Malcolm X is a 1992 biographical film directed by Spike Lee about the African-American activist and black nationalist Malcolm X. The story is based on The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley. Denzel Washington was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Malcolm X.
Plot
Malcolm X divides the life of the African-American activist Malcolm X into three sections. The first section deals with the troubled childhood of Malcolm Little, whose father, a preacher, was murdered by the Black Legion and whose mother was institutionalized for insanity. Malcolm grows up and gets a job as a Pullman porter, calling himself Detroit Red. Getting involved with a Harlem gangster named West Indian Archie with whom he has a falling out, Malcolm flees to Boston and decides to become a burglar. He and his best friend, Shorty (played by Spike Lee) are arrested by the police and are both sentenced to a ten-year prison term.
The second section follows Malcolm's life in prison, where a fellow inmate, Baines (a composite character), introduces him to the teachings of the Nation of Islam.
The third section follows Malcolm's religious conversion as a disciple of Elijah Muhammad. During this fervent immersion into the Nation of Islam, he becomes an incendiary speaker for the movement and marries Betty X. Malcolm X preaches a doctrine of separation from white society. However, a pilgrimage to Mecca greatly softens his beliefs, teaching him that Muslims come from all races, even whites, and he endeavors to break free of the strict dogma of the Nation of Islam, with tragic results. Malcolm and his family receive death threats and their house is firebombed. Malcolm drives to the Audubon Ballroom for his upcoming rally. He is assassinated in front of his wife and young daughters as he is about to deliver a speech, on February 21, 1965. After the assassination scene, the film cuts to black and white news footage of Malcolm X being carried out of the Audubon Ballroom on a stretcher, at the hospital, a man states that Malcolm X is dead.
The film closes with actual footage of Malcolm X himself while Ossie Davis rereads the eulogy he delivered at Malcolm's funeral. The final footage in the film is from the present day, with numerous children of African descent, both in the United States and Africa, declaring "I am Malcolm X." The final scene takes place in a classroom in Soweto township in South Africa, with anti-apartheid activist and future South African President Nelson Mandela quoting one of Malcolm X's speeches.[2]
Cast
Production
| "It's such a great story, a great American story, and it reflects our society in so many ways. Here's a guy who essentially led so many lives. He pulled himself out of the gutter. He went from country boy to hipster and semi-hoodlum. From there he went to prison, where he became a Muslim. Then he was a spiritual leader who evolved into a humanitarian." |
| — Producer Marvin Worth on his 25 year effort to make a film about the life of Malcolm X[3] |
Producer Marvin Worth acquired the rights to the autobiography in 1967 and then struggled for 25 years before it was finally made and released. Worth had met Malcolm X, then called Detroit Red, when the future icon was a teenager hustling drugs on 52d Street in New York. Worth was 15 at the time, and spending time around jazz clubs in the area. As Worth remembers: "He was selling grass. He was 16 or 17 but looked older. He was very witty, a funny guy, and he had this extraordinary charisma. A great dancer and a great dresser. He was very good-looking, very, very tall. Girls always noticed him. He was quite a special guy."[3]
Early on, the production had difficulties telling the entire story, in part due to unresolved questions about Malcolm X's killing. In 1971, Worth made a well-received documentary, Malcolm X, which received an Academy Award Nomination for Best Documentary Feature. The project continued to suffer and over the years became known as one of Hollywood's most famous unproduced movies. Several major names were involved at different periods of time, including Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, and director Sidney Lumet.[3]
Screenplay
In 1968, Worth commissioned a screenplay from novelist James Baldwin, who was later joined by Arnold Perl, a screenwriter who had been blacklisted in the McCarthy Era.[2] The screenplay took longer to develop than anticipated, and Perl died in 1971.[3] Baldwin developed his work on the screenplay into the book One Day, When I Was Lost: A Scenario Based on The Autobiography of Malcolm X, published in 1972; he died in 1987. Several authors attempted drafts, including white playwright David Mamet, black novelist David Bradley, black author Charles Fuller and noted screenwriter Calder Willingham.[3][4] Once Spike Lee took over as director, he revised the Baldwin-Perl script. Due to the revisions, the Baldwin family asked the producer to take his name off the credits. Thus Malcolm X credits Perl and Lee as the writers and Malcolm X and Alex Haley as the authors of The Autobiography of Malcolm X.[3]
Production difficulties
The production was controversial for years before it was released, most of it involving race and the legacy of Malcolm X.
