Once upon a time Hollywood made really big movies that didn’t need stories-high gorillas or dinasaurs to be “big,” movies that tackled issues or stories that would today (and even then) be deemed “noncommercial” — movies so big in running time that they required an intermission so movie-goers could answer the call of nature and buy even-then-overpriced food and drinks.
The last intermission-required mega production was 1981’s “Reds,” the brain child and love child of actor Warren Beatty, who even in the Reagan era was somewhat controversial due to his leftist political views. Beatty picked the topic, guided and oversaw the entire project, directed and starred in the film — and subsequently put himself on the map as a major Hollywood talent.
His efforts were rewarded. “Reds” won Oscars for Best Director, Best Supporting Actress and Best Cinematography. All for a movie that Beatty recently admitted was amazing to have been made at all: “It’s a 3 1/2 movie about a Communist who dies…”
Now, finally, “Reds” is available on DVD in a special “25th Anniversary Edition” containing a special hourlong “Witnesses” documentary program on the movie’s making and….featuring an extensive interview with the usually interview-shy Beatty.
And it’s hard to decide which is more delicious on this DVD: the Oscar winning movie or the fascinating inside show biz history of how Beatty made the film, his near obsession to every detail, and about how a studio then held by a major oil company gave the green-light to a film about and American communist and the Bolshevik revolution.
Why should viewers in the early 21st century care about “Reds”, a movie about a man who became most famous in 1915 and lived a life that sputtered out before he hit 40? Here are a few reasons:
- It’s about short-lived American journalist John Reed who became a prominent American communist and his ill-fated and tempestuous love affair with feminist/writer Louise Bryant. Threads about political commitment and early feminism run throughout the movie.
- It contains superlative acting by four actors giving the portrayals of their lives. Beatty (Reed), Diane Keaton (Bryant), Jack Nicholson (as writer Eugene O’Neil), and Oscar winner Maureen Stapleton (Emma Goldman).
- The story and production is a virtual panorama. It starts in 1915 in Portland, Oregon in union organizing days of World War I, moves to internal Communist party battles in the United States — then shifts to Reed going over to Russia, his imprisonment in Finland and his sad finale. He is the only American buried in the Kremlin Wall.
- It touches on the issue of how a political/intellectual movement can become corrupted when given absolute power. When Reed gets to Russia he is stunned by how his lofty ideals have morphed into a deathy-cold authoritarian government.
- It recreates an era sumptuously in painstaking detail. If you ever wondered what it would be like living in 1915 BDWTS (Before “Dancing With The Stars”) “Reds” whisks you into the halls, homes where a Victrola provided music for party-goers, into the streets of America and plops you in the middle of the Bolshevik revolution.
- It’s provides a glimpse into early 20th century news media and the crusading correspondents who could also go abroad because newspapers then were more inclined to provide foreign coverage.
In cinematic terms, intricate, masterful editing is coupled with the use of an unique device to avoid characters having to explain events in history: the use of aged “witnesses” shot against a plain black background. These famous journalist, activists and entertainers (a by-then ancient song-and-danceman Georgie Jessle) knew Red and Bryant and provide the historical “boiler plate” transitional info through their interview comments.
But mostly, because it’s a timeless love story framed against the backdrop of a carefully recreated past world. Just as Reed’s socialist/Communist idea becomes corrupted when it manifests itself into Lenin’s Soviet Union, his love affair with Bryant deteriorates amid misunderstandings due to changing attitudes, career choices and cruel twists of fate.
Is “Reds” for everyone? People who detest Beatty for political reasons might not want to buy and watch it — but “Reds” truly is NOT not a preachy movie trying to shove political preferences down viewers’ throats. It’s about a time in history and two people who happened to share political beliefs. It’s about how idealism can devolve into political disappointment then return due to the determination and optimism of the human spirit.
In the special DVD “Witnesses” section, Beatty explains how special film was used to shoot “Reds” to give it a unique, painting-like look, how no expense was spared to get exactly the right camera setting for each shot (even if it meant a scene for Portland was shot in Europe), and how he tracked down and used the aged “witnesses” for his film. The most pleasing surprise: Beatty comes across as charming, accessible and fascinating — an artist, not an ideologue.
PERSONAL NOTE: When I first saw “Reds” in the theater, while working on the Wichita Eagle-Beacon as a reporter in Kansas, one of the “witnesses” came on the screen and I did a quadruple take. Why, it was George Seldes, his face but not identified by name. I had met Seldes in 1976, when I took over from the retiring Richard Mowrer as The Christian Science Monitor’s Special Correspondent in Madrid (which was basically a full time paid by the piece contributor’s job). Mowrer was himself famous since he had covered many historical events, including the Spanish Civil War and was the son of onetime Chicago Daily News editor Paul Scott Mowrer.
Seldes, 86 at the time, was at Mowrer’s house in New England, visiting. He told gripping and lively anecdotes about his early clashes with politically-biased early 20th century press publishing barons and some of the leaders he had met. Little did I know that I’d see him years later peering down at me from a movie screen. He wrote many books including this last one and lived to the ripe old age of 105.
Who should get and view “Reds?” Anyone interested in a great love story, anyone who wants to be whisked back in a cinematic time machine to 1915, anyone interested in seeing great film-making and anyone interested in seeing this story that’s within the context of World War I when the U.S. government was arresting people for sedition. But, mostly, it’s MUST viewing for anyone interested in HISTORY and seeing it come alive. Reed, who died in 1920, became an instant journalistic celebrity with his acclaimed first person account of the Revolution in Russia, Ten Days That Shook The World, which can be read online here. Reed was one of the earliest practitioners of “advocacy journalism…”
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.