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'''Reds''' is a 1981 film starring Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton. It centers on the life of John Reed, the Communist, journalist, and writer who chronicled the Russian Revolution in his book ''Ten Days that Shook the World''.
Besides Beatty and Keaton, the movie stars Edward Herrmann, Jerzy Kosinski, Jack Nicholson, Paul Sorvino, Maureen Stapleton, Gene Hackman, Ramon Bieri, Nicolas Coster and M. Emmet Walsh. It was adapted by Warren Beatty, Peter S. Feibleman (uncredited), Trevor Griffiths, Elaine May (uncredited) and Jeremy Pikser from Reed's memoir. It was directed by Beatty.
The film also features, as "witnesses," interviews with the celebrated radical educator and peace activist 98-year old Scott Nearing (1883-1983), author Dorothy Frooks (1896-1997), reporter and author George Seldes (1890-1995), and the American writer Henry Miller (1891-1980), among others. Warren Beatty was awarded the Oscar for Best Director for the film. It was also nominated for Best Picture, but lost to ''Chariots of Fire''.

Contents

Cast

The Witnesses

Awards

Trivia

External links

Cast

Actor	Historical character
Warren Beatty	John Silas Reed
Diane Keaton	Louise Bryant
Edward Herrmann	Max Eastman
Jerzy Kosinski	Grigory Zinoviev
Jack Nicholson	Eugene O'Neill
Maureen Stapleton	Emma Goldman
Paul Sorvino	Louis Fraina
Nicolas Coster	Paul Trullinger
M. Emmet Walsh	Speaker - Liberal Club
Gene Hackman	Pete Van Wherry
Eleanor D. Wilson	Mrs. Reed
Max Wright	Floyd Dell
George Plimpton	Horace Whigham
William Daniels	Julius Gerber
Dave King	Allan Benson
Stefan Gryff	Alex Gomberg
Roger Sloman	Vladimir Lenin
Stuart Richman	Leon Trotsky

The Witnesses

''Some are very well known, others not so.''

★ Roger Nash Baldwin - ''(founder of the ACLU)''

★ Henry Miller - ''(Writer)''

★ Adela Rogers St. Johns - ''(Journalist, novelist, and screenwriter)''

★ Dora Russell - ''(Feminist and progressive campaigner)''

★ Scott Nearing - ''(Conservationist, peace activist, educator and writer)''

★ Tess Davis

★ Hamilton Fish III - ''(Congressman)''

★ Isaac Don Levine

★ Rebecca West - ''(Feminist and writer)''

★ Will Durant - ''(Philosopher, historian, and writer)''

★ Will Weinstone

★ Emmanuel Herbert

★ Arne Swabeck - ''(American Communist leader)''

★ Adele Gutman Nathan

★ George Seldes - ''(Investigative journalist and media critic)''

★ Kenneth Chamberlain

★ Blanche Hays Fagen

★ Galina von Meck

★ Art Shields

★ Andrew Dasburg

★ Hugo Gellert - ''(Illustrator and satirist)''

★ Dorothy Frooks - ''(Author, publisher, military figure and actress)''

★ George Jessel - ''(Actor, singer, songwriter, and movie producer)''

★ Jacob Bailin

★ John Ballato

★ Lucita Williams

★ Bernadine Szold-Fritz

★ Jessica Smith - ''(Editor and activist)''

★ Harry Carlisle

★ Arthur Mayer

Awards

The movie won Academy Awards for:

★ Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Maureen Stapleton playing Emma Goldman)

★ Best Cinematography (Vittorio Storaro)

★ Best Director (Warren Beatty)
and was nominated for:

★ Best Actor in a Leading Role (Warren Beatty)

★ Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Jack Nicholson)

★ Best Actress in a Leading Role (Diane Keaton)

★ Best Art Direction-Set Decoration

★ Best Costume Design

★ Best Film Editing

★ Best Picture

★ Best Sound

★ Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen.

Trivia

★ During filming, Beatty lectured his Russian extras on the capitalist exploitation of labour, attempting to inspire them. According to the magazine ''Total Film'' in 2004, this was the 4th "dumbest decision in movie history": the extras duly went on strike, demanding higher wages.

★ To date, this is the last film to receive Oscar nominations in each of the four acting categories. No film since ''Reds'' has achieved this feat.

★ Warren Beatty began filming interviews with the "witnesses" in the early 1970s.

★ Gene Hackman performed in an unbilled cameo role as Pete Van Wherry. The scene in which he tells Jack Reed that Louise Bryant no longer works for him took exactly 100 takes to shoot. Hackman vowed that he would not shoot a 101st take and he did not.

★ In a 1981 interview with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd on a talk show (included as a bonus on the 'Best of Saturday Night Live: John Belushi' DVD), Belushi and Aykroyd mentioned 'Reds' as one of their favorite recent movies.

★ Part of the movie, the October Revolution part, was shot at Helsinki specially in Suomenlinna and in the Helsinki Senate Square,

★ Jerzy Kosinski played the role of Bolshevik revolutionary and Politburo member Grigory Zinoviev. The Time magazine critic wrote: "As Reed's Soviet nemesis, novelist Jerzy Kosinski acquits himself nicely--a tundra of ice against Reed's all-American fire." Newsweek complimented Kosinski's "delightfully abrasive" performance."[1]

★ The movie was not released on DVD until 2006.

★ Beatty wanted to cast his friend Nicholson as Eugene O'Neill but was unsure if the actor would accept the part since Beatty felt it wasn't a big role. When Beatty had a conversation with Nicholson, he described the character as someone who could take a woman away from John Reed (Beatty). Nicholson said the only person who could pull that off was him and he signed onto the film. Although upon accepting the role, Nicholson had just finished work on ''The Shining'' and producers on the film had observed his appearance as being messy and overweight. But as soon as filming began, Nicholson had changed his appearance and shed a considerable amount of weight for the part.

★ The Paterson Silk Strike of 1913 featured in the film is commemorated at the American Labor Museum, Botto House National Landmark, in Haledon, New Jersey.[2]

External links

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