Amazon.com Essentials:
The ethics of the press are roundly slapped around in an entertaining if
not always believable drama from director Sydney Pollack. Sally Field is
the Miami reporter who is set up to leak information on a dead-end murder
investigation. A sneaky government official (a marvelous, rubber-band-spinning
Bob Balaban) provides the information that implies liquor
distributor Paul Newman is under investigation. When the story runs, it
uncorks a legal quagmire that puts the spotlight on presumably innocent
lives. As the lawyers explain, the paper's story is
accurate, even though it may be untrue. The details of the story are
sharply drawn by first-time screenwriter and former reporter Kurt Luedtke
(who later went on to win an Oscar scripting Pollack's Out of
Africa); the film could be used in a Media Ethics 101 class. Newman
secretly counterattacks in a clever plot to derail the process that quickly
encompasses his jittery friend (Oscar nominee Melinda Dillon). Field's
continuing ethical gaps--including falling in love with her
subject--stretch the film's credibility. Then again, who wouldn't fall for
Paul Newman in the Florida sun? --Doug Thomas
