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We here at The Take Three have a serious love of movies, as you know. But we also have a serious love of journalism, and as a matter of fact, happen to have spent all of 2009 in graduate school, full-time, dedicated to that love. After a long, challenging year, it’s time to pay tribute to journalism, and to all of the other, wonderful journalists we met along the way. With a little help from our friends, we’ve composed this list of our top ten journalism movies. So here’s to Medill, and here’s to journalism.
Honorable Mention: “The Wire,” season five (2008). We know it’s a television show, but with the fifth and final season of “The Wire” dedicated to life at “The Baltimore Sun,” we had to give it a nod. (After all, we spent last fall interning at “The Sun’s” sports desk.) The series was penned by David Simon, who actually worked as a reporter at “The Sun” for 13 years in the 1980′s and 1990′s, so he writes from a first-hand perspective. If you haven’t gotten into “The Wire” yet, be sure to Netflix it. And you need to start with season one and watch it all the way through to truly appreciate the newspaper drama at the end.
10. “All the President’s Men” (1976). “Washington Post” reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein couldn’t have known what they were in for when they covered a Watergate Building break-in in June 1972– a minor incident that ultimately led to Richard Nixon’s resignation from the presidency. Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford star in this classic, based on the true story, that scored eight Oscar nods and four wins, including best supporting actor (Jason Robards) and best adapted screenplay. Investigative journalism at its best.
9. “The Devil Wears Prada” (2006). What magazine enthusiast wouldn’t give their right hand to work at “Vogue”? (Or in this fictional adaptation of true events, “Runway” magazine?) Based on a 2003 novel of the same name, a young woman (Anne Hathaway) must endure the boss from hell if she wants to make it in the industry. Meryl Streep set a record with her 14th Oscar nomination for her role as Miranda Priestly, a character many believe to be based on infamous “Vogue” editor Anna Wintour. Bonus: Hathaway’s character in the movie is fresh out of journalism school at guess where? Medill.
8. “His Girl Friday” (1940). A classic comedy, with newspaper hijinks and Cary Grant to boot. When Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell) shows up at her old Chicago newspaper to tell her ex-husband and editor she’s getting remarried, he won’t have it. Boss Walter Burns (Cary Grant) pulls out all the stops to lure his former ace reporter back into the newspaper, while at the same time trying to get rid of her fiance. There’s just something to be said about old-time flicks, and moreover, old-time newspapers.
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7. “Almost Famous” (2000). We had already fallen hard for Jason Lee in “Mallrats” and “Chasing Amy,” but seeing him gain mainstream attention with this Cameron Crowe Oscar-winning screenplay made us all tingly inside. But it wasn’t just Lee who broke out in “Almost Famous”– Kate Hudson, at just 21 years old and portraying a groupie, earned her own Oscar nod. Most importantly though, the movie tells the tale of a 15-year-old boy hired by “Rolling Stone” to tour with a rising band– clearly any young journalist’s greatest dream. And an all-star cast including Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand, Zooey Deschanel, Anna Paquin and Philip Seymour-Hoffman never hurts, either.
6. “Shattered Glass” (2003). Any writer living in Washington, D.C. has to have some sort of fascination with political journalism, and this true story includes all of the reasons why. After serving as executive editor at the University of Pennsylvania’s student newspaper, 23-year-old reporter Stephen Glass (Hayden Christensen) is hired at the famed “New Republic” magazine. Over the course of three years, Glass will be published more than 40 times in the magazine, a fairy tale start to a powerhouse career for any aspiring journalist. But when rampant fabrications are discovered, Glass’s downfall is fast. His story was chronicled in a 1998 “Vanity Fair” article that would eventually lead to this film. So there you have it all: Ivy League college newspaper, hired young by a big name and bylines galore; then making up sources, falling from grace and “Vanity Fair” and Hollywood chronicling what a bad person you are. For a journalist, it doesn’t get much bigger than that.
5. “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” (1998). In 1971, Hunter S. Thompson was a reporter for “Rolling Stone.” Chasing a story about a Mexican-American television journalist who had been shot and killed by L.A. cops, Thompson and source Oscar Zeta Acosta take not one, but two drug-filled road trips to Las Vegas in search of the American dream. Sound wacky? It’s actually a true story. Thompson’s magazine articles about his adventures were turned first into a novel, and then more than 25 years later into a film. “Fear and Loathing” was an absolute box office bomb, but with Johnny Depp and Benicio del Toro as our protagonists, is today considered a cult classic.
