Critics Be Damned: The Reagan Film Is Wonderful
The critics have been unmerciful in their reviews of the movie Reagan which features Dennis Quaid in the titular role. Inspired by The American Spectator editor Paul Kengor’s book The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism, the film has been widely derided as a “hagiography” that preaches to the choir of supporters of the 40th U.S. president.
Even National Review barely mustered a compliment. “And to the extent that Quaid served as a jukebox playing some of Reagan’s greatest hits, there were enjoyable moments — and some that were quite moving.” The critics have misunderstood the movie just as they probably misunderstood the Reagan presidency.
The film also readily admits that Reagan was a B actor although subtle homage is played to Knute Rockne: All American (1940) and Kings Row (1942).
Directed by Sean McNamara, the ensemble film also stars Penelope Ann Miller as Nancy Reagan, Jon Voight as fictional KGB agent Viktor Petrovich, Mena Suvari as Reagan’s first wife actress Jane Wyman, C. Thomas Howell as Casper Weinberger, Xander Berkeley as George Schultz, Amanda Righetti as Reagan’s mother Nell, and Lesley-Anne Down as Margaret Thatcher. (READ MORE from Leonora Cravotta: Hit Man Is Destined To Become a Hit)
Reagan opens with the 1981 assassination attempt at the DC Hilton Hotel before flashing back to Reagan’s childhood in Dixon, Illinois. The narrative then jumps back to 1981 with Reagan famously endeavoring to diffuse his brush with death with the words “I forgot to duck.” The focus on the Hilton Hotel shooting imbues the film with a Twilight Zone-type aura given the recent assassination attempt on former president and 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Critics have widely derided screenplay writer Howard Klausner’s decision to use the fictional KGB agent Viktor Petrovich (Voight) as the story’s present-day narrator. Petrovich discusses his 40-year obsession with Reagan in conversations with another fictional character, a rising young Russian politician Andrei Novikov (Alex Sparrow).
Petrovich in these exchanges makes it clear that he identified Reagan as a Western threat to Russia decades before he became President of the United States and that Reagan’s anticommunist leanings started burgeoning when he became president of the Screen Actors Guild. While there are risks with injecting fictional characters into a bio picture, the tactic worked effectively in Reagan because Jon Voight is such an authentic actor who disseminates a thousand tales with a mere change in facial expression or a pause in speech.
Dennis Quaid does a masterful job of embodying Reagan’s voice and facial expressions while avoiding direct imitation. While his actual physical resemblance to the 40th president even with prosthetics is a stretch, he so exudes Reagan’s spirit from every pore, if you closed your eyes, you would think it was Reagan speaking.
Penelope Ann Miller should also be commended for her nuanced portrayal of Nancy Reagan. Given that the left-leaning media habitually diminished Mrs.Reagan during her lifetime, Miller’s performance endows the former first lady with a refreshing intelligence and warmth.
As for the allegations that the film is propaganda that whitewashes history, the critics have mistaken nostalgia for the optimism that Reagan always projected as hero worship. Reagan is presented as a morally imperfect individual. After all, he was the first divorced U.S. president.
The film also readily admits that Reagan was a B actor although subtle homage is played to Knute Rockne: All American (1940) and Kings Row (1942), which are considered to be his best films. While the film has been accused of “glossing over” the negative flashpoints of Reagan’s presidency, including the AIDS epidemic and the “Iran-Contra” scandal, it is important to remember that the film is a biopicture not a documentary.
And as an entertainment vehicle, it highlights the former actor’s excellent communication skills and his most memorable lines such as “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” which he famously uttered in his scripted address at the Berlin Wall’s Brandenberg’s Gate on June 12, 1987. (READ MORE: The Fall Guy Honors Stunt People, Traditional Values)
My only complaint about the film is that I would have liked to have heard more about Reagan’s relationship with Jane Wyman and consequently seen more of the very talented Mena Suvari. But again, as the film clocked in at 135 minutes, it would have been difficult to add more to the story.
I highly recommend Reagan as an engaging, well-acted portrait of the 40th U.S. president Ronald Wilson Reagan. Moreover, this film is a reminder that while the world was not perfect during his presidency, as the commander-in-chief, Reagan always conveyed optimism. There was always the possibility of another “morning in America.”
The post Critics Be Damned: The Reagan Film Is Wonderful appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.