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Trumbo (2015)
Trumbo (2015)
Director: Jay Roach
Writers: John McNamara, Bruce Cook (book)
Stars: Bryan Cranston, Diane Lane, Helen Mirren
Genre: Biography, Drama
During the Un-American House Committees investigation during the late 1940s-1950s into Communism in America, a number of prominent Hollywood people were accused of being Communist and were summoned to testify. Many of these people were Hollywood writers being accused of writing subversive Communist themed movie scripts. One of the accused was the very talented writer, Dalton Trumbo.
I first learned of Dalton Trumbo's unique story when I watched the documentary, Trumbo (2007) based on the many letters he wrote about his personal beliefs and experience with blacklisting. It was clear that Trumbo was a highly principled man who was willing to go to jail rather than testify before Congress in what he deemed to be a unconstitutional witch hunt.
About the movie, after watching the documentary, I then watched the movie about Trumbo. The movie paints a different character than the documentary did. I was disappointed that they left out the part of his life when he and his family fled to Mexico, as the cost of living there was less and Trumbo after being blacklisted had to sell his home and was broke. The movie portrayed Trumbo as a workaholic who had a 'production line' of movie scripts that he wrote and sold under various front names. Thus making him a lot of money but estranging himself from his family.
Review, I like the movie, I wish it could have included more of the events in Trumbo's life. I did like Helen Mirren portrayal of Hollywood gossip columnist Hedda Hopper. A women who wielded great power and did not hesitate to threaten and abuse people with it. The charater J.J. Hunsecker played by Burt Lancaster in The Sweet Smell of Success (1957), was reputedly based on Hedda Hopper....The roles that John Wayne, Kirk Douglas and Otto Preminger, played in history is shown as they interact with Trumbo.
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Writers: John McNamara, Bruce Cook (book)
Stars: Bryan Cranston, Diane Lane, Helen Mirren
Genre: Biography, Drama
During the Un-American House Committees investigation during the late 1940s-1950s into Communism in America, a number of prominent Hollywood people were accused of being Communist and were summoned to testify. Many of these people were Hollywood writers being accused of writing subversive Communist themed movie scripts. One of the accused was the very talented writer, Dalton Trumbo.
I first learned of Dalton Trumbo's unique story when I watched the documentary, Trumbo (2007) based on the many letters he wrote about his personal beliefs and experience with blacklisting. It was clear that Trumbo was a highly principled man who was willing to go to jail rather than testify before Congress in what he deemed to be a unconstitutional witch hunt.
About the movie, after watching the documentary, I then watched the movie about Trumbo. The movie paints a different character than the documentary did. I was disappointed that they left out the part of his life when he and his family fled to Mexico, as the cost of living there was less and Trumbo after being blacklisted had to sell his home and was broke. The movie portrayed Trumbo as a workaholic who had a 'production line' of movie scripts that he wrote and sold under various front names. Thus making him a lot of money but estranging himself from his family.
Review, I like the movie, I wish it could have included more of the events in Trumbo's life. I did like Helen Mirren portrayal of Hollywood gossip columnist Hedda Hopper. A women who wielded great power and did not hesitate to threaten and abuse people with it. The charater J.J. Hunsecker played by Burt Lancaster in The Sweet Smell of Success (1957), was reputedly based on Hedda Hopper....The roles that John Wayne, Kirk Douglas and Otto Preminger, played in history is shown as they interact with Trumbo.
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