1974: Fifty Years Later / The Education Of Sonny Carson

1974 was a landmark year for film, a convergence of exciting
international cinema and the original voices of New Hollywood that
still resonates 50 years later. In our new series we invite a
different guest for each episode to choose a 1974 movie to talk
about, ranging from giant blockbusters to minor cult curios and
everything else in between. One of the more neglected films of the
year was The Education of Sonny Carson, the coming-of-age tale of
an inner city kid who moves from life with a street gang to
fighting for survival during a stretch in prison. Directed by The
Mack's Michael Campus and adapted by civil rights activist Sonny
Carson from his autobiography, the film packs a more brutal punch
than any movie from its time yet barely gets mentioned these days.
Marcus Pinn returns to discuss the film's curiously underwhelming
reputation despite its decades-long legacy through hip hop music
and influence on the next 50 years of cinema. Even with a messy
aesthetic and muddled narrative, Campus' film is an unquestionably
powerful artwork that captures individual struggle and the cruel
reality of life in Bedford-Stuyvesant with the use of real
locations and real Brooklyn gangs. Support our Patreon:
www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke site:
www.thepinksmoke.com Christopher Funderburg on X:
twitter.com/cfunderburg John Cribbs on X:
twitter.com/TheLastMachine The Pink Smoke on X:
twitter.com/thepinksmoke Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea
for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"