Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story

2004 1h 35m EN

😐

6.0

MID

★6.0TMDB · 62

CrimeDramaTV Movie

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Redemption tells the story of Stan "Tookie" Williams, founder of the Crips L.A. street gang. Story follows his fall into gang-banging, his prison term, and his work writing children's novels encouraging peace and anti-violence resolutions which earned him multiple Nobel Peace Prize nominations. After exhausting all forms of appeal, Tookie was executed by lethal injection.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Cast

Jamie Foxx
Stan 'Tookie' Williams
Lynn Whitfield
Barbara Becnel
Lee Thompson Young
Charles Becnel
Brenden Jefferson
Young Stan Williams
Brenda Bazinet
Barbara's Agent
Wes Williams
Tony Bogard
Greg Ellwand
Prison Chief
CCH Pounder
Winnie Mandela

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Vondie Curtis-Hall
Writers: J. T. Allen
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 / 6

ERA

Did you know

Released 22 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 6

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Vondie Curtis-Hall, shot by David Greene. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 6

DIRECTOR

Did you know

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

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 6

CAST

Did you know

Jamie Foxx and Lynn Whitfield and Lee Thompson Young carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 6

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0388367 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 6

WILD

Did you know

Only 62 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Vondie Curtis-Hall directs. David Greene behind the camera. Terence Blanchard scores. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 22 years ago.
2Directed by Vondie Curtis-Hall, shot by David Greene. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Terence Blanchard. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Jamie Foxx and Lynn Whitfield and Lee Thompson Young carry the top of the cast.
5IMDB entry: tt0388367 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
6Only 62 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: David Greene
Original score: Terence Blanchard
Runtime: 95 min · 1h 35m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
IMDB: Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story (2004)

Also by

Vondie Curtis-Hall

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2015-04-05
★ 6/10
Red Light - Green Light If solely judged on Tookie Williams during his prison years, Redemption is a cracker-jack piece of film. It drives from the heart a sincerity that here was a man, that basically unleashed gangland hell on America, who desperately craved redemption from his prison cell. He strives to do good, to help communities by way of education in book and oration form, but is the film heavily biased towards the redemptive angle? Is the monster side of Williams soft soaped? Sadly yes it is. We don't need to see continual violence thrust in our faces to know Williams was a very bad egg, but although we see staged flashbacks that break the heart and frighten us, director Vondie Curtis-Hall and writer J.T. Allen are fully committed to garnering empathy for the man. Of course on the flip-side of that, if they showed an abundance of violence perpetrated by Williams, then accusations of glorifying would surely have followed. Yet there has to be a balance, a balance that some film makers do find, but it isn't found here. Is it a story worth telling? Yes it is, of course, and with a superb and controlled performance by Jamie Foxx in the title role driving it forwards, it remains riveting throughout. However, when the dust settles and the end credits roll, what of the victims families blighted by Williams crimes? How must they have felt seeing Williams having a film made about him? A double edged sword movie for sure, artistically above average? Yes. Morally? Questionable. 6/10