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MOVIES / ON DVD / REDS
Reds

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Reds (1981)

94%
N/A
82%
N/A
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N/A
94 %
Reviews Counted: 32 Fresh: 30  Rotten:2 Average Rating: 7.9/10
Runtime: 3 hrs 20 mins
Synopsis:
Riding high after the box office success of SHAMPOO and HEAVEN CAN WAIT, Warren Beatty used his seemingly limitless power to write, produce, direct, and star in this epic historical romance. The film recounts a particularly eventful period in the life of notorious American communist John... [More]
Riding high after the box office success of SHAMPOO and HEAVEN CAN WAIT, Warren Beatty used his seemingly limitless power to write, produce, direct, and star in this epic historical romance. The film recounts a particularly eventful period in the life of notorious American communist John Reed (Beatty), who journeyed to Russia to witness the Bolshevik Revolution firsthand. Before that, he met the already wed Louise Bryant (Diane Keaton) in Portland in 1915. However, they shared such a mutual attraction for words, and each other, that soon Bryant was living with Reed in New York City. It was here where they befriended some of the early 20th Century's most recognizable faces: Eugene O'Neill (Jack Nicholson), Emma Goldman (Maureen Stapleton), Max Eastman (Richard Herrmann), and Horace Whigham (George Plimpton). Yet Reed's commitment to his craft caused an endless friction in the relationship, until Louise found her own journalistic voice, leading the couple to Russia at a crucial moment in history. But just when they appeared to have come to a perfect place in their relationship, tragedy struck. REDS is one of the last vestiges of early Hollywood, a broad, sweeping spectacle that is simultaneously thought provoking and unabashedly entertaining. Beatty inserts fascinating interviews with actual participants from that earlier era throughout the film to provide even more context and insight. At a time when Ronald Reagan had just become the president of the United States, Beatty's sympathetic portrait of notorious American communist John Reed seemed even more daring. Yet, as it continues to age, the film only continues to grow in relevance, assuring its rightful place at the top of the Hollywood canon. [Less]

Genre: Dramas

Starring: Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Maureen Stapleton, Edward Herrmann, Jack Nicholson

Director: Warren Beatty
Screenwriter: Trevor Griffiths, Warren Beatty
Composer: Dave Grusin, Stephen Sondheim

DVD Info

Release:

Nov 7, 2006

[DVD Details]

Buy It On DVD

Reviews

 
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Ratings Image

Vittorio Storaro, who won an Oscar for his cinematography, keeps the long film moving at a healthy pace, mixing static shots with subtle camera movement, never showing off or detracting from the story.

Full Review | Comment
08/05/07 08:51 AM
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star
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an epic love story ... As a teenager I saw it four times in the theater (which I now find pretty astonishing, considering the movie is well more than three hours long -- I had a lot more free time in 1981!)

Full Review | Comment
01/12/07 04:03 PM
James Sanford
Kalamazoo Gazette
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Viewed today, it's not so effortlessly impressive, but it's still an uncommonly intelligent and quite entertaining film.

Full Review | Comment
01/05/07 08:30 PM
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid
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One of the most ambitious Hollywood films of the 80s, Reds is trying to do too much (historical epic, political expose, and romance), but the insertion of interviews with contemporaries of John Reed is original and poignant.

Full Review | Comment
12/23/06 10:32 AM
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
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It's tragic that more American filmmakers aren't taking risks like this at a time like this.

Full Review | Comment
10/18/06 11:37 AM
Chris Cabin
Filmcritic.com
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A left-leaning pretty boy's distended, black book ramblings.

Full Review | Comment
10/11/06 05:44 AM
Keith Uhlich
Reverse Shot
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Marred by historical bluff and jarring cutesiness, 'Reds' is nevertheless the sweeping melodramatic stuff of classic moviemaking.

Full Review | Comment
10/09/06 06:09 AM
Donald J. Levit
ReelTalk Movie Reviews
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Were it not for the antique clothing and music, you wouldn't know that the dialogue isn't taking place in the 21st century.

Full Review | Comment
10/06/06 12:38 PM
Eric Lurio
Greenwich Village Gazette
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Reds is finally just an appealingly conventional epic movie-star romance with radical trimmings, but it contains several sharper elements that suggest the colorful period it seeks to recreate.

Full Review | Comment
09/12/06 08:29 AM
Dan Callahan
Slant Magazine
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | Comment
06/24/06 04:29 AM
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
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No review available.

| Comment
06/10/06 05:33 AM
Boyd van Hoeij
european-films.net
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No review available.

| Comment
03/18/06 10:43 PM
Jake Euker
F5 (Wichita, KS)
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Epic telling of Communism roots via Warren Beatty.

| Comment
02/18/06 08:21 PM
Steve Crum
Video-Reviewmaster.com
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Political drama and sweeping romance in one — only Warren Beatty would, or could, do it.

| Comment
02/10/06 12:29 PM
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal
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No review available.

| Comment
06/19/05 09:06 PM
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
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No review available.

| Comment
02/05/05 12:21 PM
Robert Roten
Laramie Movie Scope
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As for Beatty, Reds is his bravura turn.

Full Review | Comment
10/23/04 10:22 PM
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

Hey, hey, I saved the world today. A movie about the burdens that fall on those who take big ideas seriously.

| Comment
07/16/04 01:49 AM
Martin Scribbs
Low IQ Canadian
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No review available.

| Comment
05/07/04 06:54 PM
Jules Brenner
Cinema Signals
Ratings Image

No review available.

| Comment
05/01/04 11:02 AM
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
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Related Forums

REEL_REVIEWER
(NYFF)-REDS (Restored) - 25th anniversary screening @ The 44th New York Film Festival
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REEL_REVIEWER
(NYFF)-REDS (Restored) - 25th anniversary screening @ The 44th New York Film Festival
by: REEL_REVIEWER 10/20/06


REEL_REVIEWER
(NYFF)-REDS (Restored) - 25th anniversary screening @ The 44th New York Film Festival
by: REEL_REVIEWER 10/20/06


REEL_REVIEWER
(NYFF)-REDS (Restored) - 25th anniversary screening @ The 44th New York Film Festival
by: REEL_REVIEWER 10/20/06


Has anyone cried at the end of Reds? how can't u!!??
by: molokoid 8/26/02

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