Reds

Reds (1981)
Director: Warren Beatty
Cast: Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson
Memorable Line(s): "If you were mine, I wouldn't share you with anybody or anything. It'd be just you and me. We'd be the center of it all. I know it would feel a lot more like love than being left alone with your work."


* Underrated and Overlooked *
Reds boils down to a genre movie -- a romance set against an epic historical background. Yes, it's been done before and done well, but Warren Beatty seems to have poured every bit of his energy, creativity and passion into this movie.

The hero of Reds is John Reed (Beatty) and the time is around World War I. Reed is a idealistic journalist who gets embroiled with Communism (a pure form of it) and the Socialist movement and along the way falls in love with a somewhat confused and lost feminist, Louise Bryant (Keaton). Reed puts his idealism to work as he globe trots around the world to report on the liberal movements and Bryant follows. Bryant's character shows the most growth as she goes from sycophant/dilettante to respected colleague to savior in respect to how she related to Reeds character.

Beatty and Keaton connect and convey the passion of ideals and of romance in the respective roles. As playwrite, Eugene O'Neill, Nicholson stands out in a remarkable and out of character understated role as the romantic turned cynic who ultimately can't turn his back on his true nature

Reds is lushly photographed by Vittario Stararo with a moving score by Stephen Sondheim, the film has a fabulous look, feel and music. Beatty chooses an unconventional framing device and includes interviews with real life figures from the early communist/socialist movements who ran with John Reed. The interviews give the movie a verisimilitude and provide an insight into the characters of Reed, Bryant, and O'Neill that at first blush you would think would be distracting, but really provide a historical perspective that deepens the characters.

Beat out by "Chariots of Fire" for best picture at the Oscars and nearly forgotten, this film is one worth re-visiting. Reds is worth your time and effort.