Nothing But the Truth [etc.]

Topical subject and notable cast notwithstanding, this Rod Lurie film essentially went straight to video. Kate Beckinsale is a character similar to Judith Miller, the NYTimes reporter who went to jail rather than reveal her source in the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame. The latter type is played by Vera Farmiga, and the two have some good toe-to-toe scenes. Matt Dillon is the special prosecutor who keeps putting the screws to the reporter so she’ll reveal her source, and Alan Alda is her white-shoe defense attorney. Though Kate is undoubtably more heroic than Judith was, and her prison time harder, she does have her ambiguities, and other views get fair expression. I’m not sure about the fictional displacement of the story to an imaginary Venezuelan assasination attempt and U.S. retribution, nor about the story’s final twist, which is fair but raises as many questions as it answers. But for the most part, this is a cleanly executed political thriller, with a conscience. (2008, dvd, n.) *6* (MC-64.)

To tie up loose ends: I wanted to confirm my assertion about Milk that the documentary was better, so I re-watched The Times of Harvey Milk (1983), and indeed it is so. Not that Gus Van Sant’s film was without value, but in comparison to the Oscar-winning documentary, it strikes me as something unnecessary, like his shot-for-shot remake of Psycho. Of course it’s an important message and reaches a wider audience through the celebrity of Sean Penn’s performance, but most of the story’s impact is lifted directly, and little is added by appending drama to docu-.

Somewhere I read a favorable remark on The Americanization of Emily (1964), so when I saw it coming on TCM, I recorded it. Since the story is about an American serviceman and English servicewoman during World War II, and I am the product of just such a meeting, I got around to watching it quite promptly. I can’t go so far as to recommend the film, but it is an intriguing odd duck indeed. It’s hard to imagine a cynical black comedy about D-Day after we’ve seen Saving Private Ryan, but I suppose writer Paddy Chayefsky was trying to cash in on the then-current bestselling success of Catch-22. James Garner comes across as too nice for the “dog robber” he plays, in the vein of Milo Minderbinder. And Julie Andrews, looking for a change of pace between Mary Poppins and Sound of Music, is too prim and not tart enough, as the driver who is escaping the ethic of courage that took every male in her family and looking for a fling with a certified coward. Director Arthur Hiller does little to liven up the proceedings or fine tune the performances, so the tone is wobbly throughout, while Chayefsky is trying satirically to undercut the glorification of war. The widescreen black & white is reminiscent of then-recent classic The Apartment, but Hiller is not Wilder enough for the job.