WUSA (1970)

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Critic Consensus: No consensus yet.

AUDIENCE SCORE

38%

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Movie Info

Paul Newman served as co-producer of this allegorical drama and stars as Rheinhardt, a opportunistic drifter who ends up in New Orleans and hits up his old friend Farley (Laurence Harvey), a con man-turned-phony preacher, for a job. Farley is able to get Rheinhardt hired on as an announcer at a local radio station, WUSA, but the station is a right-wing propaganda mill that devotes its air time to venomous tirades against political and social progress. Rheinhardt is happy to be making decent money, and he makes the friendly acquaintance of a local working girl, Geraldine (Joanne Woodward), so he refuses to look his gift horse in the mouth. However, when he finds out that WUSA is actually involved in shadowy political actions, he is at a loss for what to do, especially after a naïve and troubled social worker (Anthony Perkins) is tricked into starting a race riot. Robert Stone wrote the screenplay, adapted from his novel A Hall of Mirrors.

Cast

Paul Newman
as Rheinhardt
Joanne Woodward
as Geraldine
Anthony Perkins
as Rainey
Laurence Harvey
as Farley
Pat Hingle
as Bingamon
Cloris Leachman
as Philomene
Michael Anderson Jr.
as Marvin
Don Gordon
as Bogdanovich
Michael Anderson Jr.
as Marvin
Leigh French
as Girl
Moses Gunn
as Clotho
Bruce Cabot
as King Wolyoe
B.J. Mason
as Roosevelt Berry
Robert Quarry
as Noonan
Wayne Rogers
as Calvin Minter
Hal Baylor
as Shorty
Jim Boles
as Hot Dog Vendor
Diane Ladd
as Barmaid at Railroad Station
Sahdji
as Hollywood
Skip Young
as Jimmy Snipe
Geoffrey Edwards
as Irving
Louis Gossett Jr
Clifton James
as Speed
Tol Avery
as Senator
Paul Hampton
as Rusty Fargo
Jerry Catron
as Sidewinder Bates
Geraldine West
as Matron
Lucille Benson
as Matron
Preservation Hall Jazz Band
as Themselves
Susan Batson
as Teenaged Girl
Zara Cully
as White-Haired Woman
David Huddleston
as Heavy Man
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Critic Reviews for WUSA

All Critics (3)

It's too bad that the execution of this Paul Newman starring film is so poor for it raises some interesting social and political issues

May 31, 2011 | Rating: C | Full Review…
EmanuelLevy.Com

...serves as a nostalgia-inducing oddity, a kind of scrapbook of American sensibility at the end of the 1960s, a time when there really were people ... who believed we were on the brink of revolution

Mar 4, 2011 | Rating: 83/100 | Full Review…
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

... the film hammers home its politics with blunt force yet leaves the conspiracy drama vague, more symbolic gesture of outrage than convincing plot.

Feb 13, 2011 | Full Review…
Parallax View
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Audience Reviews for WUSA

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