4 Little Girls (1997)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Spike Lee

Release Date:

9 July 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | History

Tagline:

Birmingham, 1963. A single explosion rocked a community and awakened a sleeping nation.

Plot:

A documentary of the notorious racial terrorist bombing of an African American church during the Civil Rights Movement.

Plot Keywords:

Church | Bombing | Civil Rights Movement | Civil Rights | Birmingham Alabama

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 5 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Maxine McNair	...	Herself (Mother of Denise McNair)
Chris McNair	...	Himself (Father of Denise McNair)
Helen Pegues	...	Herself (Denise's Aunt)
Queen Nunn	...	Herself (Neighbor of Denise McNair)
Arthur Hanes Jr.	...	Himself (Defense Attorney for Bob Chambliss)
Howell Raines	...	Himself (New York Times Editor)
Harold McNair	...	Himself (Denise's Uncle)
Carole C. Smitherman	...	Herself (Denise's Childhood Friend) (as Carole C. Smitherman Esq.)
Wamo Reed Robertson	...	Herself (Carole's Aunt)
Dianne Braddock	...	Herself (Carole's Sister)
Carolyn Lee Brown	...	Herself (Carole's Childhood Friend)
Alpha Robertson	...	Herself (Mother of Carole Robertson)
Wyatt Tee Walker	...	Himself (Former Executive Director of SCLC)
Fred Shuttlesworth	...	Himself (Pres. of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights) (also archive footage)
Florence Terrell	...	Herself (School Teacher)
Gwendolyn White	...	Herself (School Teacher)
Doris Lockhart	...	Herself (Neighbor of Cynthia Wesley)
Gerald Colbert	...	Himself (Cynthia's Childhood Neighbor)
Freeman Hrabowski III	...	Himself (Cynthia's Childhood Friend) (as Dr. Freeman Hrabowski III)
Shirley Wesley King	...	Herself (Cynthia's Sister)
Carolyn M. McKinstry	...	Herself (Cynthia's Childhood Friend)
David J. Vann	...	Himself (Former Mayor of Birmingham)
Bill Baxley	...	Himself (Former Attorney General of Alabama)
Albert Boutwell	...	Himself (Former Mayor of Birmingham) (archive footage)
Andrew Young	...	Himself (SCLC) (as Rev. Andrew Young)
Taylor Branch	...	Himself (Author)
Nadean S. Williams	...	Herself (Music Teacher)
Janie Gaines	...	Herself (Addie Mae's Sister)
Rhonda Nunn Thomas	...	Herself (Denise's Childhood Friend)
James Bevel	...	Himself (SCLC) (also archive footage) (as Rev. James Bevel)
Tommy Wrenn	...	Himself (SCLC)
George Wallace	...	Himself (also archive footage)
Nicholas Katzenbach	...	Himself (Former US Attorney General) (also archive footage)
Billie Harris	...	Herself (Funeral Home Director)
Ricky Powell	...	Himself (Denise's Childhood Friend)
Lillie Brown	...	Herself (SCLC)
Ossie Davis	...	Himself (Actor / Playwright)
Mahalia Jackson	...	Herself (during March on Washington) (archive footage)
Barbara Nunn	...	Herself (Denise's Childhood Friend)
John Cross	...	Himself (Former Pastor of 16th St. Baptist Church) (as Rev. John Cross)
Barbara Cross	...	Herself (Daughter of Reverend Cross)
Morris Marshall	...	Himself (16th Street Baptist Church Member)
Junie Collins	...	Herself (Addie Mae's Sister)
Diane Nash	...	Herself (SCLC)
Faye Davis	...	Herself (Carole's Childhood Friend)
Coretta Scott King	...	Herself
Walter Cronkite	...	Himself (Special Correspondent CBS News)
Bill Cosby	...	Himself (Educator)
Jesse Jackson	...	Himself (Founder of the Rainbow Push Coalition) (as Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr.)
Reggie White	...	Himself (Green Bay Packers) (as Rev. Reggie White)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ralph Abernathy	...	Himself (with Martin Luther King) (archive footage) (uncredited)
David Brinkley	...	Himself (reports on Chambliss trial) (archive footage) (uncredited)
Eugene 'Bull' Connor	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
James Farmer	...	Himself (with freedom riders) (archive footage) (uncredited)
Martin Luther King	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Spike Lee	...	Interviewer (voice) (uncredited)

Directed by
Spike Lee

Produced by
Michele Forman	....	associate producer
Jacqueline Glover	....	coordinating producer
Spike Lee	....	producer
Daphne McWilliams	....	line producer
Sheila Nevins	....	executive producer
Samuel D. Pollard	....	producer (as Sam Pollard)

Original Music by
Terence Blanchard

Cinematography by
Ellen Kuras

Film Editing by
Samuel D. Pollard		(as Sam Pollard)

Production Management
Daphne McWilliams	....	post-production supervisor

Art Department
Henry DeBardeleben	....	swing (as Henry Debardeleben)
Kareem Jamel Johnson	....	swing

