Skip to main content

Reds by Warren Beatty and The Geniuses of Actors-cum-Directors of Hollywood

This appreciation post is dedicated to all the actors-cum-directors of Hollywood and in particular, shall single out Warren Beatty's REDS for being its catalyst. Warren Beatty, Woodie Allen, Clint Eastwood, Kevin Costner, Sean Penn, Robert Redford and Tim Robbins are very renowned and established directors in Hollywood though we recognize them as actors more. Warren Beatty has always been a maverick and very outlandish in both his acting and directing, Kevin very sedate, Clint like 'ain't no sunshine kid when you are at the wrong side of a loaded barrel', Tim and Robert very conventional, Woody, very unconventional and moody and Sean, mysterious and dark. They are prolific as both actors and directors......Clint is now aged 80+ and still making Oscar-worthy cinema, watch this year's The American Sniper for reference. This post is a tribute to their craft and undeniable passion and zest for quality cinema.

Now returning to the enigmatic Warren Beatty, one of the famed bad boys of Hollywood with companions such as Jack Nicholson, THE Marlon Brando, and Sean Penn. The playboy and known to be having affairs with at least 23 actresses (yes, I counted them on TCM database) in his heydays, Beatty was very particular with his Projects and loved making motion pictures. His marvelous streak starts with Shampoo, Bonnie and Clyde, Reds, Bugsy, Heavens can Wait and ends at Bulworth (1998). Nominated 14 times for Oscars and winning it only one time for REDS as the best director immortalizes his reputation as 'once-in-a-generation' talent. He was both the very best and very worst of Hollywood in his prime and only Brando can match that reputation neck-to-neck.......that's a no mean feat for Warren for sure.

I assume you won't need my telling how much USA has abhorred the idea of Socialism and hated 'communism' and 'Russia' for that even when both were allies during first and second world war. REDS chronicles the history of socialism in America and one must now safely assume how difficult it would have been for Beatty to pursue this dream project of his in 1970s. He directs the film and portrays the character of Jack Reed in the movie who was the FACE of communist party in America. He was an iconic journalist, a playboy and maverick just like BEATTY who covered the Bolshevik movement in Russia in 1917. Needless to say, Beatty plays this role convincingly and utmost confidence. What we have as a result is an EPIC movie and it is an EPIC in literal sense.....running over 3 hours and almost in a style of docu-drama. Diane Keaton as her love interest, Louise Bryant is just terrific and so is evergreen (and my favorite) Jack Nicholson in the character of Nobel Laureate Playwriter Eugene O'Neill. This movie is a Beatty's masterpiece and shall always be categorized among the very best of Hollywood..........‪#‎NakedEmotions‬

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Leftovers: A Very 'Special' HBO Production

Three things that have occupied my mind for last three days in descending order of importance are: Justin Trudeau, Heinrich Klassen and The Leftovers. I am going to write here about the least important entity for I am likely to forget about it most urgently. The Leftovers is an HBO production and like the most HBO productions, it makes for a great television experience. I chose to watch it for two reasons: First, it was only three season long with 28 episodes in total and secondly, for two years running, it was the best TV show in American Landscape. There was a third reason as well and it was in the name of its creator's promise. Damon Lindelof is one of the brightest American minds and he gave us 'Lost' all those years back. I have been a huge fan of 'Lost' and till this time, gush about its fantastical and mythical elements. People still find it very hard to crack the mysteries of Lost and when a show leaves you with more questions than the answers after its 8
Post a Comment
Read more

Phillip Seymour Hoffman : An Obituary

Phillip Seymour Hoffman was one of the modern acting greats. You can always identify and isolate him in an ensemble cast. Give him just two-three lines in a 150-180 minutes long feature film and still he would enthrall the audience with his magic and aura and come out on top. People and critics alike bestowed countless superlatives upon him in a career spanning over more than two decades but whether any one of those adjectives ever managed to justify his cinematic craft, I seriously doubted. He was unprecedented and unsurpassed in the practice of cinematic artistry and thus emerged as America’s greatest character actor ever, period. Paul Giamatti is his worthy successor and hopefully he would calm and soothe our nerves with his finest performances in times to come in Phillip’s absence. Phillip ultimately was a show-stealer, a rabble-rouser, an aloof but a sympathizing marvelous human being who marveled in Hollywood though always residing at its sidelines. I first saw him playing a y
Post a Comment
Read more

Book Review: Unanswered

'Unanswered' is a book penned by Mr. Kunal Uniyal and it's his third book. I am calling it a book, using a common noun to describe it and I have a good enough reason for doing so. It's a book that consists off both poems and prose and I was in real dilemma picturing its prognosis in my mind. It started with a poem named 'You and I' and beautiful it was, all poised and lyrical. And then came a snippet of a prose by the name 'Life of a Yogi'. They were really not connected and I was perplexed. Then I allowed myself some comfort and decided to dig up some more. Some more beautiful poems and accompanying yet again not quite related passages of prose followed but now they looked more in shape and very much in order. Now I was beginning to realize that there was more to this book than met my eyes earlier and it's scope is much wider that what I originally thought. You are required to engage yourself with this book and once you do that, you will know you ar
Post a Comment
Read more