Posted on 03/17/2025 2:51:27 PM PDT by Rummyfan
Throughout its history, one of the most durable Hollywood movie genres has been that of the heroic journalist working alone, always at great risk to life and limb, to expose some great truth that is being suppressed by the powers that be. Hollywood made dozens of these movies from the late 70’s through the early 90’s and most of them were worth paying to see at the theater.
Other than Westerns, Courtroom Dramas and Cop Thrillers, this was one of Hollywood’s favorite go-to genres. They were so popular in the Biz that we used to have a joke that if you were serious about getting nominated for an Oscar, your best bet was to make a movie about the Holocaust or a Journalist. Many of the movies in that latter category, “All The President’s Men”, “The Insider”, “The Killing Fields” and “Absence of Malice” to name just a few, are among the finest films ever made and were indeed nominated for a slew of Oscars.
As the 2000’s turned into the 2020’s and Hollywood jettisoned one classic genre after another in the pursuit of cost savings and corporate billion dollar blockbuster-making, the heroic Journalist story remained one of the few classic adult drama genres that Hollywood seemed unable to quit. There is no doubt in my mind that this was because, in the character of the heroic journalist bravely speaking truth to power, Hollywood saw themselves… unafraid storytellers courageously pushing forbidden narratives out into a hopelessly troglodytic America that didn’t want to hear them.
There’s just one problem with that… here at the beginning of 2025, journalists occupy a space on the popularity spectrum somewhere between pond scum and crotch rot...
(Excerpt) Read more at thecontinentalcongress.substack.com ...
How about a movie about a Journalist investigating the Holocaust? Boffo box office! Guaranteed Oscar material!
Of all the utter b.s. “crusading journalist” movies, the one I hated most was Warren Beatty’s REDS, which tried to make a hero of Jack Reed.
How about a movie with patriotic citizens as the good guys, and Journalists and the Media as the evil bad guys.
It doesn’t sound too difficult for sets or characters...
‘Missing in Action Two; the Beginning’ with Chuck Norris. A Golan-Globus production.
When I think of a Great 4th Estate movie, I think of this....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/His_Girl_Friday
That’s a great one!
He and the Diane Keaton - Louise Bryant characters were reprehensible. But then again, many supposedly intelligent people fell for the communist-marxist BS of the early 20th century.
I always considered REDS as the epitome of the Steely Dan Lyrics: show business kids making movies of themselves, you know they don't give a f*** about anybody else...
I wonder why......
And The Times is still getting Ukrainians killed by the dumpster load to this day...
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