A Crime on the Bayou
Available screening types
Virtual
On-demand
In-person
Available until
Jan 01, 2026
Speakers Available
Available in
United States of America, Canada
Brought to you by
Bullfrog Films
About the film
In 1966, young Black fisherman Gary Duncan tries to break up a fight between white and Black teenagers outside a newly integrated school in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. During the confrontation, he touches one of the white teens on the arm. That night, police arrest 19-year-old Duncan for assault on a minor.In Washington, DC, a young Jewish attorney named Richard Sobol leaves a prestigious law firm to offer his legal services in New Orleans as a volunteer for the Lawyers Constitutional Defense Committee. With Sobol's help, Duncan confronts a racist Louisiana legal system—manipulated by segregationist and de facto Parish boss Leander Perez—to challenge his unfair arrest. A CRIME ON THE BAYOU chronicles their legal fight as it goes all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, and in the process enshrines the Constitutional right to a jury trial at the state level.
Genre
Documentary
Runtime
1h 31m
Released
2020
Director
Nancy Buirski
Producer
Nancy Buirski, Susan Margolin, Claire L. Chandler
Executive Producer
Regina K. Scully, John Legend, Mike Jackson, Ty Stiklorius, Austin Biggers, Geralyn Dreyfous, Harlene Freezer, Jules Horowitz, Felicia Horowitz, Brenda Robinson, Mark Trustin, Jamie Wolf
Cast
Gary Duncan, Richard Sobol, Lolis Eric Elie
Awards & recognition
Critics Choice Association
Nominee, Best Documentary Feature & Best Historical or Biographical Documentary
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival
Official Selection
Rotten Tomatoes
100% Fresh
What people are saying
‘Vivid...Provide[s] an unusually palpable sense of just how much deeply-ingrained institutional and cultural bias needed to be overcome for the civil rights movement to make real headway...[An] engrossing, flavorful document.‘
Dennis Harvey
‘A Crime on the Bayou never explodes with fury. But that doesn't mean you won't feel enraged while taking in the maddening series of systematic wrongs committed against Sobol and Duncan.‘
Robert Daniels
‘Thoughtful and illuminating...Shines a light on a groundbreaking piece of recent American history that will be news to many viewers.‘
Sheri Linden
‘Filmmaker Nancy Buirski has an elegant, judicious way of imparting the facts of the case, taking not just the political temperature of the moment (boiling) but finely sketching the character and minds of the people involved. 4 out of 4 stars.‘
Steven Boone
‘Must-see documentary...A Crime on the Bayou focuses on an incident that happened in 1966 but is, infuriatingly, still timely and relevant more than half a century later.‘
Lois Alter Mark