Reagan (2011)

Reagan examines the enigmatic career of one of the revered architects of the modern world - icon, screen star, and two-term president Ronald Reagan.

Director:

Eugene Jarecki

Writer:

Eugene Jarecki

Stars:

Bud Abbott, Walter Abel, Spiro Agnew

4 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Bud Abbott	...	Himself (archive footage)
Walter Abel	...	Himself (archive footage)
Spiro Agnew	...	Himself (archive footage)
Martin Anderson	...	Himself - Reagan historian
Lauren Bacall	...	Herself (archive footage)
Andrew Bacevich	...	Himself - Boston University
James Baker III	...	Himself - Reagan Chief of Staff and Secretary of the Treasury
Glenn Beck	...	Himself (archive footage)
Alvah Bessie	...	Himself (archive footage)
Herbert J. Biberman	...	Himself (archive footage)
Lewis Black	...	Himself (archive footage)
John Boehner	...	Himself (archive footage)
Humphrey Bogart	...	Himself (archive footage)
Leonid Brezhnev	...	Himself (archive footage)
Pat Buchanan	...	Himself - Reagan Communications Director

Storyline

Ronald Reagan as a man, as compared to his legacy, is rich territory for exploration, and a line from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar is just one of the many things that springs to mind after viewing filmmaker Eugene Jarecki's latest opus, Reagan (Jarecki's Why We Fight won the 2005 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize: Documentary). Speaking at his funeral, Mark Antony said of Caesar, "The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones." With a firm grasp of Reagan's story, Jarecki avoids the predictable and takes the long view on Reagan's life and influence, while staying centered on him as a man of deep contradiction; an American whose patriotism paradoxically led him to impeachable acts, a liberal Democrat who came to define the modern conservative movement.

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Plot Keywords:

political superpower | liberal | president | career | u.s. president | 

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Genres:

Documentary | Biography

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Details

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 January 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ronald Reagan

Company Credits

Production Co:

Charlotte Street Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Color:

Color Black and White

User Reviews

Deceitful biography

The first half of "Reagan" is fairly objective, to disguise the fact that this is simply another predictable hit-piece on Reagan, and on conservatism in general.

All of the seemingly positive narrators in the first half turn out to be very anti-Reagan in the second half.

If the program had ended as it began, with a positive characterization of Reagan, you could almost (but not quite) argue that it was fair. Instead, the second half is obviously there to tear down every positive image of Reagan that is slyly portrayed in the first half. The first half is only there to help tear down every positive image ("myth") about Reagan, in the second half.

Pick any Democratic president of the past 100 years--Obama, Clinton, Kennedy, Roosevelt, or even Carter, and you cannot imagine any media outlet producing a negative hit piece like this. But you expect it when the subject is a Republican president (so you should not be surprised or disappointed).

The best endorsement of Reagan's success, popularity, and achievements is the left's tireless and relentless effort, even after his death, to destroy him.