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O.J.: Made in America

  • 20162016
  • TV-MATV-MA
  • 7h 47m
IMDb RATING
8.9/10
20K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
2,369
1,432
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • IMDbPro
O.J. Simpson in O.J.: Made in America (2016)
A chronicle of the rise and fall of O.J. Simpson, whose high-profile murder trial exposed the extent of American racial tensions, revealing a fractured and divided nation.
Play trailer2:11
1 Video
37 Photos
  • Documentary
  • Biography
  • Crime

A chronicle of the rise and fall of O.J. Simpson, whose high-profile murder trial exposed the extent of American racial tensions, revealing a fractured and divided nation.A chronicle of the rise and fall of O.J. Simpson, whose high-profile murder trial exposed the extent of American racial tensions, revealing a fractured and divided nation.A chronicle of the rise and fall of O.J. Simpson, whose high-profile murder trial exposed the extent of American racial tensions, revealing a fractured and divided nation.

IMDb RATING
8.9/10
20K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
2,369
1,432
  • Director
    • Ezra Edelman
  • Stars
    • Kareem Abdul-Jabbar(archive footage)
    • Mike Albanese
    • Muhammad Ali(archive footage)
Top credits
  • Director
    • Ezra Edelman
  • Stars
    • Kareem Abdul-Jabbar(archive footage)
    • Mike Albanese
    • Muhammad Ali(archive footage)
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 81User reviews
    • 42Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Won 1 Oscar
      • 49 wins & 35 nominations total

    Videos1

    Teaser Trailer
    Trailer 2:11
    Teaser Trailer

    Photos37

    O.J. Simpson in O.J.: Made in America (2016)
    O.J.: Made in America (2016)
    O.J.: Made in America (2016)
    Mark Ridley Thomas in O.J.: Made in America (2016)
    Tanya Brown in O.J.: Made in America (2016)
    Jim Newton in O.J.: Made in America (2016)
    Mike Gilbert in O.J.: Made in America (2016)
    Robin Greer in O.J.: Made in America (2016)
    Fred Goldman in O.J.: Made in America (2016)
    Cecil L. Murray in O.J.: Made in America (2016)
    Marcia Clark in O.J.: Made in America (2016)
    Mark Fuhrman in O.J.: Made in America (2016)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
    Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
    • Selfas Self
    • (archive footage)
    Mike Albanese
    • Selfas Self
    Muhammad Ali
    Muhammad Ali
    • Selfas Self
    • (archive footage)
    Marcus Allen
    Marcus Allen
    • Selfas Self
    • (archive footage)
    Bea Arthur
    Bea Arthur
    • Selfas Self
    • (archive footage)
    F. Lee Bailey
    F. Lee Bailey
    • Selfas Self
    Danny Bakewell
    Danny Bakewell
    • Selfas Self
    Paula Barbieri
    Paula Barbieri
    • Selfas Self
    • (archive footage)
    Rona Barrett
    Rona Barrett
    • Selfas Self
    • (archive footage)
    Joe Bell
    • Selfas Self
    Carrie Bess
    • Selfas Self
    Tom Bradley
    Tom Bradley
    • Selfas Self
    • (archive footage)
    Nicole Brown Simpson
    • Selfas Self
    • (archive footage)
    Jim Brown
    Jim Brown
    • Selfas Self
    Tanya Brown
    Tanya Brown
    • Selfas Self
    Marcia Clark
    Marcia Clark
    • Self - Intervieweeas Self - Interviewee
    Johnnie L. Cochran Jr.
    Johnnie L. Cochran Jr.
    • Selfas Self
    • (archive footage)
    • (as Johnnie Cochran)
    Howard Cosell
    Howard Cosell
    • Selfas Self
    • (archive footage)
    • Director
      • Ezra Edelman
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
    • All cast & crew

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    Storyline

    Edit
    It is the defining cultural tale of modern America - a saga of race, celebrity, media, violence, and the criminal justice system. And two decades after its unforgettable climax, it continues to fascinate, polarize, and even, yes, develop new chapters. Now, the producers of ESPN's award-winning "30 for 30" have made it the subject of their first documentary-event and most ambitious project yet. From Peabody and Emmy-award winning director Ezra Edelman, it's "O.J.: Made in America," a 10-hour multi-part production coming summer of 2016. To most observers, it's a story that began the night Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were brutally murdered outside her Brentwood apartment. But as "O.J." lays bare, to truly grasp the significance of what happened not just that night, but the epic chronicle to follow, one has to travel back to a much different, much earlier origin point, at not the end, but the beginning of the 20th century, when African-Americans began migrating to California en masse, in desperate, collective hope of a better life, trying desperately - and fruitlessly - to outrun the racism that had defined their lives. And among the thousands who came west from the south were the grandparents of Orenthal James Simpson. The tale is familiar from there. In the mid-1960's, Simpson rose to instant fame as an unstoppable running back for the USC Trojans, and later, not just a record-setting Hall of Famer in the NFL, but a crossover, charismatic superstar with a singular foothold in the celebrity landscape. In retirement, O.J. remained as popular as any active athlete - a broadcaster, pitch-man, and actor. But he stood alone for another reason as well. Living in the shadows of everything from the Civil Rights Movement to the Rodney King riots and so much in between, in a country forever divided by racial lines and a city with a horrific legacy of institutionalized police racism, O.J. Simpson managed always to find a way to transcend the color of his skin. That is, until everything changed on that June night of 1994. "O.J." revisits - and redefines - it all. The domestic abuse. The police investigation. The white Bronco chase. The trial of the century. The motive, the blood, the glove. The verdict. The aftermath. Drawing upon more than seventy interviews- from longtime friends and colleagues of Simpson to the recognizable protagonists of the murder investigation to observers and commentators with distinct connections to the story - the docu-event is an engrossing, compelling, and unforgettable look at a tantalizing saga. Because at the end of what seems like a search for the real truth about O.J. Simpson, what's revealed just as powerfully is a collection of indelible, unshakeable, and haunting truths about America, and about ourselves. —ESPN Films
    • celebrity
    • running back
    • brentwood
    • year 1973
    • 1990s
    • 247 more
    • Plot summary
    • Add synopsis
    • Genres
      • Documentary
      • Biography
      • Crime
      • History
    • Certificate
      • TV-MA
    • Parents guide

