Chicago Seven - Documentary and Dramatic Presentations

Documentary and Dramatic Presentations

Mixing fact and fiction, Haskell Wexler's 1969 film, Medium Cool, centers around the relationship between a cameraman and young widow as they find themselves amid the turmoil and violence during the "long hot summer" of Chicago. Wexler mixed staged scenes with actual footage he shot from the demonstrations, his characters interacting with the protesters seamlessly. Indeed, at one point, the viewer can hear another filmmaker telling Wexler he is getting too close to the action.

French left-wing political filmmakers Jean-Luc Godard and Jean-Pierre Gorin, under the collective Dziga Vertov Group, made a film depicting the trials in 1970 called Vladimir et Rosa. In it, Judge Julius Hoffman becomes "Judge Himmler" and the accused become microcosms of French revolutionary society. Lenin and Karl Rosa also appear, played by Godard and Gorin, respectively.

In the 1971 Peter Watkins film Punishment Park, members of the counter-culture are put on trial for similar "crimes". Like Black Panther Party activist Bobby Seale, one of the African-American defendants is bound and gagged.

Woody Allen satirized the trial in his 1971 film Bananas. Allen's character, Fielding Melish, is on trial and defending himself. The judge orders Melish bound and gagged. In the next scene, a bound and gagged Allen coerces a confession, à la Perry Mason, from a prosecution witness in his cross-examination.

In 1987, HBO aired Conspiracy: The Trial of the Chicago 8, a docudrama which re-enacted the trial using the court transcript as the primary source for the script. All eight of the original defendants, along with defense attorneys William Kunstler and Leonard Weinglass, participated in the project and provided commentary throughout the film. It was awarded the 1988 CableACE Award for Best Dramatic Special.

In 1993, British playwright John Goodchild adapted the original trial transcripts for a radio play produced by L.A. Theatre Works, titled The Chicago Conspiracy Trial. Its cast included David Schwimmer (Abbie Hoffman), Tom Amandes (Richard Schultz), George Murdock (Judge Julius Hoffman), and Mike Nussbaum (William Kunstler). The play received a New York Festivals award in 1993.

The 2000 film, Steal This Movie, mostly tells the story of Abbie Hoffman (played by Vincent D'Onofrio) but also looks at the trial.

In the 2007 film Chicago 10, Oscar-nominated director Brett Morgen intercuts archival footage from the period, including the events of August 1968, with animated scenes from the trial drawn from the court transcript. The film premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and released in theaters in February 2008.

A feature film made at the time of the trial, based on the trial transcript and distributed by New Line Cinema, The Great Chicago Conspiracy Circus, by Cannes-winning director Kerry Feltham, was released in January 2008 on DVD. The film won the Berlin Film Festival jury prize, as well as positive reviews from the New York Times and Newsweek.

Archival footage of events at the Chicago demonstrations was featured in the 2010 documentary Phil Ochs: There but for Fortune. The film, which also featured interviews with many of Ochs' associates, including Rubin and Hoffman, was a dual portrait of the singer-songwriter's career and the protest movements of the 1960s.

The Chicago 8, written and directed by Pinchas Perry, was filmed in September and October 2009 and is scheduled to release on October 23, 2012. The film is based closely on the trial transcripts and most of the action takes place in the courtroom.

Writer Aaron Sorkin wrote a script entitled The Trial of the Chicago 7, based on the conspiracy trial. Producers Steven Spielberg, Walter F. Parkes, and Laurie MacDonald collaborated on the development of Sorkin's script, with Spielberg intending to direct the film. Sacha Baron Cohen was originally cast as Abbie Hoffman, while Spielberg approached Will Smith for the role of Bobby Seale, and planned to meet Heath Ledger about the possibility of playing Tom Hayden. The WGA strike, which lasted for 100 days, meant Spielberg was unable to begin filming in April 2008 and he suspended the project. Subsequently, Sorkin was to continue to rewrite the script for Spielberg, and the director intended to mostly cast unknowns to keep the budget down. Paul Greengrass and Ben Stiller have been rumored as replacement directors, but the project has apparently not moved forward.