The Trial of the Chicago 7

Front Row at the Movies by Shirrel Rhoades

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As a young man I had a rebellious streak. I was a regular reader of “The Realist,” a satiric tabloid published by Paul Krassner, one of the founders of the Yippies Movement. The Youth International Party was a countercultural uprising that urged free speech and pursued an anti-war agenda. The movement had no formal membership or hierarchy, just the demand for “an immediate end to the war in Vietnam.”

One of the other Yippies founders was Abbie Hoffman. He later wrote a book titled “Steal This Book.” I did.

And another founder was Jerry Rubin, who later became a millionaire from his Apple stock. He sometimes debated Abbie, billed as “Yippie vs. Yuppie.”

I remember when these pranksters threw money into the air at the New York Stock Exchange just to watch traders scramble greedily after the floating currency. Known for their “guerrilla theater” antics, they were sometimes called the Groucho Marxists.

As it happened, I missed the Vietnam draft, but I supported the war protest in Chicago during the 1968 Democratic Convention. The YIP had organized a six-day Festival of Life in Grant Park. That turned into a bloody clash between protesters and Chicago Police.

From among the 15,000 protestors, eight people were charged by federal prosecutors with conspiracy to cross state lines to incite a riot (and related infractions). Black Panther leader Bobby Seale (I knew his cousin) was eventually dropped from the lawsuit, leaving what we call today The Chicago 7.

These were not one unified group of protesters. The Chicago 7 represented a cross-section of the New Left. In addition to flamboyant Yippies Abby Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, the defendants included non-violent activist David Dellinger, Tom Hayden of the Students for Democratic Society, Rennie Davis of National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, chemist John Froines, and a little-know social activist named Lee Weiner.

The trial lasted four months, ending with the defendants acquitted of conspiracy, but five of them convicted of inciting a riot. And contempt of court citations piled up like scofflaw parking tickets. Defense lawyer William Kunstler was sentenced to four years in prison for addressing the judge by his name instead of “Your Honor.”

However, all the convictions were reversed on appeal.

The courtroom drama of this clash between New Left and Old Right can be seen in an excellent 2-hour 10-minute film on Netflix. Originally planned as a theatrical release, “The Trial of the Chicago 7” was written and directed by Aaron Sorkin (“The Social Network,” TV’s “The Newsroom,” and TV’s “West Wing” series).

You will see a number of familiar faces (and a few not so familiar) in the roles. Sasha Baron Cohen (you’ll remember him as “Borat”) sports a bushy ‘do as Abbie Hoffman. Jeremy Strong (“Zero Dark Thirty,” “The Big Short”) looks properly scruffy as Jerry Rubin. And Eddie Redmayne (“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” and an Oscar-winner for “The Theory of Everything”) offers a calm yuppie depiction of Tom Hayden, future husband of Jane Fonda and who later served in the California State Assembly and State Senate.

Mark Rylance (Oscar-winner for “Bridge of Spies”) does well as the long-haired lawyer William Kunstler, co-founder of The Center for Constitutional Rights and the defense attorney who takes on the case. A bespectacled Joseph Gordon-Levitt (“(500) Days of Summer,” “Snowden”) takes on the role of Richard Schultz, the mild-mannered assistant federal prosecutor who doesn’t relish being in the middle of this courtroom circus.

A stand-out performance is Frank Langella (“Dracula,” “Frost/Nixon”) as cantankerous and dictatorial Judge Julius Hoffman (no relation to Abby) who presides over this clown show. Langella captures the reasons why 78% of Chicago lawyers surveyed registered an unfavorable opinion of Judge Hoffman.

And a chubby Michael Keaton pops up as Ramsay Clark. The former US Attorney General appeared as a witness for the Chicago 7, but Judge Hoffman refused to let the jury hear his testimony.

The storyline of “The Trial of the Chicago 7” is fixed in history, taken down by a court stenographer. But Aaron Sorkin adds his magic touch. A protégé of William Goldman (Academy Awards for “All the President’s Men” and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”), he is known for writing fast-paced dialogue, (and such memorable lines as “You can’t handle the truth!”). Goldman noted that Sorkin “has a talent for dialogue.”

Critic Jacob Drum described his writing style as “one part pioneer; one part self-conscious romantic … but most importantly, spinning a good yarn while he does so.”

Despite the political activism that’s at center stage in “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” Sorkin says he does not consider himself a political activist: “I’ve met political activists, and they’re for real. I’ve never marched anyplace or done anything that takes more effort than writing a check in terms of activism.”

Email Shirrel: srhoades@aol.com