TRUMBO
Dalton Trumbo was one of Hollywood's most popular writers, responsible for the screenplays of such films as
Roman Holiday,
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo,
Spactacus, and
Exodus who found his career come to a standstill during the 1950's because of his political convictions, more specifically, his membership in the communist party. Trumbo was one of several actors, writers, and directors who were blacklisted in the 1950's and not allowed to work in Hollywood. The 2015 film
Trumbo is an ambitious character study/docudrama that doesn't provide a lot of insight into the Hollywood blacklisting, but is a blistering look at its effects on Hollywood and the bodies destroyed in the wake of this senseless witch hunt.
This film recounts Trumbo's solid belief in the communist party and how it led to his blacklisting and eventual arrest. As Trumbo returns to society, it is revealed that the only way Trumbo can continue to write is to submit his work under other people's names and allow them credit and most of the pay. The film also recounts Trumbo finding himself dealing with a B movie studio who can't pay him what he is accustomed to but they give him so much work that he has to involve his entire family, head by devoted wife Cleo, to help him churn out one mediocre script after another, which the B studio thinks are masterpieces, but eventually Trumbo is found out when it comes to light that Trumbo wrote
Roman Holiday, which won the Oscar for its screenplay, credited to Ian McKellan Hunter. A personal witch hunt begins seemingly spearheaded by gossip columnist Hedda Hopper.
Director Jay Roach, whose only other directorial credit I remembered was
Meet the Parents took on a mammoth assignment here and really knocked it out of the park. It is not an easy feat recreating actual history, especially Hollywood history involving household names that I had no idea were part of this witch hunt, but Roach has done exactly that. With a story this sensitive, most filmmakers would feel the need to preserve memories and protect the innocent by disguising some of the major players involved and using composites of several different people to make this story work but he doesn't do that. Along with screenwriter John McNamara, Roach has mounted an often unflattering look at Hollywood during a very ugly period in its history, utilizing most of the real principal players and not apologizing for it. Roach and McNamara also have to be credited for creating an intimate look at a writer and all the eccentricities we've come to expect with such a character...I loved Trumbo in the bathtub with his typewriter, cigarette, and a bottle of scotch on the side...priceless...not to mention the hunt and peck typing.
Bryan Cranston received an Oscar nomination for his riveting performance as the title character, a flashy, charismatic turn that Cranston completely lost himself in. Diane Lane brought more to the role of wife Cleo than was in the script and I loved Louis CK in a star-making turn as a fellow writer named Arlen Hird (whom I suspect was a disguised version of someone else). Oscar winner Helen Mirren made a fabulous Hedda Hopper and there were a trio of terrific movie star impressions that I loved: Michael Stuhlbarg as Edward G. Robinson, David James Elliott as John Wayne, and especially Dean O'Gorman as Kirk Douglas.
The film features flawless production values, reproducing Hollywood in the 1950's with the help of a lot of genuine archival footage as well as clips from
Roman Holiday and
Sparctacus that only enriched the authenticity of what was going on and the seamless weaving with the drama Roach presents with the help of film editor Alan Baumgartner was a joy to behold.
Reply to Topic
