Rating: 
Summary: A MOVIE THAT PRESENTS THE ANTI-COMMUNISM SUBJECT.
Review: *** 1/2 stars rating for "Guilty By Suspicion". The movie is set in the times when the sole mention of the term "communist" was seen as synonymous of "evil". The film is a critique to the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), when it created a Hollywood blacklist, which included Hollywood celebrities considered as communists, banning their works and denying them the opportunity of getting new jobs, until they provided names of more people that "attempted against the American Way Of Life".
Despite the fact that a lot of people mistakenly relates the communism with the word "criminal", actually the communism is another way of life of some countries, mostly Europeans. "Guilty By Suspicion" criticizes the paranoia that a lot of people suffered when they heard the word "communism". The thing is that there were (and there are) some criminal communists, as well as there were (and there are) some criminal German, Americans, Mexicans, English, Asians, etc., in all the world there are criminals. But is ridiculous to judge a whole culture with a different way of life based on a few bad people.
Perhaps "Guilty By Suspicion" is not the best political drama movie, but its message is clear, and also features good performances (the fantastic Robert De Niro and the attractive Annette Bening), interesting situations, and a Martin Scorsese cameo. At the end of the day, "Guilty By Suspicion" is an interesting political drama.
Rating: 
Summary: Guilty By Communism (If The Shoe Fits...)
Review: Another attempt by leftists to rewrite history and generate sympathy for (and disguise) their collaboration with those who seek to destroy our American way of life. Don't fall for it.
In relation to this dramatized account, I recently watched "Hollywood On Trial", which also seeks to generate sympathy for anti-American activity by showing genuine footage of the "terrible/tragic/unfair/mean spirited/hateful/etc, etc, etc" actual hearings. The interesting thing is that instead of accomplishing the mission of showing the Hollywood Ten as poor, helpless, innocent victims, rather it shows them up for what they actually were (are): communists. It is hilarious to watch them squirm, backpedal and crawfish when asked a simple, straightforward, easy question: "are you now, or were you ever, a member of the communist party?" Anyone who cannot answer this simple question in one word does not need to be in hollywood cranking out subversive, unpatriotic, communist, anti-American propaganda disguised as "entertainment".
For the real story on communist infiltration of hollywood (which is still very much prevalent today, as evidenced by this production of "Guilty By Suspicion"), as well as the real story about Senator McCarthy's efforts to resist those whose goal was (is) to destroy America, I highly recommend the book "Treason" by Ann Coulter (also available on audio CD), which exhaustively documents that communists in America were (and are) not "Guilty By Suspicion", but instead were simply guilty because, despite all their loud, thrashing-around, indignant, tearful, smoke screen laden protestations to the contrary, they were and are communists, committed to the destruction of America.
Rating: 
Summary: Great movie, not so great DVD
Review: I am a huge fan of this movie; I first saw it in history class and when I saw how cheap it was, I had to buy it. DeNiro is superb, showing off his chops (why is it that all the DeNiro movies where he plays against type are unpopular?). The story is compelling, and the movie is excellent fodder for students of modern US history.
The bad part is that the DVD IS cheap. You really get what you pay for in this case: it isn't widescreen; there are no special features or audio options; to access subtitles (English only) you have to use your remote instead of a menu; and the transfer to DVD is low quality. I wouldn't have so much of a problem with this if there were another edition where these problems were corrected; after all, bargain basement editions usually don't have too many frills. But this is the only DVD of the film available at present, which means that we're all sort of stuck with it.
So know what you're buying; a cheap DVD. Don't pay more than you have to for it. But buy it anyway, and show it to your kids (well, your older kids anyway). In our current situation, both as a nation and as members of a global community, it has a very powerful and important message to tell, and it illustrates just how expensive true patriotism can be.
Rating: 
Summary: Give it a rest . . . please?
Review: I'm so tired of Hollywood whining about the McCarthy era. Most recently it was "The Contender"; before that, "The Cruciable." They're like a dog with an old slipper it can't stop chewing. As if Hollywood went through even 1% of the suffering that humanity was going through at that time because of the commies. The Great Leap Forward comes to mind, among many other communist atrocities. I guess Hollywood needs to feel itself the victim any way it can, and this seems to be it. To paraphrase a famous McCarthy era Hollywood luminary: "Have you no shame -- the McCarthy era is dead!"
Rating:
Summary: Give it a rest . . . please?
Review: I'm so tired of Hollywood whining about the McCarthy era. Most recently it was "The Contender"; before that, "The Cruciable." They're like a dog with an old slipper it can't stop chewing. As if Hollywood went through even 1% of the suffering that humanity was going through at that time because of the commies. The Great Leap Forward comes to mind, among many other communist atrocities. I guess Hollywood needs to feel itself the victim any way it can, and this seems to be it. To paraphrase a famous McCarthy era Hollywood luminary: "Have you no shame -- the McCarthy era is dead!"
Rating: 
Summary: All too relevant!
Review: If you think the Blacklist is merely a sordid historical event now long past, having nothing to do with today, merely read the negative reviews of this film below. You need look no further for perfect examples of the mentality that gave rise to the witch hunts of the 1950s. The "you're either with us or against us" jingoism; the demonization of reason, nuance & complexity; the callous disregard for the human beings destroyed in the name of a shrill, vicious ideology -- it's all here, exposed by this fine film & demonstrated by those espousing such inhumanity today. So it serves as a warning: what happened before can all too easily happen again, all in the name of mindless patriotism.
