Reds

Dir: Warren Beatty, 1981 (8.4*)

It's easy to admire Beatty's acheivement here as Oscar-winning director (his only competetive Oscar), his most ambitious effort. This film has history, romance and war (but not enough), as we follow American journalist John Reed to the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917. Diane Keaton is his sometimes girlfriend, actress Louise Bryant (you can get a '29 film of hers on dvd), Maureen Stapleton (Oscar for Supp Actress) a fellow writer and supporter, Jack Nicholson plays a love rival, the playright Eugene O'Neill. However, this fails to be as involving as it should as it's too long at nearly four hours, so it loses it pace and punch. Not only that, it's about some danged pinko Reds, some free-love beatnik liberals! Up a star however for the best use of in-film interviews I've seen, with people who knew Reed and Bryant back then, a few of thousands who answered ads Beatty ran looking for eye-witnesses. Out of 12 nominations, 3 Oscars