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4 Little Girls

 
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4 Little Girls

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4 Little Girls
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  • Director: Spike Lee
  • AMG Rating: starstarstarstar
  • Genre: History
  • Movie Type: Biography, Race & Ethnicity
  • Themes: Social Injustice, Race Relations
  • Release Year: 1997
  • Country: US
  • Run Time: 102 minutes
  • MPAA Rating: NR

Plot

Director Spike Lee made his first feature-length documentary with this powerful story of the bombing of an African-American church in Birmingham, AL, in 1963, which took the lives of four girls, ages 11 through 14. The shocking incident received national press attention and became a rallying point in the ongoing struggle for civil rights, but while Lee's film examines the crime, the perpetrators, and the long struggle to bring them to justice, it also offers a close look at the four girls themselves as their friends and families recall, in moving detail, who they were and how they lived. A variety of civil rights activists, politicians, journalists, and lawyers are interviewed onscreen, including Walter Cronkite and a brief but disturbing meeting with former Alabama governor George Wallace. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Review

A great subject gets the filmmaker it deserves. Spike Lee had long wanted to make a film about the horrific September 1963 bombing of Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church, and perhaps it was best that he had to wait. Reportedly, many of the victims' relatives were not prepared to discuss on camera the events of that day until some time had passed. What is gained is not only their participation but also a sense of perspective. In a time when you can read almost daily of terrorist bombings in other areas of the world, as well as reflect on the events of September 11, 2001, 4 Little Girls returns to an era you thought was much more innocent and reveals that the evil that would attack innocent children in the name of racial (or ethnic or religious) superiority has been and still is in this country. Wisely, Lee lets the subject matter do the talking here and does not resort to stylistic tricks to embellish his presentation. The film's most jarring sequence is an interview with former Gov. George Wallace, who clearly is struggling to understand the legacy of hatred his political career nourished and encouraged. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide

Cast

Walter Cronkite; Chris McNair; Bill Cosby; Helen Pegues; Bill Baxley

Credit

Michele Forman - Associate Producer, Jacqueline Glover - Coordinator, Spike Lee - Director, Sam Pollard - Editor, Sheila Nevins - Executive Producer, Terence Blanchard - Composer (Music Score), Ellen Kuras - Cinematographer, Spike Lee - Producer, Sam Pollard - Producer, Rolf Pardula - Sound/Sound Designer, J.T. Takagi - Sound/Sound Designer

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Wikipedia: 4 Little Girls
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4 Little Girls

DVD cover
Directed by Spike Lee
Produced by Spike Lee
Samuel D. Pollard
Music by Terence Blanchard
Cinematography Ellen Kuras
Editing by Samuel D. Pollard
Distributed by HBO Documentary
Release date(s) July 9, 1997 (U.S.)
September 6, 1997 (Canada)
Running time 102 min.
Country United States
Language English
Gross revenue $130,146 (U.S. sub-total)

4 Little Girls is a 1997 American historical documentary film about the 1963 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, USA. It was directed by Spike Lee and nominated for an Academy Award for "Best Documentary".[1]

The incident is the subject of the 1964 song "Birmingham Sunday" by Richard and Mimi Fariña. The song was used in the opening sequence of the film, performed by Mimi's sister, Joan Baez.

4 Little Girls premiered Wednesday, June 25, 1997 at the Guild 50th Street Theatre in New York City. It was produced by 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, Lee’s production company, and Home Box Office (HBO).[2]

Lee first became interested in making a film about the Birmingham bombing as a student at New York University in 1983. He read a New York Times Magazine article about the incident and was so moved, he wrote to Chris McNair, the father of victim Denise, asking for permission to tell her story on film. McNair politely turned down the young, aspiring filmmaker’s offer.[3] “I was entering my first semester at N.Y.U. So my skills as a filmmaker were nonexistent, and at that time, Chris McNair was still hesitant to talk about it,” Lee said in a 1997 interview with Industry Central’s The Director’s Chair. “I believe timing is everything. So it took ten years of Chris thinking about this and ten years of myself making movies for this to come together.”

According to McNair, one reason he changed his mind about supporting Lee’s film idea ten years later was the depth and precision of Lee’s research, saying on the eve of the film’s release that “[i]t’s very important that this be done accurately and correctly. In all his research he showed that he was objective and seeking a broad section of opinion. I’m a stickler for the facts.”[4]

Lee also said his original plan was for the film to be a dramatic reproduction of the incident, but he later decided that format would not be the best way to tell this important story.[5]

Contents

Reception

Box office

Originally, the film was to air first on HBO, but after seeing the final product, the production team decided it was important to release the film in theatres before running it on television.[6] 4 Little Girls opened in American theaters on July 9, 1997 and closed on October 2, 1997. It grossed $130,146 from a total of 4 theaters. In its opening weekend it earned $13,528 from a single theater, which was 10.4% of its total gross.[7] It cost approximately $1 million to make, funded by Home Box Office (HBO).[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ "NY Times: 4 Little Girls". NY Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/156949/4-Little-Girls/details. Retrieved November 21, 2008. 
  2. ^ Thomas, Chandra R. “McNair will see Lee film on bomb.” Birmingham Post-Herald. June 23, 1997. USeekUFind.com. Oct. 18, 2008 <http://www.useekufind.com/peace/4littlegirls.htm>.
  3. ^ Susman, Gary. “Spike Lee – The Director’s Chair.” Industry Central. Nov. 16, 2008. Simon & Associates. Oct. 18, 2008 <http://www.industrycentral.net/director_interviews/SL01.HTM>.
  4. ^ Thomas, Chandra R. “McNair will see Lee film on bomb.” Birmingham Post-Herald. June 23, 1997. USeekUFind.com. Oct. 18, 2008 <http://www.useekufind.com/peace/4littlegirls.htm>.
  5. ^ Susman, Gary. “Spike Lee – The Director’s Chair.” Industry Central. Nov. 16, 2008. Simon & Associates. Oct. 18, 2008 <http://www.industrycentral.net/director_interviews/SL01.HTM>.
  6. ^ Thomas, Chandra R. “McNair will see Lee film on bomb.” Birmingham Post-Herald. June 23, 1997. USeekUFind.com. Oct. 18, 2008 <http://www.useekufind.com/peace/4littlegirls.htm>.
  7. ^ "4 Little Girls". BoxOfficeMojo.com. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=4littlegirls.htm. Retrieved May 17, 2007. 
  8. ^ Susman, Gary. “Spike Lee – The Director’s Chair.” Industry Central. Nov. 16, 2008. Simon & Associates. Oct. 18, 2008 <http://www.industrycentral.net/director_interviews/SL01.HTM>.

External links

v • d • e
Films directed by Spike Lee
1980s
1990s
Mo' Better Blues (1990) · Jungle Fever (1991) · Malcolm X (1992) · Crooklyn (1994) · Clockers (1995) · Girl 6 (1996) · Get on the Bus (1996) · He Got Game (1998) · Summer of Sam (1999)
2000s
Bamboozled (2000) · 25th Hour (2002) · She Hate Me (2004) · Inside Man (2006) · Miracle at St. Anna (2008)
Documentaries
4 Little Girls (1997) · Freak (1998) · Pavarotti and Friends for the Children of Liberia (1998) · Pavarotti and Friends for Guatemala and Kosovo (1999) · The Original Kings of Comedy (2000) · A Huey P. Newton Story (2001) · The Concert for New York City (2001) · Jim Brown: All-American (2002) · When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (2006) · Kobe Doin' Work (2009)
Short films
Television

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