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Produced by Chicago Film Archives, the short screens tonight at the Gene Siskel Film Center, along with Alk’s 1974 documentary Janis, as the opening program of what promises to be a fascinating series, “Howard Alk: A Life on the Edge.” Alk (1930-’82) graduated from the University of Chicago, cofounded Second City in 1959 with Paul Sills and Bernie Sahlins, and later partnered with Albert Grossman to open a north-side folk club, the Bear, whose first act was Bob Dylan. (Alk promoted the opening by riding around town on a motorcycle wearing a bear costume.)
But Alk had more on his mind than music. With Mike Gray, he made two historic films documenting the Black Panthers: American Revolution 2 (which screened last fall as part of Facets Cinematheque’s series on the 1968 Democratic convention) and The Murder of Fred Hampton, whose footage of the crime scene following Hampton’s shooting by the Chicago Police Department on December 4, 1969, served to disprove the official story of what transpired there.
