FISTS OF FREEDOM: THE STORY OF THE '68 SUMMER GAMES (TV)
Summary
This documentary focuses on the Summer Olympics of1968 (Mexico City) -- a Games marked by controversy and civil rights protest. The story is told via archival footage and modern-day interviews with all the persons mentioned below. The program begins with the pre-Olympic tales of this documentary's three principles, all black American runners: Tommie Smith and Lee Evans, both grape pickers from the San Francisco Bay area, and John Carlos, a streetwise hustler from Harlem, New York City. A fourth person also figures prominently, legendary track coach Bob Winter, who brought the three youths together on the "speed city" running team at San Jose State College. Also at the college at the time was an African-American professor, Dr. Harry Edwards, who noticed racial inequalities in America and who urged athletes to be political advocates. This led to the Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR) and the Black Youth Boycott of the Summer Games, which is discussed extensively by Paul Hoffman, the coxswain on the all-white Olympic crew team which strongly supported the fight. Next, the film covers the athletes' time at Echo Summit, Oregon, where the Olympians trained in the high altitudes, all the while the black athletes trying to figure out a way to protest racial inequality at the Games. Once in Mexico City, the U.S. Olympians entered a Games shrouded in fear and tension, yet buoyed by such moments as Bob Beamon's world record long jump of 29 feet, 2.5 inches. That moment, however, was soon eclipsed by Carlos and Smith's iconoclastic "Black Power" salute on the 200m medal platform. Bud Greenspan discusses the fallout from the men's black-gloved protest and how Olympic boxing gold medalist George Foreman salved the wound with a simple gesture.
Details
- NETWORK: HBO
- DATE: August 12, 1999 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:59:24
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:82784
- GENRE: Public affairs/documentaries; Sports
- SUBJECT HEADING: Olympic Games, 1968, Summer, Mexico City; Sports; Olympics
- SERIES RUN: HBO - TV, 1999
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Ross Greenburg … Executive Producer
- Rick Bernstein … Senior Producer
- George Roy … Producer
- Steven Stern … Producer, Writer
- Jack Raybin … Associate Producer
- Brian Keane … Music by
- Liev Schreiber … Narrator
- Bob Beamon
- John Carlos
- Harry Edwards
- Lee Evans
- George Foreman
- Paul Hoffman
- Tommie Smith
- Bob Winter