1971

An amazing story that many of us from that era have little exposure to...There was so much going on, this one slipped under the rug...

What these young people did in 71 was expose, for the first time, the seedy underbelly of the security apparatchik-publicly...

If you enjoy true exposes, especially when it comes to government malfeasance, this is a great and interesting glance at the tip of the iceberg...Hopefully, it leads to a greater understanding of what we are truly up against as a society...The paranoia of the system is astounding to behold...

We need to continue our vigilance and this movie should give you the courage to do something...Anything...We owe it to our progeny.

Having marched for peace in the late 60's and early 70's I was thrilled by this film!

Smart, committed people penetrated the impenetrable fortress!

I hope they inspire others to uphold true American ideals and non violently oppose abuses of power.

These people are heroic American patriots and their story is a vital part of our history.

This film moved me in a deep way. I'll never forget it.

I'm grateful to the film makers and especially to the brave people who skillfully undertook this action and generously came forward to tell their tale all these years later!

Around the documentary's (24:22) mark John Rains explains that March 8, 1971 would be a great night for the break in because everyone would be distracted by watching the Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier "Fight of the Century." The documentary at (24:29) emphasizes this idea by showing a chart of worldwide TV rights to emphasize the magnitude of the event.

The documentary continues with the dramatization of Keith Forsyth breaking into the FBI offices. He states he could hear the broadcast of the fight and was "hoping for something like a swell" (31:34) to cover the noise he was making while trying to pry the FBI office door open. The dramatization even shows the live in building manager watching the fight (31:37) with audio of the fight broadcast as background noise in order to add to the drama of the moment. It's all very well done and very well edited.

Except, it never could have happened that way. At the (24:24) mark the documentary actually shows a poster promoting the fight which clearly states, "NO HOME TV - RADIO OR DELAYED TELECAST." The "Fight of the Century" was a Pay-per-view (PPV) event. The only way to watch the fight in the United States in real time was to go to a local theater and see it broadcast via closed circuit television. There was no option to watch or listen to the broadcast of the fight at home. The very first time highlights of the fight were shown was almost three years later on ABC's Wide World of Sports on January 26, 1974 to promote the rematch.

This is a great documentary about a great act of civil resistance which resulted in real change. However, as a documentary it does not get a free pass for dramatic effect. The takeaway is that documentarians need to be careful about being overly dependent on oral histories, eye-witness accounts or memories to tell their stories without corroboration.

Since I was a young adult in the 70's, coming upon this title was thrilling. In light of all that is going on in the world now, it's a compelling realization that we, as the people, are powerful if we stand together and stand up. This film shows regular citizens taking the risk and doing something about the injustices that they witnessed. And wow, what an impact that had! For an entertaining, nail biting experience, I highly recommend 1971. For me, it makes me proud to be in the same generation as these folks and for everyone, it is empowering.

It's interesting how mass media works on a very-short-term memory. Things that happened today are always said to never have happened before. And then once in a while, they just unearth old information in the form of documentaries. This is a documentary about the 1971 breaking in the FBI office in Media, a suburb of philadelphia to expose infiltration practices of the amerikan political police, which will lead to the exposition of cointelpro. This documentary isn't all about old news though, as the time has passed long enough for the activist to become public about it without any fear of repression. Over forty years later, they get to tell their own stories and the security culture involved in remaining free and unsuspected in the four decades since. It was being streamed on PBS for free during the time of anniversary of the burglary.