mr. Hackman, you know as much about Hollywood as anyone I can think of.
Is it right that Hollywood just doesn't think that America would accept a film in which blacks played the leading roles?
Oh, no. Blacks played leading roles all the time in films, and quite successfully so.
And I think possibly in another film that that could have been true for this film, in another script.
I suppose they chose who they are. I suppose the producer chose that this is the kind of film they wanted to do.
I think Mr. Bond's problem with the film is maybe from his view, quite a righteous one, in that we have taken a part of a true event and distorted it to some degree.
And made the FBI, according to him, look as if they were the heroes. I don't think the FBI really comes off as heroes. I think they were inept.
When I saw it, people stood up in the movie and cheered. When you knocked that guy around in the little bar or the barbershop, when I saw it, people stood up and cheered. You were the hero.
Well, luckily there were two white guys doing it so that we didn't have a real problem with that.
But I think the guy was evil and people enjoy that kind of redemption in some kind of way.
I'd enjoy it, but I'd rather see Sylvester Stallone doing it in one of his movies than seeing you, who are a magnificent actor, do it in a movie which distorts what the character you were playing would have done.
He never would have done that. If he had done it, he'd been the FBI outpost in the Aleutian Islands someplace, inspecting who knows what.
It just gives a bad picture of what that group of men was doing at that particular time.
Well, did you think that the FBI, you having been down there at that time, was the FBI really doing a good job at the time?
These guys were tapping our telephones, not those people. These guys were spying on us, not the people who killed Goodman, Schwerner and Cheney. They had to be pushed into that.
You saw that little piece of news film when J. Edgar Hoover says, we will not provide protection, we won't do this.
Alan Dulles had to pull and squeeze this guy to get him in to do this kind of thing, to put that big force down there.
Lyndon Johnson had to use all his credit up to get J. Edgar Hoover to put an FBI force down there.
Gentlemen, one of the men who was spying on at that time was Martin Luther King, Jr. At the beginning of the program, we asked what he would think about this film.
Let's ask that question when we come back in just one moment.
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Continuing now with Gene Hackman and with Julian Bond.
Gentlemen, if I may mention, I only have about 60 seconds left, so help me with some brief responses.
Mr. Bond, you knew Dr. King. What would he have thought?
I don't know his taste in movies, but I think he would have said what the New Yorker critics said.
Gene Hackman is superb. The movie is morally repugnant.
Help me with that a little more. In what sense would he find it repugnant?
I think he'd been in Philadelphia shortly after Goodman, Schwerner, and Cheney disappeared.
He came through there on a second time in the James Meredith march. He was spat on, stoned in that town.
He knew it was a tough little town, but he also knew that the FBI were his enemies, not his friends.
They were not there to protect him. They were spreading gossip and rumor in Indio about him.
They were tapping his telephone. I think he would have hated the movie.
Mr. Hackman, in many ways, this film is going to be about all the history lesson that some Americans are going to get about the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, and it's your face that they'll see.
Are you comfortable that they're getting an accurate picture, at least accurate to the spirit of the times?
I'm not sure of that. I feel a little depressed that on this day, on this Martin Luther King day,
that Mr. Bond feels that he wouldn't have liked this film. I was a great fan of Martin Luther King,
and I don't think the film needs defending on my part. I didn't write it. I performed it the best I know how.
All right, sir.
I feel that it's been an honor to be with Mr. Julian Bond and yourself.
Thank you, sir.
It's been my pleasure.
That's our report for tonight. I'm Forrest Sawyer in New York. For all of us here at ABC News, good night.
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