THE NEW YORK TIMES, THURSDAY,. FEBRUARY 16, 1978 'King' Disap oi F • Controversy on Film's Accur c Flares Up Amonk Black Adi • But the United States repreientabve By ROGER,WILKINS , 4 to the United Nations, Andrew 3. Young, HE dramatization of the life of who served as the'executive director of the , Rev. pr. Martin Luther the S.C.L.C.'• under Dr. King,t.:hinka :the ' rn' • Jr. ran' into controversy film was a Successful dramatic . evotation `TIT'. its accuracy even before of both the Man and the period 'arid was rthe film was completed. Though that somewhat impatient with ,mtick: of !the j•ceriflict was muted by the intervention criticism. • ' • • t,of Dr. King's widow, Coretta Scott "Some of the critics didn't even watch. -dring, It flared again this week when the whole thing, and sorrut'of them were- I:the three-part series .was shown on n't there during the whole: period,. and 'NBC.' some of them have their' own. persorial 7 The reactions are emotional, in part grievances about being leftAmbas, i.because, to each of those who partici- sador Young said.' • ". • " t g I''H!. • '''Patecl,Ythe civil rights period and their Marian Wright EdelMan;dIrector of the memories of Dr. King are. emotionally Children's Defense Fund, who worked in important.' the 1960's for the NAACP Legal'Defense The earlier argument arose when the Fund in Mississippi and was for a time -Rev. Ralph Abernathy, a close associ- the only black civil rights lawyer in that ate of Dr. King through his life and state, agreed with Mr. Young. for her, The Rev. De. Martin Luther King Jr witiktlie Rei: Jesse his successor as president of the South- the film is a powerful evocation not only, ern Christian Leadership Conference, of that period, but of her childhood In „Jackson; left, and the Rev. Ralph D. Abernathy in saw an early version of the script last a little town in South Carolina.. ,. summer and thought that Dr. King was was watching it with my 8-year." -L'Memphis, April 3, 1968. portrayed as being cowardly, Mrs. King old son," she said, "and for the first quickly squelched that objection by de- time he began to understand what my fending the fain as a drama that should childhood had been. My reaction was be Judged as such, rather than as a very personal: It reminded me of how documentary, which - would have horrible the fear was in those Missis- of the film. They think the fierce con- producers of the film. reuired literal fidelity to the details of sippi days. Iliad forgottn that, even centration on Dr. King has*, distorted , Charlayne Hunter-Gault, now a tele- the civil rights leader's life. though it Is so recent, I was scared it beyond redemption. • ' vision news analyst, who with Hamil- Some of those who were Close to all the time. After the first night, I "Martin was , a great' man, there's, ton Holmes integrated the University Dr. King are prepared to ignore what had nightmares that Andy .Young got no doubt about that," said one persort of Georgia In 1961, is one of those they perceive to be historical inaccura- shot, that Julian Bond got shpt, that who .requested anonymity, "but Bob. who feels the omissions keenly. ' everybody was getting shot." ; cies and omissions of Individual and Moses (an early S.N.C.C. leader) wait "All of those people in S.N.C.C. were group contributions because they be- Stanley D. Levison,- a while New 'a great. man too and those S.N.C.C. my friends," she said. "1 don't see how lieve the film to be a moving and use- York lawyer whose role In. Dr. King's kids were as brave as anybody on the S.N.C.C. could have been sold so short ful evocation of King the man and his. movement Is !central to the film, be- face of the leartit and the N.A.A.C.P: when obviously Julian's (Bond). movement. Others are simply enraged lieves that, while It has major was always 'around bailing everybody presence in th efilm suggests S.N.C.C. at what they take to be deliberate dis- lions,, its overall impdct Is powerful out. That was part of Martin's story was there In a significant way. It's• tortions of an Intensely personal part and beneficial. "I don't thinic the rest too and It shouldn't have been left mooshy, a mish mash." . of their own histories and an Important of the movement was portrayed fide• out." r. Abby. Mann,, who wrote and part of the history of the struggle of quately at all,", he said. bnonetheless, Dr. Betty Shabaz, the widow of Mal- .de.