Raw, uneven, powerful, The Education of Sonny Carson emerged in 1974 as one of Hollywood's few attempts to deal authentically with the black experience and to translate some brutal realities of the ghetto to the screen for purposes other than exploitation. Based on the first part of Robert “Sonny” Carson's impressive autobiography, the film follows his rise from juvenile gang member and ex-convict to socially committed activist (head of Brooklyn's CORE). Rony Clanton gives a strong performance in the lead role, and director Michael Campus, although he does not avoid stereotypes altogether, excels in evoking ghetto and gang life for the restless youths of the '50s and '60s in a series of striking vignettes, and in some especially tender moments involving Sonny's relations with his father and girlfriend.