Free the Chicago Seven!
Genre: Drama
Director: Alex Conn
Writer: Alex Conn
Cast: Jay Baruchel, Billy Crudup, Jonathan Groff, Woody Harrelson, Emile Hirsch, Bill Skarsgard, Anthony Hopkins, Stephen Root, Corey Hawkins, Zoe Kazan, Maude Apatow, Matt Jones, Joe Mazzello
Plot: We open with an empty stool then we see a woman announcing Abbie Hoffman’s name. We then see Abbie (Jay Baruchel). He is in his classic American flag shirt. He is lambasting the Vietnam War and says that there is no difference between Hubert Humphrey and Richard Nixon on the issues that matter and he says that he and his partner Jerry Rubin (Emile Hirsch) are going to Chicago to protest the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War that has killed so many young American men and so many Vietnamese people. The American military industrial complex thinks it can tell a foreign country what they can do with their country. As hippies we are against control in all forms.
Chicago will be the perfect place to protest as everything will be broadcast. We can show America how terrible this war is. There will be cameras everywhere and everything. Abbie mentions that we will bring super hot hippie girls to seduce the delegates and give them LSD and that Mayor Daley who’s the mayor of Chicago will be afraid of us. Mayor Daley will be afraid of the message of young people fighting against the establishment.
We cut to a more serious meeting. It’s much more low key. The crowd is a mix of folks. There are long haired hippies but there are mostly clean cut and clean shaven young people. It’s a meeting of the Students For A Democratic Society(A national student-led progressive group). Tom Hayden (Jonathan Groff) and Rennie Davis (Bill Skarsgard) talk about the importance of ending the Vietnam War. Rennie Davis mentions how he actually traveled to North Vietnam and shows pictures of the carnage. How the LBJ administration Gun sends their generation to die to fight against a non existing threat. Tom and Rennie introduce their special guest who is David Dellinger (Stephen Root) who was a conscientious objector in WW2 and actually went to jail for his belief in non violence. Dellinger talks about the way the United States treats people who look different than the wealthy white American male. They bomb the Vietnamese, they oppress the African Americans that are in the United States and that disproportionately the people who are drafted into Vietnam are poor people.
The wealthy get expensive doctors to get their kids draft deferments. He wonders if any of these war hawks would actually send their children out to fight in Vietnam.
Rennie Davis and Tom Hayden after the meeting say to Dellinger that that was a great speech. Dellinger says thank you but asks where there is a phone and Dellinger says that he has to call Abbie. Hayden rolls his eyes.
Abbie Hoffman leaves his home where he has two kids and his wife Anita (Zoe Kazan). Jerry Rubin comes to pick him up and tells him that the revolution waits for no man. Abbie kisses his two kids on the forehead as Jerry and Abbie leave for the 68 convention. Anita stops Abbie and Jerry and Anita asks Jerry how his girlfriend Nancy Kurshan (Maude Apatow) is doing. Jerry mentions that she’s coming with us to Chicago. Abbie tells Anita that he loves her. Jerry Rubin says that he’s glad that he doesn’t have kids yet he only has a girlfriend. Abbie says that he loves his two kids.
1 year later
In a caption it is explained that Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Rennie Davis, Lee Weiner, Tom Hayden, John Froines and David Dellinger are being charged under an obscure provision under the Civil Rights Act. This charge could lead them to being in prison for 20 years.
Bobby Seale (Corey Hawkins) who is a member of the Black Panthers is charged alongside the other defendants even though he was only in Chicago for 4 hours. William Kunstler (Woody Harrelson) who is the attorney of The Chicago 7 is doing press outside the courtroom. He is asked how a World War 2 vet like himself can defend 7 men who are hellbent on the destruction of America. Kunstler explained one of the reasons that World War 2 was fought was to protect freedom of speech and what he’s doing by defending these 7 men is defending their right to freedom of speech. Kunstler explains that these men went in different groups to Chicago to protest a controversial war that they and many young people disagree with. They were upset that the party that brought us the Civil Rights Act nominated a candidate who insists on the slaughter of young Americans and the Vietnamese in Vietnam. He is also asked a question about Bobby Seale and whether he will be representing it. Kunstler said that Bobby Seale has a lawyer and his name is Charles Garry and he is the in-house attorney of the Black Panthers. Kunstler is asked if he is scared of the prosecutor, Tom Foran (Billy Crudup). Kunstler said that Foran is just an attention seeker trying to have a moment in preparation for his gubernatorial run.
Abbie is going to the trial.Hayden looks at him with a sense of disgust.He sees his buddy Jerry and they chat. Abbie socializes with David Dellinger and the rest of the 7 except for Hayden.. Abbie even socializes with Rennie which Tom hates. A woman says for the record that this case is the United States Vs David Dellinger, Renald Davis, John Froines, Abbot Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Lee Weiner and Robert Seale.The woman pronounces it like the euphemism for penis. Lee Weiner (Matt Jones) corrects it.
