The movie Lord Thing combines actual footage of the Conservative Vice Lords from the 1960s with reenactments by Vice Lords themselves. It shows how a street gang can trasnsfom itself into legal business and become part of a social movement.
It was directed by DeWitt Beall and funded by the Xerox Corporation and the Montgomery Foundation. It won the Silver Medal at the Venice Film Festival in 1970 and was screened at Cannes. Unlike other Xerox films, it was not shown in the United States was lost and forgotten. Since it was sharply critical of Mayor Richard J. Daley, many believe pressure from the Chicago Democratic machine was responsible.
This copy was discovered in Beall's garage after he died and shown here with permission of the Montgomery Foundation. It wa screened in Lawndale before an audience of four generations of vice lords on November 1, 2008.
Source: Youtube.com
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