The Trial Of the Chicago 7 (2020)

[DollEyes]

This is the thread for The Trial Of the Chicago 7, the fact- based story of the "Chicago 7," who were put on trial for causing much of the chaos at the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention.

  The all-star cast includes Sasha Baron Cohen, Michael Keaton, Eddie Redmayne, Mark Rylance, Yahya Abdul-Mateen 2, Jeremy Strong and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, is written/directed by Aaron Sorkin and will debut on Netflix on October 16th.

[ProudMary]

I'm really looking forward to seeing this film.  Truthfully, they had me at Aaron Sorkin, but that is an exceptional collection of actors!

Official Trailer:

 

[Spartan Girl]

Watched it on Netflix. Gets a little cheesy, especially at the end, but definitely draws a lot of parallels today. Especially that one quote from Michael Keaton as the former Attorney General. Won't write it here, just in case, but those that have seen the movie know exactly what part I'm talking about.

Lots of good performances, but the highlight was Sascha Baron Cohen, since I'm pretty sure that was his first dramatic role.

[GHScorpiosRule]

This was riveting. And scary at the same time. Why was I shocked? I mean, I've watched CNN Films' The Sixties! And yet, I found Judge Hoffman to be THE WORST. Why Kunstler(!) didn't make a motion to have him recused for OBVIOUS BIAS, I'll never understand. The whole trial came off as a kangaroo court because of him. Spoilering this just in case :

 

And

only 78% of lawyers, oh, I'm sorry Chicago lawyers, found him to be Unqualified?

And then what he had the Marshalls do to Bobby Seale? I...just...no words at his tone deafness.

Michael Keaton was AWESOME in the five minutes he was on screen. I wanted to see more of Ramsey Clark.

Sascha Baron Cohen really surprised me.

But I did enjoy seeing and pointing and saying Hey! I!T!G! while watching.

I still haven't been able to get Netflix to stop its auto play so had to fast forward from the beginning just to watch the final credits. It's AGGRAVATING. At least for the shows, you have that button that lets you just "watch credits"!

 

It saddened me that Jerry Rubin was killed in a senseless accident and that Abbie committed suicide.

But I could tell Aaron's hand was behind this with the characters saying "yeah"--something his West Wing characters said ad nauseam.

Edited October 19, 2020 by GHScorpiosRule

[VCRTracking]

8 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

This was riveting. And scary at the same time. Why was I shocked? I mean, I've watched CNN Films' The Sixties! And yet, I found Judge Hoffman to be THE WORST. Why Kunstler(!) didn't make a motion to have him recused for OBVIOUS BIAS, I'll never understand. The whole trial came off as a kangaroo court because of him. Spoilering this just in case :

  Reveal spoiler

And

only 78% of lawyers, oh, I'm sorry Chicago lawyers, found him to be Unqualified?

 

And then what he had the Marshalls do to Bobby Seale? I...just...no words at his tone deafness.

Michael Keaton was AWESOME in the five minutes he was on screen. I wanted to see more of Ramsey Clarke.

Sascha Baron Cohen really surprised me.

But I did enjoy seeing and pointing and saying Hey! I!T!G! while watching.

I still haven't been able to get Netflix to stop its auto play so had to fast forward from the beginning just to watch the final credits. It's AGGRAVATING. At least for the shows, you have that button that lets you just "watch credits"!

 

  Reveal spoiler

It saddened me that Jerry Rubin was killed in a senseless accident and that Abbie committed suicide.

 

But I could tell Aaron's hand was behind this with the characters saying "yeah"--something his West Wing characters said ad nauseam.

Also:

 

 

 

Edited October 19, 2020 by VCRTracking

[Spartan Girl]

45 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

And then what he had the Marshalls do to Bobby Seale? I...just...no words at his tone deafness.

My jaw dropped at that part. Jesus.

Michael Keaton was indeed the most awesome, next to SBC, especially at THAT QUOTE. You know the one, right? If not PM me. And the part with Eddie Redmayne being "cross examined" was amazing too. Like clearly he had been taken out of context, but the cops incited it and they were screwed either way.

[GHScorpiosRule]

17 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

My jaw dropped at that part. Jesus.

Michael Keaton was indeed the most awesome, next to SBC, especially at THAT QUOTE. You know the one, right?

I KNOW!

And Oh, yeah. I KNOW which quote. And he said it twice!

I think we should be able to quote it because you know, it was stated in the movie. 

Edited October 19, 2020 by GHScorpiosRule

[A.Ham]

Spoiler

And

only 78% of lawyers, oh, I'm sorry Chicago lawyers, found him to be Unqualified?