Tom Foran makes opening arguments in the trial saying that all of these defendants even though they are part of different groups are really part of the radical left. Tom Foran says that Tom Hayden and Rennie Davis are part of the SDS which stands for Students For A Democratic Society, Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin are part of the Youth International Party and David Dellinger is an independent radical leftist.. Foran makes the argument that all these groups conspired to incite a riot with the cops. Tom Foran brings up a statement that Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin made which was….. The film cuts to Abbie and Jerry and Nancy Kurshan writing the statement.
Abbie,Jerry and Nancy are stoned out of their minds and they are laughing and trying to write the statement that they are going to publish. Jerry comes up with "We are dirty, smelly, grimy and foul...we will piss and shit and fuck in public...we will be constantly stoned or tripping on every drug known to man". Abbie and Jerry are laughing when Tom Foran is mentioning the statement they made. Judge Hoffman (Anthony Hopkins) pounds his gavel and gives both a count of contempt of court. Abbie Hoffman says fuck you to the judge. Abbie gets cited with another contempt of court charge. Bobby Seale yells and says that he is being denied proper counsel as his lawyer Charles Garry is being treated in Oakland for explosive gallbladder surgery. Judge Hoffman says that why can’t William Kunstler act as his lawyer for the trial? Kunstler says that he can’t perform that duty because he’s not his lawyer.
In the courtroom prep room Tom tells all his fellow defendants that the trial is about fighting serious charges. Charges that could land us in prison for 20 years. not just rebelling against the establishment. Abbie makes the argument that this trial will be famous and historical and people will talk about it for decades and the Vietnamese people are getting slaughtered by the States government and that if we don’t make that clear we will have failed even if we do serve 5 years in prison. Tom mentions that there are no cameras in this courtroom and that this isn’t televised. Jerry mentions that we do have press conferences.
The film cuts to a press conference with Abbie Hoffman. Abbie says that Judge Hoffman is racist and unfair to the defendants. Abbie says that the young people of this country in high schools and colleges should make their displeasure with how this trial is being conducted known. Jerry says that we need to call the establishment the nazis that they really are. Tom says the ADL will crucify us. Abbie says that Tom is just a power-hungry asshole looking to co-opt the movement and then run for Senate and eventually be the President. Abbie says that Tom made Rennie cut his hair to make the SDS look more accessible to wealthy businessmen who will eventually be his donors for Tom’s future run for office. Kunstler tells them to stop the arguing because we are going to lose the case if we keep bickering.
The next day the defense office gets a call from Anita calling to check on Abbie. Abbie reassures her that everything is going fine and we just have a racist and backwards judge. Anita says that the kids are worrying about him. Abbie assures Anita that due to the crazy behavior of the judge that if they get convicted there will be an appeal.
Bobby Seale makes a final plea out loud for the trial to be postponed. Bobby Seale yells and screams and is eventually ordered to be bound and gagged in front of the court. William Kunstler begs Judge Hoffman to stop. Only after Tom Foran agrees it is a little excessive. Bobby Seale is separated from the rest of the group and he is free to go.
Anita comes to visit the defense office. She asks Abbie how he has been doing especially after the Bobby Seale gagging. She hugs Abbie. Abbie mentions that he has not been doing well.Abbie talks to his kids who are being babysat by another Yippie he has not seen in a while. He assures them that everything will be okay. Abbie and Anita go to a bedroom and they have sex. Anita mentions that maybe he should get out of activist life and just write. She points to the success of Revolution For The Hell Of It. She mentions that the revolution is his life and he can’t give it up. Anita says at least give it a thought.
Abbie talks to Jerry. Abbie says that he’s considering retiring from activism and Jerry should continue the Yippie legacy. Jerry says that there is no other Abbie Hoffman. Abbie says that he’s afraid Anita will divorce him. Jerry changes the topic and comes up with a way to piss off Hayden and the establishment.
The next day Abbie and Jerry come into court with judges' robes on. They are asked to take the robes off and they happily do so. It is revealed that they are wearing police uniforms. They are charged with contempt of court. Tom and Rennie confront Abbie and they say this isn’t the way to make change. Abbie makes the case that he gets bigger crowds than Tom and Rennie.
Anita then talks to Abbie and Abbie says he can’t retire from activism, especially not after the crowd . Anita then reminds him of last summer at the convention.
