Rating: 
Summary: Thank you!
Review: Thank you, Tim Robbins!Thank you for allowing the story of the FTP to be told. When I saw this in the theatre nearly half the audience walked out. I say, forget 'em. My friends and I loved it. Simply because everyone doesn't get Brecht jokes certainly doesn't mean they shouldn't be made. Overall a beautiful movie showing a piece of American History which people seem very willing to forget. And as to those reviewers who shun the movie for slandering Hearst and Co., check your history. A great deal of the American magnates, particularily Hearst and Ford, were either fascists or heavy supporters. Deal with it. And yes, The Cradle Will Rock isn't "revived" very much. That's because it's not Cats. It's Brectian dialectical theatre (Like Threepenny Opera). And while Mack the Knife became a hit after being changed a bit by Louis Armstrong, the point with Brecht's kind of theatre was never to produce top 40 songs. It was to create an intellectual theatre for the masses. Bawdy, funny, musical, and intelligent. In other words, the diametrical opposite of, say, Starlight Express or similar tripe.
Rating: 
Summary: Tim Robbins spews again.
Review: Leave it to Tim Robbins to again glorify the theft of the hard earned dollars of everyday people (and during the Depression no less) in the form of taxes so that a bunch of actors can be paid to put on performances that no one would willingly pay for. Rank criminality best describes people like Robbins and his rich Hollywood buddies. This waste of celluloid is political tripe masquerading as entertainment. And Robbins got a tax write-off as a protected corporate entity for the money lost on this dreck. I guess ol' Tim is against Capitalism, unless it's to his own personal benefit. Hey Tim! If you want the government to pay artists (and we know that Tim means to only support artists that promote leftwing causes) why don't you just get your Hollywood buddies to donate the money yourselves? I think a mere 1% tax on actors' bonuses would fund the NEA easily. Naw, instead you want auto mechanics to pay it while you put your own money off-shore. Hypocrite.
Rating:
Summary: AMAZING!
Review: This movie is so powerful! Robbins' interpretation of the fabulous musical is phenominal! He gives you the background story from many different intriguing angles. The characters are charged with emotion and tell some wonderful stories. All this leads up to an emotional climax that will leave you changed and inspired! Not to mention the fabulous cast! Hank Azaria, Susan Sarandon, Bill Murray, Vanessa Redgrave, John Turturro, Joan Cusack, Jon Cusack, and the amazing Ruben Blades! Every character will find their way into your heart. This is an intoxicating film and one that should not be missed!
Rating:
Summary: Among my favorite movies of all time
Review: I've looked through some of the more negative customer reviews, and I think that some people may have a less-than-stellar reaction to this film because they are expecting REALISM-- and that's not what _Cradle Will Rock_ is. The movie takes on art, politics, and the upper classes, and it does so in a wonderful, whirlwind fashion, zipping from character to character and from scene to scene. It might take a little brain power to complete the picture. But oh, what rewards there are for persevering! As Rockefeller and his cronies march through their French Revolution-era party and as the Diego Rivera fresco is smashed to pieces, one wants to leap onto the stage with the impoverished actors to save the arts from demise. Those familiar with the ins and outs of the theatre will have special treats, as the struggling troupe of actors endures uptight producers, insane directors, a disastrous cue-to-cue, and more. So if you're up for a little experience in the avant-garde, then I highly recommend this movie.
Rating:
Summary: Completely unwatchable
Review: What was Tim Robbins' point here? If his objective was to to prove his intelligence through the penning and staging of turgid, stilted dialog that no human being would ever mouth, then he has succeeded. The result is that he has foisted upon us a completely unwatchable film. This movie reminds me of the premise behind Woody Allen's "Bullets on Broadway." In that movie, John Cusack's character is a vaunted playright whose prose results in a work replete with sequence after sequence of artificial, stuffy dialogue. Chaz Palmenteri, attending the practices as a henchman guarding the lead actress, recognizes that "nobody talks like that" and starts making suggestions to Cusack, much to the delight of the actors. Too bad Robbins' didn't have a similar resource for "Cradle Will Rock." Alas, we get the unfiltered Tim. Not a good thing for viewers.
Rating:
Summary: The Worst Movie I Have Ever Seen
Review: I don't know what Tim Robbins was thinking when he directed - and I use the term loosely - this mess. It may have been an attempt to preach pompous liberal philosophy to the great unwashed in a sort of camp fashion, but he missed the mark completely. I love movies. In my life, I have walked out on two before the end. This was one of them. I would rather sit through a Godzilla marathon than watch fifteen minutes of this tripe.
Rating: 
Summary: Made no sense!
Review: This movie was confusing. It sets up a wonderful beginning with a bunch of people ( a playwright, a prostitute, a millionare, etc.),and you expect them to link together somehow before the end of the film, but they don't. The writer of this film needs to be shot, but it was directed beautifully. also every actor and actress dilivered a wonderful performance. If it helps any it would have been great if I could have made any sense out of it! :)
Rating: 
Summary: Fascism, Capitalism, Communism, Unionism...
Review: Tim Robbins' thought provoking look at the collision of art and politics in depression era America. Orson Welles tries to stage a play on the ills of greedy capitalism (with government funding!), while Diego Rivera turns his Rockefeller Center commisioned mural into a Communist Party poster, fascist Italy sends Sarandon to pay off the the wealthy Americans, labor unions forbid their actors to appear in a play because it's too liberal... It's complex and cerebral as well as funny, an ambitious project and a surprising achievement for Robbins.
Rating:
Summary: One note, one dimensional...sophomoric at best
Review: What is it with films like this & The Moderns? Are they just bad homages or are they subliminal assassinations masquerading as tributes? We seem to live in an age with a massive oedipal artistic complex. Hemingway & Stein & co. reduced to simpering pedantic fools in The Moderns & here Welles & Rivera & Houseman & Rockefeller reduced to late Saturday Nite Live skits. There's some kind of insidious one-dimensional ideology at work here, the ideology of trivialization. Personally I'm anxious for the next generation to rise & overthrow this strident retro-liberal Establishment. One up-note: Joan Cusack is, as usual, brilliant.
Rating:
Summary: pretty good
Review: it was well acted and well directed, but in the end the only reason i don't give it five stars is because i just didn't feel the strength of their rebellion by doing the play at the end. i thought the social commentary was great and we could use more shows that attack society or look at society critically.
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