During the height of the communist scare, writers were being blacklisted it seems for purring explanation points where censors thought a period should be. For that, writers who wanted to work but couldn't hired someone they referred to as a "front". The idea of a pseudonym to work under a different name had been caught onto, so someone had to pretend to be them so they could earn some money. When greasy spoon employee Woody Allen gets the opportunity to earn a few extra dollars from blacklisted writer Michael Murphy, he grabs it, only to find out about the value of personal freedoms and rights taken away from those who don't agree to the status quo. Along the way, he encounters a blacklisted comic (Zero Mostel) who influences him in getting more involved in the fight but is secretly spying on him in an effort to provide a name so he can continue working. It's obvious, however, that the committee is simply using him and will betray him in the end, which leads up to a very touching scene at the end.
A smart, often touching and funny drama, this takes on its own industry and attacks it for the careers it destroyed, the dreams it broke, and the freedoms it violated. Forty years later, it is equally valid as a mixture of liberal politics and p.c. attitudes threaten to censor people, not only in writing but in freedom of speech as well. Zero Mostel, for example, was one of several people named by Broadway director/choreographer Jerome Robbins, and when they were reunited in 1962 for "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum", Mostel greeted Robbins with "Hello, loose lips", which adds to the passion he puts towards the characterization here.
While this has all the markings of a Woody Allen film, it only stars him, and he is excellent. Even though he did not write the screenplay, it seems like each and every word came off of his pen. The real creative team behind the film were actual blacklist victims, including director Martin Ritt and writer Walter Bernstein. Mostel is terrific in a role that resembles his own real life situation, but unlike Mostel in real life, his character was never able to rebound and find bigger triumphs. I find that this holds up even better today to give us warnings that freedoms of thought and personal ideals are much more important than the liberal battle of the day and the censorship police who only will allow freedom of speech when it agrees with theirs.
A smart, often touching and funny drama, this takes on its own industry and attacks it for the careers it destroyed, the dreams it broke, and the freedoms it violated. Forty years later, it is equally valid as a mixture of liberal politics and p.c. attitudes threaten to censor people, not only in writing but in freedom of speech as well. Zero Mostel, for example, was one of several people named by Broadway director/choreographer Jerome Robbins, and when they were reunited in 1962 for "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum", Mostel greeted Robbins with "Hello, loose lips", which adds to the passion he puts towards the characterization here.
While this has all the markings of a Woody Allen film, it only stars him, and he is excellent. Even though he did not write the screenplay, it seems like each and every word came off of his pen. The real creative team behind the film were actual blacklist victims, including director Martin Ritt and writer Walter Bernstein. Mostel is terrific in a role that resembles his own real life situation, but unlike Mostel in real life, his character was never able to rebound and find bigger triumphs. I find that this holds up even better today to give us warnings that freedoms of thought and personal ideals are much more important than the liberal battle of the day and the censorship police who only will allow freedom of speech when it agrees with theirs.