Three Brave Men

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mrsl
Posts: 4200
Joined: April 14th, 2007, 5:20 pm
Location: Chicago SW suburbs

Three Brave Men

Post by mrsl »

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Ever since the first time I saw the movie Guilty By Suspicion I have been intrigued by the goings on of the HUAC, especially their destruction of careers in Hollywood both in front of, and behind the cameras. Although the story of David Merrill was pure fiction, the circumstances and events of his life were certainly taken from truth, exhibiting the vicious cruelty the hearings caused. The case of Marsha Hunt being foremost in my mind.

I had always thought the HUAC only attacked the entertainment faction and it was only when I saw Good Luck and Good Night, in 2005 by George Clooney that I realized it was a national thing that could affect people of all walks of life. That is what this movie is all about. It's a shame it's not better known because it is a fine performance by Ernest Borgnine, and for him to have more 'nice guy' roles familiar to the public would never hurt him, that's for sure. Ernie is a very nice fellow who does legal work for the U.S. Navy and one day he's called into the inner sanctum and put on indeterminate lay-off because of some obscure group he joined when he was a college kid. I was surprised to find Ray Milland as the lawyer Ernie gets to represent him, and later, Andrew Duggan as a minister who befriends Ernie when he feels his community has turned against him. In a wild smattering of major TV and minor movie people filling in other roles, you feel almost a part of this 'small town USA'. Then we have Virginia Christine as Ernie's wife, but of course she's been someone's wife since forever in thousands of TV shows, when she wasn't peddling coffee. Nina Foch also gets in there with her typical 'scratch your eyes out' performance. Unfortunately it was on the FOX movie channel, but hopefully it will show up sometime on TCM . . . or it's definitely worth a quiet Saturday night rental. Enjoy!
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Anne


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RedRiver
Posts: 4200
Joined: July 28th, 2011, 9:42 am

Re: Three Brave Men

Post by RedRiver »

This does sound interesting. I, also, find the topic stimulating. For a movie that received so little attention, GUILTY BY SUSPICION is not bad at all. It's personal, dramatic, tragic. It's even kind of creepy, as the main character is being followed...or at least, THINKS he's being followed! This is an interesting, and quietly exciting story, set in a world we classic movie fans love. 1950's Hollywood!

Our local theatre group is doing THE CRUCIBLE in the spring. As religion occupies more and more of the public discourse, and elected officials spot Muslims on every corner, this is a good time for it. I told the theatre director political witch hunting is in the news again. He said, "It never seems to get far from it!"
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