Font ResizeNewspapers have been portrayed in movies starring some of the biggest names in show business. The plots have been flamboyant, depressing, hopeful, witty and banal, but the genre continues to be popular. Since it's summer -- and a good time for movie rentals -- I asked reporters and editors in the newsroom to name their favorite newspaper movies.
Tribune movie critic and Culture Vulture Sean Means listed:
1. " 'All the President's Men' -- No movie has better demonstrated the grind-it-out nature of shoe-leather journalism. 2. 'His Girl Friday' -- The newspaper world as we all wish it could be: fast-paced, talking a mile a minute and dropping witticisms like breadcrumbs. 3. 'Ace in the Hole' -- The newspaper world as we fear it really is: deeply cynical, sensationalist and putting money over people."
Business editor Michael Limon echoed part of Means' list and added others: " 'The Paper,' -- Any newspaper spouse will tell you it's the most realistic portrayal of a newsroom. 'Absence of Malice' -- Reporters at their best and worst, and the unforgettable line, 'That's accurate, but it's not true.' "
Glen Warchol, author of The Salt Lake Crawler blog, went for the off beat: 1. " 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas' brings to life the work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, the man who turned tight-assed journalism upside-down. 2. 'Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson.' Proof that one man, a typewriter, a mojo wire, quart of Wild
Assistant Sports Editor Jim Patrick named a different movie: " 'Fletch' is only loosely related to newspaper work. They work in a newsroom because they don't fit in anywhere else."
Veteran editor and political writer Dan Harrie has only one film on his list: " 'All The President's Men' -- Remains the uncontested greatest film about newspapering."
Online whiz Kim McDaniel tops her list with: " 'It Happened One Night' -- Clark Gable plays a newsman who follows a 'missing' heiress (Claudette Colbert). He walks an ethical line and struggles with getting too close to his source."
Her cohort, online editor Manny Mellor, names a new movie as top of his list: " 'State of play' -- One of the reporters at least spends most of the day on the phone with people hanging up on her, like real journalists."
Deputy Sports Editor Joe Baird names "His Girl Friday" as numero uno, calling it a "classic screwball comedy, hilarious cutthroat competition between Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell and their newspaper rivals on the eve of an execution."
Darren Ewing, online employee and part time actor, calls "All the President's Men" his favorite, adding "Woodward and Bernstein couldn't tell the set from the real newsroom it was recreated so authentically."
John Keahey, a veteran reporter and editor calls "The Paper" "the most realistic look, not at news gathering necessarily, but life in a newsroom."
To this list I would add several movies not mentioned: "Foreign Correspondent." Alfred Hitchcock directs Joel McCrea as a former crime reporter sent to Europe on the brink of WWII; "Citizen Kane," the movie that derailed Orson Welles from the Hollywood fast track because media magnate William Randolph Hearst was insulted; "Call Northside 777," where reporter Jimmy Stewart digs deep into an old murder to free an innocent man; "-30-" where Jack Webb spurs his reporters to cover the story of a girl in a storm drain, and "Defence of the Realm" where reporter Gabriel Byrne sets out to prove a member of Parliament is a spy.
DVD player here I come.
Reader Advocate's number is 801-257-8782. Write to Reader Advocate, The Salt Lake Tribune, P.O. Box 867, Salt Lake City, Utah 84110. E-mail: reader.advocate@sltrib.com.
