Warren Beatty co-produced, directed, co-wrote and starred in "Reds", an ambitious 200-minute biography of American communist John Reed. The film was nominated for an incredible twelve Academy Awards, but the critical praise does not seem justified. It features a romance based mostly upon petty quarrels, a revolution consisting mostly of speechmaking, and political intrigue filled mostly with more petty bickering.
Adventurer/journalist Reed (Warren Beatty) meets
attractive artist/activist Louise Bryant (Diane
Keaton) just prior to the advent of World War I.
Soon, she leaves her conservative husband for
Reed. She also takes up with bitter playwright
Eugene O'Neill (Jack Nicholson). Disillusioned
with Wilson's declaration of war against the
Germans, the already radical Reed becomes a
communist.
Reed travels to Russia, where he chronicles the
revolution in his famous work, "Ten Days that
Shook the World". After the war, he returns to
America, becomes a labor agitator and forms a
communist party. Then, it's back to Russia, which
is now involved in a civil war against
West-supported 'white' armies. Reed suffers from
hardships such as imprisonment and declining
health, and joins a committee led by fiery
Grigory Zinoviev (author Jerzy Kosinski). Bryant
makes an unlikely, selfless journey to Russia to
join Reed. Maureen Stapleton plays Emma Goldman,
another noted American communist. Gene Hackman
also shows up in a small role.
Beatty deserves respect for making such a
financially risky and densely political epic. By
no means are the Russian communists glorified.
Lenin is depicted as a cold-blooded intellectual,
while Stapleton's character is used to
demonstrate disillusionment with the Bolsheviks'
repressive dictatorship. While the politics are
on target, the story focuses too much on Keaton,
whose character dominates the film's first half.
Perhaps this was a marketing necessity to bring
women to the theaters, but any romantic chemistry
between Keaton and Beatty is quickly trashed by
their incessant arguments.
"Reds" won three Oscars, for Best Director, Best
Cinematography (Vittorio Storaro), and Best
Supporting Actress (Stapleton). The film was
nominated in all the major categories, including
Best Actor (Beatty), Best Actress (Keaton), Best
Supporting Actor (Nicholson), Best Picture, and
Best Original Screenplay (Beatty with Trevor
Griffiths). (57/100)
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