2019 Directed by Clint Eastwood
Richard Jewell thinks quick, works fast, and saves hundreds, perhaps thousands, of lives after a domestic terrorist plants several pipe bombs and they explode during a concert, only to be falsely suspected of the crime by sloppy FBI work and sensational media coverage.
Paul Walter Hauser Jon Hamm Kathy Bates Sam Rockwell Olivia Wilde Nina Arianda Ian Gomez Wayne Duvall Dylan Kussman Mike Pniewski Brandon Stanley Ryan Boz Charles Green Ronnie Allen David Lengel Beth Keener Grant Roberts Alan Heckner Desmond Phillips Alex Collins Michael Otis Izzy Herbert Kelly Collins Lintz Jonathan D Bergman Daniel Annone Zack Shires Christian Adam Eric Mendenhall Randy Havens Show All…
Dean A. Zupancic John Joseph Thomas John T. Reitz Michael W. Mitchell Unsun Song Brian Tarlecki Christian Wenger
Politics and human rights High speed and special ops political, democracy, president, documentary or propaganda political, president, historical, politician or democracy terrorism, thriller, gripping, intense or political racism, african american, powerful, hatred or slavery cops, murder, thriller, detective or crime Show All…
weird to see so many people take this to task as MAGA cinema (i guess based on its critique of the media and eastwood's own libertarian leanings?) when a couple bone-headed screenwriting conveniences aside this is one of the more ruthless and heartbreaking depictions of cop worship put to screen. it's there explicitly in the writing but it was paul walter hauser complex and frankly unbelievable performance that really won me over. i was on the verge of tears more than once watching this unremarkable, good-hearted oaf suffer abuse at the hands of a misplaced idolatry in american institutions and maintain an unassuming courtesy and moral framework even as real systemic injustice of the authority he reveres tramples over him.…
Probably my favorite from the Late-Eastwood Heroism Project, mostly because instead of focusing on the trials of law enforcement or military service or even SULLY's simple grace under fire, this is just about a culture of unending cynicism and mistrust and anger. Everyone's looking to poke holes in Richard, everyone is convinced that he's too dumb, too fat, too fucking polite to be anything other than a shifty weirdo at best, a mass-murderer at worst. Plenty of material for both sides of the Clint divide to chew on here too, including a maybe-problematic portrayal of women, a self-interested and inherently deceptive media landscape, some hypocrisy re: law enforcement, and even the prominent placement of a few Confederate flags, but I submit to you that it's all of a piece given Eastwood's career-long infatuation with subtle gradations of virtue (or lack thereof). Also Paul Walter Hauser is very good here.
"Deep State creeps conspire with Fake News Media to slander an American hero *cough*Trump2020*cough*" is a concise logline for this and the reason so many people got mad at it without bothering to see it.
The overarching narrative is indeed MAGA friendly, but not only is it largely true (save some dramatic choices that some people have decided to become incensed over as a way to justify their knee-jerk revulsion at the project), it provides the structure onto which Clint and company build a lacerating, brutal portrayal of frustrated ambition and poisonous alienation. Depicts with gripping clarity the grim, thwarted slog of being an ordinary guy in a country that reveres and even seems to demand the extraordinary, as well…
The Confederate flag got a more respectful portrayal in this than Olivia Wilde's character
Rotten Tomatoes: 76%
Metacritic Metascore: 68
IMDB: 7.5
81/100
Release Date: 13 December 2019
Distributor: Warner Brothers
Budget: $45M
Worldwide Gross: $43.7M
OSCAR Nominations: 1
Total Film Awards: 6
Richard Jewell: "There's a bomb in Centennial Park. You have thirty minutes."
SYNOPSIS: American security guard Richard Jewell saves many lives from an exploding bomb at the 1996 Olympics, but is vilified by journalists and the press who falsely reported that he was a terrorist.
Paul Walter Houser, welcome to the big time!
TRIVIA: Bobbi Jewell asked that the Kenny Rogers concert be included in the film, as she is a huge fan.
TRIVIA: Leonardo DiCaprio was once eyeing a role in this movie as a southern lawyer while…
Robert Bresson famously said, "Not beautiful images, but necessary images." At 89, Clint Eastwood has systematically stripped virtually all "prettiness" from his films - and in so doing, has found a certain kind of beauty. There are some filmmakers who inspire you to look a little differently at your surroundings. David Lynch is one. Jodorowsky is another. And so too is Eastwood, whose films illuminate the poetry in the crappy offices, diners, lobbies, parks, and apartment buildings that surround us.
Like The 15:17 to Paris, this is about an absolutely unremarkable man who is suddenly vaulted to Hero™ status by a whim of fate. As in Sully, his heroism immediately rouses the suspicion of Pencil-Pushing Bureaucrats Who Have Nothing Better To…
A great movie about demeanor. How it is acted, perceived, and sold out there. Terrific acted by all. Very libertarian in its political leanings (Rockwell must be one of the closest fictional self-portraits Eastwood has pulled, he even stays most of the back half of the movie trying to direct Hauser's Jewell), One of the more thoughtful Eastwood's takes on American Law and Order worship ideology.
More thoughts at my blog:
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Tough to rate on first glance: arguably one of Eastwood's most blatantly conservative films yet in its second half becomes exemplary of what Eastwood is best at, sharing the clunkiness of his work post 2016 yet bringing back the moral complexites which characterized Eastwood's '03-08 +2011 glory years.
Arguably his most devestating film since Changeling, and I can't get over that image of Kathy Bates near the end having her Tupperware returned, but unable to get the FBI markings off as they're in perminant ink - a blunt metaphor, but a powerful one in greater context.
Flips even ideas from Sully, where the whole point was to "do a job" yet Richard tries to do the same thing and is…
supremely well-acted with an especially affecting diner scene between Rockwell & PWH towards the end of the film. I keep thinking about PWH eating a donut/crying. who among us has not also eaten a donut/cried while being railroaded by the US govt. not sure there is a better Rockwell performance in the past decade? I don't even remember when Moon came out. obviously the Olivia Wilde as Babe Dot Net editor in chief stuff is disastrous while also sort of teetering on so-bad-it's-iconic territory... anyway, I mostly appreciate the political muddiness of this, which I find to be much less condescending than a lot of other message-centric movies. he simped for law enforcement even as they ruined his life! very tragic!
