Posted 11:08 am Monday, December 31, 2012
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'Wrong Is Right' could use a remake minus newsroom pet peeves
This week's Lost & Found movie is a bit of cheating on my part.
The point of this is to see a DVD I own but have never watched or just watch a movie I should've seen by now and haven't.
This week's movie is one of the first movies I ever watched ... on a VCR tape, and I wanted to revisit it.
When Curtis Mathes was the big name in TVs and VCRs, and you rented your videos from convenience stores and bait shops, I saw “Wrong Is Right,” and it was such a good movie I haven't watched it since.
“Wrong Is Right” (1982), written and directed by Richard Brooks (“Blackboard Jungle,” “In Cold Blood” and “Looking For Mr. Goodbar”) and starring Sean Connery, is a satirical look at the news media and a world in crisis.
The movie poster's tagline reads: “In a moment World War III … but first a word from our sponsor.”
Set in the midst of a presidential election, a globe-trotting newsman and lead anchor for World Television News, Patrick Hale (Connery) is hunting a story about the theft of two suitcase nukes and Islamic terrorism.
The film also deals with media bias, reality television and government conspiracy.
King Ibn Awad (Ron Moody) of the Arab country of Hegreb believes U.S. President Lockwood (George Grizzard) has ordered his assassination. In response, Awad seems to make arrangements to get two suitcase nukes to a terrorist, and detonate them in Israel and the U.S., unless the Lockwood resigns.
Things are a bit more complicated than that, but it's not a difficult movie to follow.
In the end, “Wrong Is Right” suffers from dated editing and acting styles and poor special effects and production value. Seriously, these special effects are very not special.
The point of this is to see a DVD I own but have never watched or just watch a movie I should've seen by now and haven't.
This week's movie is one of the first movies I ever watched ... on a VCR tape, and I wanted to revisit it.
When Curtis Mathes was the big name in TVs and VCRs, and you rented your videos from convenience stores and bait shops, I saw “Wrong Is Right,” and it was such a good movie I haven't watched it since.
“Wrong Is Right” (1982), written and directed by Richard Brooks (“Blackboard Jungle,” “In Cold Blood” and “Looking For Mr. Goodbar”) and starring Sean Connery, is a satirical look at the news media and a world in crisis.
The movie poster's tagline reads: “In a moment World War III … but first a word from our sponsor.”
Set in the midst of a presidential election, a globe-trotting newsman and lead anchor for World Television News, Patrick Hale (Connery) is hunting a story about the theft of two suitcase nukes and Islamic terrorism.
The film also deals with media bias, reality television and government conspiracy.
King Ibn Awad (Ron Moody) of the Arab country of Hegreb believes U.S. President Lockwood (George Grizzard) has ordered his assassination. In response, Awad seems to make arrangements to get two suitcase nukes to a terrorist, and detonate them in Israel and the U.S., unless the Lockwood resigns.
Things are a bit more complicated than that, but it's not a difficult movie to follow.
In the end, “Wrong Is Right” suffers from dated editing and acting styles and poor special effects and production value. Seriously, these special effects are very not special.
One of my pet peeves about movies is their inability to portray newspapers or TV news programs properly. While filmmakers, have gotten better at it, for years — even before I worked at a newspaper — I would see a newspaper's front page in a film and think, “That's not how a page designer would've laid out that page or written that headline.”
I'm also bothered when filmmakers would reuse their own movie footage as if it was shot by a TV news cameraman and present it in a TV news package.
“Wrong Is Right” is lousy with these problems.
By the end of “Wrong Is Right,” everything is co-opted and nothing — the government, military, clergy, TV news and public opinion — can be trusted. As long as oil rights are in the hands of the U.S. (or the U.S.-chosen henchmen) and the TV networks have its ratings, the public will be none the wiser.
“Wrong Is Right” was a film of its time and also ahead of its time. Even as a 12-year-old kid, I saw elements of truth from this film backed up by the TV shows and news programs on early 1980s television.
“Wrong Is Right” is a kindred spirit to the more earnest geopolitical thriller “Syriana” (2005), starring George Clooney.
The legacy of “Wrong Is Right” would benefit from a remake. The sharper movie-making technology of today would give the ideas behind “Wrong Is Right” an entire new audience.
But it might not seem much different than the fare already offer on cable TV.
“Lost & Found” is a weekly column and review of films the author Seames O'Grady, self-professed movie expert, has in his DVD collection or on his Netflix queue, but just hasn't got around to watching until now.
I'm also bothered when filmmakers would reuse their own movie footage as if it was shot by a TV news cameraman and present it in a TV news package.
“Wrong Is Right” is lousy with these problems.
By the end of “Wrong Is Right,” everything is co-opted and nothing — the government, military, clergy, TV news and public opinion — can be trusted. As long as oil rights are in the hands of the U.S. (or the U.S.-chosen henchmen) and the TV networks have its ratings, the public will be none the wiser.
“Wrong Is Right” was a film of its time and also ahead of its time. Even as a 12-year-old kid, I saw elements of truth from this film backed up by the TV shows and news programs on early 1980s television.
“Wrong Is Right” is a kindred spirit to the more earnest geopolitical thriller “Syriana” (2005), starring George Clooney.
The legacy of “Wrong Is Right” would benefit from a remake. The sharper movie-making technology of today would give the ideas behind “Wrong Is Right” an entire new audience.
But it might not seem much different than the fare already offer on cable TV.
“Lost & Found” is a weekly column and review of films the author Seames O'Grady, self-professed movie expert, has in his DVD collection or on his Netflix queue, but just hasn't got around to watching until now.
