Political Films Meet-Up: MEDIUM COOL

Let’s talk about movies! Join movie club member Clay Vaughn for the next film in our Political Films series with "Medium Cool" (1969), a trail-blazing mixture of fiction and documentary footage chronicling some of the major events within the US in 1968.

Just like a book club, we watch the movie before we meet. Some streaming and additional viewing suggestions are below.

We'll meet at Lucky Lab in SE at 4pm (map). We try to have a sign at our table (be sure to check outside just in case the weather is nice).

Grab a drink and we'll spend some time discussing the film and having a great time!

Political Film Spotlight: MEDIUM COOL

Before Network (1976), and before Broadcast News (1987), Medium Cool (1969) took a scathing view of TV news at one of the most consequential moments in its history. Filmed in Chicago during the long, hot Summer of 1968, the film uses a semi-documentary style to incorporate its characters into real historical events, namely the Democratic National Convention, and the riots that broke out between the Chicago PD and anti-war protestors.

Exploring themes of class, race, alienation, and political disillusionment, the film follows cynical TV news cameraman John Cassellis (Robert Forster) as he comes to term with the true nature of his work and becomes entangled with a poor single mother (Verna Bloom) and her son (Harold Blankenship, in his only film role). Along the way you'll see a real 60s psychedelic dance party, adorable pigeons, a young Jesse Jackson leading a protest, and one of the most notorious riots in American history.

Directed by legendary cinematographer Haskell Wexler (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, In the Heat of the Night, The Conversation, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), the film's unconventional form and style attracted perhaps even more attention than its radical content. It was one of the first films edited by Marcia Lucas, best known for her collaborations with Martin Scorsese and her then-husband George Lucas. The music was assembled by Wexler's cousin, legendary guitarist Mike Bloomfield, and prominently features contemporary bands Love and Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention.

Viewing Options are limited for this very unique and highly regarded film

A note from member David Jackson: Unless lightning strikes and the Corporate Streaming Gods decree that this title will be available for streaming after the first of the year – the options for viewing this rare film include the link below to the Internet Archive, (and possibly you might find it on You-Tube) and physical media releases from Criterion to be rented from a recommended outlet like Movie Madness or purchased from any number of sources (also physical media is the preferred choice anyway due to the higher quality of a good HD presentation on Blu-ray compared to the highly compressed and compromised files typically used for streaming by Big Media).

Apologies in advance that this film may not be available on your favorite streaming option – but keep in mind that all commercial streaming sources combined provide only about 10,000 titles available at any given time – and they’re the same titles recycled month after month. A quick glance at an outlet like Movie Madness or Seattle’s Scarecrow Video will show inventories readily available of around 90,000 titles. And they certainly don’t have everything. Only a small drop in the proverbial big bucket.
https://archive.org/details/medium-cool-1969

About Political Films

This series is based on the New Republic article, "The 100 Most Significant Political Films of All Time" published in June 2023 and is a comprehensive list of films that speak to our relationships with government, war, bureaucracy, politics and politicians, crime, propaganda, classism, and more. The list is not intended to be a collection of the 'best' films, but the most significant (although many of them are also very good). Some of these films can be a challenging watch, I'd suggest www.doesthedogdie.com for content warnings.

Tips:

1. Haven't seen the movie in a while? You're in for a treat - try to watch the movie sometime before we meet. Just like a book club we don't watch the movie at our meetup, we just discuss it after we’ve seen it. You don't have to watch the movie to join us, but it'll be more fun if you can.
2. I usually take a few notes while I watch to keep from forgetting the most interesting stuff. If you think of some interesting discussion topics while you watch, bring 'em with you!
3. Typically, at the Meet-Up we'll decide on our next political film to watch! Take a look at the list linked above for options to consider for the next film.