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Director Ezra Edelman struggled on the decision to include the forensic photos of the bodies of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, but ultimately decided to edit them in to remind the audience that the trial was meant to be about a horrific double homicide instead of the discussion about race and corrupt law enforcement that it ultimately progressed into.
    • Goofs
      Robert Shapiro says in an interview with Barbara Walters that O.J. Simpson was found innocent. Simpson was found "not guilty", not "innocent".
    • Quotes

      O.J. Simpson: [referring to his refusal to participate in racial tensions during the Watts riots] I'm not black, I'm O.J.

    • Connections
      Featured in Late Night with Seth Meyers: David Spade/Marcia Clark/Noah Hawley/Tim Alexander (2016)
    • Soundtracks
      Hollywood Swinging
      Written by Robert Kool Bell (uncredited), Ronald Bell (uncredited), George Funky Brown (uncredited), Robert Spike Mickens (uncredited), Claydes Smith (uncredited), Dennis 'Dee Tee' Thomas (uncredited) and Richard Westfield (uncredited)

      Performed by Kool & The Gang

    User reviews81

    Review
    Top review
    9/10
    Might be the best documentary of the 2010s
    There are many documentaries out there- particularly on Netflix- that are just far too long. I can understand why, because owing to the way streaming services work, it's surely tempting to extend a documentary beyond the standard two-ish hours into a multi-part 6-10 hour miniseries, because that keeps viewers hooked into whatever service they're subscribed to. In all honesty, I'm personally a little tired of this approach, particularly because I think most subjects can be thoroughly explored within the length of a movie, if the director and editor and everyone else involved know what they're doing.

    This naturally made me very cautious to watch OJ: Made In America, despite how critically acclaimed it was. While it was released in a very limited theatrical release- and won an Oscar for Best Documentary before the Academy changed their rules to disqualify lengthy works broken into parts- it did look to me like it would be another true crime miniseries that would draw itself out longer than necessary. Furthermore, I was worried it would be tacky and disrespectful the way many documentary miniseries are; if you're teasing and using real life tragic events as cliffhangers or hooks for viewers, for example, I think that's pretty twisted.

    Thankfully, OJ: Made In America managed to transcend all of its similar contemporaries. This is miles better than something like Making A Murderer or any other show trying to chase its success; it goes in depth and uses its incredibly long runtime to tell a huge story and cover many, many topics in gripping and compelling detail. It's much more than a story about the double murder that OJ Simpson was accused of committing, and it's even more than just a documentary about OJ Simpson. The hint's in the title: it uses the story of Simpson to tell a huge, almost epic story about crime, race relations, and societal conflict throughout the last few decades of history.

    It's hard to unpack everything, but you will find something interesting and intensely thought provoking within this documentary. It's not so much about trying to prove whether Simpson committed the crime or not, and moreso just giving as many points of view, opinions, and insights as possible. It's superbly edited, and flows in a way where despite all the information, you never get lost or confused. And furthermore, despite the risk of information overload, you never really get bored either. Despite watching this in chunks, I could have happily digested the entire seven and a half hours in one sitting, and if I ever rewatch it one day maybe I will view it in that way.

    It's hard to come up with too many flaws. I'm conflicted over the use of graphic crime scene and autopsy photos in Part 4 of the documentary- some viewers may not understand the intensity and viciousness of the murder with verbal descriptions alone, but I feel like some people are appropriately disturbed with just picturing the aftermath in their head, and for those people, seeing the images themselves may feel like overkill. As such, I understand why those photos were included, but personally don't feel like I needed to be exposed to them. And I mean, could it have been six and a half hours instead of seven and a half? It's almost silly to think about that as a flaw, so I'm not sure it is, but at the same time... maybe it could've got more or less the same thing across?

    I guess I'm struggling to think of flaws, or justify why I got this to 9/10 but not 10/10. On a rewatch, I may realise that this is about as good as documentaries can get, and raise the rating. For now, I can say that it's truly excellent and among the best documentaries I've ever seen, regardless of whether you choose to watch it as a miniseries or an extremely long feature.

    Regardless of your thoughts on OJ Simpson and the infamous court case he was involved in, you will find things to appreciate, fixate on, and ponder throughout this incredibly impressive and borderline 'epic' documentary.
    helpful•3
    0
    • Jeremy_Urquhart
    • Jul 17, 2020

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • May 20, 2016 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official site
      • Official Site
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • 辛普森:美國製造
    • Production companies
      • ESPN Films
      • Laylow Films
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      7 hours 47 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.78 : 1
      • 16 : 9
      • 16:9 HD

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