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MLK/FBI

  • 2020
  • TV-PG
  • 1h 44m
IMDb RATING
7.0/10
1.9K
YOUR RATING
MLK/FBI (2020)
Official Trailer
Play trailer2:29
2 Videos
5 Photos
History DocumentaryBiographyDocumentaryHistory

Based on newly declassified files, Sam Pollard's resonant film explores the US government's surveillance and harassment of Martin Luther King, Jr.Based on newly declassified files, Sam Pollard's resonant film explores the US government's surveillance and harassment of Martin Luther King, Jr.Based on newly declassified files, Sam Pollard's resonant film explores the US government's surveillance and harassment of Martin Luther King, Jr.

  • Director
    • Sam Pollard
  • Writers
    • David Garrow
    • Benjamin Hedin
    • Laura Tomaselli
  • Stars
    • Shaun Bowman
    • Martin Luther King
    • J. Edgar Hoover
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.0/10
    1.9K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Sam Pollard
    • Writers
      • David Garrow
      • Benjamin Hedin
      • Laura Tomaselli
    • Stars
      • Shaun Bowman
      • Martin Luther King
      • J. Edgar Hoover
    • 23User reviews
    • 62Critic reviews
    • 81Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 6 wins & 17 nominations total

    Videos2

    MLK/FBI
    Trailer 2:29
    MLK/FBI
    Official Trailer
    Trailer 2:29
    Official Trailer
    Official Trailer
    Trailer 2:29
    Official Trailer

    Photos4

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    Top cast30

    Edit
    Shaun Bowman
    • Movie goer
    Martin Luther King
    Martin Luther King
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    J. Edgar Hoover
    J. Edgar Hoover
    • Self - FBI Director
    • (archive footage)
    David Garrow
    David Garrow
    • Self - Author, Bearing the Cross
    • (as David J. Garrow)
    Clarence B. Jones
    Clarence B. Jones
    • Self - Attorney, Speechwriter for Martin Luther King, Jr
    • (as Clarence Jones)
    Charles Knox
    Charles Knox
    • Self - Federal Bureau of Investigation, Retired…
    Donna Murch
    Donna Murch
    • Self - Rutgers University, Author, Living in the City: Migration, Education and the Rise of the Black Panthers
    Marc Perrusquia
    Marc Perrusquia
    • Self - Journalist
    • (voice)
    Andrew Young
    Andrew Young
    • Self - Southern Christian Leadership Conference, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Mayor of Atlanta
    James Comey
    James Comey
    • Self - Director of the FBI, 2013 - 2017
    • (voice)
    Beverly Gage
    Beverly Gage
    • Self - Yale University, Author, G-Men: J. Edgar Hoover and the American Century
    H. Rap Brown
    H. Rap Brown
    • Self - Civil Rights Activist
    • (archive footage)
    Arthur Goldberg
    Arthur Goldberg
    • Self - Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.
    • (archive footage)
    Merv Griffin
    Merv Griffin
    • Self - TV Host
    • (archive footage)
    Lyndon B. Johnson
    Lyndon B. Johnson
    • Self - 36th President of the United States
    • (archive footage)
    Kenneth Keating
    Kenneth Keating
    • Self - U.S. Senator from New York
    • (archive footage)
    John F. Kennedy
    John F. Kennedy
    • Self - 35th President of the United States
    • (archive footage)
    Robert F. Kennedy
    Robert F. Kennedy
    • Self - Former United States Attorney General
    • (archive footage)
    • Director
      • Sam Pollard
    • Writers
      • David Garrow
      • Benjamin Hedin
      • Laura Tomaselli
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews23

    7.01.8K
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    Featured reviews

    8JayWolfgramm

    Red Scare Meets Black Lives

    This documentary tackles a very interesting part of history. It is a story I don't often see taught in school. It features a lot of big figures is U. S. History. It is the 1960's, we have J. Edgar Hoover, Lydon Johnson and of course, Martin Luther King Jr. Take those characters and put them in the U. S. 1960's setting, with the Civil Rights, Cold and Red Scare. Put all these ingredients together and you have your self a fascinating recipie.

