History Film / TheTrialOfTheChicago7

-->'''William Kunstler:''' '''NO HE DOESN'T!!!'''

''The Trial of the Chicago 7'' is a 2020 [[HistoricalFiction historical drama]] film written and directed by Creator/AaronSorkin about the 1969–70 trial of the Chicago Seven, a group of anti-[[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar Vietnam War]] protesters indicted for conspiracy and crossing state lines with the intention of inciting riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The film was produced by Creator/ParamountPictures and Creator/DreamWorks (and the latter company's first streaming original), and ultimately sold to Creator/{{Netflix}} in light of the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic making a lucrative theatrical distribution impossible.

* CourtroomAntics: Hoffman and Rubin provide plenty of those for a legal system they have utter contempt for. The standout example comes when they come in dressed in judges' robes, are asked to remove them, and then [[RefugeInAudacity reveal they're wearing police costumes beneath them]].

As for those defendants, they are divided into multiple camps, including moderates like Tom Hayden (Creator/EddieRedmayne), Rennie Davis (Alex Sharp), and David Dellinger (Creator/JohnCarrollLynch), and the more radical Yippies Abbie Hoffman (Creator/SachaBaronCohen) and Jerry Rubin (Creator/JeremyStrong). Meanwhile, two other defendants, Lee Weiner (Creator/NoahRobbins) and John Froines (Daniel Flaherty), are at best tangentially involved in the incident if at all, and the one African-American codefendant, Black Panther Party chairman Bobby Seale (Creator/YahyaAbdulMateenII), was definitely not involved at all.

As for those defendants, they are divided into multiple camps, including moderates like Tom Hayden (Creator/EddieRedmayne), Rennie Davis (Alex Sharp), and David Dellinger (Creator/JohnCarrollLynch), and the more radical Yippies Abbie Hoffman (Creator/SachaBaronCohen) and Jerry Rubin (Creator/JeremyStrong). Meanwhile, two other defendants, Lee Weiner (Creator/NoahRobbins) and John Froines (Daniel Flaherty), are at best tangentially involved in the incident if at all, and the one African-American co-defendant, Black Panther Party chairman Bobby Seale (Creator/YahyaAbdulMateenII), was definitely not involved at all.

What follows is a drawn-out trial, with the moderates frustrated not only by the Yippies' defiant antics undermining their case, but by having to deal with Judge Julius Hoffman (Creator/FrankLangella)--no relation to Abbie--who is presiding over the trial and is [[HangingJudge obviously biased against them]]. Meanwhile, Seale, who has been denied legal counsel of his own choosing for the trial, since his preferred lawyer is sick, is forced to protest to almost no avail.

What follows is a drawn-out trial, with the moderates not only frustrated by the Yippies' defiant antics undermining their case, but by having to deal with Judge Julius Hoffman (Creator/FrankLangella)--no relation to Abbie--who is presiding over the trial and is [[HangingJudge obviously biased against them]]. Meanwhile, Seale, who has been denied legal counsel of his own choosing for the trial, since his preferred lawyer is sick, is forced to protest to almost no avail.

''The Trial of the Chicago 7'' is a 2020 [[HistoricalFiction historical drama]] film, written and directed by Creator/AaronSorkin and starring Creator/EddieRedmayne and Creator/SachaBaronCohen, about the 1969–70 trial of the Chicago Seven, a group of anti-[[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar Vietnam War]] protesters indicted for conspiracy and crossing state lines with the intention of inciting riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The film was produced by Creator/ParamountPictures and Creator/DreamWorks (and the latter company's first streaming original), and ultimately sold to Creator/{{Netflix}} in light of the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic making a lucrative theatrical distribution impossible.

''The Trial of the Chicago 7'' is a 2020 [[HistoricalFiction historical drama]] written and directed by Creator/AaronSorkin and starring Creator/EddieRedmayne and Creator/SachaBaronCohen about the 1969-70 trial of the Chicago Seven, a group of anti-Vietnam War protesters indicted for conspiracy and crossing state lines with the intention of inciting riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The film was produced by Creator/ParamountPictures and Creator/DreamWorks (and the latter company's first streaming original), and ultimately sold to Creator/{{Netflix}} in light of the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic making a lucrative theatrical distribution impossible.

In 1969 Federal prosecutor Richard Schultz (Creator/JosephGordonLevitt) is bluntly ordered against his advice by the new Attorney General of the UsefulNotes/RichardNixon Administration to make examples of a group of leftist troublemakers for their supposed role in causing trouble in Chicago in 1968.

As for those defendants, they are divided into multiple camps, with three being moderates like Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, and David Dellinger, and the radical Yippies of Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin. Meanwhile, two other defendants, Lee Weiner and John Froines, are at best tangentially involved in the incident if at all and the one African-American co-defendant, Black Panther chairman Bobby Seale, was definitely not involved at all.

What follows is a drawn out trial with the moderates not only frustrated by the Yippies' defiant antics undermining their case, but dealing with Judge Julius Hoffman (no relation to Abbie) who is [[HangingJudge obviously biased against them]]. Meanwhile, Seale, who was denied legal counsel of his own choosing for the trial since his preferred lawyer is sick, is forced to protest to almost no avail.

Along the way, the defendants eventually find that for all their philosophical difference about political activism, they all have their own faults and ideals they can respect.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_20200913_200359.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:The Whole World is Watching!]]

!!This film provide examples of:

* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: Judge Hoffman commends Tom Hayden for being the only defendant who has behaved responsibly throughout the trial. Hayden is visibly mortified by Hoffman's perspective of him and promptly defies his orders during his final statement.

* ApologeticAttacker: When pacifist Dave Dillinger finally snaps and punches a marshal while being dragged away, he apologized profusely.

** Hayden and Abbie Hoffman didn't actually disagree the way this is portrayed. Though Hayden was more civil and restrained, he also said some explosive things just as Hoffman did. Additionally, they had less contrasting hair and dress styles (Hayden was long-haired as well, for ).

** This is a case of ArtisticLicenseHistory, though. In reality, Richard Schultz gave no indication that he had a problem with Judge Hoffman's behavior and has gone on the record saying that his portrayal in the movie as being slightly embarrassed by the proceedings is entirely false. He also never claimed to the Attorney General that they didn't have a case.

* AntiVillain: Richard Schultz seems to bear no ill will towards the defendants, he advises against moving forward with the trial, [[PetTheDog he’s shown to love his daughters,]] [[EveryoneHasStandards he’s appalled by Judge Hoffman’s treatment of Bobby Seale,]] and he evens [[spoiler:stands with the defendants in honor of the dead soldiers of Vietnam]]. [[PunchClockVillain The only thing he’s guilty of is doing his job.]]

** David Dellinger never punched a marshal in reality.

** John Mitchell feels the need to complain about Ramsey Clark slighting him. When he says Clark only did it to embarrass him, he then states that Clark was probably more embarrassed. His bitching about it says otherwise.

* BlatantLies: The testimony of the police and FBI agents is intercut with flashbacks to what actually happened during the period they are telling the court about. At ''best'', they choose the least-charitable interpretation possible of the protestors' actions (such as describing Alan Ginsberg's megaphone [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Om Om]] as an inciting warlike chant) if they don't lie outright.