Guilty by Suspicion | | Cast : | Robert De Niro, Annette Bening | | Director : | Irwin Winkler | | Studio : | Warner Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Dolby | | Released Date : | March 15, 1991 | | DVD Released Date : | June 01, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Original Language), English (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | June 20, 2005 | | Summary | History...Hollywood style | Content
 | "Guilty by Suspicion" is one of those "Historical Fiction" films that "The Rotten Review" just can't get out of its hair. Historical fiction is ironic enough a term for any subject, but especially so when brought to bear against the evils of the McCarthy era. Like much historical fiction, the "Big Red Scare" mixed the true and the perhaps-no-true with little regard for distinguishing the one from the other. "Suspicion" so strongly enmeshes itself in the intrigue of the 50's Witch-Hunts that it's difficult to comment on the film without getting into the larger argument of their merits. On the other hand, this is a work of fiction, with invented characters, scripted dialog and its own form of a Hollywood ending. History being as important as "Suspicion" suggests - "The Rotten Review" wonders why it should be forced to pick for history out of its uninspired script, one that visits no new territory.
The story has noble (and fictional) Hollywood director David Merrill facing off against the House committee for Un-American Affairs long after he'd been stripped of his prestige and cozy life for refusing to name fellow Hollywood communists. Merrill we learn is no hero - he had no interest in politics, but went to some meetings during the war when it was fashionable to support any anti-fascist cause. But he doesn't want to name names. Soon he's forced to work pseudonymously on low-budget Westerns, until his true name is revealed. (His only defender, it turns out, is a Gary Cooper-like actor; even a similarly blacklisted friend played by Scorcese turns against him). To add insult to industry, less-noble friends turn against him and name him as a communist (including a writer that Merrill had earlier refused to name to the committee). Merrill decline works like a sort of trajectory - inevitably bringing him before the committee where scripted heroism will allow him to take an oral potshot at Hollywood-style politicians.
The other question this flick raises (that is, after the whole history and fiction issue) is this - why was this movie made? McCarthyism has been done to death - Woody Allen tackled this about 20 years ago with "The Front", a black-comedy also ending with the heroic showdown with HUAC. "Suspicion" seems to understand how new it's not - the script is so light on the details, it likely presumes that we already know the important stuff (good guys from bad politicians; the movie doesn't take chances by casting any popular actors in unpopular parts like those of the anti-communist inquisitors; like the communists of that era - the Witch Hunters have become "The Other", the faceless embodiment of anti-patriotic evil). Also, the watching this flick, it's easy to forget that the Red-Scare wasn't focused exclusively or even originally on Hollywood at all - early targets were the armed forces and the State Department. (For Merrill's denouement, the script appropriates the famous rejoinder by Army AG Joe Welch to Joe McCarthy.)
But worst of all, "Suspicion" is boring. The story, though following well-worn trails against right-wing agitprop, never seems to be going in any direction, and reinforces nothing other than a sentiment I had before seeing this movie: Hollywood can't be trusted to document its own lamentable moments in history. |
| Rating | | | Date | March 31, 2005 | | Summary | Winkler In Way Over His Head | Content
| You have a sense of some noble purpose to Irwin Winkler's creation of this movie. But it's a mess.
The scerenplay is the worst sort of hackneyed melodrama. The man who gave us "Airport" decides to handle the McCarthy disaster. TO be effective as a disaster movie, the audience has to be brought to care about the protagonists.
You have Robert DeNiro, the most amazing and hard-working actor of the last thirty years. You have other supporting players who are competent, dedicated and almost glad to be here.
Even excellent acting cannot get the audience sympathetic for self-absorbed, narcissistic and uninvolved postwar moviemakers and stars. When a female character commits suicide, you are supposed to identify with her and feel a sense of tragedy. Instead, you feel something like relief that you don't have to listen to her any more.
