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      Medium Cool

      R Released Aug 27, 1969 1h 50m Drama List
      96% Tomatometer 27 Reviews 78% Audience Score 1,000+ Ratings John Cassellis (Robert Forster) is a hardened TV news cameraman who manages to keep his distance while he captures daring footage of a nation in the throes of violent change. He maintains this professional detachment when he covers the social unrest in Chicago surrounding the 1968 Democratic National Convention. But, when he discovers that the TV network has been quietly cooperating with the FBI, the enraged Cassellis realizes that he too must join the fight against the establishment. Read More Read Less
      Medium Cool

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      Critics Consensus

      Medium Cool merges a bracing cinéma vérité with deft drama to authentically chronicle a nation at odds with itself and a media struggling to get the story straight.

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      Critics Reviews

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      Vincent Canby New York Times Medium Cool is an awkward and even pretentious movie, but, like the report of the President's National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, it has an importance that has nothing to do with literature. Rated: 3.5/5 May 9, 2005 Full Review Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times Moviemakers have at last figured out how bright the average moviegoer is. By that I don't mean they're making more 'intelligent' pictures. I mean they understand how quickly we can catch onto things. Rated: 4/4 Oct 23, 2004 Full Review Harvey G. Cox Tempo (National Council of Churches) [It's] a disturbing repristination of Chicago 1968... It is also an attempt to indict the media for its reportorial coolness and detachment from pain and reality. In its first objective it succeeds brilliantly. I am not sure it does so in its second. Jan 7, 2021 Full Review Tom Meek Cambridge Day A plucky, hybrid film... Rated: 4/4 Oct 3, 2020 Full Review Rocco T. Thompson Screen Rant As relevant and timely as ever, Medium Cool is a masterclass in using real-life footage for narrative propulsion and remains one of the most influential documentaries of all time. Jun 22, 2020 Full Review Nathanael Hood Unseen Films As a document of 1968 America's psyche it's irreplaceable. Rated: 7/10 Jun 22, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews

      Audience Reviews

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      Steve D The acting is strong but it is nowhere near as smart as it thinks it is. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/20/23 Full Review Shioka O This film well-captured the time late 60s in US, but I find it's flat as a film. More look like a TV drama. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 12/01/22 Full Review william k Expertly made mixture of fiction and documentary is intended as portrayal and political comment of its time, successfully so; its plot, however, is not particularly relevant or memorable. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member one of Robert Forster's earliest achievements this takes place during the 1968 Democratic Convention months before the next election involving Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. the whole film acts like a documentary capturing the line between reality and fiction of news coverage John Cassellis is the main cameraman capturing the most unexpected of news sources, you start to wonder though is it only his job to film the most shocking moments or should he have an obligation to do something about it after the fact? it also asks daring questions; is the news really capturing what people want to hear, do TV and violence go hand in hand, is the camera the real instrument/weapon getting the bloody truth, is the audience in control or is the cameraman himself? it's a real struggle for social and racial injustice according to director Robert Wexler This is was at a point in American history where once again the country is at odds with itself between social issues and political protesting a war much of the film's scenes were filmed on the spot and a lot of the unintentional events that unfolded were captured digging deeply into the center of American politics Maybe Cassellis is on point saying the news media is like a script, once a group of people start rioting and causing civil unrest everything goes back to normal or the only normal people think is The whole world is watching indeed and there's almost no escape This is definitely a sharp, realistic, and scary look into figuring out how the American people attempt to uncover the hidden truth Heck, much of the problems back then can still apply to today given the modern leap forward in politics and social media coverage "Medium Cool" is a big wake up call/warning but essential filmmaking Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Audience Member A realistic movie centered around a TV cameraman and his relationship with a single working class mother, made in the social atmosphere of a mass political awakening and loss of trust in the legitimacy of the system. The focus of the movie are events in Chicago in the summer of 1968, when the police and national guard smashed up the protests during the national convention of the Democratic Party. The film was made from the perspective of a TV cameraman and we together with him experience the contradictions of his work and social role - he's at the same time a wage worker employed in the media industry, a communicator that shapes and sells media messages, and the victim of the media deception and manipulation. Through the filmed stories that he makes, we travel with him through the contradictions of the society in which he lives: from the training and systematic indoctrination of young men in the National Guard to break up riots and crackdown on protesters, to discussions in the black ghetto where he meets racially and class conscious people who deconstruct racial relations and media stereotypes, flip every sentence and question established phrases. The dialogue and scenes carefully build-up the atmosphere of disillusionment. Raw documentary footage recorded during the culmination of the "hot summer" of 1968 in Chicago creates the impression that the system may never even had legitimacy, for it has always been maintained through manipulation, repression and brute force. Based on actual events. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/15/23 Full Review Audience Member The best movie ever made! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/26/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      Movie Info

      Synopsis John Cassellis (Robert Forster) is a hardened TV news cameraman who manages to keep his distance while he captures daring footage of a nation in the throes of violent change. He maintains this professional detachment when he covers the social unrest in Chicago surrounding the 1968 Democratic National Convention. But, when he discovers that the TV network has been quietly cooperating with the FBI, the enraged Cassellis realizes that he too must join the fight against the establishment.
      Director
      Haskell Wexler
      Distributor
      Paramount Pictures
      Production Co
      Paramount
      Rating
      R
      Genre
      Drama
      Original Language
      English
      Release Date (Theaters)
      Aug 27, 1969, Original
      Release Date (DVD)
      Dec 11, 2001
      Runtime
      1h 50m