The Education of Sonny Carson

• Director: Michael I. Campus
• AMG Rating:
• Genre: Crime
• Movie Type: Biopic
• Themes: Starting Over, Inner City Blues
• Main Cast: Derrick Champ Ford, Dennis Keir
• Release Year: 1974
• Country: US
• Run Time: 104 minutes
• MPAA Rating: R

Plot

A surprisingly long and worthwhile film, The Education of Sonny Carson is based on a true story. Rony Clanton stars as Carson, a product of the Brooklyn ghetto. After several years of gang and drug activities, Sonny is sobered by his horrendous experiences in prison. He puts his priorities in order and finds a "born again" purpose in life under his new name, Iwina Lmiri Abubadika. The film ends in the 1970s, long before Abubadika's controversial involvement in New York politics. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Review

Michael Campus' The Education of Sonny Carson isn't as entertaining as the director's previous film, The Mack, but it has many of the same virtues. Just as Campus took to the streets of Oakland in 1972, with crimelord Frank Ward as his guide, to bring a compelling degree of authenticity to The Mack, the filmmaker used activist Sonny Carson's wealth of knowledge about street life and his access to the gangs of Brooklyn to ratchet up the level of verisimilitude in his grim biopic, The Education of Sonny Carson. The film is episodic, and has a raw, low-budget feel Campus tracks Carson (well-played by Rony Clanton) through his early criminal life. The film is virtually humorless, and the performances are uneven, with many Brooklyn gang members essentially playing fictionalized versions of themselves. Carson's rough experiences with petty crime, gang life, drugs, prison, and vicious cops may seem pro forma from a narrative standpoint, but the film treats them with such grit, and there's such a wealth of genuine anger and sadness underlying the film that it transcends these flaws. Clanton and Paul Benjamin, who plays Sonny's stern, hard-working father, do excellent work in delineating the characters' complex relationship. The film ends abruptly, just as Carson has the epiphany that leads him away from criminality and toward a life of organization and activism. It's almost as though the film's end point was dictated by budget limitations, as it closes just as Carson is beginning what should be one of the more interesting phases of his life. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Cast

Mary Alice - Moms; Jerry Bell - Lil' Boy; Paul Benjamin - Pops; Jess Bolero - Cousin Red; Rony Clanton - Sonny Carson; Todd Everett - Cop; Chris Forster - Donovan; Thomas Hicks - Young Sonny; Roger Hill - Lil' John; Ram John Holder - Preacher; Linda Hopkins - Lil' Boy's Mother; Ray Rainbow Johnson - Benny; George Lee Miles - Uncle Cal; B.T. Taylor - Crazy; Joyce Walker - Virginia; Don Gordon - Pigliani; Mervyn Nelson - Parole Board Chairman; David Kernan - Judge; Clifton Steere - Psychiatrist; Derrick Champ Ford - Wolfe; Dennis Keir - Western Union Boy; Roger Davis - Willie

Credit

Robert Drumheller - Art Director, Manny Gerard - Art Director, Gene Coffin - Costume Designer, Gregory Lecakin - Costume Designer, Michael I. Campus - Director, Edward Warschilka - Editor, Harry Howard - Editor, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson - Composer (Music Score), Edward R. Brown - Cinematographer, Irwin Yablans - Producer, David Golden - Producer, Robert Drumheller - Set Designer, G. Lee Bost - Sound/Sound Designer, Steve James - Stunts, Franklin Scott - Stunts Coordinator, Fred Hudson - Screenwriter, Sonny Carson - Book Author

Similar Movies

Malcolm X

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)