movies

Hollywood Has Abandoned the Citizen-Inventor

After generations of populist inventors making the things they need, Hollywood has framed our relationship to invention as receiving the gifts bestowed on us by plutocrats. 

The Real Story of "Casablanca" Was the Refugees

At its 80th anniversary, it's appropriate to honor the classic film by focusing on the waves of Europeans fleeing Nazi persecution and working to fight back. 

Teach the History Behind "Emancipation" with the Primary Sources

by Alan J. Singer

Antoine Fuqua and Will Smith's "Emancipation" has rediscovered the life of an enslaved man variously called Peter or Gordon, who had been made famous through an 1863 photograph. Here's how history teachers can use the primary records of his life to accompany the film. 

How "Till" Stands out Among Civil Rights Films

"Till" shows that it is no longer possible for a movie about the civil rights era to put historical Black characters in the shadow of white protagonists. 

Will Smith's Scars in "Emancipation" Connect an Antislavery Photo and Racial Inequality Today

The violations of the bodies of the enslaved were part of the process of racist oppression; contemporary institutions exhibit practices that are not too much different. 

Native Activist Gets Apology from MPAAS For 1973 Oscars Protest

Sacheen Littlefeather appeared in lieu of Marlon Brando to decline his Oscar for "The Godfather" as a protest against racist portrayals of American Indians. The Academy has just now apologized for the abuse she endured during the ceremony and afterward.

"All the President's Men": From Misguided Buddy Flick to Iconic Political Thriller

Hollywood's original plan for the film based on Woodward and Bernstein's book was light on substance and heavy on macho hijinks. How would Watergate be remembered if the script weren't changed? 

Top-Gunning for Empire

by Scott Laderman

"Top Gun: Maverick" is ressurecting the theatergoing experience. Will it do the same for American enthusiasm for the imperial ambitions it represents? 

Dennis Hopper and Brooke Hayward's Relationship at the Center of the New Hollywood

Mark Rozzo's "Everybody Thought We Were Crazy" tells the story of artistic encounters that ran through the couple's home. 

This Failed Blockbuster Killed Old Hollywood (and Maybe John Wayne, Too)

by Ryan Uytdewilligen

When John Wayne played Genghis Khan in a disastrous Howard Hughes production, it helped to kill RKO studios. Did it also expose the cast and crew to deadly nuclear fallout? 

Mel Brooks Delivers 500 Pages on His Favorite Subject – Himself

"The stuff that hasn’t been public, or at least is tough to find, makes the book worthwhile."

Is the Academy's New Museum Neglecting the Jewish Pioneers of Hollywood?

"After touring the museum’s seven stories, I discovered that Hollywood’s pioneers, who busted their tucheses building the industry it celebrates, ended up on the cutting room floor."

Passing Time and the Challenge of Catching "Eyewitnesses to History"

by Thomas Doherty

Historians have only recently wised up to the need to capture eyewitness remembrances of events. As the "Greatest Generation" passes and the Baby Boomers age, a cultural historian urges: talk to people while you still can. 

People Longing for Movie Theaters During the 1918 Flu Pandemic Feels Very Familiar in 2021

As in 2020, public health concerns closed movie theaters in 1918. But then, without home streaming technology, a fledgling industry was threatened with ruin. Hollywood bounced back because so many Americans missed the theater experience.

"Judas and the Black Messiah" Is an American Tragedy

The performances of the lead actors in "Judas and the Black Messiah" elevate the story of Chicago Black Panther leader Fred Hampton's assassination by the police and FBI to a complex story of the Black freedom movement. 

How World War II Shaped 'It's a Wonderful Life'

The now-classic movie was unsuccessful in its own time, perhaps because its expression of the uncertainty and fatigue of a nation emerging from a global war was not an upbeat or enjoyable theme. 

The Other ‘Mank’: Joe Mankiewicz and the Wildest Night in Hollywood History

by Greg Mitchell

The Netflix film "Mank" provides an opportunity to remember the civil liberties stand taken by Frank Mankiewicz's brother Joe, who opposed the imposition of loyalty oaths on the Directors' Guild at the height of the postwar red scare. 

Why ‘Glory’ Still Resonates More Than Three Decades Later

by Kevin M. Levin

The film based on the story of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry is streaming on Netflix. Kevin Levin suggests that despite the narrative license taken, the film puts the story of Black freedom fighters and the question of emancipation at the center of the story of the Civil War. 

Helen Hunt Brings Trailblazing War Journalist to Life in "World On Fire"

“I remember reading that she called her paper the next day and held the phone out the window [so they could hear the gunfire and chaos] and said, ‘It’s happening right now!'”

‘1917’ Turns a Horrific War Into an Uplifting Hero’s Journey

by Cathy Tempelsman

World War I was a disaster, but Sam Mendes’s Oscar-nominated epic paints a dangerously misleading picture of the conflict.