Spoiler

I. Know!!! I just wondered, what were the other 22% smoking???

 

Edited October 19, 2020 by A.Ham
Trying to learn how to use spoiler tags in quotations

[GHScorpiosRule]

I just want to know if Judge Hoffman was THAT stupid that he actually thought any conversation between President Johnson and Attorney General Ramsey Clark was considered attorney/client privilege? As if Clark was Johnson's personal attorney?

Like Clark corrected, it wouldn't be attorney/client privilege because he in his role as AG wasn't Johnson's lawyer. That's not the way it worked, I think he said. Unbelievable.

[shapeshifter]

On 10/19/2020 at 10:24 AM, GHScorpiosRule said:

This was riveting.

Riveting for me too, and that's unusual. 
I was surprised after watching when I discovered that Abbie Hoffman was played by Sacha Baron Cohen and that it was written and directed by Aaron Sorkin.
And if you need to use the word "unspoiled" in a sentence, feel free to quote me.
 

[shapeshifter]

Tonight (Monday) Sacha Baron Cohen will be on A Late Show With Stephen Colbert, and then, following, on The Late Late Show with James Corden, Aaron Sorkin will appear. Both are on CBS, but I imagine both interviews will be on YouTube by Tuesday. 

[bijoux]

I am not exaggerating when I say this has been the most impactful film I've seen in a while. Trying to think about the last one that made this big of an impression, I think it was Jojo Rabbit. Seriously, I just want to recommend this to everyone. 

I think this is the worst character I've seen Langella play. He so deliberately and obtusely abused the system that he'd profited from by virtue of being born as he was. No one hadcalled him as being biased towards black people before? Those are some mighty small ears you have there, old man. 

On 10/19/2020 at 11:44 PM, A.Ham said:

  Hide contents

And

only 78% of lawyers, oh, I'm sorry Chicago lawyers, found him to be Unqualified?

  Hide contents

I. Know!!! I just wondered, what were the other 22% smoking???

 

Unfortunately, people like Hoffmann aren't isolated cases. He had to have those who were like minded. Otherwise, he'd never have been elected as judge or given this particual trial. 

On 10/20/2020 at 1:28 AM, GHScorpiosRule said:

I just want to know if Judge Hoffman was THAT stupid that he actually thought any conversation between President Johnson and Attorney General Ramsey Clark was considered attorney/client privilege? As if Clark was Johnson's personal attorney?

Like Clark corrected, it wouldn't be attorney/client privilege because he in his role as AG wasn't Johnson's lawyer. That's not the way it worked, I think he said. Unbelievable.

He was playing fast and loose with law and laws of logic the entire time. If his actions weren't so horrifying, they'd be fascinating. 

There wasn't a miscast actor in the bunch, I think they all embodied their roles extremely well. And the choice of cutting to Abbie's speech worked really well. Those cut don't always function. 

Some of the more horrifying things for me were 1) Bobby's calm after the news of Fred's murder. They all just knew this could happen to them and it was just execution and nothing else. 2) that girl almost being raped and the police not giving a shit, only to arrest Jerry when he helped her. 3) the police taking off their badges and name tags. That raised the hairs on my neck. 

I would have liked for more women or at least heftier roles for them, but I'll be grateful that those two we did get were cool. Bernardine talking about sex with black men on the phone was simultaneously hilarious, petrifiying and down to the bones awesome. 

Can you tell I liked this? 

I'm off to read up on this case and people involved and check who I haven't recognized in the cast. 

[AimingforYoko]

1 hour ago, bijoux said:

I think this is the worst character I've seen Langella play

C'mon now, the man played Richard Nixon.

[bijoux]

You know, I honestly don't remember hating his Nixon as much as I did this asshole. Oh, and just from cursory perusing of Wikipedia, the real guy was even worse than the depiction. He had Bobby Seale bound and gagged for several days (!!!) , "struggling to get free and managing to make muffled sounds". So, I guess this is one of those cases of truth being stranger than fiction. 

[Milburn Stone]

So far I have loved Jeremy Strong in everything he's been in that I've seen.

I met Jerry Rubin once, back in my college days. Hung out with him for about an hour in a friend's apartment with a few other friends as he held court. "Holding court" was pretty much what it was like. We literally sat at his feet, in a circle on the rug, with him as the focal point of the circle, sitting on a chair.

Based on that hour, I think Strong's portrayal missed some of Rubin's batshit craziness and borderline malevolence. Strong played him as a lovable stoner. But I don't care. I liked Strong's Rubin more than Rubin's Rubin.

[snarktini]

On 10/26/2020 at 2:08 PM, bijoux said:

Oh, and just from cursory perusing of Wikipedia, the real guy was even worse than the depiction.

