[1] Marvin Worth and Perl started working on Malcolm X in 1969, four years after the human rights activist's assassination.

The pair initially intended for the film to be a drama, but in the end they made a documentary when some people close to Malcolm X refused to talk to them.

[8]In his review for The New York Times, Howard Thompson described it as "a generally rounded, often fascinating movie".

[10] William Hageman wrote in the Chicago Tribune in 2011 that the documentary "does a better job of capturing the times" than Spike Lee's 1992 Malcolm X.

[12][13] Malcolm X was released on DVD in 2005 as bonus material with the two-disc special edition of Lee's film.