Roger & Me (1989)

Director:

Michael Moore

Writer:

Michael Moore (written by)

Release Date:

20 December 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | History

Tagline:

The story of a rebel and his mike.

Plot:

Director Michael Moore pursues GM CEO Roger Smith to confront him about the harm he did to Flint, Michigan with his massive downsizing.

Plot Keywords:

Flint Michigan | Michael Moore | Michigan | Plant | General Motors

Awards:

11 wins

Cast

Michael Moore	...	Himself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
James Blanchard	...	Himself
James Bond	...	Himself
Pat Boone	...	Himself
Rhonda Britton	...	Herself ('Pets or Meat')
Anita Bryant	...	Herself
Karen Edgely	...	Herself
Bob Eubanks	...	Himself
Ben Hamper	...	Himself
Dinona Jackson	...	Herself
Timothy Jackson	...	Himself
Tom Kay	...	Himself
Ted Koppel	...	Himself (archive footage)
Correy Lennox	...	High School Student
Brian MacDonald	...	Video Tour Guide
Kaye Lani Rae Rafko	...	Herself (Miss America)
Dan Rather	...	Himself (archive footage)
Janet K. Rauch	...	Herself - Amway Lady
Ronald Reagan	...	Himself (archive footage)
Fred Ross	...	Himself (eviction deputy)
Barbara Schroeder	...	Herself - Reporter
Robert Schuller	...	Himself (archive footage)
George Sells	...	Himself (local TV news anchor)
Roger B. Smith	...	Himself
Guy Williams	...	Zorro (archive footage)
Steve Wilson	...	Himself
Sue Zelenko	...	Herself
Richard Earl Sawdon	...	Spot welder (uncredited)

Directed by
Michael Moore

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Michael Moore		written by

Produced by
Michael Moore	....	producer
Wendey Stanzler	....	associate producer

Cinematography by
Chris Beaver
John Prusak
Kevin Rafferty
Bruce Schermer

Film Editing by
Jennifer Beman
Wendey Stanzler

Sound Department
Jennifer Beman	....	sound editor
Judy Irving	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Daniel S. Noga	....	additional cinematographer

Editorial Department
Adam D. Fleischman	....	assistant editor

Music Department
David Hess	....	composer: song "Speedy Gonzales"
Ethel Lee	....	composer: song "Speedy Gonzales"

Other crew
Edward Asner	....	additional funding (as Ed Asner)
Pat Megison	....	production assistant
Frank Moore	....	additional funding
Veronica Moore	....	additional funding
John Pierson	....	producer's representative
Keith Prusak	....	production assistant
Scott Rouse	....	production assistant
Josef Steiff	....	production assistant

Thanks
Andrew Garrison	....	thanks
Frank Moore	....	special thanks
Veronica Moore	....	special thanks
Ralph Nader	....	special thanks
Barbara Schroeder	....	special thanks (as Barb Schroeder)
Roger B. Smith	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Dog Eat Dog Films
• Warner Bros. Pictures

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1989) (USA) (theatrical)
• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (1992) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• Warner Bros. (1990) (France) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. (1990) (UK)
• Warner Home Video (2003) (Germany) (DVD)

Other Companies

• General Motors  archival sources
• Wide World Photos  archival sources

Also Known As:

"A Humorous Look at How General Motors Destroyed Flint, Michigan" - USA (subtitle)

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Portugal:M/12 | Canada:14A | Finland:S | Norway:11 | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:R | Singapore:PG | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Detroit, Michigan, USA

Company:

Dog Eat Dog Films

Trivia:

This documentary exposes the reality of corporate downsizing and outsourcing - General Motors opening facilities in Mexico and shuttering their facilities in Flint, Michigan has became a trend during the mid-1980s where the Rust Belt employment sector has declined - the use of automation where Detroit's Big Three implemented the use of industrial robots resulted in the decline of the blue collar factory worker. When GM initiated this, they were consolidating their vehicle lines by sharing bodyshells which became known as platform sharing in the automobile industry. The Flint, Michigan assembly plants that GM shuttered - the corporate downsizing and outsourcing trend has influenced GM's rival Ford Motor Company with The Way Forward during the mid-2000s (Ford shuttered its Wixom, Michigan assembly plant and in late 2011, its St. Thomas plant in Canada).

Quotes:

Michael Moore:[after massive layoffs] Meanwhile, the more fortunate in Flint were holding their annual Great Gatsby party at the home of one of GM's founding families. To show that they weren't totally insensitive to the plight of others, they hired local people to be human statues at the party.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Stone Reader (2002)

Soundtrack:

This Guy's In Love With You

Some people just don't like to celebrate human tragedy while on vacation

Flint is small town that was for many years a extension to General Motors factory. One morning boss of Genergal Motor – Roger Smith woke up and discover the fact that closing the factory and fire of 30,000 people can make better business than carry on with production, despite the fact that factory didn't bring any losses.

"Roger and Me" is document where Michael Moore report the slow but systematic fall of his hometown because of Roger Smith decision. Moore just want one thing – bring Roger Smith to the town, so he can see with his own eyes the fallout. I wont spoiler, let me just say the one of last scene of this movie is very eerie and surreal.

This is very interesting document, when every reported thing is scary, curious and funny. My favorite moment is interview with women breeding rabbits (for pets, and for meat), but all of this encounters with Flint's peasants are at least informative. Yeah, it's a manipulation by Moore like always (I hate his Fahrenheit because of that), but here he selected and arranged the moment in very powerful way. The situation is real, and the horror of it its more then real, when we see this hopeless, not very bright people who where just because of one man decision put on the highway to hell.

And of course this movie is all about Moore. He is everywhere, non stop commenting, but the god-crusader from last scene of "Bowling for columbine" (Heston) is no where near here, and that's a good thing. This movie is just a well aimed shot, a punk-rock scream for a social injustice. This is art for document with power to stir up emotion and show people ugly things just the way they are: evictions, parades, idiotic city decision – ignorance, foolishness, powerlessness – its all powerful evil, and the last scene with very sad Christmas Carol its surreal.