Many issues stemmed from a rise in the importance of Malcolm X as a symbol of the black struggle: after what were viewed as setbacks for the African-American community during the Presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, there was a rise in interest in his message, particularly among the African-American community and ranging from the rap community to academia. In the three years before the movie's release, sales of The Autobiography of Malcolm X had increased 300 percent, and four of his books saw a ninefold increase in sales between 1986 and 1991.[4]
The race of the director
Once Warner Bros. agreed to greenlight the project, they wanted Academy Award-winning Canadian film director Norman Jewison to direct the film. Jewison, director of the classic civil rights film In the Heat of the Night, was able to bring in Denzel Washington into the project to play Malcolm (the two would later work on The Hurricane). Soon a protest erupted over the fact that a white director, Jewison, was slated to make the film.[4] Spike Lee was one of the main voices; since college, he had considered a film adaption of The Autobiography Of Malcolm X to be his dream project. Lee and others felt that Malcolm's story had to be told by a black director.[5]
After the public outcry against Jewison, Worth came to the conclusion that "it needed a black director at this point. It was insurmountable the other way ... There's a grave responsibility here." Jewison left the project, though he noted he gave up the movie not because of the protest, but because he could not solve the riddle of Malcolm X's private life and that he was never satisfied with the script by Fuller; Lee confirmed Jewison's position, stating "If Norman actually thought he could do it, he would have really fought me. But he bowed out gracefully." Lee was soon named the director, and he made a substantial rewrite to the script, stating: "I'm directing this movie and I rewrote the script, and I'm an artist and there's just no two ways around it: this film about Malcolm X is going to be my vision of Malcolm X. But it's not like I'm sitting atop a mountain saying, 'Screw everyone, this is the Malcolm I see.' I've done the research, I've talked to the people who were there."[4]
Concerns over Lee's portrayal of Malcolm X
From right after Lee was announced as the director and before its release, the film received criticism by black nationalists and members of the United Front to Preserve the Legacy of Malcolm X, led by poet and playwright Amiri Baraka, who were worried about how Lee would portray Malcolm X. One protest in Harlem drew over 200 people.[4][6] Some based their opinion on dislike of Lee's previous films; others were concerned that he would focus on the more flamboyant, crime-plagued phase of Malcolm X's life instead of on his life as a Muslim leader.[4][6][7] Baraka accused Lee of being a Buppie, stating "We will not let Malcolm X's life be trashed to make middle-class Negroes sleep easier", compelling others to write the director and warn him "not to mess up Malcolm's life."[4] Some, including Lee himself, noted the irony of the arguments against Lee after his own arguments against Jewison.[6] Looking back on the experience of making the film and the pressure he faced to "get it right," Lee jokingly said on the DVD commentary that when the film was released, he and Washington had their passports handy in case they needed to flee the country.[8]
Concerns over Washington's role as Malcolm X
Washington signed onto the movie while Jewison was at the helm; still, Lee stated he never envisioned any actor other than Washington in the role. Lee, who had worked with him on Mo' Better Blues, cited Washington's performance as Malcolm X in an Off Broadway play as superb. However, some purists noted that Washington, who is about 6 feet tall and "the color of mocha", bore little resemblance to the "reddish-brown (skinned), 6-foot-4-inch" Malcolm X. Some worried that Washington's looks and sex appeal, which had landed him on the cover of People magazine as "one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world", were not right for the part of such an influential figure.[9]
Budget issues
Lee encountered difficulty in securing the budget he felt was needed. Facing off against the studio and the bond company, Lee felt that a budget allowance of over $30 million was reasonable; the studio disagreed and offered a lower amount. Following advice from fellow director Francis Ford Coppola, Lee got "the movie company pregnant": taking the movie far enough along into actual production to try and force the studio to move forward with an expanding budget that met his requirements.[5] The film, initially budgeted at $28 million, climbed to nearly $33 million. Lee used $2 million of his own $3 million salary on the project. Completion Bond Company, which assumed financial control in January 1992, refused to approve any more expenditures; in addition, the studio and bond company instructed Lee that the film could be no longer than 2 hours and 15 minutes.[7] The resulting conflict caused the project to be shut down in post-production.[5]
The film was saved by the financial intervention of prominent African Americans, some of whom appear in the film's final photo montage during the closing credits, including Bill Cosby, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Janet Jackson, Prince, and Peggy Cooper Cafritz, founder of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. Their contributions were made as donations; as Lee noted: "This is not a loan. They are not investing in the film. These are black folks with some money who came to the rescue of the movie. As a result, this film will be my version. Not the bond company's version, not Warner Brothers'. I will do the film the way it ought to be, and it will be over three hours."[7] The actions of such prominent members of the African American community spurred the bond company and Warner Bros. to continue with the project.[4][5]
Request for black interviewers
| "I'm doing what every other person in Hollywood does: they dictate who they want to do interviews with. Tom Cruise, Robert Redford, whoever. People throw their weight around. Well, I get many requests now for interviews, and I would like African-Americans to interview me. [. . .] Spike Lee has never said he only wants black journalists to interview him. What I'm doing is using whatever clout I have to get qualified African-Americans assignments. The real crime is white publications don't have black writers, that's the crime." |
