Films about Journalism

With the current hacking scandal going on right now (THREAD), I think it's a good time to start discussing films about journalism.


Last night I watched All the President's Men (1976, Alan J. Pakula), which so far is the best journalism film I've seen. It stars Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman as Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the men who famously did the investigating and research that uncovered the Watergate scandal which led to the resignation of President Nixon.


What are your favourite films about journalists or journalism in general?

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I was pleasantly surprised with "State of Play." It's a solid political thriller with pretty good performances all-around.

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The TV show was A LOT better than the movie.

Zodiac is a good one

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I thought State of Play was pretty good. I love Zodiac, that's definitely a favourite.

And speaking of TV shows, the fifth and final season of "The Wire" is a great examination of modern day journalism.

Salvador
The Men Who Stare at Goats

Fletch is some good fun too.

Absolutely; good call!

Don't forget about this one!

The Killing Fields



I'd have to watch this and All the President's Men over again to see which one I'd put in the number one spot as the greatest movie about journalism, but it would belong to either of those movies.

I strongly second this one.

Broadcast News, Network, Ace In The Hole, The Year Of Living Dangerously...Erm, this is an odd one but that last 1/3 of Natural Born Killers is relevant

Also, I hear Capote is good but haven't seen it myself

The Killing Fields is stark, but excellent. I have a copy in my collection, of course.

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All the different versions of The Front Page, including His Girl Friday
Citizen Kane
Sweet Smell of Success
Good Night, and Good Luck.
La Dolce Vita

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Not great, but watchable...



The Mean Season (1985)

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About the only one I like a lot that hasn't been mentioned yet is...


Absence of Malice
1981, Sydney Pollack

Also very good are Shattered Glass (2003) and Good Night, and Good Luck (2005).



ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNq8LoYjG2E

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Another great one, must see, that is a bit more tangentially about journalism...


Missing
1982, Costa-Gavras

Based on the true story of independent journalist Charles Horman, who was rounded up during the Chilean coup in 1973. It follows his father (Jack Lemmon) and wife (Sissy Spacek) as they try to unravel the mystery of his disappearance. But it was Charles' efforts at journalism, shown in flashback, that got him taken. And in a similar vein, though not as good a film but still very much worth seeing, Michael Winterbottom's A Mighty Heart (2007), based on the efforts to find Daniel Pearl by his wife (played by Angelina Jolie)

Two more decent flicks, about photojournalists in country, are Oliver Stone's Salvador (1986) starring James Woods and Roger Spottiswoode's Under Fire (1983) starring Nick Nolte and Gene Hackman.



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Frost/Nixon where British institution David Frost creates a series of interviews with post Watergate Richard Nixon.
Excellent film

The Quiet American
2002, Phillip Noyce
1958, Joseph L. Mankiewicz

The newer version, starring Michael Caine, is terrific, set in '50s French Indochina, and points to the coming Vietnam War in the next decade. Graham Greene wrote the novel, and he spent time in country during the early 1950s. His book turned out to be very prescient. The original film, made during the height of the Red Scare, totally excises Graham Greene's anti-war stance and instead makes the American a flag-waiving hero. See that one only as a curio or to compare to the infinitely better version.





Foreign Correspondent
1940, Alfred Hitchcock

This uses journalism as a hook for an espionage thriller, but it's a damn fun one, the way only Hitchcock can do 'em





The China Syndrome
1979, James Bridges

The dangers associated with nuclear power are the focus here, especially as its debut was just days ahead of the real-life Three Mile Island incident, but driving the plot is the TV news angle, how Jane Fonda's fluff reporter and her radical cameraman (Michael Douglas) surreptitiously capture the first stages of an accident on camera while on a tour of the power plant. The network then faces pressure and cajoling to bury the footage, but the supervisor in charge at the plant, played by Jack Lemmon, seeks out the media's assistance when he believes the company isn't responding appropriately to the warning signs of imminent catastrophe.



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The Insider



While not as good as some films listed here, it's still a decent flick and Russell Crowe gives a really good performance as a corporate whistler blower.

It's not about journalism, but there's a journalistic bent to Silkwood.

Shattered Glass
Lions for Lambs
The Year of Living Dangerously

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The Paper
Wag the Dog
Network

and of course, the most obvious one:
Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism

From here you can literally add hundreds of documentaries:
The Panama deception, WMD: Weapons of Mass Deception, etc, etc, etc.