4 Little Girls

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4 Little Girls

1997

1h 42m

Documentary

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Popcornmeter

100%

Tomatometer

25 Reviews

90%

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5,000+ Ratings

On Sunday, September 15, 1963, the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, was bombed by four members of a Ku Klux Klan-affiliated racist group. Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley, four African-American girls between the ages of 11 and 14 who had been attending the church's Sunday school, were killed in the blast. Director Spike Lee's somber 1997 documentary tells the story through new interviews and archival footage.

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Critics Consensus

4 Little Girls finds Spike Lee moving into documentary filmmaking with his signature style intact -- and all the palpable fury the subject requires.

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John Leonard

New York Magazine/Vulture

02/01/2018

Only a filmmaker so resourceful, so entirely confident in his practiced craft, could have made such a quilt out of patches of nightmare and nostalgia -- of gospels, ghosts, and grief.

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Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

09/22/2008

There isn't an ounce of flab or hype, and the story it tells is profoundly affecting.

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Todd McCarthy

Variety

05/16/2008

A compelling, straightforward account of a deeply sorrowful and pivotal event in the civil rights movement.

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Thrillist Entertainment Staff

Thrillist

11/28/2018

4 Little Girls is a masterpiece that needs to be seen and remembered.

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Rob Nelson

City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul

08/20/2009

Spike Lee has launched another perfectly timed counteroffensive: a calmly wrenching mix of oral history and period newsreels.

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Film4

09/22/2008

It's presented with Lee's usual intelligence and clarity as he skilfully mixes politics with moving reminders of the lives it affects.

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Hanik_ F

@RT99193473 03/03/2025

so inteleggent film for 4 little girls, omg its very good

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Anindya Salwa F

@RT75386933 03/02/2025

wow, that's amazing, the movie is so cool, very good

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tugas2022 T

@RT98218957 03/02/2025

So good film i like this action

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Darmiati T

@RT68946708 03/02/2025

Gaa bikin bosen film nya

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02/16/2021

All dol respect to the victims - of this senseless act of cowardice, but it really was a snooze. I understand that there needs to be time given to talk about the family members and so on, but I really could not keep myself engaged while all of that was going on. I do know that in '97 things weren't 100% what they are now in TV but still, all the reasons in the world wouldn't make this interesting and God knows there is a lot to dive into with a church bombing.

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09/15/2020

Watched this tonight on what is the 57th anniversary of the Birmingham church bombing. Excellent documentary with interviews of the families affected by this senseless terrorist act. There is a clip with Bill Cosby being interviewed though that I'll bet Spike wishes he could take back.

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Spike Lee

Director

Maxine McNair

Self

Helen Pegues

Self

Harold McNair

Self

Sheila Nevins

Executive Producer

Sam Pollard

Producer

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Synopsis

On Sunday, September 15, 1963, the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, was bombed by four members of a Ku Klux Klan-affiliated racist group. Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley, four African-American girls between the ages of 11 and 14 who had been attending the church's Sunday school, were killed in the blast. Director Spike Lee's somber 1997 documentary tells the story through new interviews and archival footage.

Director: Spike Lee
Producer: Sam Pollard
Distributor: Direct Cinema Limited
Production Co: Home Box Office (HBO), 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 9, 1997, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 1, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $130.1K
Runtime: 1h 42m
Sound Mix: Dolby, Surround