` yeloped the film, says he can under- black people in America. • Mr. Levison Is clear about his judgment color X, had a more specific complaint.' stood the S.N.C.C.. criticism, but- he: The Rev. Hosea Williams,. now • of the impact pf.the film: , She said she was "outraged" by the. executive director of Dr. King's South- "This Is both the' story .Cif 'Martin portrayal of her husband as a man .staunchly .defends the gdnerat thrust, ern Chritlan Leadership Conference, ,..King and of the courage of the black •whostr"total philosophy was based on, of the film.: ' ' has Issued a harsh statement charging people. Martin wouldn't have had any- 'hate." She said It was not necessarao. "Whit(People don't!Understand," that the film "distorts the true image : body: to lead if that courage hadn't In paying tribute to Dr: King to "dis-, said in a recent interview, "is that this' of Dr. King" because it portrays. him been there.",. • ,parage and defame the memories of is the kind of film Martin Luther King as weaker, less decisive and more fear,- , Others who were the movement other leaders," and she has announcerb iwieted,,lielold me, 'Don't make me, ful than Mr. Williams remembers. • aren't so sure about the overailjMOiCt her intention to suLNBC and the' sailpgeiplei_,_won!t_ believe-.1111j. ;thiTC-iiiTio—oist and do iviiefl d1d And Daddy king (the Rev..Martin Lu' $5 Million TV Documentat3i Showl 'ther King'Sr,) came up to me at the ,„ and said, There have been ,,so'so Many lies, but this is the truth. Is Regarded as a Rating Disaster; !That'll enough for me."' j' :! - •tg - One of the film's majoir theme*. is . ,,. this stuff a bout Montgomery, Alabama, • "I was getting mad watching It," she the contribution of Mr. Levison, who. • By CAREY. WINFREY• . and it would lust turn ..my stomach:: said. "It's lousy, the way they were private activities most of his • - sicking doge on people, turning water' treated down in the South. It's hard to work with Dr. King but whose rola HATEVER Its virtues as to $5 ;hoses on womeniand.shildren, 2 didn't; to believe that human beings; could has .been clouded for many years by history or drama, NBC's -treat other human beingsiike that. ' Federal Bureau of Investigation asset; ,W million documentary drama ' .want to see it,!'. ''",4.:.• !,,li • We've come along way.".. • • about the Rev. Dr. Martin , He left the restatrdfit.. deny and Hone that he was a Communist influe ;.photograph, But Another patron, E.' Adams, over- ence•on the movement, In a recent In: Luther King Jr. was a ratings disaster.returned with a. framed that him In' the front rank of hearing Mrs, Simmons, disagreed with thrview, he went to great lengths to "King," the six-hour special that ended showed her about haw far the nation has come describe the major contributions made a three-night run on NBC with its con- . a march down .Seventh Avenue after since the events portrayed in "King." by other organizations. He noted that chiding episode Tuesday evening, scored King's assassination In 1968. • Saa Doter, another patron of He Said that the program ;Wade me the Freedom Rides were initiated by nowhere near the viewership of • realize that.all the advances he bad- the Congress of Racial Equality, that "Roots," the ABC-TV dramatization of John's Pace on , ;Sventh Avenue at 138th Street„ said that she began to gotten together—as much as they were the murders of Michael Goodman, a black family's life in the slave era, heralded at ' the time—none, of it has James Cheney and Mickey Schwerner, whose success NBC executives had watch the, first episode; Sunday night. .. , _ : , ."But then company came by," she said,. been followed through," Wand Added: mentioned prominently in the film, oc- hoped to repeat. "There've been laws, and they'Ve found curred in a project substantially led• On the average; two out of three "and they thought it would make them all weepy, so we went into another ways to evade them. As they sair, you by the Student Nonviolent Coordinat- Americans watching television were Can't legislate the mind." ' •• ! ing Committee and that the Atlanta tuned to "Roots" when it was shown room while my husband watched It." Asked to compare "King" to "Roots," Gladys Bigger, the restaurant's cook department store desegregation pro- on eight successive evenings more than Mr. Adams said, "One is just the con- gram was also a S.N.C.C. project, while a year ago. Only one in five watched • and day-time bartender, said: "It made tinuation of the other." the film shows Julian Bond persu'ading me very, very sad.