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4. “Good Night, and Good Luck” (2005). Written and directed by George Clooney and nominated for six Oscars including best picture is enough for us to like a film; make it all about broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow, and we’re in love. With communism paranoia rampant in the U.S. in the early 1950′s, Murrow (David Strathairn) and his producer Fred Friendly (Clooney) recognized their responsibility to expose Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy’s hype. Again based on a true story, the tireless battle took its toll on the men, but three cheers always for journalistic integrity! Clooney won an Oscar that year for best supporting actor, but for “Syriana,” another political flick for which he gained 35 pounds. And although “Good Night, and Good Luck” may not have raked in the Academy Awards, Clooney still became the first person in Oscar history to be nominated for directing one film and acting in another in the same year. Yay for journalism AND moviemaking.
3. “Citizen Kane” (1941). While ordinarily we’re diametrically opposed to movies that are overrated, we have to say that “Citizen Kane” is not. As the film approaches its 70th anniversary, its classic telling of the rise and fall of Charles Foster Kane, media mogul and politician, is to this day an intriguing and heart-wrenching story about one single man. The iconic image of Kane dying alone at his palatial estate muttering the word “rosebud” is a scene all movie-watchers know, and just one reason this is yet another flick on our list to have scored the coveted best original screenplay Oscar. But the most exciting part of Kane’s life is his rise from poverty to editor of the “New York Inquirer” in the midst of yellow journalism in the late 1800′s. (Our newspaper hero is Nellie Bly, a true-life character who worked for Joseph Pulitzer’s “New York World” at that very time.) But it’s not just the story, as the cinematography and acting by Orson Welles as Kane are also incredible, and a testament to the power of filmmaking before the days of all things digital. To leave both “War of the Worlds” and “Citizen Kane” as part of your legacy is a massive feat in the least, and so Welles is a true storyteller who will always be admired by true journalists.
2. “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” (2004). Where would a list of the best journalism movies be without a few laughs? “Anchorman” is hands down one of the funniest movies of the past 10 years, and if you don’t think so, you clearly need to see it again. When the male-dominated newsroom of San Diego’s channel four is first infiltrated by reporter Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate), anchor Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) is not impressed. Hijinks with his man-crew ensue, and frat houses everywhere are given a full set of quotable movie lines. “Anchorman” also kicked off director Judd Apatow’s string of successes with his Will Ferrell/Seth Rogan/Paul Rudd gang, including “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” “Talladega Nights” and “Knocked Up.” The best part is “Anchorman” is set in the 70′s, and who doesn’t love seeing all those cheesy clothes on all those A-list actors? So next Halloween when you need a funny costume that also screams journalism, look no further. “I’m Ron Burgundy?” Yes, yes you are.
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1. “The Insider” (1999). Another film adapted from yet another “Vanity Fair” article, driving a point home about just how influential the magazine is. When “60 Minutes” pursued a story about big tobacco malpractice in the mid-1990′s, an industry whistleblower (Russell Crowe) put himself on the line as a reporter’s source. With Christopher Plummer as famed correspondent Mike Wallace and Al Pacino as CBS producer Lowell Bergman, “The Insider” is a truly riveting and smart film, nominated for seven Oscars including best adapted screenplay and best picture. But the most deserved Academy nod “The Insider” received was for Russell Crowe as best actor. The role of Jeffrey Wigand was Crowe’s break-out performance and arguably his best to date, but Hollywood politics prevailed and Kevin Spacey took the Oscar that year for “American Beauty.” It was the following year that Crowe was finally awarded a gold statue for “Gladiator,” in a move many critics believe was the Academy’s way of apologizing for not justly rewarding him for “The Insider.” Awards or not though, this film is a well-made cinematic look at current-day journalism and the tough decisions reporters make when attempting to tell a story. Gaining the confidence of a source is never an easy task, and with such high stakes as these, “The Insider” can give anyone an appreciation of a journalist’s world.
