All The Presidents’ Men. Dir. Alan J. Pakula. 1976. (Woodward and Bernstein follow the Watergate money, and Nixon resigns.)
The Atomic Café
. Dir. Kevin Rafferty, Jayne Loader, and Pierce Rafferty. 1982. USA (Darkly satiric documentary about the Cold War, McCarthyism, and the Arms Race)
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
.
Dir. Stanley Kubrick. With Peter Sellers and George C. Scott. 1964. UK (Black comedy about Cold War paranoia and nuclear Armageddon)
The Crucible
. Dir. Nicholas Hitner. With Daniel Day Lewis, Winona Ryder, and Paul Schofield. 1996. USA (Schofield, in a role diametrically opposite his role in
A Man For All Seasons
, plays Judge Danforth, chief judge responsible for the persecution of alleged witches in Salem, Massachusetts.)
Guilty by Suspicion
.
Dir. Irwin Winkler. With Robert DeNiro. 1991(Well illustrates Hollywood blacklisting during the era of HUAC’s reign, when witnesses were required to “name names” or suffer the consequences.)
Fahrenheit 451
. Dir. François Truffault. With Oskar Werner and Julie Christie. 1966. UK (In a totalitarian anti-utopian future, firemen burn books and the people are sedated with television. One fireman, played by Oskar Werner, rebels.
Good Night and Good Luck.
Dir. George Clooney. With David Strathairn and George Clooney. 2005 (Edward R. Murrow confronts Joseph McCarthy on
See it Now
.)
The Front
. Dir. Martin Ritt. With Woody Allen and Zero Mostel. 1976. USA (The plight of blacklisted screenwriters during the McCarthy Era)
The Lives of Others.
Dir. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. 2006 (Stasi operative’s conscience wins out.)
A Man For All Seasons.
Dir. Fred Zinneman. With Robert Shaw, Susanna York and Paul Schofield. 1966. UK (Schofield plays Sir Thomas More, who resists Henry III’s demand that the Pope grant Henry a divorce so he could marry his mistress Ann Boleyn.)
Point of Order
. Dir. Emile de Antonio. 1963. USA (Documentary consisting of edited television broadcasts of the 1954 Army McCarthy hearings. McCarthy’s accusations of Communists in the military were shown to be without foundation. The proceedings turned into a dual, with minor players on the side, between McCarthy and the Army’s lawyer Joseph Welsh: “At long last, Senator, have you left no sense of decency?”)