Stop the Presses?
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Flickgrrl
Stop the Presses?
Carrie Rickey, Film Critic
"State of Play," the enthralling thriller my Daily News colleague Gary Thompson calls "this week's dying newspaper movie" (as opposed to "The Soloist," next week's dying newspaper movie), stars rumpled Russell Crowe as the shaggy face of mainstream media, smooth Rachel McAdams as the young face of the blogosphere and commanding Helen Mirren as their editor, who hopes by teaming the vet and the apprentice on an investigative story, she can infuse blogger blood into her ailing broadsheet.
Kevin Macdonald's adaptation of the 2003 BBC miniseries is a lot of fun, and for newshounds and newshens, also a lot sad. Alluding to the dismal prognosis of daily journalism, another colleague, Todd McCarthy of Variety, begins his review wondering whether it will be the last movie to feature the physical printing and shipping of a big-city newspaper.
Newspapers occupy a beloved place in the heart of moviemakers, possibly because so many journalists went on to become screenwriters and directors. John Huston dabbled in newspapering; his mother, crime reporter Rhea Gore, inspired the 1933 journo-thriller "I Cover the Waterfront," starring Claudette Colbert as the fearless reporter. The most celebrated reporters-turned-directors were Richard Brooks -- the Philadelphia-born scribe whose "Deadline USA" (1952) with Humphrey Bogart is seasoned with his personal experiences as a reporter at the Philadelphia Record -- and Sam Fuller. Fuller's "Park Row" (1952) chronicles the New York newspapers wars of the 1880s and his "Shock Corridor" (1963) is about a newsman who commits himself to a psychiatric institution so he can write about the famous figures there.
Newspaper people love newspaper movies. I can't limit myself to five favorites, but if I did, one of them would be Lois Weber's "How Men Propose," a 1912 comedy about a woman who collects wedding proposals -- and then writes an article about how to get men to pop the question. I'm extremely fond of "The Front Page" (1931) with Adolphe Menjou and Pat O'Brien as the bickering reporter and editor and its gender-switching remake, "His Girl Friday" (1940) with the fast-talking Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell. Love "Woman of the Year" (1942), the one with Katharine Hepburn as the political columnist who falls for sportswriter Spencer Tracy, which inspired "Designing Woman" (1957), with Lauren Bacall as a fashion designer who falls for sportswriter Gregory Peck. (Peck likewise plays the reporter who protects the identity of runaway princess Audrey Hepburn in 1953's "Roman Holiday.")
In many ways, "Citizen Kane" (1940) is the ultimate newspaper movie, but it's really about a publisher who rides roughshod on his reporters and the facts. Great movie, but not a great journalism movie. The newspaper movie that makes me proudest to be a newshen is "Call Northside 777" (1948), a terrific fact-based story starring James Stewart as a tenacious scribe convinced by the mother of a convicted murderer that her son is innocent -- and who uncovers the evidence that frees the innocent man.
Fritz Lang's lively newsroom melodrama "While the City Sleeps" (1956) is in part about how broadsheets survived the challenge of television (report the news, don't just read it), with nice performances by Dana Andrews and Ida Lupino.
Alan J. Pakula made the two iconic newspaper movies of the 1970s, "Parallax View" (1974), with Warren Beatty as the reporter trying to untangle the story behind a political assassination but getting tangled up in it, and "All the President's Men" (1976), with Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman as Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the reporters who broke the Watergate story and saved the republic. For the 24-hour story of how a newspaper works, I'm fond of Ron Howard's "The Paper" (1994), with Michael Keaton, Glenn Close and Marisa Tomei.
My favorite newspaper movie, "Sweet Smell of Succss" (1957) shows the profession in a less favorable light, focusing on the poisoned relationship of a self-important Broadway columnist (Burt Lancaster, playing a Walter Winchell type gossipiste) and the public-relations guy (Tony Curtis) who will do anything to get into that column.
Tell me your favorites. And why. Show all work.
I love ABSENCE OF MALICE. My favorite moment is Melinda Dillon running across all the lawns in the neighborhood collecting papers that feature a damaging article. (Wow! Everyone got home delivery then!)— garyk- While I love the usual suspects ("His Girl Friday," "Sweet Smell of Success" and, as guilty pleasures, the Fuller twins), I think Ron Howard's "The Paper" is absolutely terrific, capturing newsroom atmosphere perfectly. It's not just overlook; it's pretty much a forgotten film.— Pash
- #1. His Girl Friday. A distant #2: anything else. Can we shoehorn in Shattered Glass, as there is no "weekly magazine" subgenre of film?— Adam B.
