61. Hurricane &...

Lyrics

Pistols shots ring out in the barroom night
Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall
She sees the bartender in a pool of blood
Cries out "My God they killed them all"
Here comes the story of the Hurricane
The man the authorities came to blame
For something that he never done
Put him in a prison cell but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world.

Three bodies lying there does Patty see
And another man named Bello moving around mysteriously
"I didn't do it" he says and he throws up his hands
"I was only robbing the register I hope you understand
I saw them leaving" he says and he stops
"One of us had better call up the cops"
And so Patty calls the cops
And they arrive on the scene with their red lights flashing
In the hot New Jersey night.

Meanwhile far away in another part of town
Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are driving around
Number one contender for the middleweight crown
Had no idea what kinda shit was about to go down
When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road
Just like the time before and the time before that
In Patterson that's just the way things go
If you're black you might as well not shown up on the street
'Less you wanna draw the heat.

Alfred Bello had a partner and he had a rap for the corps
Him and Arthur Dexter Bradley were just out prowling around
He said "I saw two men running out they looked like middleweights
They jumped into a white car with out-of-state plates"
And Miss Patty Valentine just nodded her head
Cop said "Wait a minute boys this one's not dead"
So they took him to the infirmary
And though this man could hardly see
They told him that he could identify the guilty men.

Four in the morning and they haul Rubin in
Take him to the hospital and they bring him upstairs
The wounded man looks up through his one dying eye
Says "Wha'd you bring him in here for ? He ain't the guy !"
Yes here comes the story of the Hurricane
The man the authorities came to blame
For something that he never done
Put in a prison cell but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world.

Four months later the ghettos are in flame
Rubin's in South America fighting for his name
While Arthur Dexter Bradley's still in the robbery game
And the cops are putting the screws to him looking for somebody to blame
"Remember that murder that happened in a bar ?"
"Remember you said you saw the getaway car?"
"You think you'd like to play ball with the law ?"
"Think it might-a been that fighter you saw running that night ?"
"Don't forget that you are white".

Arthur Dexter Bradley said "I'm really not sure"
Cops said "A boy like you could use a break
We got you for the motel job and we're talking to your friend Bello
Now you don't wanta have to go back to jail be a nice fellow
You'll be doing society a favor
That sonofabitch is brave and getting braver
We want to put his ass in stir
We want to pin this triple murder on him
He ain't no Gentleman Jim".

Rubin could take a man out with just one punch
But he never did like to talk about it all that much
It's my work he'd say and I do it for pay
And when it's over I'd just as soon go on my way
Up to some paradise
Where the trout streams flow and the air is nice
And ride a horse along a trail
But then they took him to the jailhouse
Where they try to turn a man into a mouse.

All of Rubin's cards were marked in advance
The trial was a pig-circus he never had a chance
The judge made Rubin's witnesses drunkards from the slums
To the white folks who watched he was a revolutionary bum
And to the black folks he was just a crazy nigger
No one doubted that he pulled the trigger
And though they could not produce the gun
The DA said he was the one who did the deed
And the all-white jury agreed.

Rubin Carter was falsely tried
The crime was murder 'one' guess who testified
Bello and Bradley and they both baldly lied
And the newspapers they all went along for the ride
How can the life of such a man
Be in the palm of some fool's hand ? 
To see him obviously framed
Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land 
Where justice is a game.

Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties
Are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise
While Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten-foot cell
An innocent man in a living hell
That's the story of the Hurricane
But it won't be over till they clear his name
And give him back the time he's done
Put him in a prison cell but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world.


I think Bob Dylan has written some pretty great songs. I just often find hs voice to be very irritating. I am actually more a fan of his long-time girlfriend Joan Baez. I do like this song though, and I consider it his best. The story of Rubin Carter is quite interesting, so it's no surprise that it has also been turned into a movie.

The Movie: The Hurricane (Norman Jewison, 1999)

I had seen The Hurricane once before, but I didn't remember anything about it, except the fact that I absolutely loved the movie. Watching it now I didn't love it that much, but still thought that this was a very good movie. It is also a movie that tries to be a bit different from the usual biopic. But above all this is a movie that's just pleasant to watch, despite the dramatic subject. An important reason for that are the actors It is full of famous ones who are all used in a way that seems to suit their talents perfectly. It is a treat to see an evil Dan Hedaya scheming around. And there are few people who can portray a normal, decent man as well as Liev Schreiber. But of course the movie belongs to Denzel Washington. He knows both to convey Carter's goodness, as his wit and coolness. This is the kind of movie that makes you want to watch every Denzel Washington movie ever made. In fact he is a bit too good. Vicellous Reon Shannon, the young actor playing Lesra, for whom Carter is an inspiration is not a very good actor, and is completely dwarfed by Washington in their scenes together.

But the character of Lesra is key to what makes these movie really interesting. As I've written earlier there are too many biopics which dutifully show important moments of their subject's life, without ever conveying what makes their subject so interesting, inspirational or influential. Jewison spends only the first third of the movie detailing Carter's life. And he does these through Lesra's reading of the autobiography Carter wrote, while in jail. By crosscutting between the scenes from his autobiography and Lesra's reactions to these events, the movie very easily conveys the importance of Carter for a black boy. There is also a nice shot in which we see a white woman reading the book. While she likes it, the book doesn't have the same effect for her as for Lesra. It is also intersting that the scenes of Carter's life are not filmed as a dull chronologic representation of his life, but as a series of freewheeling memories, showing how Carter was influenced by the 60's and how many African-Americans were influenced by Carter. These scenes are enhanced by Roger Deakins' great cinematography and the fact that nearly every scene is accompanied by some great American folk/protest song from the 60's.

The rest of the movie never reaches the heights of this first third. It sometimes comes pretty close to being a standard, but above average, courthouse thriller. But it never becomes dull and Jewison doesn't flinch from showing us the sheer (sometimes latent) racism that led to Carter's imprisonment. Especially damning are the scenes involving the main witness, Alfred Bello. The reason Bello saw those murders was because he was on the lookout for a bunch of thieves wanting to rob the joint where the killings took place. After the murders he enters, sees the dead bodies and still takes the money from the counter. He is seen by a woman doing that and would be the main suspect, but he simply states that two 'niggers' killed everybody and is believed. He doesn't think that Carter was guilty though, but sergeant Della Pesca (who did not exist in real life) wants to frame Carter so much that he forces Alfred to witness against Rubin. Alfred has to do this as he is a criminal who will go to jail otherwise.

It is also quite interesting that the movie, even when it becomes a courthouse thriller, is as much about Lesra as it is about Rubin Carter. Lesra lives with a group of people having a dynamic quite unlike we've ever seen in a Hollywood biopic. He is a Brooklyn-born kid who now lives in Canada with two men and a woman. These are some sort of do-gooders who, it is hinted have helped children like Lesra before. But what they do and what their relationship really is never becomes clear. And the movie doesn't have any problem with that. It understands that all that matters is that these are decent people who try to do good and who really are a good influence on Lesra.

But because of this, there are also valid reasons to criticize this movie. It rather uncritically presents the fact that Lesra is better of living with some white people in Canada, than with his black parents in New Jersey. That is pretty problematic for a movie that's supposed to be about black empowerment. But still this is forgivable, because it  makes us understand better why a black role model like Rubin is so important to Lesra. More problematic are scenes which seem specifically inserted to comfort the wihite audience, that whites, despite their many crimes, are really good people. This is pretty obvious when out of nowhere a line like 'not all white people are racists' is uttered. Or during the completely unnecessary scenes in which Rubin 'learns' that there are really good white people. And that only when he does so, he really has a chance for freedom.