| | | "Nominated for 12 Academy Awards, Winner of Best Director, Cinematography, and Supporting Actress."
Features: DVD
An instantaneous classic, Warren Beatty's Reds was nominated for more Academy Awards in 1982 than any other film for the previous 15 years. The recipient of numerous critical "Best Picture" prizes throughout the world, it won every major directorial award of 1981 - 1982 for Beattty.Reds is the story of the love affair of John Reed and Louise Bryant in a war-torn world and how the Russian Revolution shook their lives. Warren Beattty is John Reed, American Communist, journalist and activist who was buried in the Kremlin Wall. Diane Keaton is Louise Bryant, writer and feminist, whose love for Reed carries her across continents. Jack Nicholson is Eugene O'Neill, America's greatest playwright, whose life intertwines romantically with Bryant's. Maureen Stapleton is anarchist and feminist Emma Goldman and Jerzy Kosinski is Bolshevik leader Gregory Zinoviev.
"...a richly textured drama that successfully blends history, romance and reminiscenes in its portrait..." Frederic & Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality & Practice
"...powerful filmmaking..." Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress
"Epic telling of Communism roots..." Steve Crum, Video-ReviewMaster.com
Editor's Note
An epic, sweeping romance about two American socialists, journalist John Reed and his paramour Louise Bryant, who take part in the Bolshevik revolution. Produced, written and directed by Warren Beatty.
Plot Summary
Warren Beatty's award winning epic mixes drama and interviews with major social radicals of the period. "Reds" tells the story of the love affair between activists Louise Bryant and John Reed. | Set against the backdrop of the tumultuous start of the twentieth century, the two journalists' on-again off-again romance is punctuated by the outbreak of WWI and the Bolshevik Revolution. Louise's assignment in France at the outbreak of the war puts an end to their affair. John Reed's subsequent trip to Russia, and his involvement with the Communist party, rekindles their relationship. When Louise arrives in Petrograd, she finds herself swept up in the euphoria of the Revolution. Reed, however, eventually becomes disillusioned with Communism when he sees his words and intentions augmented and controlled by the growing Soviet propaganda machine.
| Features | Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Audio: English, French Dolby Digital Mono | | Dubbed: French | | Featurettes: The Rising, Komrades, Testimonials, The March, Revolution & Propaganda | | Interactive Menus | | Production Interviews With Stars Warren Beatty & Jack Nicholson, Cinematographer Vittorio Storaro & Composer Stephen Sondheim | | Scene Selection |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Paramount |
| Release Date: 10/10/2006 |
| Running Time: 195 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1981 | | Catalog ID: 013314 | | UPC: 00097360133141 | | Number of Discs: 2 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English [CC], English, French Dubbed | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Winner (1983) | | | British Academy Awards, Jack Nicholson, Best Supporting Actor | | | British Academy Awards, Maureen Stapleton, Best Supporting Actress | |
Winner (1982) | | | Golden Globe, Warren Beatty , Best Director - Motion Picture | | | Oscar, Maureen Stapleton, Best Actress in a Supporting Role | | | Oscar, Vittorio Storaro, Best Cinematography | | | Oscar, Warren Beatty, Best Director |
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| | Professional Reviews | Variety
"...Courageous and uncompromising..." 12/02/1981New York Times
"...Keaton is nothing less than splendid....REDS is an extremely fine film." 12/04/1981 p.C8 Entertainment Weekly
"A rabble-rousing tour de force....The movie is political, educational, provocative...It is also intellectually stirring..." -- Grade: A 10/20/2006 p.63 New York Times
"REDS remains a superior history lesson, thanks to Mr. Beatty's thorough command of the material and to his inclusion of real-life 'witnesses' to the life and times of Reed." 10/04/2006 p.E1 Rolling Stone
"Beatty's passion is indisputable." 11/30/2006 p.96 Entertainment Weekly
Included in Entertainment Weekly's "Top 10 DVDs Of The Year" -- "[T]he movie has only increased in power and relevance." 12/29/2006 p.112 Total Film
4 stars out of 5 -- "Beatty and Keaton give career-best performances and Jack Nicholson, as ever, steals all his scenes..." 05/01/2007 p.122 Sight and Sound
"There is plenty to admire here....It takes a certain gumption to make a three-hour Hollywood epic centered on the Russian revolution." 04/01/2007 p.86-7 eFilmCritic.com 10 of 10
Up to this very day, Reds continues to divide critics and audiences, with the supporters claiming is Warren Beatty's best film to date and one of the finest epics ever made, and its detractors slamming it as a preachy, self-indulgent, overlong, and excessive film about an American Communist! I couldn't actually see why the mere fact that this film is about an American communist would be enough to bash this film (Making a film about Saddam Hussein wouldn't?). At any rate, I simply loved this film the moment I saw it. It's a very engrossing film, filled with superb performance, impressive photography, and strong direction.
Chicago Sun-Times 9 of 10
The heart of the film is in the relationship between Reed and Bryant. There is an interesting attempt to consider her problems as well as his. She leaves Portland because she is sick unto death of small talk...So [Beatty] gives us people. And they are seen here with such warmth and affection that we sense new dimensions not only in Beatty and Keaton, but especially in Nicholson. In "Reds", understating his desire, apologizing for his passion, hanging around Louise, handing her a poem, throwing her out of his life, he is quieter but much more passionate than in the overwrought "The Postman Always Rings Twice". - Roger Ebert
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