Reagan: The Movie
We normally don’t write movie reviews, partly because we rarely go to the movies. There has not been much to see that would entice the wife and me to the theatre. But we recently saw the movie Reagan and enjoyed it.
At first, the motivation was to support any movie with conservative values since they are so rare in Hollywood today. However, that aside, the film is quite well-made and enjoyable, especially if you liked Reagan.
The movie was made about four years ago, was held up by Covid, and just now is being released. It turns out to be quite relevant to the political strife of today. The timing is fortuitous.
The movie stars Dennis Quaid, a journeyman actor I have enjoyed for years going back to his youthful appearance in Breaking Away, a movie made in back in 1979, just before Reagan was to take office.
There are also some roles for many of the rejected conservative actors in Hollywood, whose conservative leaning got them in trouble with their peers. Usually, these are people still upset about the injustice of the blackballing of communists in the 1950s, like the writer Dalton Trumbo, who gets profiled briefly in the film. Hollywood’s response, of course, has been to blackball conservatives for decades because justice it seems is all relative.
One scene shows Pat Boone and a messianic preacher who uncannily predicts the future for Reagan during an encounter on Reagan’s front porch.
The forward-seeing reverend is played in the film in fact by Pat Boone, and another much younger actor plays Boone. It was a clever cameo appearance since Boone witnessed the remarkable event in real life.
Quaid however, really carries the movie. He does not look like Reagan or sound much like Reagan, but by golly, he gave a pretty good rendition. He obviously did a lot of work to get into the role.
The movie is written from two different perspectives. One is that of a veteran KGB agent, played movingly by John Voight, whose job it was to psychologically profile Western leaders so the Kremlin could better understand them and their weaknesses. Through this lens you get to meet Reagan’s mother, his time as a lifeguard, and his struggle against communists when the head of the Screen Actors Guild in the late 1940s. This particular agent correctly analyzed Reagan’s steely determination as a serious threat to Soviet Communism. So much so, that he gave him the name “Crusader”.
Another perspective is through Nancy Reagan, played touchingly by Penelope Ann Miller. Historians know they had quite a love story and were very suited to supporting each other.
The movie is mixed nicely with period music and archival footage of the real events, mixed with the theatrical production. Having read several biographies of Reagan, the movie uses many of Reagan’s real words and phrases.
Some of the scenes, particularly near the end, almost brought me to tears, a rare event for me at the movies. To see a great man felled by disease and the pain it caused his loving wife, was conveyed with emotion only film can produce.
This movie deserves your support and while you are doing your duty as a conservative, you will be well entertained by some excellent writing, acting, and music.
If you don’t have plans over Labor Day, you will enjoy some time seeing an important movie in an actual theatre.
*****
Image Credit: Reagan movie trailer
