Medium Cool (1969)

Director:

Haskell Wexler

Writer:

Haskell Wexler (written by)

Release Date:

1970 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Beyond the age of innocence... into the age of awareness

Plot:

TV news camera find himself becoming personally involved in the violence that erupts around the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

Plot Keywords:

Violence | TV News | Protest | Ghetto | Revolution

Awards:

4 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Robert Forster	...	John Cassellis
Verna Bloom	...	Eileen
Peter Bonerz	...	Gus
Marianna Hill	...	Ruth
Harold Blankenship	...	Harold
Charles Geary	...	Harold's Father
Sid McCoy	...	Frank Baker
Christine Bergstrom	...	Dede
William Sickingen	...	News Director
Robert McAndrew	...	Pennybaker
Marrian Walters	...	Social Worker
Beverly Younger	...	Rich Lady
Edward Croke	...	Plain-clothesman
Doug Kimball	...	Newscaster
Peter Boyle	...	Gun Clinic Manager
Georgia Todda	...	Secretary
Sandra Ann Roberts	...	Blonde in Car
Janet Langhart	...	Maid
Jeff Donaldson	...	Black Militant
Bill Sharp	...	Black Militant
Robert Paige	...	Black Militant
Richard Abrams	...	Black Militant
Walter Bradford	...	Black Militant
Russell Davis	...	Black Militant
Felton Perry	...	Black Militant
Val Grey	...	Black Militant
Livingston Lewis	...	Black Militant
Barbara Jones	...	Black Militant
John Jackson	...	Black Militant
Linda Handelman	...	Gun Clinic Lady
Maria Friedman	...	Gun Clinic Lady
Kathryn Schubert	...	Gun Clinic Lady
Barbara Brydenthal	...	Gun Clinic Lady
Elizabeth Moisant	...	Gun Clinic Lady
Rose Bormacher	...	Gun Clinic Lady
China Lee	...	Roller Derby Patron
Roger Phillips
Robert Blankenship
Jim Jacobs	...	Kennedy Student (as James Jacobs)
Spence Jackson	...	Kennedy Student
Dorien Suhr	...	Kennedy Student
Kenneth Whitener	...	Kennedy Student
Connie Fleischauer	...	Kennedy Student
Mary Smith	...	Kennedy Student
Nancy Lee Noble	...	Kennedy Student (as Nancy Noble)
Simone Zorn	...	Media Person
Madeleine Marcou	...	Media Person
Mickey Pallas	...	Media Person
Morris Bleckman	...	Media Person
Lester Brownlee	...	Media Person (as Lestre Brownlee)
Linn Ehrlich	...	Media Person
Wally Wright	...	Media Person
Sam Ventura	...	Media Person
George Bouillet	...	Media Person
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Richard J. Daley	...	Himself (uncredited)
Robert F. Kennedy	...	Himself - Giving Final Speech (archive footage) (uncredited)
Martin Luther King	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Sirri Murad	...	Himself (uncredited)
Haskell Wexler	...	Cameraman on Scaffold (uncredited)

Directed by
Haskell Wexler

Writing credits
Haskell Wexler		(written by)

Produced by
Michael Philip Butler	....	associate producer
Tully Friedman	....	producer
Steven North	....	associate producer
Haskell Wexler	....	producer
Jerrold Wexler	....	producer
Jonathan Haze	....	line producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Mike Bloomfield

Cinematography by
Haskell Wexler		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Verna Fields

Art Direction by
Leon Ericksen		(as Leon Erickson)

Production Management
Jonathan Haze	....	production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Wendell Franklin	....	assistant director
Erich von Stroheim Jr.	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Christopher Newman	....	sound (as Chris Newman)
Kay Rose	....	sound editor

Camera and Electrical Department
Michael D. Margulies	....	camera operator (as Mike Margulies)
Tom Ryan	....	gaffer
Ron Vargas	....	camera assistant
Haskell Wexler	....	camera operator
Andrew Davis	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Ralph Gerling	....	camera operator (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Paul Golding	....	editorial consultant
Marsha F. Griffin	....	assistant editor (as Marsha Griffin)

Music Department
Mike Bloomfield	....	music performer (as Michael Bloomfield)
Paul Butterfield	....	music performer
Marcus Doubleday	....	music performer
Bob Jones	....	music performer
Noel Jukes	....	music performer
John Kahn	....	music performer
Ira Kamin	....	music performer
Fred Olson	....	music performer
Jerry Oshita	....	music performer

Other crew
Jonathan Haze	....	assistant to producer
Meta Rebner	....	script supervisor
William Schwartz	....	production assistant
James Talbot	....	title designer
Studs Terkel	....	our man in Chicago

Production Companies

• H & J

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures (1969) (USA) (theatrical)
• PAR (1970) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Paramount (1970) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Paramount Gateway Video (1982) (USA) (VHS)
• Paramount Home Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2013) (USA) (DVD)
• MediaOutlet.com (????) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:R (re-rating) (1970) | USA:X (1969) | UK:X | Canada:R (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

H & J

Trivia:

The line "Watch out, Haskell, it's real!" was actually dubbed in after the shooting. It was supposedly what Haskell Wexler was thinking to himself and he wanted to include it. Verna Bloom literally stands out in the film because of her yellow outfit. Bloom said she picked the outfit because she thought her character, a woman of modest means, would wear something like that. It just happened to contrast with what everyone else was wearing, so you notice her.

Quotes:

John Cassellis:Jesus I love to shoot film.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Winnebago Man (2009)

Soundtrack:

Emotions

Superb integration of the political and social aspects inherent in the film medium.

Haskell Wexler's film generated much debate on just where American Cinema was headed upon its release in 1969. Its narrative revolves loosely around the relationship of a TV cameraman and a lower-class widow living in Chicago during the summer of 1968. The true focus of the film is on the Democratic National Convention and its devastating effects on that city during the "long hot summer" it was subjected to. With the care of an expert social journalist Wexler films the riot caused by the civil authority in that city with an unfaltering naturalism that Soviet Realists would kill for. His cinematographic gifts are never called into question as he edits the body of the film with patches of documentary and staged scenes. It's to the credit of the filmmaker that in one section a fellow cameraman has to admonish him as to the danger he is apparently embroiled in as he shoots a sequence. This wonderful play on the reflexivity so rarely admitted in film is reason enough to give this challenging but brilliant work of art a chance to leave its mark on you.