A complete fabrication of the truth

Rating: 1/10 (11 March 2006)

The Hurricane as emotionally gripping as the "film" is, is an outright a lie and a complete fabrication of the real events and occurrences that took place on that fateful night in Patterson, New Jersey. First off, I believe it is the job of a responsible filmmaker and a storyteller to educate the public, not mislead them and purposely cover up the true facts and evidence as Norman Jewison has in his film. I too was caught up in the Rubin Carter hysteria upon seeing this film, in fact I loved this film, but I dug a little deeper and what I found was both shocking and disgraceful.
Dramatic license is one thing but to falsify and ignore so many details pertaining to this case is unforgivable and deceptive. Here are some true facts of the Rubin Carter case, which somehow didn't make the final cut of the film. (I wonder why) for those who are interested here are just some of the many facts.

Racist pig cop never existed. - Both Bello and Patty Valentine identified Carters car less than an hour after the crime. - The Police did not stop Carter and Artis because they were black, as the film would have you believe. They were rounded up because their car matched the description of the killer's getaway car. At first, just 14 blocks from the murder scene the cops let them go. When the same two cops got a description of the getaway car, they immediately recognized it as Carters car and were in pursuit. - When police searched Carter's car shortly after the murders, they found a live shotgun shell and a live .32 caliber bullet rolling around inside. The live rounds are significant because they fit the murder weapons and were found long before the caliber of the handgun used in the crime was determined. - No conspiracy was needed to frame Carter. On the day of the murders Bello told a friend "Rubin Carter shot up the whole bar". Months later he voluntarily (and reluctantly) names Carter as one of the two killers in two police interviews. Three days after Bello talked Bradley was interviewed, confirming Bello's story while he was incarcerated in a reformatory 75 miles away. Bello names Carter again in a tape-recorded interview, falsely depicted in the film. In actual fact Bello had already talked and didn't know he was being taped while Bradley was nowhere near the place. - In jail awaiting his first trial, Rubin Carter writes to his main alibi witness and tells her the story "I want you to remember." He runs through the alibi story point by point. - Contrary to the film, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter failed a lie detector test just hours after the Lafayette Grill triple murder in 1966, according to the man who gave him the test, John J. McGuire, a former police polygraph examiner. McGuire said the results showed that Carter lied when he denied being involved in the crime. He refused to take a second test. Artis also failed his lie detector test. - On the 8/3/76 the Prosecutor told Carter, "Pass a lie test and go free". Carter refused. - There was never any attempt to falsify the time of the murders and no evidence to claim it. - Hurricane Carter and his co-accused, John Artis, have never been found "not guilty" of the Lafayette Grill Murders. They were twice convicted, and twice the convictions were set-aside on the grounds that they didn't get a fair trial. The State of New Jersey decided not to re-try them a third time because so much time had passed, and withdrew the indictments against them.

What a disgrace of a film. What an outright lie, I can't believe they got away with this propaganda.