Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson (2004)

User Rating:

8.3/10   

Director:

Ken Burns

Writer:

Geoffrey C. Ward (writer)

Release Date:

17 January 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | Biography | Sport

Tagline:

They couldn't knock him out, so they tried to tear him down.

Plot:

The story of Jack Johnson, the first African American Heavyweight boxing champion. |

Plot Keywords:

African American | Boxing | Racism | Character Name In Title

Awards:

Won 3 Primetime Emmys. Another 1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Jack Johnson	...	Himself (archive footage)
Keith David	...	Narrator (voice)
Samuel L. Jackson	...	Jack Johnson (voice)
Adam Arkin	...	Other Voices (voice)
Philip Bosco	...	Other Voices (voice)
Kevin Conway	...	Other Voices (voice)
Brian Cox	...	Other Voices (voice)
John Cullum	...	Other Voices (voice)
Murphy Guyer	...	Other Voices (voice)
Ed Harris	...	Other Voices (voice)
Derek Jacobi	...	Other Voices (voice)
Carl Lumbly	...	Other Voices (voice)
Amy Madigan	...	Other Voices (voice)
Carolyn McCormick	...	Other Voices (voice)
Joe Morton	...	Other Voices (voice)
Alan Rickman	...	Other Voices (voice)
Studs Terkel	...	Other Voices (voice)
Jack Thompson	...	Other Voices (voice)
Billy Bob Thornton	...	Other Voices (voice)
Courtney B. Vance	...	Other Voices (voice)
Eli Wallach	...	Other Voices (voice)
Jeffrey Wright	...	Other Voices (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Muhammad Ali	...	Himself (archive footage)
Tommy Burns	...	Himself (archive footage)
Lucille Cameron	...	Herself (archive footage)
James J. Corbett	...	Himself (archive footage)
Stanley Crouch	...	Himself
Gerald Early	...	Himself
W.C. Heinz	...	Himself
James J. Jeffries	...	Himself (archive footage)
James Earl Jones	...	Himself
Stanley Ketchel	...	Himself (archive footage)
Joe Louis	...	Himself (archive footage)
Jack Newfield	...	Himself
George Plimpton	...	Himself
Adam Clayton Powell Jr.	...	Himself (archive footage)
Randy Roberts	...	Himself
Bert Randolph Sugar	...	Himself (as Bert Sugar)
John L. Sullivan	...	Himself (archive footage)
Jess Willard	...	Himself (archive footage)

Directed by
Ken Burns

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Geoffrey C. Ward		writer

Produced by
Paul Barnes	....	producer
Pam Tubridy Baucom	....	coordinating producer
Ken Burns	....	producer
David Schaye	....	producer
Susanna Steisel	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Wynton Marsalis

Cinematography by
Stephen McCarthy
Buddy Squires

Film Editing by
Paul Barnes
Erik Ewers

Sound Department
Marko A. Costanzo	....	foley artist
Ryan Gifford	....	assistant sound editor
Sean Huff	....	sound effects editor
George A. Lara	....	foley mixer
John Osborne	....	sound
Brenda Ray	....	sound
Dominick Tavella	....	sound re-recording mixer
Daniel Ward	....	assistant sound editor

Special Effects by
Dalton Delan	....	executive in charge of production: WETA

Editorial Department
Tyler Cote	....	post-production intern
Melanie Cunningham	....	post-production assistant
Sean Huff	....	assistant editor
Liz Seru	....	post-production intern
Daniel J. White	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Wessell Anderson	....	musician: saxophone
Paul Barnes	....	music producer
Ken Burns	....	music producer
Andy Farber	....	music arranger
Wycliffe Gordon	....	musician: trombone and tuba
Eric Lewis	....	musician: piano
Delfeayo Marsalis	....	music producer
Wynton Marsalis	....	musician: trumpet
Jacob Ribicoff	....	music editor
Reginald Veal	....	musician: bass

