I’ve been meaning to write a post listing some great movies about the press. Normally, I would make this a “top-10” list, but the fact is that I couldn’t think of that many, unless I resorted to some cheating (yes, Citizen Kane involves the muckraking journalism of the early 1900s, but you can’t really call it a movie about the press). So, here’s my list, from great to greatest…
The Paper
Ron Howard’s 1994 film The Paper focuses on one frantic day in the newsroom of a major metropolitan newspaper. The day begins with a high-profile murder, for which two young African-American men are arrested. Michael Keaton, Glenn Close, and Robert Duvall are the editors who are fighting to uncover the truth—before deadline. The Paper is a bit broad compared to the other entries on my list, but it’s still a fine movie with a great story.
The Post
The most recent film on my list is 2017’s The Post, which got two Oscar nominations. It recounts the story of the Pentagon Papers, which were leaked to the Washington Post and other papers in 1973, precipitating a crisis at the highest levels of government. While the film is ostensibly about Post editor Ben Bradlee’s valiant struggle to locate and publish a copy of the Papers, it is really about the Post’s owner, Kay Graham. Played with great power and sympathy by Meryl Streep, Graham is a female executive swimming in a sea of male sharks. Bradlee finally gets a hold of the secret documents, but it’s Graham who has to put her company (and, perhaps, her freedom) on the line to get them into the paper. Great movie.
Spotlight
Michael Keaton makes another appearance on my list in 2015’s deceptively quiet little film Spotlight. In some ways, this is the most illuminating movie on the list in that it shows a complete cross-section of the workings of a major newspaper, from the top editor down to the beat reporters pounding the pavement. Centering on the sexual abuse scandals involving Catholic priests that were uncovered by the Boston Globe in 2001, Spotlight eschews some of the big-gesture dramatics of other biopics. It has a slow burn, but the payoff is huge.
The Insider
Anyone who reads this blog knows that I am a huge fan of director Michael Mann. But his 1990 film The Insider, which garnered an Oscar nominating for Best Picture, is a bit of a departure for him. Based on the true story of corporate whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand (brilliantly played by Russell Crowe), who leaked information to 60 Minutes about the inner workings of the tobacco industry, The Insider is a straight drama with the tension of a mystery. Al Pacino plays Lowell Bergman, the legendary producer who worked to get Wigand’s famous interview on-air. While most Michael Mann movies involve bank robbers and epic shoot-outs, The Insider is about a subtler (but more common) kind of violence, the sort practiced in corporate boardrooms all over America. My favorite thing about this movie is the way it explores the inherently dangerous relationship between informant and newsman. Pacino, as Bergman, wants to broadcast Wigand’s story, but he wants to protect him, too. The reality, of course, is that he can’t do both, and that’s the essential tension of this great film.
All the President’s Men
How could I not put Alan J. Pakula’s masterpiece at the top (er…bottom) of my list? Not only is it about the greatest news story in American history—resulting in the resignation of a president—but it is also the most inventive and compelling film on my list. Having begun as a brainchild of Robert Redford, who co-produced the film as well as co-starring in it, All the President’s Men is a tale of dark secrets that have been well- buried under strata of deception and corruption. Much of the action takes place at night, beginning with the infamous 1972 break-in of the Watergate building and continuing with Bob Woodward’s midnight-hour rendezvous with his informant, the shadowy Deep Throat. You can almost feel the desperation—and growing paranoia—of Woodward and Bernstein (played by a kinetic Dustin Hoffman, who almost steals the movie) as they embark on their search for the truth. This is not only a great film about the press, it’s great film about the biggest danger facing the United States, then and now—namely, the danger of creeping, secret government.
(Author’s Note: this post originally appeared on my old blog, Bakhtin’s Cigarettes.)
Ash Clifton, Writer 