The Hurricane

"His greatest fight was for justice."

1999 2h 26m EN

👍

7.4

SOLID

🍅

82%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

7.6

IMDB

★7.4TMDB · 1,580🍅82%Rotten Tomatoes●74Metacritic★7.6IMDB · 105,197

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

The story of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, a boxer wrongly imprisoned for murder, and the people who aided in his fight to prove his innocence.

“His greatest fight was for justice.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Denzel Washington
Rubin "Hurricane" Carter
Vicellous Shannon
Lesra Martin
Deborah Kara Unger
Lisa Peters
Liev Schreiber
Sam Chaiton
John Hannah
Terry
Dan Hedaya
Della Pesca
Debbi Morgan
Mae Thelma
Clancy Brown
Lt. Jimmy Williams

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Norman Jewison
Writers: Armyan Bernstein, Dan Gordon
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $50M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

27 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Norman Jewison, shot by Roger Deakins. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Christopher Young. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Stephen E. Rivkin shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Denzel Washington and Vicellous Shannon and Deborah Kara Unger carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "His greatest fight was for justice.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0174856 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Norman Jewison directs. Roger Deakins behind the camera. Christopher Young scores. Stephen E. Rivkin cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Mid-budget at $50M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
227 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Directed by Norman Jewison, shot by Roger Deakins. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Christopher Young. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Stephen E. Rivkin shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Denzel Washington and Vicellous Shannon and Deborah Kara Unger carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "His greatest fight was for justice.".
8IMDB entry: tt0174856 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 26 themes, including "prison", "new jersey", "1970s", "boxer".

The technical file

Cinematography: Roger Deakins
Original score: Christopher Young
Editing: Stephen E. Rivkin
Production design: Philip Rosenberg
Costume design: Aggie Guerard Rodgers
Makeup / hair: Irene Kent
Runtime: 146 min · 2h 26m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $50,000,000
Box office: $73,956,241
Return: 148% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The Hurricane (1999)
Rotten Tomatoes: 82% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 74/100
IMDB rating: 7.6/10 · 105,197 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

Nominated for 1 Oscar. 7 wins & 18 nominations total

Also by

Norman Jewison

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2025-05-30
★ 7/10
Denzel Washington is really quite convincing here as the real-life boxer Ruben Carter who fought his way from poverty to a crack at the title only for it to be snatched away from him. That’s because he happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and swiftly found himself on the wrong end of a triple life sentence for murder. With the authorities quite happy that the right man (or, indeed, any man) is locked up for these crimes, nobody is interested in paroling him let alone hearing any appeals. Things might be about to change, though, when the young Lesra (Vicellous Shannon) reads of his case and together with a few of his own mentors, decides that he is going to strive to prove Carter’s innocence. What’s quite clear is that his incarceration has robbed Carter of any semblance of faith in the system, and his anger is barely disguised as his contempt becomes more ingrained and his despair more entrenched. The young Lesra does, however, manage to make him see that there is always hope, even when it’s clear that for the establishment, admitting it is/was wrong is simply not on it’s agenda. To add to the complications, there are also some more venal aspects enthusiastic for him to remain in jail and finally there is the convicting sheriff (Dan Hedaya) who is as racist as it’s possible to get, and who has no intention of seeing his quarry ever escape from behind bars. There are a few solid supporting roles from Liev Schrieber and briefly from Rod Steiger - though not so much from the curiously cast John Hannah - to support this developing critique on the flawed justice system that put him there, and though there’s no actual jeopardy to the conclusion of the story, Norman Jewison and Washington do still manage to keep this interesting for much of it’s admittedly overlong two and an half hours as it spotlights racial discrimination and hatred hiding in plain sight. It drags a little at times, but for the most part is quite a compelling drama.

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