Skokie (film)

Skokie is 1981 television movie directed by Herbert Wise, based on the real life incident of a legal battle of the community of Skokie, Illinois, against the National Socialist Party of America.

The film premiered in the U.S. on November 17, 1981. It aired on German television on March 3, 1997.

Plot
In a comfortable Chicago suburb, Skokie, the peace of the community is threatened when a politically astute neo-Nazi organizer selects the place as the site of his next rally. The town’s population, closer to forty percent, is Jewish and many of them are survivors of the Nazi holocaust. They saw the march as a warning and reminder of the holocaust days. National Socialist Party of America, an offshoot of the American Nazi Party, determined to conduct the rally under the leader Frank Joseph Collin. The Jewish community decided to stand against the rally at all cost to make sure that the days of the holocaust and degradation must never be forgotten, or allowed to happen again.

Moderate leaders Bert Silverman (Eli Wallach) and Abbot Rosen (Carl Reiner) advise the Jewish community to ignore the neo-Nazis; the strategy they put forward was “quarantine”, isolating the meeting by totally ignoring the neo-Nazi presence and being unprovoked. The logic was simple, if the Jewish community refuse to acknowledge the rally and unprovoked and thus refuse to feed the mass media of any publicity, the meeting will be futile and eventually forgotten. The town officials also advice the community to ignore the neo-Nazi march as they are a minor political fraction and they are not powerful enough to do any harm. However, one citizen challenges their argument, a simple minded man and a holocaust survivor, Max Feldman (Danny Kaye) says that he was told this nearly forty years ago in Germany and before he knew it he was in a concentration camp. He says this time if they march, he will not ignore them; he will take action, and he is ready to shed blood if necessary. Led by the de facto spokesman most members of the community agreed to protest. The film spans a year and a half of legal battles and explores the meaning of freedom and First Amendment in United States of America.

Alternative Titles

 * Hotet mot Skokie (Sweden)
 * Kreuz der Gewalt (West Germany)
 * Natsimarssi (Finland)
 * Once They Marched Through a Thousand Towns (UK)

Cast

 * Danny Kaye – Max Feldman
 * John Rubinstein - Herb Lewisohn
 * George Dzundza - Frank Collin
 * Carl Reiner - Abbot Rosen
 * Kim Hunter - Bertha Feldman
 * Eli Wallach - Bert Silverman
 * Brian Dennehy - Police Chief Arthur Buchanan
 * Ed Flanders - Mayor Albert J. Smith
 * Stephen D. Newman	 - Aryeh Neier
 * James Sutorius - David Hamlin
 * Lee Strasberg - Morton Weisman
 * Marin Kanter - Janet Feldman

Picture Gallery
Click the image to enlarge

DVD

 * Format: Color, NTSC, PAL
 * Language: English
 * Rating PG
 * Boulveard Entertainment ltd.
 * Run Time: 120 minutes

VHS

 * Format: Color, NTSC
 * Language: English
 * Number of tapes: 1
 * Rating PG
 * Studio: Academy Home
 * VHS Release Date: June 2, 1993
 * Run Time: 121 minutes