No doubt similar films about today will be made some 20 or 30 years down the line, and people then will wonder how such rigid, narrow-minded madness could have become the mainstream. This film shows how it happened then & how it's happening now. It's fascinating to see how those with such a pathological hatred of The Other always end up emulating The Other. The rabid anti-Communists in this film are the mirror images of those running the show trials of dissidents under Stalin.
And today? Perhaps we'll eventually hear someone proclaim, "It became necessary to destroy freedom in order to save it." Just watch this film first, to see & comprehend the poisoned seeds of this self-righteous mentality. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Very interesting
Review: Tells the story of a dark age in which some Hollywood filmers become prey to a witchhunt. 'If you are suspicious, then you are guilty.' As a non-US person, I was astonished to see the final session (US Senate hearing?), where the judge, jury and the prosecution were all the same; what's more, the manner those judges (?) passed judgement knocked me off. What a fair trial! And it is a true story that happened in the USA!!
Rating:
Summary: Thoughtful look back at the Blacklist Era
Review: The brief reign of terror of HUAC and Senator Joe McCarthy is something that American politicians and the American media would like to bury and forget. This candid little film, blessed by some distinguished cast members and driven by de Niro's usual dynamic performance, brings the skeleton out of the closet with deep feeling, thoughtfulness, and realism.For viewers who don't know about this shameful chapter in US politics, GbS is a real eye-opener. For viewers who are familiar with the era and its events, GbS brings that history to life vividly, with startling immediacy. Production values are solid throughout, with excellent period detail and atmosphere. Dialogue is credible and intelligent, and I found the realism of the film quite compelling, engaging and holding my attention and sympathy throughout. In an era when feel-good jingoism and fantasy dominate big-ticket US filmmaking, GbS seems almost "like a European film" -- it's a sober, subtle and pensive construction upon historical fact. I recommend it very highly to anyone interested in US history or in films for grown-ups. Viewers who enjoyed Breaking the Code, That Summer of White Roses, The Official Story, The Last Butterfly -- or even Schindler's List, Ghandi, and Inherit the Wind -- ought to give this their attention for an evening. It is a quiet but rewarding experience.
Rating:
Summary: A MOVIE THAT PRESENTS THE ANTI-COMMUNISM SUBJECT.
Review: The movie is set in the times when the sole mention of the term "communist" was seen as synonymous of "evil". The film is a critique to the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), when it created a Hollywood blacklist, which included Hollywood celebrities considered as communists, banning their works and denying them the opportunity of getting new jobs, until they provided names of more people that "attempted against the American Way Of Life". Despite the fact that a lot of people confusedly relates the communism with the word "criminal", actually the communism is another way of life of some countries, mostly Europeans. "Guilty By Suspicion" criticizes the paranoia that a lot of people suffered when they heard the word "communism". The thing is that there were (and there are) some criminal communists, as well as there were (and there are) some criminal German, Americans, Mexicans, English, Asians, etc., in all the world there are criminals. But is ridiculous to judge a whole culture with a different way of life based on a few bad people. Perhaps "Guilty By Suspicion" is not the best political drama movie, but its message is clear, and also features good performances (the fantastic Robert De Niro and the attractive Annette Bening), interesting situations, and a Martin Scorsese cameo. At the end of the day, "Guilty By Suspicion" is an interesting political drama.
Rating:
Summary: Paranoia at its worst
Review: This is a great film about one of the darkest period of American history, the Committee on Un-American activities in 1952, what is known as McCarthyism. It deals only with Hollywood though it had a quite wider range. What is striking about the film is that it looks at this unbearable negation of the American constitution only from the human consequences it created : wives, children, and of course husbands too, but most of the victims were men, at least as shown in the film. The people who came under suspicion were tracked down, under permanent surveillance from the FBI, and they lost all their jobs, all employment possibilities, in the film industry but also in any field possible, no matter how small. They were pushed into suicide, or dereliction. They lost their houses, their property, any means of living and they had to disappear. Happy were those who had passports from other countries, because they were able to leave the country in time, like Charlie Chaplin, and to get refuge in England, France or other countries. There is absolutely no excuse for this action, even if there are many explanations : the Cold War, the anticommunist panic, jealousy and competition from those who were not at the top and managed to get rid of those who were at the top and blocked them, ambition to be able to have a career even if the ambitious did not have the value of their victims, etc. It created a society based on rumors, denunciations, hatred, and a total lack of human values and rejection of all moral and ethical principles. The State had become crazy and had reinvented the fascism that it had fought in Germany and Italy. But the worst part of it is that it took America twenty years to repair the damage. A nd some were not repairable, like the execution of the Rosenbergs. In spite of all, the film is optimistic on human nature, too optimistic, because it is centered on two friends who refuse to talk, who refuse to answer the questions and give names. But those courageous individuals are so few that this optimism is reduced to nearly nothing, a few human beings who consider that their principles, the very principles of their American constitution are more important than their present and their future, that it is easier to explain to their children the victimization they suffer than to explain to them when they are of age that their fathers or mothers had been finks, unhuman an inhumane vultures giving their own friends to the claws of vengeance rather than defending those friends as best they could, which was their Christian duty too. Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, Paris Universities II and IX.
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