Medium Cool (1969)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Haskell Wexler

Writer:

Haskell Wexler (writer)

Release Date:

1970 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Beyond the age of innocence... into the age of awareness

Plot:

TV news camera find himself becoming personally involved in the Violence which erupts around the 1968 Democratic Convention.

Plot Keywords:

Violence | Protest | Ghetto | Self Reflexivity | Fight

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Robert Forster	...	John Cassellis
Verna Bloom	...	Eileen
Peter Bonerz	...	Gus
Marianna Hill	...	Ruth
Harold Blankenship	...	Harold
Charles Geary	...	Buddy
Sid McCoy	...	Frank Baker
Christine Bergstrom	...	Dede
William Sickinger	...	News Director Karlin
Robert McAndrew	...	Pennybaker
Marrian Walters	...	Social worker
Beverly Younger	...	Rich Lady
Edward Croke	...	Plain-clothesman
Doug Kimball	...	Newscaster
Peter Boyle	...	Gun Clinic Manager
Georgia Todda	...	Secretary
Sandra Ann Roberts	...	Blonde in car
Janet Langhart	...	Maid
Jeff Donaldson	...	Black militant
Bill Sharp	...	Black militant
Robert Paige	...	Black militant
Richard Abrams	...	Black militant
Walter Bradford	...	Black militant
Russell Davis	...	Black militant
Felton Perry	...	Black militant
Val Grey	...	Black militant
Livingston Lewis	...	Black militant
Barbara Jones	...	Black militant
John Jackson	...	Black militant
Linda Handelman	...	Gun clinic lady
Maria Friedman	...	Gun clinic lady
Kathryn Schubert	...	Gun clinic lady
Barbara Brydenthal	...	Gun clinic lady
Elizabeth Moisant	...	Gun clinic lady
Rose Bormacher	...	Gun clinic lady
China Lee	...	Roller Derby patron
Roger Phillips
Robert Blankenship
Jim Jacobs	...	Kennedy student (as James Jacobs)
Spence Jackson	...	Kennedy student
Dorien Suhr	...	Kennedy student
Kenneth Whitener	...	Kennedy student
Connie Fleischauer	...	Kennedy student
Mary Smith	...	Kennedy student
Nancy Lee Noble	...	Kennedy student (as Nancy Noble)
Simone Zorn	...	Media person
Madeleine Marcou	...	Media person
Mickey Pallas	...	Media person
Morris Bleckman	...	Media person
Lestre Brownie	...	Media person
Linn Ehrlich	...	Media person
Wally Wright	...	Media person
Sam Venture	...	Media person
George Bouillet	...	Media person
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Richard J. Daley	...	Himself (uncredited)
Robert F. Kennedy	...	Himself, giving final speech (archive footage) (uncredited)
Martin Luther King	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Sirri Murad	...	Himself (uncredited)
Haskell Wexler	...	Cameraman on Scaffold (uncredited)

Directed by
Haskell Wexler

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Haskell Wexler		writer

Produced by
Michael Philip Butler	....	associate producer
Tully Friedman	....	producer
Jonathan Haze	....	line producer
Steven North	....	associate producer
Haskell Wexler	....	producer
Jerrold Wexler	....	producer

Original Music by
Mike Bloomfield

Cinematography by
Haskell Wexler

Film Editing by
Verna Fields

Art Direction by
Leon Ericksen		(as Leon Erickson)

Production Management
Jonathan Haze	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Wendell Franklin	....	assistant director
Erich von Stroheim Jr.	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Christopher Newman	....	sound
Kay Rose	....	sound editor

Camera and Electrical Department
Andrew Davis	....	assistant camera
Michael D. Margulies	....	camera operator (as Mike Margulies)
Thom Ryan	....	gaffer
Ron Vargas	....	assistant camera
Haskell Wexler	....	camera operator

Editorial Department
Paul Golding	....	editorial consultant
Marsha Griffin	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Mike Bloomfield	....	musician (as Michael Bloomfield)
Paul Butterfield	....	musician
Marcus Doubleday	....	musician
Bob Jones	....	musician
Noel Jukes	....	musician
John Kahn	....	musician
Ira Kamin	....	musician
Fred Olson	....	musician
Jerry Oshita	....	musician

Other crew
Jonathan Haze	....	assistant to producer
Meta Rebna	....	script supervisor
William Schwartz	....	production assistant
James Talbot	....	title designer
Studs Terkel	....	our man in Chicago

Production Companies

• H & J

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures (1969) (USA) (theatrical)
• Paramount Home Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• PAR (1970) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Paramount (1970) (Sweden) (theatrical)

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:R (Ontario) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:R (re-rating) (1970) | USA:X (1969) | UK:X

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

H & J

Trivia:

Film was originally rated "X", but re-rated "R" after an appeal.

Quotes:

John Cassellis: Jesus I love to shoot film.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Jackie Brown: How It Went Down (2002) (V)

Soundtrack:

Who Needs the Peace Corps?

MEDIUM COOL (Haskell Wexler, 1969) ***1/2

A brilliant film and a seminal one - a product by a major Hollywood studio handled in cinema-verite' style; besides, the various issues it raises - social, political and media-related - have scarcely been treated with such directness and power. The lack of star names in the cast (Peter Boyle, who appears briefly, was not yet established and, even if he had debuted in John Huston's REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE [1967], lead Robert Forster's role was originally intended for John Cassavetes) certainly helps sell its inherent documentary feel.

Though, understandably, most meaningful to people who witnessed these turbulent times first-hand, and Americans in particular, despite its specific time-setting - Chicago 1968 (partly shot at the actual Democrats convention site, the film proved prophetic because the script involved riots breaking out...which is what actually happened!) - many of its concerns are still very much with us!! Fascinating therefore if slightly overlong - the subplot involving Verna Bloom and Harold Blankenship feels a bit like padding at first (and was actually what remained of a proposed film, with animal interest, about a poor country boy's adjustment to city life!)...but, ultimately, its point is made during the film's latter stages when Bloom goes to look for her missing son - creating an indelible image of a perplexed figure (incongruously dressed in a bright yellow outfit) getting embroiled in all the commotion hitting the streets at that same moment. This, however, results in a goof involving the unexplained presence very early on of Bloom (already wearing the yellow dress but whose introduction proper in the film takes place quite a bit later!) at a cocktail party for members of the press - a sequence intended to immediately precede the riots but which was then pushed forward during editing, so as to deal straight off with the film's major theme of media responsibility! The tragic yet ironic ending - presented as matter-of-factly as any of the news items covered by dispassionate TV cameraman Forster - is very effective.

This is certainly renowned cinematographer Wexler's most significant directorial effort; his camera-work (some of it hand-held) is simply incredible, as is Paul Golding's editing (which must have been quite a headache and, in fact, he mentions in the Audio Commentary that several scenes remained on the cutting-room floor; pity they weren't available for inclusion on the Paramount DVD - nor, apparently, were the rights to the 2001 documentary about the film, LOOK OUT HASKELL, IT'S REAL: THE MAKING OF 'MEDIUM COOL'!). Also essential to the unique texture of the film is the fantastic soundtrack (mostly by Mike Bloomfield but also featuring songs by Frank Zappa, among others).