You may not know Dalton Trumbo by name but you’ll know the movies he wrote the screenplays to: Roman Holiday, Spartacus, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, Exodus and Kitty Foyle. He was also a highly-paid screenwriter whose career was devastated by the Red Scare because he was a Communist, more on this later. Now looking at the short list of movies he worked on, I doubt one could figure out the man’s political outlook through these well-loved works.
Trumbo is primarily based upon the 1977 book by Bruce Cook. It cuts out the writer’s early life and kicks off in 1947 before everything hits the fan. You see Trumbo at work, arguing with right-wing director Sam Wood at a cocktail party, joking around with movie star Edgar G. Robinson, writing screenplays in the bathtub (where he drew inspiration alongside hard liquor), etc. The Red Scare is making the rounds and Trumbo isn’t scared despite making some enemies in Hollywood since he sided with labor in the recent set workers’ strike. This has his fellow left-leaning writers worried though. The hero makes the mistake of taking the high road by thinking the opposition is reasonable and will remember what the Bill of Rights says. John Wayne demonstrates his D-grade in Civics when saying “Congress can do whatever it wants.” Obviously the Bill of Rights strategy fails. He is brought before the insane House-Unamerican Activities Committee (aka HUAC). A kangaroo court all other democracies are bewildered by; France doesn’t have an Unfrench investigation division in its parliament. Trumbo’s attempt to put HUAC on the spot ruins his livelihood and he is sent to a Federal penitentiary for contempt of Congress (over 70% of America would be there today). When he is released, the problems don’t stop. The lovely ranch he had has to be sold, his children are mocked, the new house’s swimming pool is vandalized by hostile neighbors and he has to resort to writing screenplays for the King Brothers (drive-in/grindhouse caliber) under assumed names. Sure he receives $1200 a script which is $11,000 today. Now remember how much higher income taxes were under the oppressive Eisenhower administration while raising three kids in LA.
We all know how it panned out. Eventually the idiocy of the Blacklist and Red Scare fade as the majority turns its brain back on. The bullies are rightfully pushed aside, namely the shit talkers…I mean gossip columnists, Hedda Hopper and Walter Winchell. Trumbo returns in triumph with the help of Kirk Douglas to make Spartacus.
What was interesting is how the story ends in 1970. The Writers Guild of America has a ceremony presenting him a lifetime achievement award and the speech he gives is somewhat forgiving. He chooses not to blame, call out names or even say “f*** you!” to his attackers/betrayers which would be his right, especially when Robinson is in the crowd. Should this be true, then Dalton Trumbo was a bigger person than I ever could be given how much the American Right doesn’t even deserve “I forgive you” in my opinion.
It was also great to finally have Bryan Cranston in a starring role! The supporting cast is a cavalcade of today’s A-list: Louis CK, John Goodman, Stephen Root, Alan Tudyk, Diane Lane, Elle Fanning and Helen Mirren as the evil Hedda Hopper. The people hired to play Kirk Douglas, John Wayne and Edgar G. Robinson have pretty good likenesses and/or can channel the actors. If you don’t dig the subject matter, at least see the talent pool.
Now with Trumbo himself. I have the Cook biography to read. Was he a Communist? Short answer, yes. Was he a Soviet operative? Of course not. Given his opulent lifestyle before his illegal imprisonment, he wasn’t a “fellow traveller,” he was more along the lines of a modern Socialist, someone who to help everyone receive a fair deal. The Red Scare logic was so spurious in its arguments. For example, the use of Tricky Dick tactics showing how the Democrats agree on certain issues with the American Communist Party. Nevermind the joined-at-the-hip crap Republicans are guilty of with the Fascists, John Birch Society, Posse Comitatus, Democrats and Communists. I wish the movie didn’t pull its punches, namely showing what a hypocrite Ronald Reagan was and all the Mafia ties members of HUAC had; one congressman co-owned a brothel according to Subversives.
The movie is very relevant today which is a bummer. With the recent attacks in Paris, the never-ending conflicts in the Middle East and South Asia and the Red Scare’s bastard child the Teabaggers, these problems haven’t stopped. It just doesn’t affect Hollywood anymore. Making money is more important than ideology. John Milius who’s a bat-shit crazy Right-winger (Red Dawn) and Oliver Stone who’s from the opposite end still get work as long as what they do is profitable. Adam Sandler is practically a lobbyist for Israel in his donations. Hollywood doesn’t care unless it affects the whole revenue stream with his latest turd blossom on Netflix. Outside Hollywood, America continues to suffer from its inability to exercise critical thinking. Trust me, I live in Texas. Goldwater and Reagan injected this disease into the body politic at large around 1981. Notice how anyone who points out a lie is suddenly “partisan.” Today you’ll see some shouting down over exaggerated Communism paranoia from the Randroids but the mainstream dupe has shifted their fear to Muslims, Arabs and mysterious “others.” The litany of “you’re either with us or you’re against us,” never ceased. While entertaining, Trumbo is a reminder on how free-thinking people can’t let up on their vigilance.
Outside of the big blockbuster, event movies I’ve seen, Trumbo is my favorite for 2015.