The Hurricane, a 1999 film which stars Denzel Washington, Vicellous Reon Shannon , Deborah Unger , Liev Schreiber, John Hannah, Dan Hedaya, Debbi Morgan, Clancy Brown, David Paymer and Harris Yulin , purports to be the true story of boxer Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, whose conviction for triple murder was overturned after he had spent almost 20 years in prison.
The script was adapted by Armyan Bernstein and Dan Gordon from the books Lazarus and the Hurricane by Sam Chaiton and Terry Swinton and The 16th Round by Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter. The film was directed by Norman Jewison.
Washington was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.
The movie was criticized for misrepresenting some of the facts of Carter's life, including his previous criminal record and a military career that saw him court-martialed four times and discharged as "unfit". Former Middleweight Champion Joey Giardello sued the film's producers for libel over the depiction of his fight with Carter; the case was settled, with the producers paying the retired champion a hefty sum (reportedly $300,000).
Hurricane was also a song by Bob Dylan taken from his 1976 album Desire. It also tells the story of the alleged injustice behind Rubin Carter's imprisonment.
Tagline: His greatest fight was for justice.
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