We cut to the park and we see Abbie and Jerry smoking pot with other hippies. In the background we see David Dellinger speaking up against the war. They smugly make fun of Tom Hayden and his short haired friends. Jerry Rubin calls the SDS the bourgeois trying to infiltrate the anti-war movement. Abbie brings up the fact that David has no hair and no beard. Jerry says that’s because he’s bald. Abbie mentions that doesn’t stop Ginsberg. Jerry says that David Dellinger is a conscientious objector from World War 2 and that is a fuck you to the establishment and it takes a lot to be a pacifist. One of the hippies is Nancy Kurshan who is Jerry’s girlfriend and she asks for a joint. Jerry kisses Nancy and says of course babe and gives her the joint. Nancy asks Abbie how he turns down all the hot hippie babes since he’s married. Abbie mentions he has sex with some of them but ever since his second child was born he is more into protesting the war and doing acid as his fun rather than having sex with random women.
We see Rennie and Tom at the other side of the park and Tom is talking about how he thinks it’s amazing that the Yippies look and sometimes smell like they barely shower yet they get more girls than any of us in the SDS. Rennie says that’s the power of a good personality. Rennie mentions that Abbie has a wife but Tom mentions he remembers old Abbie Hoffman was a pussy magnet and he looked the same. Tom says there’s no fun in being a respectable revolutionary but we are the ones who are going to make change in the end. Tom says that we will be in government with suits and ties while Abbie and Jerry are heroin junkies somewhere. Tom lights his cigarette. We then see Tom Hayden being arrested as earlier today he let the air out of an undercover car.
Abbie the next day after sleeping in the park writes fuck on his forehead. Jerry compliments the look and says it’s really groovy. Jerry suggests we start a protest to free Tom Hayden. Abbie, who hates Tom Hayden, is reluctant to do it but Jerry convinces him to do so.
They have their protest which brings them in conflict with the Chicago police department. Jerry and Abbie discuss sending the protesters back to the park. The protesters go back to the park and the police follow them and order them to leave the park. Jerry Rubin gives them the finger and the police start clubbing protesters and tear-gassing protesters. We see Rennie Davis get absolutely pummeled by the police. After the beatings by the Chicago police department. Abbie and Jerry tend to the protesters that are wounded. Abbie and Rennie have a conversation. Abbie says that he admires him.
We then cut back to the courtroom with Rennie Davis’s testimony in 1969. He mentions coming back from North Vietnam and bringing back a bomb and speaking at a Joan Baez concert. The Defense offers to bring the bomb into discovery. Tom Foran yells and says the government will not apologize for the war in Vietnam.
Rennie Davis also says by saying we wanted to make sure by coming to the convention to show that young people weren’t going to rubber stamp LBJ’s war. That the candidates running needed to earn the support of the young in order to become President Of The United States. Rennie Davis then suggests that the SDS and the rest of the protesters were right because Humphrey lost by a wide margin.
Tom Foran asks how he found out plans for the Battle Of Michigan Avenue(the 2nd protest) We then cut to Abbie saying that we can’t let the cops stop our protest. We have to go to the convention. It is nighttime and all of Abbie’s followers come in front of the Hilton Hotel where the delegates are staying to protest. They are met by the police who have batons and teargas ready. The police start tear gassing the protesters and even assaulting journalists and physicians on the scene. The police also club them.
We then cut to the defense office. There is a sad mood. Abbie says to Weiner and Froines that they are going to be acquitted. Abbie said he was thinking about this the other day and he thinks that since they aren’t leaders or a prominent socialist pacifist like Dellinger they will be acquitted. Tom says that there is no chance that the rest of us will win this case and it’s because of Abbie’s actions.
According to Hayden, Abbie’s disrespect for the court and his actions to disrupt everything has put us in this situation. Tom Hayden says that we had the facts on our side but Abbie just made it all about himself and how funny he can be. Abbie nods and agrees and apologizes to Hayden sarcastically but also says that he was the one that brought the crowd to Chicago and brought the cameras. The gags sometimes work. Abbie says he gets much more press coverage than the Port Huron Statement and press coverage is important to ending the war. Hayden looks in disbelief. Lee Weiner says out of nowhere that he got ahold of Groucho Marx and he was going to explain what the purpose of satire was which would help Abbie become more admirable in the eyes of the jury as the Marx Brothers are likable. Marx said that he supported our cause but thought his last name would be a detriment to the cause.
Everyone laughs except Tom. Abbie asks Tom to have a joint and finally feel less tense as Tom is always tense about everything and it is impacting his wellbeing. Tom asks how he figured that out . Abbie mentions that he went to Brandeis for psychology and he knows his shit about psychology. Tom mentions that the principles that we went to Chicago to fight for like ending the war are serious things and they can weigh on the mind. Abbie says I’m fighting against the same evil empire yet I have fun and I get big crowds and media attention. Abbie says I’m doing what Lenny Bruce did. I’m satirizing the whole system. The way that the system loses is if the American people know how silly it is. Tom mentions that there is going to be a time when people of our generation are going to be Senators and Congresspeople and hopefully Presidents. Tom says look at Gene McCarthy. He advocated for anti-war policies and the SDS was on the verge of supporting him for the presidency but he had short hair and didn’t act like a clown.
