AllMovie

This earnest but deeply disturbing chronicle from PBS's American Experience documentary series travels back to the 1960s to recount events leading up to the violent intersection of two lives: that of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., civil rights pioneer and one of the greatest Americans of the 20th century, and that of James Earl Ray, a trained assassin whose bullet ended King's life and arguably signaled the end of an era. The program also explores the events that ensued and led up to Ray's capture and imprisonment. In telling its heartbreaking story, the documentary draws upon eyewitness accounts from members of King's inner circle, as well as extensive interviews with Hampton Sides, author of the tome Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin.