Following the String of Political Assassinations, "Truth Seeker" Movements, and the Counter-Culture "Revolution", "Watergate", and Vietnam...and with a Little Help by the Enormous Popularity of the "James Bond" Spy Series and its Friends...
Movies of the 1970's Saw an Emerging "Sub-Genre", Loosely Titled "Conspiracy Thrillers".
This is One of Those Movies.
Not All in the "Sub-Genre" were Good Films, but All had the Zeitgeist of the "New" and were Trending on the the Film-Buff "Radar".
Deception and Lies, Propaganda and Mind-Control, Cover-Ups and Above the Law Injustices were Making Headlines and Exposing the Behind-the-Scenes "Puppet-Masters".
President Nixon's White House Attorney, John Dean, in His Watergate Testimony, Infamously Included a Declaration that Could be Applied Across the Board as a Statement of Fact...
"There's a Cancer on the Presidency and it's Growing."
These Thrillers were in the Most-Part, "Noble" Attempts to Inform, Educate,
or at the Very Least Constructively Criticize the Flaws in Our Institutions that Need Addressing, and Perhaps Reform.
This is one of the Lesser Attempts at Such a Thing, and One Wonders Why it was Not More Successful than Other Similar "Kafkaesque" Types.
Especially Considering the Director...
9 Time Oscar Nominated "Stanley Kramer",
with the Cast...Gene Hackman, Richard Widmark, Mickey Rooney, Candice Bergen, Edward Albert, and Eli Wallach.
Despite and Opening that Looks Like a "Paranoid Delusional Outcry" in Black and White of the Mayhem in a World Gone Mad.
A WARNING that there Really is a ..."Man Behind the Curtain"...BEWARE
Then Switching to a Regular Narrative Form, the Film UN-Reels with an UN-Real, Flat Looking, Formula that Feels Like a Let-Down and was Drawn From Better Movies.
It's a Stale Re-Telling and Lack-Luster Affair that Never Kicks-In to an Entertaining, Spooky Story of Spooks, and the Spooks Behind the Spooks.
It Becomes Redundant and an Uninspired Movie that Should Inspire a "Wake-Up" of the Masses it's Trying to "Wake Up".
Most Critics and Movie-Goers were Unimpressed and Fell Asleep and the Film Fell into Indifference to this Day.
Not Bad, but Considering it's"Message", Very Disappointing.
Movies of the 1970's Saw an Emerging "Sub-Genre", Loosely Titled "Conspiracy Thrillers".
This is One of Those Movies.
Not All in the "Sub-Genre" were Good Films, but All had the Zeitgeist of the "New" and were Trending on the the Film-Buff "Radar".
Deception and Lies, Propaganda and Mind-Control, Cover-Ups and Above the Law Injustices were Making Headlines and Exposing the Behind-the-Scenes "Puppet-Masters".
President Nixon's White House Attorney, John Dean, in His Watergate Testimony, Infamously Included a Declaration that Could be Applied Across the Board as a Statement of Fact...
"There's a Cancer on the Presidency and it's Growing."
These Thrillers were in the Most-Part, "Noble" Attempts to Inform, Educate,
or at the Very Least Constructively Criticize the Flaws in Our Institutions that Need Addressing, and Perhaps Reform.
This is one of the Lesser Attempts at Such a Thing, and One Wonders Why it was Not More Successful than Other Similar "Kafkaesque" Types.
Especially Considering the Director...
9 Time Oscar Nominated "Stanley Kramer",
with the Cast...Gene Hackman, Richard Widmark, Mickey Rooney, Candice Bergen, Edward Albert, and Eli Wallach.
Despite and Opening that Looks Like a "Paranoid Delusional Outcry" in Black and White of the Mayhem in a World Gone Mad.
A WARNING that there Really is a ..."Man Behind the Curtain"...BEWARE
Then Switching to a Regular Narrative Form, the Film UN-Reels with an UN-Real, Flat Looking, Formula that Feels Like a Let-Down and was Drawn From Better Movies.
It's a Stale Re-Telling and Lack-Luster Affair that Never Kicks-In to an Entertaining, Spooky Story of Spooks, and the Spooks Behind the Spooks.
It Becomes Redundant and an Uninspired Movie that Should Inspire a "Wake-Up" of the Masses it's Trying to "Wake Up".
Most Critics and Movie-Goers were Unimpressed and Fell Asleep and the Film Fell into Indifference to this Day.
Not Bad, but Considering it's"Message", Very Disappointing.