» Reds (Special 25th Aniversary Edition)

Reds (Special 25th Aniversary Edition) Reviews

Customer Rating:
Summary: Preachy yawn-fest with horrible period portrayal...
Comment: For the life of me I will NEVER understand the following for this movie... not even among hopeless and hapless lefties! If I were them, I would demand a much better film...

Warren Beatty runs around grinning with his 80's hair falling in his face... utterly unconvincing as a journalist, radical, or human being. Diane Keaton seems intent on portraying Louise Bryant as a sympathetic and idealistic dreamer; she comes off as unbelievably selfish and whiney [probably an inadventent accuracy, actually!]

The costuming is horrible. Honestly WHERE was the 30 million bux even spent?? The cut of the clothes is almost always off... hairstyles bear NO resemblance to those of the teen years and '20s... even the dialogue is full of unbearable modern colloquialisms.

And I could go on and ON... no kidding.

Seriously lefties... demand a better film. LOL

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Smug communist propaganda and boring at that
Comment: "Reds" is an irritatingly self-satisfied film telling the story of two unbelievably selfish and naive American communists John Reed and Louise Bryant (played by a smug Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton).

Since the film was made in 1981 communism has fallen rendering the fledgling communist movement in the US - and this film - largely irrelevent and reinforcing how naive and misguided people like John Reed and his colleagues were - one can't help but be disgusted as one watches the film at how they were prepared to look the other way as the Bolsheviks tyrannised the Russian population.

The low budget look of the film, combined with its mediocre actors and gargantuan length (188 minutes) give "Reds" the feel of one of those 80s mini-series. Only Jack Nicholson as writer Eugene O'Neill gives it any spark. Smug communist propaganda and boring at that.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Magnificent achievement
Comment: While this is ostensibly about the Russian Revolution, it is really about unbounded youthful enthusiasm and the ultimate brick wall it hits when experience sets in. Ignorance, youth and over-confidence are a lethal combination. Made shortly after the similar youthful outburts of the 1960s, the movie could easily have used that backdrop for the same purpose.

The revolution began with high hopes and sank into an Orwellian slough, just as many of the 1960s visionaries became the conservative suburbanites of the following decades. The supposed father of the Russian Revolution was Karl Marx, but in short order all that remained of him was his poster picture--because his ideals, as John Reed and Louise Bryant would discover, were impossible, e.g., the abolition of all private property.

Reed died early, before the purges, before the advent of Stalin--who would probably have killed Reed. Bryant lived on, married a U.S. ambassador and lived in Paris, where her scandalous behavior was of a different sort. The movie doesn't go into all that, any more than "Hair" went into the rise of Ronald Reagan.

The acting in this movie is superb, flawless. The use of witnesses is especually effective, although I wish they had been labeled. I recognized some but not all of them.

This is a movie that has stayed with me since I first saw it more than 25 years ago. It felt just as fresh upon seeing it again yesterday.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: yes
Comment: not much yu can say. reds was probably one of or the greatest films of all times.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: One of few
Comment: I first saw this within a month of its release in 1981-1982 (came out over 1981 holidays.)

When the video was released in the 80s, I was thankful.

After watching it about every month, and more now, I have no doubt Reds is up there with Last Tango in Paris, The Third Man, The Maltese Falcon. In short it might be on many critics' list of Ten Best Films ever.

I do not overestimate. Everything is perfect.

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