| The Education of Sonny Carson | |
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Original theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Michael Campus |
| Produced by | David Golden Irwin Yablans |
| Written by | Sonny Carson Fred Hudson |
| Starring | Rony Clanton Don Gordon Joyce Walker Paul Benjamin Mary Alice |
| Music by | Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson |
| Cinematography | Edward R. Brown |
| Release date(s) | July 17, 1974 |
| Running time | 104 minutes |
| Country | USA |
| Language | American English |
| Budget | $1,000,000 |
The Education of Sonny Carson is a 1974 film based on the best-selling autobiography of Sonny Carson, who joined a gang and committed petty crime before being sent to prison. After his release from prison, he changes his life, also prompted by his girlfriend's addiction to heroin.
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The film had many original directional styles, of the hand in prison moment from the prisoner and civilian. The dark interrogation moment, where two of the police officers come from the dark interrogating a young black male. In order to portray Sonny Carson's violent gang initiation, the film camera was placed in a metal cage. The scene was filmed from two points of view: one of Sonny running through a row of gang-members beating him with chains and clubs, the other from Sonny's own perspective as he was being humiliated and injured in order to join the gang.
The film had a $1 million budget[1]. Michael Campus has stressed over this low budget and says he didn't know how he did it. The cast members were people from the neighborhood. The film explores social issues facing the African American population such as poverty, drug abuse, violence and police discrimination.
The Wu-Tang Clan, Prodigy of Mobb Deep, AZ, Common, Ghostface Killah, and Lauryn Hill have sampled dialogue from the film in their music.