Judge Horton and the Scottsboro Boys (1976 TV Movie) User Reviews

Lawsuit generated

[jakcheng · 28 December 2000]

The story of the Scottsboro Boys is based on a trial that hinged on one person's word against another. After this program was aired, Victoria Price Street sued NBC for libel and invasion of privacy. The suit was eventually dropped.

Revised editions of Dan Carter's book Scottsboro: A Tragedy of the American South (upon which this film was based) includes a last chapter detailing the last Scottsboro trial.

A story that will never be forgotten. An injustice that has become legendary.

[mark.waltz · 10/10 · 23 December 2022]

Having seen the Broadway musical "The Scottsboro Boys" during its unfortunately short run, I was most familiar with this real life scandalous attack on a group of young black men, falsely accused of rape by a notorious woman. Ellen Barber plays the role of Victoria Price whose accusation of gang rape lead to years of trials and tortured defendents, with the federal government eventually stepping in to prevent uninterest from occurring. Arthur Hill is the trial judge in one of the last of the trials by jury, a brave man who stood up against Injustice to do what was right and to see that innocent men got to return "home". That is the name of one of the songs from the Kander and Ebb musical that described the anguish of the young men, and one 13 year old boy, faced with the possibility of the electric chair.

This is a hot bed of debate throughout the film as the all white jury can't agree on anything except the guilt, and in the public eye, there are members of the Caucasian community who fight against the obvious injustices and the assumption that they were guilty just because they were black. Vera Miles is memorable in a smaller role as Hill's wife, and Lewis J. Stadlen is outstanding as the infuriated public defense attorney, knowing that his career may be on the line by defending these men, but willing to risk everything because of his ethical convictions. This shows that there were advancements in black and white relations, that not every white person was racist, and that associating someone being guilty of a crime simply because of their skin color was and is wrong. It is a very important movie, well done and riveting, a true life trial that to this day still causes a lot of debate and discussion. Now if they just make a movie version of the well received musical that didn't attract large audiences, that would give it a definite larger perspective, and further keep this historical situation alive and avoid it being forgotten in the pages of history.