30 THE NEW YORK TIMES, THURSDAY; FEBRUARY 9, 1978 rama o Rights Drive •. By JOHN J. O'CONNOR 1NG," 's slx-hour "docu- drama" being presented' by NBC-TV in two-hour .! .-e segments on consecutive - nights, begins Sunday at 9 P.M. Already • the production is caught up in an un- usually blustery swirl of vested-Interest .criticism and potential controversy. Written and directed by • Abby Mann, whose previous scripts include the film.; "Judgment at Nuremberg". and televi;ri,- s ion's "The Marcus-Nelsori . Minders" (which gave birth to "Kojalt"), this new ill. project, ,reportedly costing nearly: $5.i: million, traces the life of Martin Luther King 'Jr. from the 1953 courtship of his • ' future wife,:Coretta, to his murder at.a Memphis Motel in 1968. As a portrait of Dr. King; this is inevitably a portrait of the civil-rights movement, specifically the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Perhaps a -degree of factionalism Is unavoidable in any movement, and that is where vest- • ed interests enter the picture. Hosea Wit. Rains and the Rev. Dr. Ralph D. Aberna- thy, oun-ent leaders of S.C.L.C., are con- '- tending that Mr. Mares script inflates the roles played by, among others, .Mrs. , King, Stanley Levison, a white King aide • who is no 'Mrs. King's lawyer, and An- drew Young, now United' States Chief Delegate to the United Nations.. , . • • 4 Undoubtedly the S.C.L.C. leaders have a point. The character of Dr. Abernathy is decidedly minor in the film, and Mr. Williams is excluded altogether. But Mr., • '4'1 . - • • • 4. Mann, in New York this week for spe- 044 4. Alain Iwilthl cial screening, insists that his sole pur- • Paul• Winfield,;.in white:hat, as Martin Luther King Jr:, and Cicely Tyson, next,to him, as his pose wee to capture Dr. King as a- man... wife,.Coretta in g '1 to be shown on Ch..' Sunday, gonda :and. Tuesday. , . • ' He included and emplailzed only those • ' • elements that he thought essential for 2v.1-.-!,' • •*i_ - 'later says: "It just don't happen that illuminating his central subject—Dr. Kine.go,.but later invited him back -Wee Beyond factional ego battles, the film • me believe and unshakable belief in nonviolence. ,M8 had cone of•the Hoover tactic. ^ • • 'qinte intentionaty runs into explosive way—they'llit was coincidental!' never make • The role of Mr. Levison becomes Some observers argue that preoc- controversy -with a clear Implication Purely as "docu-drama," "King" does prominent, then, as an illustration of Dr .cupatIon with Mr.-,Levison in the film that the F.B.I. was to some degree in- not avoid the familiar pitfalls of the King's basic decency. The late Robert F. suggests' that Dr. King had o rely on volved in the King assassination. Mr. treacherous form. It is conceded at the Kennedy suggested that Mr. Levison be a white man. for hie guidance and el-' Hoover is Portrayed as a harassing rac- outset that "in some instances, dia- dropped from the movement because the quence. But the ,l'ilm'.dnes no such thing, lot psychopath fighting tho specter of logue, action and composite characters late J. 'Edgar .Hoo.ver, Director of the Time and time again; Dr. King, shown black -insurrection." Black anti-King were created to advance the story." Federal Bureau of Investigation, .search-* to be almost fiercely independent, some-. derponstratora In Memphis are shown At times, newsreel footage is combined jig for smear material, was preparing times going counter to the advice of all to be on the F.B.I. payroill.'And, hours with dramatizanun to produce a black- to accuse the lawyer of being a Cornmu- his aides, The best example /a.provided before Dr. King's death, black police- end-white blur of fact and re-created. 'list. Dr. King reluctantly let Mr. Leiris,on . by his opposition tothe Vietnam War. • menjalyrestrPonsansferrectible fortobiLswafettlyeze sud- fact. Time sequences are violatede■ 4• vbirnle: pothewelarftutl scene betweena. anti F. Black Muslim leader, the first scene eon, with its peculiar mixture of news that Mr. Mann actually wrote in his and entertainment, are justifiably more 12-year project, is made to take place rigid than the subjective choices of a at a time that would be one year after dramatist, • Malcolm's death. Mr. Mann pre,qses,his• Does "Kinejciipture Martin Luther defense: "If you don't distort the pea-, 'King Jr. as a man? To a remarkable pie, if you don't distort what they say, extent, yes, Paul Winfield's perform- it doesn't matter where you insert the ance as Dr. King is extraordinary in materiaL" But the demands of telyi- , most respects. Although the actor can't quite duplicate the magnificent reso- nances. of Dr..King!s public speaking, ,' he fully' embodies the determination, 'inner strength ,and' dignity of, a born ,leader;.'He -Commands respect even twhent'clowning around in a pillow 'fight. .; : • • ;1.- • ' . As Coretta, King, Cicely' Tyson . 6 disappointing, once again reverting to an u-ritating primness that seems to have seriously infected her acting re- cently. But most'of the supporting cast is, good,' notably Howard Rollins as Andrew ,Young:.Kenneth McMillan as Eugene (Bull) Connor, the Police Corn- missiontui of Birmingham. 'Ala.; Dick Anthony. 'as Malcolm X,. Al Freeman Jr. as Damon Lockwood (one'. of the composite ctharacters), and espe- daily Ossle Davis a _Martin Luther King. Sr., a tower of belevolent.tyran- ny. I • • ; : Mr. Mann's script is weakest when dealing with Dr. King's private domes- ,: tic concerns, which rarely amount to more than' obligatory interludes be- tween servings of the main bussiness at hand, The Major dramatic thrusts ' re obviously contained In the sweeping movements of Dr. King's public life- Montgoinery to Birmingham to Selma. , to Chicago. from busing .to 'voting rights to the Vietnarn.War. to the na- tion's poor.. For the Kennedys, he was usually, taking action too soon, For the F.B.I., he was, always doing too much. For some of his own colleagues;' he was not diplomatic ,enough.• His Vietnam protests, they said, alienated President Lyndon B, Johnson and "put slur". on black patriotism; For the Country, in the end, he was one of the most dynamic' and important leaders of the century. This Is the message that comes through clearly in "King! .