Sound Department
Tim J. Carroll	....	stereo sound engineer: Dolby
Roy Clark	....	assistant sound engineer
Eugene Gearty	....	sound effects editor
Skip Lievsay	....	sound re-recording mixer
Tom Miho	....	assistant sound engineer
Rolf Pardula	....	additional sound recordist
Glenfield Payne	....	supervising sound editor
J.T. Takagi	....	sound recordist
Todd Whitelock	....	sound recording engineer
Allan Zaleski	....	assistant sound editor

Camera and Electrical Department
John Bentham	....	second assistant camera
Lamont Crawford	....	key grip
Kerwin DeVonish	....	second assistant camera (as Kerwin Devonish)
Carl Johnson	....	gaffer
David Lee	....	still photographer
Susanna Virtanen	....	assistant camera

Editorial Department
Colin Cumberbatch	....	post-production coordinator
Peter Gonzalez	....	associate editor
Noëlle Penraat	....	negative cutter (as Noelle Penraat)
David Pultz	....	color timer

Music Department
Paula Bing	....	musician: flute
Terence Blanchard	....	conductor: score
Terence Blanchard	....	musician: trumpet
Terence Blanchard	....	score producer
Emile Charlap	....	music contractor
Troy Davis	....	musician: drums
Lawrence Feldman	....	musician: clarinet
Edward Simon	....	musician: piano (as Ed Simon)
Alex Steyermark	....	music supervisor
Alex Steyermark	....	score producer
Blair Tindall	....	musician: oboe
Reginald Veal	....	musician: bass
Maisie Weissman	....	music editor

Other crew
Julie Anderson	....	researcher
Randall Balsmeyer	....	title designer
Vasco Bjegovich	....	production assistant
Aubrey Cummings	....	production assistant
Karl Dover	....	production assistant
Michael Dykes	....	production assistant
James Hartel	....	production assistant
Michael Jimenez	....	production assistant
John Lathan	....	production assistant
Eric Moore	....	production assistant
Tjamal Noni	....	production assistant (as Tjamal K. Noni)
Audra Polk	....	production assistant
Victoria Williams	....	production assistant
Jason Lampkin	....	staff: 40 Acres (uncredited)

Thanks
Bob Adelman	....	acknowledgment: archival footage, Magnum Photos Inc.
Bruce Davidson	....	acknowledgment: archival footage, Magnum Photos Inc.
Elliott Erwitt	....	acknowledgment: archival footage, Magnum Photos Inc. (as Elliot Ermitt)
James Karakes	....	acknowledgment: archival footage provided by
Steven Kasher	....	thanks
Holly Kempner	....	thanks
Tom Langston	....	acknowledgment: archival footage provided by
Danny Lyon	....	acknowledgment: archival footage, Magnum Photos Inc.
Chris McNair	....	acknowledgment: archival footage provided by

Production Companies

• 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks
• Home Box Office (HBO)

Distributors

• Direct Cinema Limited (video)
• HBO Documentary

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Company:

40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks

Trivia:

One of the victims, Denise McNair, was a friend and classmate of future Secretary of State 'Condoleeza Rice'.

Quotes:

Howell Raines: A day in 1957, in the afternoon, the evening newscast, there's a piece of film of a gang of white men beating Fred Shuttlesworth, in the street outside of Phillips high school where he'd taken his children. With chains they beat him to the ground. And the reason it was riveting for me...

Movie Connections:

References "60 Minutes" (1968)

Soundtrack:

Birmingham Sunday

Great

4 Little Girls (1997)

**** (out of 4)

Powerful, brilliantly told but emotionally draining documentary from Spike Lee about the 1963 church bombings in Birmingham, AL that killed four girl (ages betwee 11 and 14). I learned about these events in school but it was nice seeing a document of what actually happened even though I had a few problems with the film, which I'll get to later. This is an incredibly important little film because it's always nice, as a historical document, to have those surrounding the event be on hand to tell their stories. I was rather shocked that the young girl's family memebers, including parents, were here for interviews and it just became more and more heartbreaking as the film went on. I'm not sure if depressing is the right word or not but the events in this film really can't be looked at in any other way. In the film we're told this event changed how "white America" looked at racism and I wish Lee would have gotten some of those racist in Birmingham to tell what they thought at the time and their feelings after they learned who was killed in the attacks. We do get George wallace making a fool out of himself but I somewhat had a problem with this. It's a joke seeing him try to say he was a friend to black people and he comes off looking very stupid, which I guess he should but the man seemed near death and I'm not really sure putting him on camera was the right thing to do. This is the only part where I think Lee went overboards in the story. The story was strong enough that we didn't need that little break, with slow motion and sound effects, to show what type of person Wallace was. The other thing I have to question is the fact that Lee showed the mutilated and burned bodies of the four children. I think knowing that they died is bad enough but seeing their bodies is something that certainly won't leave my mind. Either way, Lee has created a remarkable little film.