So so hard to watch. How can any judge be that willfully terrible and stay on the bench? I know, I know, there are plenty of them. I just...ugh. Total kangaroo court.

I wonder what the lead prosecutor (Schultz?) was like in real life. He has no Wiki page, which has to be intentional. He got a fairly sympathetic edit in the movie -- he believed the charges were trumped up and stood up for a small number of things in the end, like Bobby's treatment. I wonder what he really thought, how he viewed his role in this decades later.

The way the government invasively investigated, maligned, and persecuted civil rights leaders during this time was absolutely disgraceful.

[Inquisitionist]

13 hours ago, snarktini said:

So so hard to watch. How can any judge be that willfully terrible and stay on the bench? I know, I know, there are plenty of them. I just...ugh. Total kangaroo court.

I wonder what the lead prosecutor (Schultz?) was like in real life. He has no Wiki page, which has to be intentional. He got a fairly sympathetic edit in the movie -- he believed the charges were trumped up and stood up for a small number of things in the end, like Bobby's treatment. I wonder what he really thought, how he viewed his role in this decades later.

The way the government invasively investigated, maligned, and persecuted civil rights leaders during this time was absolutely disgraceful.

I had thought Schultz was a composite character, but that was his real name.  This article suggests that the sympathetic portrayal in the movie is not accurate.   My husband, who has read extensively about these events, said Judge Hoffman was even worse in real life than depicted.  Perhaps Sorkin thought audiences needed the prosecutor to be less evil.  

[Kel Varnsen]

Watched this a couple of nights ago and even though I knew just about nothing about the 68 Chicago Convention it was super interesting. One of the most interesting parts I thought was when Hayden and Hoffman were arguing and Hayden said something like how because of Abbie Hoffman for the next 50 years anytime someone talks about progressive politics people will automatically think of unemployed, long haired dirty hippies. Which in some respects is kind of true (even though I have no idea if that is anyone's fault).

Also between this movie, Borat and Godmothered on Disney+ (that I watched with my kids last week), the Baron-Cohen/Fisher family are really killing it in the streaming exclusive movies.

Edited December 15, 2020 by Kel Varnsen

[Simon Boccanegra]

I watched this last night. I belatedly crossed the now-Netflix-available Snowden (2016) off my list too, so I had an unintended "Joseph Gordon-Levitt in spectacles, fact-based" double bill. 

The Trial of the Chicago 7 exceeded my expectations. This is an example of streamlining and dramatic license put to good use, and it's such a timely film in 2020-21, on several levels: the portrayal of uneasy alliances on the left, of systemic racial bias and judicial abuse, of brutality in response to protests, of a fraught transition from one presidential administration to another. Even though there are many moving parts and many important characters, it's all so lucid, accessible, engrossing. 

I've run hot and cold on Aaron Sorkin since the '90s, while always recognizing his intelligence and facility. This was some of his best work.

I wasn't entirely on board with Eddie Redmayne's Tom Hayden, because I always find there to be a mannered, "strenuous" quality to his performances, but he had his moments. My favorite performances in this stacked, mostly male ensemble were those by Gordon-Levitt, Sacha Baron Cohen, Frank Langella, and the ever-amazing Mark Rylance.

As far as disappearing into a character goes, I had no idea I had even been looking at Kelvin Harrison Jr. (as Fred Hampton) until the movie was over. Even when I went back to his scenes, I had a hard time believing it was the same actor who had played the spiraling student athlete in Waves (one of my 2019 favorites). Also, one of my favorite "Hey It's That Guy" types, John Doman (the psychiatrist on ER, Rawls on The Wire, Michelle Williams's father in Blue Valentine, and a hundred other credits), was hilariously despicable in his one scene as John Mitchell.

Great show. 

Edited January 26, 2021 by Simon Boccanegra

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Golden Globe nominations!

BEST MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA

BEST DIRECTOR - Aaron Sorkin

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE - Sacha Baron Cohen

BEST SCREENPLAY - Aaron Sorkin

BEST ORIGINAL SONG - “HEAR MY VOICE”

[ElectricBoogaloo]

SAG Award nomination!

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role - Sacha Baron Cohen

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

Edited February 4, 2021 by ElectricBoogaloo

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Critics' Choice Award nominations!

Best Picture

Best Director - Aaron Sorkin

Best Supporting Actor - Sacha Baron Cohen

Best Acting Ensemble

Best Original Screenplay - Aaron Sorkin

Best Editing - Alan Baumgarten

 

[Avabelle]

I thought it was good if not a little self indulgent. The cast were magic and the writing decent for the most part. I’m delighted to see Sacha Baron Cohen nominated. My favourite character was Jerry though - he just added unintentional lightness at times which I appreciated.

