It’s funny that the subject of television can bring some of the most ludicrous of plots. This is not one of those stories. It’s drama. It’s intrigue. Well, maybe not really a lot of intrigue, you pretty much know what’s going on every step of the way. So yeah, mostly pretty much all drama. Not bad, with an interesting look at how easy it was to win a some fkn gameshow monies back in the 50s!
1958. NBC. Reality, as in this actually happened. This is a fictionalized account of the quiz show “Twenty-One,” one of the hottest shows on television. The tightest security. The biggest hype. The most enthralled viewers. Live Studio Music!!! And Herbert Stempel, the record-breaking 8-week champion from New York! Well, Queens. Pfft! Poser. You see pretty quick how the shit plays out. Intertwining plot of a smaht young lawyer workin in D.C. who gets involved when he senses somethin suspect with some Grand Jury stuff going on with the show, and starts pulling on some threads.
This ain’t a heavy drinking kinda film. Is it the worst of crimes? No. But the implications are...not the best, on multiple levels. Robert Redford does a good job directing, maybe changing a bit of the actual events to make it more digestible, but creates a good narrative that does a great job showing the time period. Might be a little slow in places but just because it seems to present a detailed enough view to track the entire scandal. Great roles by all the majors and secondaries, with John Turturro, Ralph Fiennes and Rob “Northern Exposure” Morrow putting in great roles, and a lot of the secondaries are fantastic as well including a decent small part by Martin Scorsese in front of the lens this time around. So good job by Redford here in his fourth directorial effort. Just an honest look at the fallacies of men and the corruptible institutions he builds. Liars and scoundrels, the lot of em. Guess the consequences. I dare ya.
