about the movie entitled the hurricane

"The Story of the Hurricane"
"Here comes the story of the Hurricane, The man 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." Those
are lyrics from a song by Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan made this song to give justice to the man known
as Rubin "The Hurricane" Carter. This song explains the trials and tribulations of Rubin's life. In
this paper I this paper I hope to explain the story of Rubin Carter and his ups and downs in life.
Rubin Carter was born in Clifton, New Jersey (apbspeakers.com p1). When Rubin was a young
man he was teased. He was teased due to a speech impediment that he had. The only way Rubin
knew how to deal with this was to fight. Carter had to get out of that kind of atmosphere, so he
enlisted in the United States army. It was there where he learned how to box. Carter became The
European Welterweight Champion two years in a row. This was the first thing he really excelled
in. Rubin began his professional boxing career in 1961 (apbspeaker p1). Carter was know for
knocking out his opponents in the first round with his vicious left hook. Carter soon became
known as "the Hurricane."
All of his glory came to a screeching hault in 1966. Rubin Carter and a teenager named John
Artis were arrested for the murders of three people in a New Jersey bar. They were convicted and
sentenced to three life terms in prison.
The electric chair was sought to be the way for Rubin and Artis to go. They both kept their
innocence and weren't sent to the electric chair. While Carter was in jail he published a book
about himself. This book was called the sixteenth round. "Carter went from the number one
contender to number 45472 (apbspeakers.com p2)." While Carter and Artis were in jail they were
known all over the world for civil rights. Rubin Carter received most of the fame with the song
"Hurricane" by Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan believed that the men were innocent. Rubin even had
support from the most famous boxer in the world, Muhammad Ali! After evidence showed that
perjury and vital evidence has been withheld from the defense, all of the convictions were thrown
out by the New Jersey supreme court. When Carter and Artis thought they were free they were
wrong. The men were retried and convicted for the murders. Rubin didn't give up hope. But Artis
did give up hope. He just couldn't take it and died while in prison. Rubin finally was able to tell
his side of the story to the Federal Court. He did this with the assistance of Myron Beldock and
Professor Leon Friedman in 1985. "The United States District Court ruled that Carter's conviction
had been based on racism rather than reason and concealment rather than disclosure and that his

imprisonment had been a travesty (apbspeakers.com p2)." This man was held in jail for more than
nineteen years for a crime he did not commit. Also a innocent adolescent died while incarcerated
for a crime he never committed. Finally in 1988 this indictment against Carter was dismissed and
all over. Many attempts were made after this to put Carter back in jail, but none were successful.
The story of this man and his 19 year long fight was made into a movie. Norman Jewison was the
director of this movie called "The Hurricane". Denzel Washington played the part of Rubin
Carter. This movie is a great representation of what happened, but there's a few differences.
Carter's white supporters do some good deeds, from the adoption of a black teen to relocate to the
U.S. in order to free Rubin. The director wanted to show that there are good and bad in this
world. The trio that helps Rubin is considered "good people" and the racist cop is "the bad guy".
These character's are fiction, but make this movie more dramatic.
Denzel Washington performance was unbelievable. He had me believing that he was actually a
man that was framed for murder. The way Denzel showed his feelings while in jail and when
being freed from jail. The cop was fictitious, but showed the ignorance that put Rubin in jail. The
cop just tried to make Rubin's life miserable. That cop did in fact make his life miserable for more
than 19 years. In prison, Carter makes up his mind that his mission must now be to live in prison
forever with dignity and internal justification. He never leaves his cell because he's training
himself. In the end this movie makes a very convincing case to oppose capital punishment.
Today Carter is a speaker all over discussing issues such as wrongful convictions and the death
penalty. He lives in Toronto, Ontario. He was also was honored by the World Boxing Council
with the WBC Championship Belt. To end this paper I'm going to leave you with a quote from
Rubin Carter. Now with this movie completed, Carter said he has a sense of release. He also said,
"I don't care what it does at the box office, to me, the blockbuster already happened!"(jsonline
p1-2)