Acting

William Kunstler

Born 1919-07-07 · New York City, New York, USA

William Moses Kunstler (1919-1995) was an American attorney and civil rights activist, known for defending the Chicago Seven.

Acting credits

Malcolm X poster
7.6

A tribute to the controversial black activist and leader of the struggle for black liberation. He hit bottom during his imprisonment in the '50s, he became a Black Muslim and then a leader in the Nation of Islam. His assassination in 1965 left a legacy of self-determination and racial pride.

Malcolm X

1992

The Doors poster
7.1

The story of the famous and influential 1960s rock band and its lead singer and composer, Jim Morrison.

The Doors

1991

Street Scenes 1970 poster
5.5

Two protest rallies against the Vietnam War that took place in May 1970: the Hard Hat Riot on Wall Street in New York City and Kent State/Cambodia Incursion Protest in Washington, D.C.

Street Scenes 1970

1970

Warrior: The Life of Leonard Peltier poster
10.0

An intimate exploration of the circumstances surrounding the incarceration of Native American activist Leonard Peltier, convicted of murder in 1977, with commentary from those involved, including Peltier himself.

Warrior: The Life of Leonard Peltier

1991

Incident at Oglala poster
7.2

On June 26, 1975, during a period of high tensions on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota, two FBI agents were killed in a shootout with a group of Indians. Although several men were charged with killing the agents, only one, Leonard Peltier, was found guilty. This film describes the events surrounding the shootout and suggests that Peltier was unjustly convicted.

Incident at Oglala

1992

Seven Songs for Malcolm X poster
10.0

The Black Audio Film Collective’s seventh film envisioned the death and life of the African American revolutionary as a seven part study in iconography as narrated by novelist Toni Cade Bambara and actor Giancarlo Espesito. The stylized tableaux vivants that memorialise Malcolm’s life referenced the early 20th century funeral photography of James Van der Zee’s The Harlem Book of the Dead and the elemental static cinematography of Sergei Paradjanov’s The Colour of Pomegranates.

Seven Songs for Malcolm X

1993

60 Spins Around the Sun poster
8.0

Helmed by "Saturday Night Live" alumna Laura Kightlinger, this hourlong exposé chronicles -- warts and all -- the life of comedian turned activist Randy Credico, an up-and-coming funnyman whose candor tanked his career. But the end of his showbiz days didn't stop him: He switched gears and became a mouthpiece for various causes, including the fight against New York's draconian drug laws. Credico's peers and ex-girlfriends weigh in with insights.

60 Spins Around the Sun

2003

Breathing Together: Revolution of the Electric Family poster
6.5

The title of this Canadian documentary may have some relation to Canadian Marshall McLuhan's theories. It combines interview with famous U.S. militants of the '60s, such as Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman, with reenactments of their Chicago trials (i.e., the "Chicago Eight," etc.). Other figures of cultural interest from the time, including Alan Ginsberg and Buckminster Fuller, are interviewed or featured. The filmmaker indicates his belief that powerful forces in the U.S. government worked together to suppress American radicals. This view, widely disbelieved at the time, has since been confirmed.

Breathing Together: Revolution of the Electric Family

1971

Growing Up in America poster
8.5

Filmmaker Morley Markson shows Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary, and other '60s rebels, then and now in a follow up to his 1971 film "Breathing Together: Revolution of the Electric Family."

Growing Up in America

1989

William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe poster
6.1

William Kunstler was one of the most famous lawyers of the 20th century. His clients included Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Phillip and Daniel Berrigan, Abbie Hoffman, H. Rap Brown, Stokely Carmichael, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., and Leonard Peltier. Filmmakers Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler explore their father’s life, from middle-class family man, to movement lawyer, to “the most hated lawyer in America.”

William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe

2009

We Can't Go Home Again poster
6.1

Nicholas Ray plays himself, acting as mentor, friend, and artistic inspiration to his students at Binghamton. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with The Film Foundation.

We Can't Go Home Again

1973