    Looking at the situation from the lense of today, it is easy to see that Hoover is acting selfishly and irrationally, but this documentary does a good job of rationalizing his actions, without justifying them.

    It is also quaint to remember a time when the FBI needed wiretaps in order to listen in to American's phone calls.

    Not much to say, the film does its job well. It informs its audience of an interesting story in an interesting matter.
    8MiguelAReina

    The policy of suspicion

    The FBI begins spying on MLK on suspicion of communist activities and ends up spying on his sex life. It is the disease of the moral watchers. The documentary accurately narrates these espionage activities that move against the defense of human rights. Through well selected archival material, it is a necessary film to show the moral baseness of those who considered themselves protectors of moral integrity. It is the danger of a policy based on constant suspicion.
    7Cineanalyst

    OK Summarization of King's Promotion and FBI's Undermining of Civil Rights

    "MLK/FBI" is a decent overview of the FBI's surveillance and efforts to ruin Martin Luther King and, by extension, also does a fair job of summarizing some of the civil rights leader's achievements. Although some of the archival footage employed for the documentary's expository mode looks newfound and, reportedly, is based on some recently declassified documents, there isn't much if anything new discussed here.

    I'm not an expert on King, but I've read about him over the years, seen other documentaries, visited the hotel-turned-museum where he was assassinated, and it's a challenge to point to one new thing in this doc that I learned. Generally, it's what anyone with even a passing recreational interest in 1950s-1960s American history would already know. Maybe there aren't any other documentaries that focus primarily on this angle, though, so I'll rate it positively for that. One may check out "King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis" (1970), for instance, if they want a grander overview of King's activities, and there've been many others, along with documentaries about Hoover and the FBI. We even have biopics such as "J. Edgar" (2011) and "Selma" (2014). In the end, the desire is palpable to release the FBI tapes already that are scheduled to be unsealed in 2027 (which talk about arbitrary), as at least then there'd be new material for the historians and documentarians to work with.

    Otherwise, as it is, too much time is wasted here musing over King's sex life. Yes, he had extramarital relations; move on. I read about that and mentioned it in a biographical speech I delivered back in secondary school; it's not a revelation. The most scandalous "new" item, I suppose, is the FBI's rape accusation, but there's nothing really to say about such a claim from the racist organization that was out to ruin the man if there's no evidence available to substantiate it. The filmmakers could've used the same tact here that they offered J. Edgar Hoover, for whom they only hint photographically of his rumored homosexuality and never mention the more dubious claims of transvestism.

    The commentary on the FBI's actions against the civil rights movement is better, including contextualizing it as part of mainstream American white supremacism of the era. Perhaps, not enough credence is given to the fact that the FBI, however, was part of a federal government where administrations were offering support for civil rights out of one side of their mouth and eventually legislatively at the same time as they were approving Hoover's surveillance and intimidation campaign. Conspiracy theories regarding the FBI's involvement (or at least willful negligence) in King's murder are largely glossed over, too.

    As an introduction or overview, "MLK/FBI" does well enough, as I said, though. Plus, I like the archival footage approach with the voiceover exposition as opposed to talking-head interviews. Fortunately, I recognized some of the film clips shown, for which the identification here was inconsistent. "The FBI Story" (1959), for example, gets a caption, but not, as far as I noticed at least, "The Birth of a Nation" (1915) or "The March" (1963). Even if I saw the narrators' faces, however, I wouldn't really know who most of them are, although hearing James Comey remark on what he considers the most shameful aspect of the agency's history (the letter basically attempting to blackmail King into suicide) is interesting, to say the least. But, that's a whole other doc on bureau shenanigans.
    8jadepietro

    A Compelling Documentary about MLK and the Shady Dealings of the FBI

    IN BRIEF: A well made documentary about this great leader but flawed man and the FBI 's vicious attempt to discredit him.

    JIM'S REVIEW: (RECOMMENDED) Sam Pollard's gripping documentary, MLK/FBI, chronicles the Civil Rights movement and the FBI's shameful discrediting of one of its leaders, the Rev. Martin Luther King, which was orchestrated by its bureau chief, J. Edgar Hoover. Having the FBI conduct surveillance of MLK with the sole purpose to humiliate and destroy his image with the public, the film uses declassified documents, archival footage, and Hollywood propaganda film to state its case. (The entire FBI tapes are slated to be available to the public in 2027, so only some documentation, photographs, and interviews are the film's basis.)