Other crew
Jessie Anderson	....	production intern
Dewey Blanton	....	publicist: WETA
Tim Clark	....	program advisor
Bob De Flores	....	film archive
Dayton Duncan	....	program advisor
Julie Dunfey	....	program advisor
Gerald Early	....	program advisor
Andy Farber	....	transcriber
Greg French	....	archive materials
Jim Johnston	....	archive materials
William Leuchtenberg	....	program advisor (as William E. Leuchtenberg)
Bill Loughman	....	archive materials
Lynn Novick	....	program advisor
Tricia Reidy	....	program advisor
Herlin Riley	....	drums & percussion
Randy Roberts	....	program advisor
Sharon Rockefeller	....	president and ceo: WETA
Jeffrey T. Sammons	....	program advisor
Kevin Smith	....	archive materials
David Thompson	....	project director: WETA
Fred Udell	....	production assistant
Rosalind P. Walter	....	additional funding
Geoffrey C. Ward	....	senior creative consultant
Delmar Watson	....	archive materials
Elizabeth Waybright	....	production intern

Thanks
Michael Balabuch	....	extra special thanks
Tom Bodett	....	extra special thanks
Sarah Botstein	....	extra special thanks
Tom Bower	....	extra special thanks
Lee Philip Brumbaugh	....	extra special thanks
Carol Butler	....	extra special thanks
Dave Davis	....	extra special thanks
Greg French	....	extra special thanks
Dennis Haysbert	....	extra special thanks
Peg Holmes	....	extra special thanks
Jim Johnston	....	extra special thanks
Gene Jones	....	extra special thanks
Bill Loughman	....	extra special thanks
Patrick Maschio	....	extra special thanks
Dave Meichsner	....	special thanks
Craig Mellish	....	extra special thanks
Peter Miller	....	extra special thanks
Albert Murray	....	extra special thanks
Jack Newfield	....	extra special thanks
Joyce Carol Oates	....	extra special thanks
Brock Peters	....	extra special thanks
Larry Pine	....	extra special thanks
George Plimpton	....	extra special thanks
George Plimpton	....	film dedicated to
Allen Reuben	....	extra special thanks
Kevin Smith	....	extra special thanks

Production Companies

• WETA
• Arthur Vining Davis Foundations (additional funding)
• Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) (additional funding)
• Florentine Films
• General Motors Corporation (corporate funding)
• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (additional funding)

Distributors

• Paramount Home Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (2005) (USA) (TV)

Other Companies

• Budget Films  stock footage courtesy of
• Amateur Athletic Foundation  archive material
• Boston Public Library  archive material
• Brown Brothers  archive material
• Budget Film Stock Footage  stock footage courtesy of
• California Historical Society  archived material
• California State Library  archive material
• Chicago Historical Society  archive material
• Colorado Historical Society  archive material
• Columbia University  archive material
• Corbis  archive material
• Culver Pictures  archive material
• Dan Klores Communications  national publicity
• Dartmouth College Library  special thanks
• Denver Public Library  archive material
• Duke University  archive material
• Footage Hollywood  stock footage courtesy of
• Fox Movietone News  stock footage courtesy of
• Frank Driggs Collection  archive material
• Getty Images  archive materials
• Getty Images  stock footage courtesy of
• Harvard University  archive material
• Harvard University, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts  archive material
• Historic Films Archive  stock footage courtesy of
• Historical Newspaper Service  special thanks
• Image Bank  stock footage courtesy of
• J. Fred McDonald & Associates  stock footage courtesy of
• John E. Allen Inc.  stock footage courtesy of
• Kino Video  excerpts from "Birth of a Nation" supplied by
• Library of Congress  archive materials
• Library of Congress  stock footage courtesy of
• Lincoln Center Theater  special thanks
• Los Angeles Public Library  archive materials
• Louisiana State Museum  archive material
• Maryland Historical Society  archive materials
• Minnesota Historical Society  archive materials
• Mississippi Department of Archives and History  archive materials
• Montana Historical Society  archive materials
• Museum of the City of New York  archive materials
• National Archives  archive materials
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC)  stock footage courtesy of
• National Film & Sound Archives  stock footage courtesy of
• Netherlands Film Museum  stock footage courtesy of
• New York Public Library  archive materials
• Ohio Historical Society  archive materials
• Passport International Entertainment  stock footage courtesy of
• Photo Fest  archive materials
• Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The  archive materials
• Screensound Australia  stock footage courtesy of
• Smithsonian Institution  archive materials
• University of California, Bancroft Library  archive material
• University of Kansas Library  archive materials
• University of South Carolina Film Library  stock footage courtesy of
• University of Texas, Austin  archive materials
• University of Washington Libraries  archive materials
• WPA Film Library  stock footage courtesy of
• Western Reserve Historical Society  archive materials
• Worldwide Photos  archive material

