Monday, March 26, 2007
NAMING NAMES
Today's Zero Mostel Film Festival Film was Martin Ritt's
which is about the blacklisting scandals of the 1950's.
The film was made with 7 or 8 people who were blacklisted themselves.
The credits roll with each name and their blacklisted date. A fine payback for the McCarthy and HUAC bastards.
A lot of this will seem familiar; Kafka-esque investigations that sort of crawl up their own assholes but still scare and intimidate people and actually destroy some people's lives.
Zero Mostel plays the comic Hecky Brown who is unable and unwilling to name names. His friendship with Woody Allen (the star) is what turns Woody, the front for blacklisted writers, into a rebellious witness.
It is all very good preserving a delicate balance between comedy and tragedy.
Mostel's role capitalizes on his ability to maintain this balance in all his career. He is hilariously funny and has this underlay of tragic awareness.
I saw this when it came out and was excited about seeing it again.
He is a 5 and the film is a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: blacklist, criminal morons, films, Zero Mostel