- Thanks, garyk and pash. I forgot to include "Ace in the Hole" (1951), Billy Wilder's dark, dark, portrait of pack journalism starring Kirk Douglas as the reporter who manipulates the story of a New Mexico man trapped in a Taos Indian kiva.— carrierickey
- Yes, yes. "Ave in a Hole." Singular. A classic.— Pash
- Make that "ACE in Hole." Sorry— Pash
- Adam: Shattered Glass -- with a great performance by Hayden Christiansen as Steven Glass, who made up magazine stories, is sensational in both meanings of the word. I didn't include mag jouralism, or else I would have mentioned "The Devil Wears Prada." Nor did I included broadcsat journalism, or "Broadcast News" and"The Insider" would have been near the top of the list. You can include those, though.— carrierickey
- This may be a stretch, but dare I suggest The Philadelphia Story as a newspaper movie? Loved Jimmy Stewart as the undercover journo seeking scoop on Katherine Hepburn's Main Line wedding, and really loved Cary Grant as her ex.— socialgrace
- His Girl Friday is probably my favorite. For serious, All the President's Men. If you expand to journalism instead of just newspapers, I'd go with Shattered Glass. It should be shown in all Intro to Journalism classes, followed by a week of other careers they should be pursuing that aren't dying.— edwardcopeland
- The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. A John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Woody Strode Western. But how many recall that it started with a cub reporter trying to get an interview with the U.S. Senator, in town for a funeral. Who WAS the deceased, and who was he to a U.S. Senator? The movie is totally the back story, and the editor, and his belief in the First Amendment played a key role in the town's effort to civilize the wild west. It was the brave man with his law books, and the brave man with his printing press, vs the bully cattle baron and his hired gun.— bondini
- Too funny and too true, Edward. "Shattered Glass" ranks with "Ace in the Hole" and "Sweet Smell of Success" as one of the great journalism cautionary tales. Social grace, of course I love "The Philadelphia Story" -- but it was Spy MAGAZINE, not a newspaper. Heck, let's add it. And I realize that I neglected to mention the charming "Teacher's Pet," with Clark Gable as the whiskey-marinated reporter who falls for lemonade-sweet journalism teacher Doris Day. It's raucous fun.— carrierickey
- To me no journalism film can compete with ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN - a movie that made me want to be a reporter and the want to be a film maker. Every time I see it I become more and more convinced of it's perfection as a work of art and of its depiction of the world of journalism back in the 1970s. I have made two films about journalism- one is called "Resurrecting the Champ" and the other will be out on DVD on April 28th called "Nothing but the Truth". Both have specific homages to Pakula's masterpiece - thugh both deal more with the decline of print journalism in the modern era than they celebrate the craft. By the way, I am eager to see "State of Play" as the mini-series, wild as it sometimes is, certainly is one of the great reporter stories of our time- Rod Lurie— movie790
- It's hard to realize that, as print culture undergoes a metamorphosis, newspaper reporters are going to be a thing of the past. In the 1930s, there were so many newspaper movies, THE FRONT PAGE and PLATINUM BLONDE starting in 1931, all the way through the 1950s, with movies like LONELYHEARTS, SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS and TEACHER'S PET. But what will happen as newspapers disappear? Will we start to see bloggers and the Internet as central to the plots of new movies? Though there are many favorites, i wanted to mention the Torchy Blaine series, the Warner Brothers B movies where Glenda Farrell (or Lola Lane or Jane Wyman) was the intrepid girl reporter. Actually, girl reporters were a staple of the 1930s: Loretta Young in PLATINUM BLONDE, Jean Arthur in MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN, Constance Bennett in AFTER OFFICE HOURS, Joan Bennett in WEDDING PRESENT. In SEX AND THE CITY (the TV series), Carrie starts out as a writer with a column in a weekly paper, but as the series progressed, her column seemed to evolve into a blog. But i'll miss all those girls in suits (modelled after Adele Rogers St. John).— darylchin53
- I love the 1930s movies about newspapers and newspaper reporters. I have no way of knowing if they're at all accurate pictures of the trade at that time, but I can't help wishing they are. Fredric March using Carole Lombard's phony impending death as a publicity stunt in "Nothing Sacred," Clark Gable chasing Claudette Colbert's runaway heiress in "It Happened One Night," Tracy and Powell versus Harlowe in "Libeled Lady," Edward G. Robinson's conscience-stricken editor in "Five Star Final" are just the first that spring to mind. There's also a closely related sub-genre of movies from the same era involving hustling publicists, such as "Bombshell" and "The Half-Naked Truth," both with Lee Tracy, and "Four's a Crowd" with Errol Flynn. I find these characters' utter shamelessness (with Robinson's editor being the exception) to be a tonic to sentimentality, and very funny in the bargain.— wwolfe
- I LOVE "Deadline USA" with Humphrey Bogart. He is trying to save his paper from being sold while going after a mobster. I get a huge kick out of seeing the wide web newspapers "back in the day". I sort of like Clark Kent at the Daily Planet. Where is Superman when newspapers really could use a rescue?— peptalktime
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