Earlier this week on WOL 1450 AM, I was listening to Brother Bernie McCain's show and he was interviewing Inyanla Vanzant. They were discussing a variety of issues when the subject turned to New York in the 1970s. During the conversation, the name Sonny Carson came up. Sonny Carson. Why did that name sound familiar? Where had I heard that name before?
I was intrigued so I popped his name in Google and this came up: The Education of Sonny Carson.
I then looked it up in Google and found this:
"The Education of Sonny Carson is a 1974 film based on the best-selling autobiography of Sonny Carson who joined a gang and committed petty crime before being sent to prison. After his release from prison he changes his life.
"Background
"The film had many original directional styles, of the hand in prison moment from the prisoner and civilian. The dark interrogation moment, where two of the police officers come from the dark interrogating a young black male. In order to portray Sonny Carson's violent gang initiation, the film camera was placed in a metal cage. The scene was filmed from two points of view: one of Sonny running through a row of gang-members beating him with chains and clubs, the other from Sonny's own perspective as he was being humiliated and injured in order to join the gang.
"The film had a $1 million budget[citation needed]. Michael Campus has stressed over this low budget and says he didn't know how he did it. The cast members were people from the neighborhood. The film explores social issues facing the African American population such as poverty, drug abuse, violence and police discrimination.
"Influence
The Wu-Tang Clan and Lauryn Hill have used dialog from the film in their works."
After this I had to pop The Education of Sonny Carson into You Tube and found not only the original trailer to the movie but several clips from the movie. After watching Part I, I had to watch Part 2. Before I knew it I was compelled to watch all of the clips to see it all.
I did a little more research and found out that Sonny Carson was the father of Professor X of the rap group The X-Clan.
This movie really puts you back in that time of the 1970s in New York and what was going on in the Gang Cultures of that time. It also made me think of several scenes I saw play out in the some of the schools and streets of DC and Philly in the 1970s and that this movie may have inspired films like Johnny Tough!, The Warriors, Cooley High and even on up to The Wire today. Also what was an interesting discovery was finding the related videos posted onto YouTube of the real gangs in New York of the 60s and 70s from documentaries to interviews.
~LT
2 comments :
I bought the DVD back in 2002 and was impressed with this film. I remember when it came out in the 70's but there were some films that I just never got to see as a kid and never got an opportunity until I find them online now.
The gang inititation scene was deep! Old school but still e=very impactful. I like how films like this and Cooley high used real people from around the way. When you watch these old films they still feel authentic becasue of that.
Cool, man!
Yes, our Dad took us to see Johnny Tough!, Cornbread, Earle and Me, and so many other movies in the 70s but I think we were too young to take seeing this one in '74.
I did not know it is on DVD. Thanks!
You are right. The gang initiation scene is deep. The way they filmed it too.
I like how they used real people too!
I agree it gives it that sense of authenticity!
Watching these clips really put me back in the 70s.
The YouTube clips that show the gangs in NY in the 70s too is an education.
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