Valenti on ‘Hurricane’
I read with great interest Robert Welkos’ article about the difficulty of adapting true-life stories to the screen (“Digging for the Truth,” March 12). It’s an arduous task to please all the people involved in a real-life event. In the case of the movie “The Hurricane,” critics have unfairly taken aim at both Rubin “Hurricane” Carter and Denzel Washington, who plays him in the film.
It’s tough to figure who’s getting the worse deal: Hurricane Carter, who because the movie of his life is up for an Oscar, is suddenly being retried in the media and on the Internet; or Denzel Washington, whose beautiful and poetic performance has been caught up in the controversy.
It’s wrong to retry Rubin Carter in the media. The Supreme Court should have had the last word on his case. It’s wrong to judge Denzel Washington’s performance on anything other than its artistic merit. Let the academy members have the last word on his performance.
JACK VALENTI
President, Motion Picture Assn.
of America, Washington
Only good movies
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