Liberal or conservative? Republican or Democrat? Hell, it really doesn't matter. You're almost more glad that the movie's over than glad that the McCarthy era ended fifty-plus years ago. |
| Rating | | | Date | March 13, 2005 | | Summary | Guilt By Omission | Content
| Irwin Winkler can produce a good movie, as he proved with Rocky and Raging Bull, but trying his hand at directing has been a bit tougher to qualify. His first forray calling the shots tackles a bit of history with mixed results and ultimately loses its potentcy.
Hollywood, 1950. When David Merrill (Robert De Niro) -- one of the dream factory's top directors -- returns from a recuperative European hiatus, he finds himself in a tinsel town he no longer recognizes. His friends are ill at ease, good folks won't talk openly anymore and the House Un-American Activities Committee regularly interrogates some of Hollywood's finest, including fellow director Joe Lesser (real life director Martin Scorsese in a rare on camera role). Initially, David's not concerned, but when an old friend identifies him as a leftist, he begins to realize that he's living in an era plagued by suspicion. Seeking support, Merrill finds some from an ulikely source--his ex wife Ruth (Annette Bening).
Having an all star cast in his corner helps Winkler and Guilty By Suspicion rise above its problems. Featuring solid support from George Wendt as Bunny Baxter, Patricia Wettig as Dorothy Nolan, Chris Cooper as Larry Nolan, and Ben Piazza playing legendary studio head Darryl Zanuck it tells an important story. The film's main problem is its pace. Things plod along slower than a snails crawl for too long...Therefore any drama that builds is lost as things labor on. The script also by Winkler, avoids telling the whole story of what really went on back then, by going that route and it loses what could have picked things up otherwise.
The DVD is a pretty shabby in its presentation. The film is only available in 4:3 full frame aspect ratio. Even though it was released on disc during DVD's earliest days, and it's not a perfect film, it deserves better than this. There are no extras on the disc.
The cast makes the film and is the only reason to watch |
| Rating | | | Date | February 17, 2005 | | Summary | All too relevant! | Content
| If you think the Blacklist is merely a sordid historical event now long past, having nothing to do with today, merely read the negative reviews of this film below. You need look no further for perfect examples of the mentality that gave rise to the witch hunts of the 1950s. The "you're either with us or against us" jingoism; the demonization of reason, nuance & complexity; the callous disregard for the human beings destroyed in the name of a shrill, vicious ideology -- it's all here, exposed by this fine film & demonstrated by those espousing such inhumanity today. So it serves as a warning: what happened before can all too easily happen again, all in the name of mindless patriotism.
No doubt similar films about today will be made some 20 or 30 years down the line, and people then will wonder how such rigid, narrow-minded madness could have become the mainstream. This film shows how it happened then & how it's happening now. It's fascinating to see how those with such a pathological hatred of The Other always end up emulating The Other. The rabid anti-Communists in this film are the mirror images of those running the show trials of dissidents under Stalin.
And today? Perhaps we'll eventually hear someone proclaim, "It became necessary to destroy freedom in order to save it." Just watch this film first, to see & comprehend the poisoned seeds of this self-righteous mentality. Highly recommended! |
| Rating | | | Date | February 10, 2005 | | Summary | Great movie, not so great DVD | Content
| I am a huge fan of this movie; I first saw it in history class and when I saw how cheap it was, I had to buy it. DeNiro is superb, showing off his chops (why is it that all the DeNiro movies where he plays against type are unpopular?). The story is compelling, and the movie is excellent fodder for students of modern US history.
The bad part is that the DVD IS cheap. You really get what you pay for in this case: it isn't widescreen; there are no special features or audio options; to access subtitles (English only) you have to use your remote instead of a menu; and the transfer to DVD is low quality. I wouldn't have so much of a problem with this if there were another edition where these problems were corrected; after all, bargain basement editions usually don't have too many frills. But this is the only DVD of the film available at present, which means that we're all sort of stuck with it.
So know what you're buying; a cheap DVD. Don't pay more than you have to for it. But buy it anyway, and show it to your kids (well, your older kids anyway). In our current situation, both as a nation and as members of a global community, it has a very powerful and important message to tell, and it illustrates just how expensive true patriotism can be. |
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