Crisis at Central High facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Crisis at Central High |
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|---|---|
| Genre | Drama History |
| Written by | Elizabeth Huckaby (memoir) Richard Levinson William Link |
| Directed by | Lamont Johnson |
| Starring | Joanne Woodward Charles Durning Henderson Forsythe Calvin Levels William Russ Tamu Blackwell Shannon John Bonnie Pemberton |
| Music by | Billy Goldenberg |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Richard Levinson William Link David Susskind |
| Producer(s) | Robert Papazian Freyda Rothstein (supervising producer) |
| Production location(s) | Dallas Central High School - 1500 Park Street, Little Rock, Arkansas |
| Cinematography | Donald M. Morgan |
| Editor(s) | John Wright |
| Running time | 125 minutes |
| Distributor | CBS |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBS |
| Picture format | Color |
| Audio format | Mono |
| Original release | February 4, 1981 |
Crisis at Central High is a 1981 made-for-television movie about the Little Rock Integration Crisis of 1957, based on a draft of the memoir by the same name by former assistant principal Elizabeth Huckaby.
William Link and Richard Levinson wrote the screenplay and were executive producers together with David Susskind of Time-Life Productions. The film starred Joanne Woodward as Huckaby and told the events from that character's point of view, although one obituary at the time of Huckaby's death cited her as saying the TV-movie enlarged her role. Woodward was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or a Special and a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV, in 1981 and 1982 respectively.
Composite characters
Like many docudramas, Crisis included some composite characters; at least one reviewer (O'Connor) criticizes the vague disclaimer to that effect, arguing that in a piece about such controversial events, alterations to the truth should be identified more specifically. In addition to the creative license already mentioned with regard to her role in the crisis, Huckaby was reported to have said the film showed some events are out of sequence and slightly altered others.
Filming
The movie was filmed on location in Little Rock and at Woodrow Wilson High School in Dallas, Texas. Many local Dallas actors had featured roles in the film, including radio personality Suzie Humphreys, TV and theater actor Jerry Haynes, teacher and actress Irma P. Hall, and Theater Three director Norma Young, as well as Taylor, a native Dallasite who was attending Southern Methodist University at the time the film was being cast.
See also
- Civil rights movement in popular culture
- The Ernest Green Story
