The Killing Yard, directed by Euzhan Palcy, Saturday, Sept. 23 at 8 p.m.; Sunday, Sept. 24 at 11:45 a.m., Showtime.

With the renewed interest in the Attica prison uprising of 1971, a couple of excellent films have recently been released. Both are on Cable TV and deserve viewing.

Ghosts of Attica, a production of Court TV, first aired on Sept. 9 and should have subsequent showings, so check your cable listings. The Showtime production, The Killing Yard, received its North American theatrical premiere at this year's Toronto International Film Festival. Now it's being shown on cable TV, with several screenings, so check your cable listings.

Rather than dealing with the uprising itself, which is dramatically recreated in summary at the beginning of the film, this powerful drama focuses on the landmark trial that followed almost four years later. Attica prisoner Shango, originally from Michigan, was tried for the murder of two prison guards during the attack by the National Guard. The Attica Brothers Legal Defense Committee obtained the services of veteran progressive defense attorney from Detroit, Ernie Goodman, to prove Shango's innocence.

The film deals with Goodman's difficulty of first earning Shango's trust and then Goodman's own illness, which complicated the trial proceedings, which went on for months. Defense strategy was to show the state couldn't prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

However, the final victory of the trial went far beyond that, canceling or supporting other Attica inmates trials, forcing needed prison reform and ultimately affecting the recent settlement to the victims' families and prisoners who were unduly damaged by one of the worst abuses of state power in American history. This is the trial that proved, with help from the medical examiner's testimony, that the guards' throats were not slit by the inmates, but rather the guards died from the barrage of bullets fired by the New York State Police.

The skillful acting and seasoned direction and dynamic screenplay set the tone for the eventual victory for justice. Veteran actor Alan Alda plays Ernie Goodman as a confident and caring veteran defender of people's causes. Goodman is well known to Detroiters for his defense work on behalf of many progressives, including Helen Winter during the dark days of the HUAC witch-hunt.

At the Toronto showings, on hand for the Q&A after the screening were award-winning director, Euzhan Palcy (Dry White Season), actor Morris Chestnut who plays Shango, and screenwriter Bonnie Garvin, whose husband was a partner in the law firm of Ernie Goodman. They described how they chose the subject and narrowed Goodman's distinguished career down to this one trial. They also addressed the issues of theatrical versus cable TV release, citing the fact that Showtime was gracious in its willingness to produce this film dealing with a sordid chapter in the abuse of state power. (Another Showtime production, The Believer, a searing film about hate crimes, will be shown later this month.).

An award-winning 80-minute documentary entitled Attica was produced by Cinda Firestone in 1974. This film included memorable stark footage from inside and outside the prison during the uprising and its tragic aftermath. It's a probing examination of the causes of the uprising, and a penetrating study of the police and prisoners involved, including rare historic footage of events as they unrolled. This documentary is becoming harder to find, but well worth the effort.

- Bill Meyer