Selma

In the summer of 1964 my parents and I drove to Tampa,Florida to see my brother and his wife. I was    a senior to be in high school.  We drove through the south (before interstate highways) on two lane roads. We were about 20 miles south of the famous Selma March when the events of this movie happened. I remember listening to the news and my Mother worrying that we might get "mixed-up" in this. I also remember seeing billboards along the way stating that Martin Luther King Jr. was a Communist!  We would stop at diners along our drive only to find big Racks of KKK handouts and signs that degraded Blacks.  As a boy from Oklahoma that grew up in Segregation, I was still shocked. I had not been exposed to this depth of hatred.

The movie, "Selma"  is a great movie in its retelling of the times.  It is excellently acted and the drama is first class.  It is emotional for good reason.  My disappointment is the rewriting of history to make LBJ look like the bad guy. History shows him to be one of King's allies and it was LBJ who freely butted with George Wallace and sent in Federal Troops.  While the movie is certainly more dramatic in its telling, truth would have served as well.

It is a worthy movie though and I give it ***1/2 stars.  2015 movie #7