| — Spike Lee explaining his request for black interviewers[10] |
A month before the film was released, Lee noted that he preferred that media outlets send black journalists to interview him. The request proved controversial in the media; while it was common practice for celebrities to pick interviewers who were known to be sympathetic, it was the first time race had been used as a qualification. Lee clarified that he was not barring white interviewers from interviewing him, but that he felt, given the subject matter of the film, that black writers have "more insight about Malcolm than white writers."[10]
The request was turned down by the Los Angeles Times, but several others agreed including Premiere magazine, Vogue, Interview and Rolling Stone. The Los Angeles Times explained they did not give writer approval. The editor of Premiere noted that the request created internal discussions that resulted in changes at the magazine: "Had we had a history of putting a lot of black writers on stories about the movie industry we'd be in a stronger position. But we didn't. It was an interesting challenge he laid down. It caused some personnel changes. We've hired a black writer and a black editor."[10]
Filming
Betty Shabazz served as a consultant to the film.[6] The Fruit of Islam, the defense corps of the Nation of Islam, provided security for the movie.[9]
Washington had portrayed Malcolm X eleven years earlier in the Off Broadway play, "When the Chickens Come Home to Roost", which dealt with the relationship between Malcolm and his mentor, Elijah Muhammad. Washington noted that he did not know much about the character, or read his autobiography, when he took the role. To prepare for the stage role, he read books and articles by and about Malcolm X and went over hours of tape and film footage of speeches. The play opened in 1981 and earned Washington a warm review by Frank Rich, who was at the time the chief theater critic of The New York Times. Upon being cast in the film, he interviewed people who knew Malcolm X, among them Betty Shabazz and two of his brothers. Although they had different upbringings, Washington tried to focus on what he had in common with his character: Washington was close to Malcolm X's age when Malcolm X was assassinated; both men had large families; both of their fathers were ministers; both were raised primarily by their mothers.[9]
Malcolm X is the first non-documentary, and the first American-produced film, to be given permission to film in Mecca (or within the Haram Sharif). A second film crew was hired to film in Mecca because non-Muslims are not allowed inside the city.
The film's opening scene depicts Boston in the 1940s. This scene was actually shot in Ridgewood, Queens, New York City. The elevated cars are the NYC D-Type Triplex and are owned by the New York Transit Museum.
In addition to Nelson Mandela, the film featured cameos by Christopher Plummer and Peter Boyle, civil rights activists Al Sharpton, William Kunstler as well as Black Panther Party co-founder Bobby Seale.[11] Ossie Davis read part of the eulogy he gave at Malcolm X's funeral in a voice over at the end of the film, praising him as "our own black shining prince."[12]
The film was made in the years immediately after Mandela's 1990 release from prison and during the negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa. Lee explained that he made "the connection between Soweto and Harlem, Nelson and Malcolm, and what Malcolm talked about -- pan-Africanism, trying to build these bridges between people of color. He is alive in children in classrooms in Harlem, in classrooms in Soweto."[2]
Reception
Malcolm X was released in North America on November 18, 1992. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, the sequel to the highly successful family comedy, also opened on the same weekend.
The film was critically well-received, garnering 93% on movie review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.[13] Washington's portrayal of Malcolm X was widely praised and he was nominated for Academy Award for Best Actor. Washington lost to Al Pacino, a decision which Lee criticized, saying "I'm not the only one who thinks Denzel was robbed on that one."[14] The movie received a number of awards at other festivals.[15]
The film did better than its producers expected, grossing $9,871,125 on its opening weekend and finishing third after Home Alone 2 ($30m) and Bram Stoker's Dracula ($15m).[3] According to Box Office Mojo, the film ended its run with a gross of $48,169,610.
References
- ^ "Malcolm X (1992)". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=malcolmx.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-18.
- ^ a b c Sheila Rule, FILM; Malcolm X: The Facts, the Fictions, the Film, The New York Times, November 15, 1992, Accessed May 23, 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f g Bernard Weinraub, A Movie Producer Remembers The Human Side of Malcolm X, The New York Times, November 23, 1992, Accessed June 18, 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f g h David Ansen and Spike Lee, The Battle For Malcolm X, Newsweek, Accessed May 15, 2008.
- ^ a b c d Scott Tobias, Malcolm X, The Onion A/V Club, February 15, 2005, Accessed May 15, 2008.
- ^ a b c d Evelyn Nieves, Malcolm X: Firestorm Over a Film Script, The New York Times, August 9, 1991, Accessed May 15, 2008.
- ^ a b c Lena Williams, Spike Lee Says Money From Blacks Saved 'X', The New York Times, May 20, 1992, Accessed May 15, 2008.
- ^ Nat Tunbridge (April 11, 2005). "Malcolm X: Special Edition". DVD Times. http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=56742. Retrieved October 3, 2009.
- ^ a b c Lena Williams, Playing With Fire, The New York Times, October 25, 1992, Accessed May 15, 2008.
- ^ a b c Bernard Weinraub, Spike Lee's Request: Black Interviewers Only, The New York Times, October 29, 1992, Accessed May 23, 2008.
- ^ Vincent Canby, Review/Film; 'Malcolm X,' as Complex as Its Subject, The New York Times, November 18, 1992, Accessed May 23, 2008.
- ^ Ossie Davis found dead in Miami hotel room, Associated Press, February 9, 2005, Accessed May 23, 2008.
- ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1042135-malcolm_x/
- ^ http://www.dvdtalk.com/interviews/spike_lee_on_ma.html
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104797/awards
External links
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