The Day Reagan Was Shot (2001) (TV)

Director:

Cyrus Nowrasteh

Writer (WGA):

Cyrus Nowrasteh (written by)

Release Date:

9 December 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Government | U.S. President | Assassination Attempt | Hospital

Awards:

4 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Richard Dreyfuss	...	Alexander Haig
Richard Crenna	...	Ronald Reagan
Yannick Bisson	...	Buddy Stein
Colm Feore	...	Caspar Weinberger
Michael Murphy	...	Michael Deaver
Kenneth Welsh	...	James Baker
Leon Pownall	...	Ed Meese
Robert Bockstael	...	Dick Allen
Beau Starr	...	Special Agent Cage
Alex Carter	...	Dr. Allard
Andrew Tarbet	...	Dr. Gregorio
Holland Taylor	...	Nancy Reagan
Christian Lloyd	...	John Hinckley
Sean McCann	...	Donald Regan
Jack Jessop	...	William Casey

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Greece:K-13 | Argentina:13 | Germany:16 | UK:15 | USA:R | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Halsted Pictures

Goofs:

Continuity: During the trip to George Washington Hospital, Special Agent Cage's radio hand-mic changes colors from tan to black. Also it changes hands when in fact the mic is fixed in place under his clothing.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Jeopardy!: (#22.82)" (2006)

Misleading Fictionalized History

I saw this film on the History Channel today (in 2006). First of all, I realize that this is not a documentary -- that it is a drama. But, one might hope that at least the critical "facts" that the story turns on might be based on actual events. Reagan was shot and the other characters were real people. The movie got that right. From there on, reliance on facts rapidly decays. I had never heard of this movie before seeing it. Having been a TV reporter at the time of these events, I was stunned that I had never heard anything about the bizarre behavior of Secretary Haig as portrayed by Richard Dreyfuss. The whole nation had heard the "I am in control...", etc., but Dreufuss' Haig is bullying a cowered cabinet and totally out of control personally. Having watched the film, I began researching the subject on the Internet and quickly found actual audio tapes and transcripts of most of the Situation Room conversations that this film pretends to reenact. Incredibly, many the the principal "facts" of the film meant to show a White House, Secret Service etc. in total chaos -- and the nation's leadership behaving irrationally and driving the world near the brink of nuclear war -- are demonstrably incorrect. They didn't happen! There is internal conflict, to be sure. Haig makes missteps, his press room performance is historically regrettable and he is "difficult". But there is nothing approaching the scenes depicted in the film. There are too many gross errors to list, but any fair comparison of the recorded and written record and the fantasy of this film begs the question as to what the producers were really trying to accomplish. Enlighten? Inform? Entertain? I believe they failed on all three fronts. It is difficult to ascribe motives to others, but one must seriously question what was behind such shameless invention. And, as for my beloved History Channel's "Reel to Real" follow-on documentary, there was almost no mention of the issues that were the central focus of the film -- namely the events within the Administration on the day of the shooting. So, the viewer was left to research those without much -- if any -- help from the network.