Offered a plea deal by the FBI, William O'Neal infiltrates the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party to gather intelligence on Chairman Fred Hampton.Offered a plea deal by the FBI, William O'Neal infiltrates the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party to gather intelligence on Chairman Fred Hampton.Offered a plea deal by the FBI, William O'Neal infiltrates the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party to gather intelligence on Chairman Fred Hampton.
- Won 2 Oscars
- 45 wins & 89 nominations total
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDirector Shaka King has described the initial idea for the film as "The Departed (2006) inside the world of COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program)." He thought it was a clever way to "sort of Trojan-horse a Fred Hampton biopic and introduce the world, you know, a great segment of the world who is unaware of who he was, and is highly unaware of the Panthers' politics and ideology."
- GoofsThe movie's ending sequence includes an information card implying that William O'Neal committed suicide after his PBS interview aired, on 15 January 1990. That isn't accurate. The PBS series 'Eyes on the Prize' did debut on that date, but the O'Neal interview did not air until 9 February, three and a half weeks after O'Neal's suicide. No one knows why O'Neal chose kill himself on 15 January, and his family disputed that his traffic fatality was a suicide. They claimed it was an accident.
- Quotes
Fred Hampton: Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed
- SoundtracksThe Inflated Tear
Written by Rahsaan Roland Kirk
Featured review
Watch this one with 'The Trial of the Chicago 7' if you want active viewing.
Both are based on the true story which happened in Chicago in 1968 and 1969, so two movies give the whole picture of what it was like in Chicago in late 60s. Social oppression, protest in reaction, police's excessive force of use, discrimination against the weaker are the words to describe atmosphere around that time. It's interesting to compare and contrast how Fred Hampton is realized in two movies. Other than that, there are many things to compare and contrast both contents and the forms.
'Judas and the Black Messiah' is disappointing that the director could have done so much more with such an important historical figure (similar with 'The Trial of the Chicago 7'). The screenwriting is stretched and elongated. The momentum and the tension have to be built up for December 4th Monroe Massacre where all the powerful emotions burst. However, the director fails not only to build up but also to have a great ending.
P.S. History speaks that William O'Neal is still a weak coward then and now.
'Judas and the Black Messiah' is disappointing that the director could have done so much more with such an important historical figure (similar with 'The Trial of the Chicago 7'). The screenwriting is stretched and elongated. The momentum and the tension have to be built up for December 4th Monroe Massacre where all the powerful emotions burst. However, the director fails not only to build up but also to have a great ending.
P.S. History speaks that William O'Neal is still a weak coward then and now.
helpful•165
- TaylorYee94
- Mar 23, 2021
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $26,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $5,478,009
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $2,027,076
- Feb 14, 2021
- Gross worldwide
- $7,478,009
- Runtime2 hours 6 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content