Reds (1981)

Reds
Directed by Warren Beatty
Written by Warren Beatty and Trevor Griffiths
1981/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/YouTube rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Witness: I think that a guy who’s always interested in the condition of the world and changing it, either has no problems of his own or refuses to face them.

This was better than I remembered it from original release but is still too long.

The story begins in Portland, Oregon in 1915.  John Reed (Warren Beatty) is a brilliant investigative journalist with a definite leftist slant.  Louise Bryant (Diane Keaton) is a married dilettante that is trying to find a her voice as a writer. When the two meet, sparks fly.  They are kindred spirits and Louise is ready to move to New York with Jack soon thereafter.  She constantly fights for her own career without pursuing it with much vigor.  They also are anti-WWI activists at home.  Neither of these activities make them popular with the authorities.

For awhile, the couple lives in sort of an artists colony by the shore.  One of their best friends is Eugene O’Neill (Jack Nicholson).  O’Neill is strongly attracted to Louise and they have an affair when Jack leaves Louise behind to agitate at the 1916 Democratic National Convention on behalf of Woodrow Wilson, who at the time was an anti-war candidate.  Jack finds out about this and opts to propose marriage.  Simultaneously, he is secretly suffering with kidney disease.

Although there is a rift in the marriage, Jack and Louise make up and he convinces her to travel to Russia with him as his “comrade”. The inspiration the two find in the Russian revolution binds them again as lovers.  Jack illegally enters Russian again planning to stay only several months  and finds leaving is not so easy.  Louise goes through hell trying to join him.  With Maureen Stapleton as Emma Goldman.

I saw this in the theater and after so many years my main memory of it was Jack Nicholson’s performance.  He is still the best thing about the movie according to me.  But it is also very good looking and works well as an epic romance.  The intricacies and importance of infighting within the American socialist movement not so much.  In fact, by the end I felt that a lot of good minds were wasted on a project that never would have succeeded in America in the first place.  The three-hour plus film required an intermission, never a good thing in my book.

Reds won Academy Awards in the categories of Best Director, Best Supporting Actress (Stapleton), and Best Cinematography.  It was nominated in the categories of Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor (Nicholson). Best Original Screenplay, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, and Best Sound.