The conversation ends when the police have David Dellinger arrested. Dellinger comes with his hands up. Kunstler asks the officer what Dellinger did wrong and the officer says that Dellinger cursed at a witness. Dellinger says this is not true.
When court starts up again there are protesters and Judge Hoffman mentions the horrible behavior of David Dellinger. Abbie calls Judge Hoffman a shonda for the goyim. Judge Hoffman asks what that means. Abbie responds by asking the Judge whether he’s been to Hebrew school or not when he was a kid. Jerry Rubin clarifies that it means that you justify anti-semitism. Abbie says you would have served Hitler better. Jerry mentions that it is because of the way Judge Hoffman treated Bobby Seale and also the way he supports David Dellinger being arrested. Court is dismissed for the day and Abbie and Jerry are both cited with a count of contempt.
After this Abbie does a public display of suppprt for David Dellinger where Abbie explains to the audience that he will have his hair cut with garden clippers by Lee Weiner. Lee Weiner cuts with garden clippers a piece of Abbie Hoffman’s hair and Abbie promises to send this to David Dellinger. Abbie also before he goes off stage condemns Judge Hoffman and the corrupt Nixon administration and CIA for this show trial. This show trial that Mr Nixon wants to be a warning sign to activists that if you fuck with the government they’ll send you to prison. Abbie says that this should only inspire young people to get into the streets more because they can’t put us all in prison.
Abbie is in the green room and he is called to go on stage and he does his stand up where he tells the crowd he’s honestly not sure about his future. There’s a chance he will be in federal prison for several years. There’s a chance that political corruption will stop even an appeal from happening.
Abbie has his testimony. He is questioned by Tom Foran. He says that he was psychologically born in 1960 but he says actually born in 1936. He says in between then he experienced “An American Education”. Abbie is asked by Kunstler about the origins of him coming to Chicago. Abbie says that he and Jerry Rubin discussed how the system that created the atrocities in Vietnam were created by the capitalist system in the United States that rewards greed and hostility over virtue and kindness that allows meaningless wars like the war in Vietnam to happen. Kunstler sits down and Tom Foran sits up. Foran asks Abbie if he has contempt for his government. Abbie responds with it’s nothing compared to the amount of contempt that the government has for me. Abbie mentions that the FBI and CIA have numerous agents on him and numerous files. Foran asks Abbie if he wanted a response from the police. Abbie doesn’t answer. Foran says I’m concerned you even have to think about it. Foran asks Abbie, “give me a moment, would you friend?”I’ve never been on trial for my thoughts before” Tom says you did good man and Abbie thanks him and apologizes for how he acted that night. Tom hugs Abbie.
It’s the day of the verdict and outside the courtroom. David Dellinger who is in the red jumpsuit is praying that justice will prevail and they will be acquitted. Abbie walks in and says is Jesus satisfied? Abbie says he’s just kidding and they both hug. John Froines (Joe Mazzello) and Lee Weiner are acquitted of all charges. The jury though finds the rest guilty of conspiracy to start.Anita shows up to the verdict and she apologizes for how she acted earlier and that you are Abbie Hoffman. Anita says she thinks the appeal will be successful. They kiss.
At sentencing the 5 that were found guilty are asked to give statements which Rennie, David and Abbie do. Rennie Davis says that Judge Hoffman represents all that is old and bigoted, Dellinger says that his sentence is nothing compared to the plight of Vietnamese people and black people. Finally Abbie Hoffman quotes Abraham Lincoln. “When the people shall grow weary of their constitutional right to amend the government, they shall exert their revolutionary right to dismember and overthrow that government." He also says had Abraham Lincoln said that in Grant Park he’d be with us.
After their sentencing they are sent to Cook County Jail where they receive haircuts except for Dellinger who barely has hair where their long hair is cut. Since Tom and Rennie have short hair the barbers shave their entire heads. It comes to 3 days after and they are released from prison as Kunstler is appealing. All of the Chicago 7 all hug Kunstler.
After they give a group interview Abbie goes up to Tom and says that he will endorse his political run as they walk away in different directions.
The film cuts to one year later. Abbie Hoffman has his hair grown back and is being introduced at Sarah Lawrence College. There are posters of his latest book Steal This Book. Abbie is asked by the moderator what he thinks the trial will be remembered for. Abbie thinks about it for a second but then says it will be remembered as 8 men saying fuck you to the CIA, the military industrial complex, to the American government and being tried for those beliefs. Abbie asks the audience to put their middle fingers up against those institutions.
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