Runtime:

214 min | USA:220 min (DVD version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color | Black and White

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

WETA

Movie Connections:

Features Jeffries-Johnson World's Championship Boxing Contest, Held at Reno, Nevada, July 4, 1910 (1910)

Soundtrack:

Sing On

Thorough and Enjoyable

Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion, is usually seen as one of the greatest heavyweights of all time. Ken Burns' "Unforgivable Blackness" paints a picture of Johnson as a great defensive fighter, ranging from his roots in mainly all-black boxing to showing him demonstrating moves to a younger fighter when Johnson was well into middle age. Indeed, Johnson used his defensive skills to beat not only white boxers like ex-champion Jim Jeffries, in the 1910 racially charged championship bout in Las Vegas, but top black boxers like Joe Jeannete, Sam Langford, and Sam McVey. The pumped-up strong boys in today's diffuse heavyweight division look physically fearsome, but I believe Johnson's defensive skills would have made it difficult for anyone to beat him, including Mike Tyson in his prime.

The portrayal of Johnson in the "Boxing's Best" series was excellent, but nearly three hours shorter than this 216-minute documentary. Some of the same footage and photos are in this video, but here we get more footage and far more of other stuff. Shown are footage of Johnson's fights with Jeffries, Tommy Burns (from whom he won the title), Fireman Jim Flynn, Stanley Ketchel, and Frank Moran, and other boxing clips of himself and others. The buildup, aftermath, and social meaning of the Jeffries fight are thorough and thoughtfully done.

White champions since John L. Sullivan in the 1880s had refused to fight black challengers until Johnson defeated Burns. The subsequent efforts at finding a great white hope are shown (although one omission was no mention of the greatest white hope, Luther McCarty, who died during a match and thus never got to fight Johnson). For whites, regaining the championship was important. Another omission was not mentioning that Johnson lost to white boxer Marvin Hart, who then won the title after Jeffries retired (later, Johnson crushed Burns, who had beaten Hart). I am suspicious of some of the decisions given to white boxers over black boxers in those days. Or, was it a legitimate victory? How about a comment, Ken?

What about Johnson the man? Jack Johnson was an individual to himself and to his own desires. He was not someone who, as the first black heavyweight champion, saw himself as a role model for his race and therefore, obliged to behave in a certain fashion, whether it be, say, more defiant than compliant with white standards. He liked to live the high life, dress well, eat well, drive fancy cars and race cars, perform on vaudeville, etc. Originally from Galveston Texas, he is also the Jack Johnson of Europe and Australia and Cuba and Mexico. He was always on the go, whether chasing Tommy Burns all over the earth to pressure him to fight him for the championship or running off to another country because of trumped-up charges of violation of the Mann Act. Much effort was made to produce expansive footage and photography: Ken Burns tried hard and succeeded.

Johnson and white women would not be such a taboo item today, but would narrators concede in private (they do not in narration) that his being such a frequent consort of prostitutes can justifiably be seen as a negative trait anytime? For this and his individualism and flamboyancy, he was detested by whites and also some blacks.

But Johnson did not care. The film briefly mentions some parallels with Muhammad Ali. However, while Ali could be angered, by political and social issues, and by black opponents calling him Cassius Clay, Johnson was just carefree. He laughed at racial abuse given him in the ring. Ironically, after having such a hard time getting a white champion to fight him, Johnson denied black fighters a chance to fight him because white challengers would result in bigger purses (and presented less risk).

The commentators are writers like Gerald Early (who was also on Burns' "Baseball" and "Jazz" documentaries), Stanley Crouch, Jack Newfield, and George Plimpton; Johnson biographer Randy Roberts; boxing expert Bert Sugar; former light heavyweight champion Jose Torres; James Earl Jones (who played Johnson in "The Great White Hope"), and others. One thing that was better about "Unforgivable Blackness" than "Baseball" was that the celebrity non-baseball experts infused some nonsense into the latter (I enjoyed the baseball personalities); here, the commentators consistently add insights and are knowledgeable about boxing.