    The documentary is fascinating in its thorough researching of those turbulent times during the 50's and 60's from the start of the Civil Rights protests until MLK assassination, with comments from historians about his legacy. The filmmakers try to encapsulate the unrest in our nation during those polarizing times and it confirms the governmental tactics used to wiretap its citizenry and lump MLK with the evils of communism while labeling MLK with other more military-minded Black protest groups as subversives. Call them "domestic terrorists" before that term was commonplace, but the film resonants with today's racist climate.

    The documentary is not totally successful in its narrative structure and one wishes their scope was narrowed down and more concise in its storytelling and also focused more on Hoover's backstory and obsessive mission to destroy another man. Granted there is too much to comprehend as the film covers nearly two decades and most history buff would savor this retelling. But this is an important film for all to experience and its lingering message is truly thought-provoking. Most telling is the turnaround by a supportive President Lyndon Johnson and the FBI Bureau after MLK is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Indeed, politics does have strange bedfellow.

    The director's sense of irony is also at play as he begins his documentary with this quote from a film clip of former President Ronald Reagan:

    "In most stories, villains are usually defeated and the ending is a happy one. I can make no such promise with this picture you are about to watch. The story isn't over..."

    MLK/ FBI is a noble effort by Mr. Pollard and his crew. Their film is very well constructed and edited with skill by Laura Tomaselli, making this history lesson a cautionary tale for all Americans to heed. And yes, the story isn't over! (GRADE: B)
    JohnDeSando

    Astonishing FBI attack on the civil rights movement and MLK.

    "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." MLK

    It's shocking to hear in the eye-opening documentary MLK/FBI William Sullivan, the FBI's director of domestic intelligence, encourage Martin Luther King, Jr. to commit suicide. The theme of the doc is that the agency, under J Edgar Hoover's direction, from 1955.was dedicated to bringing down King and the Civil Rights Movement.

    Although the animosity was known even in the 60's, the doc does a credible job showing this aggressiveness was a part of the mid-century paranoia dominated by the fear of communism and perhaps mirrored it. In this case, the agency, like Joe McCarthy, had little evidence of the subjects' undemocratic tactics but probably was motivated more by the fear of losing influence to liberal protestors or lonely anarchists.

    Mixing archival footage of King parading and snippets from his famous speeches, director Sam Pollard gives a fluid narrative to otherwise discursive material. To his credit, talking heads are at a minimum as he emphasizes the growing concern that King was being targeted to go down.

    That plot was notoriously supported by ample evidence of King's philandering, mainly in hours of tapes with his women, not his wife, from wiretapping to photos. The actual auditory evidence will be released in 2027, and the ballyhoo will probably be disappointing because he did his good while he was doing his bad, and the good he did for civil rights and Black people far outweighs infidelities to his estimable wife and puritanical white folk.

    MLK/FBI could have profited from discussion of his influence and flaws and how the latter might have been better served by expert analysis about their importance. That he was an appetitive man, at least in regards to women, was known before this documentary; that he was a powerful player in the freedom of his own people and other repressed minorities, will redound through history.

    MLK/FBI will remind you in important evidence that like JFK, MLK was destined to change a nation and lose a young life in return. I never tire of remembering true heroes.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Officially released on what would have been the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 92nd birthday.
    • Quotes

      Self - Author, Bearing the Cross: The FBI was not a renegade agency. It was fundamentally a part, a core part of the existing mainstream American political order.

    • Connections
      Features I Was a Communist for the F.B.I. (1951)

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    FAQ

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • January 15, 2021 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official sites
      • Facebook
      • Instagram
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Martin Luther King y el FBI
    • Production companies
      • Field of Vision (II)
      • Play/Action Pictures
      • Tradecraft Films
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $45,200
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $21,603
      • Jan 17, 2021
    • Gross worldwide
      • $91,833
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 44 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
      • Color

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