The judge had me rolling my eyes as he was just so evil that all the scenes he was in I knew the outcome before it even started. I know it’s a true story so he probably was that bad but it took me out of the scenes as he was just so ridiculously biased and EVIL. It felt like bad writing to make the seven more sympathetic.

Edited February 14, 2021 by Avabelle

[Mulva]

On 2/14/2021 at 7:11 AM, Avabelle said:

I thought it was good if not a little self indulgent. The cast were magic and the writing decent for the most part. I’m delighted to see Sacha Baron Cohen nominated. My favourite character was Jerry though - he just added unintentional lightness at times which I appreciated.

The judge had me rolling my eyes as he was just so evil that all the scenes he was in I knew the outcome before it even started. I know it’s a true story so he probably was that bad but it took me out of the scenes as he was just so ridiculously biased and EVIL. It felt like bad writing to make the seven more sympathetic.

It wasn't bad writing.  Judge Hoffman was that bad if not worse.  Everything he did is part of the court record.

[Simon Boccanegra]

I honestly didn't get true "evil" from Langella's portrayal and Sorkin's writing -- just deeply prejudiced, hidebound, and addled. His intermittent cognitive issues seemed genuine to me, and that may have been a kindness of dramatic license. I've read commentary on the film that the real Hoffman had "all his vicious wits about him" right to the end.

Sorkin has in the past been guilty of writing overly broad opponents for his virtuous protagonists, but I didn't feel that way this time. I found this judge all too plausibly awful.

[truthaboutluv]

On 2/14/2021 at 8:11 AM, Avabelle said:

The judge had me rolling my eyes as he was just so evil that all the scenes he was in I knew the outcome before it even started. I know it’s a true story so he probably was that bad but it took me out of the scenes as he was just so ridiculously biased and EVIL. It felt like bad writing to make the seven more sympathetic.

And that's what makes it that much more disturbing. That to someone all these years later, it can almost be seen as comical and over the top in its evilness, like some overly dramatic, concocted Hollywood story. That it actually happened and by many people who were around then, account, was actually worse than shown, is exactly why the story needed to be told and why the situation was so terrifyingly fucked up. 

Saw the film over the weekend and loved it. While I understand why Sacha Baron Cohen is the one getting the individual award nomination love (he had something of the flashier character with all his quirks, snark, etc.) I feel like this movie has the same "problem", if you can call it a problem, that Spotlight did.

Where it's an overall amazing film but it's very much an ensemble and so it's hard to really pick out one individual performance from the bunch. Because they were all so good and integral to the entire story. That said, if I had to nominate someone, and I don't know if this is an unpopular opinion, I would actually pick the actor who played Bobby Seales. He was the one, in my opinion, who was the true scene stealer in the film.

But a really strong film overall and I can definitely see why it's gotten ensemble nominations at SAG and Critics Choice. Because truly, everyone delivered. I mean Michael Keaton was fucking brilliant in 5 minutes of screen time. And yes, I'm sure many got chills on that moment when he calmly reminded the judge that no, the President of the United States is NOT a client of the U.S. Attorney General.  

[BetterButter]

Free to watch for the next 2 days

 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Golden Globe Award!

Best Screenplay — Motion Picture: Aaron Sorkin

[kiddo82]

I went into this really wanting to dislike it.  I didn't know anything about the history going into the film but I held off on watching it because I was afraid it would be a sanitized version of terrible events, smoothed of rough edges, and packaged into a bow so at the end we'd all feel a little bit better about the world we live in.  But damn it, it worked on me.  Like I said, I can't tell you what was sanitized and what wasn't, and I've no doubt that the actual injustices were even worse, (how is what they did to Bobby in that courtroom even legal!?), but I feel like there was enough disturbing imagery that it didn't just feel like lip service to the source events.  I'm not an all loving Sorkin fan but when he's good, he's good.  I loved the fractured story telling and the edits between Abbie's stand up (?)/the witness' testimonies and the flashbacks to the nights in question.  I thought that created a lot of suspense and kept things interesting.  I also laughed out loud when Rylance's character asked the stenographer if she was good and she could keep up because he was about to go off.  I thought that had to be Sorkin's own in joke about his dialogue and the length of his scripts.  Although, I was a little disappointed because I thought the character's resulting diatribe was rather concise.  And it's not that I'm opposed to hopeful endings, but getting there without harsh reality, especially when it comes to real life events, feels cheap and manipulative.  I think this movie struck a good balance between harsh and hopeful.  

Also, in Forest Gump, when Forest was at the reflecting pool in DC talking about "the war in Vietnam", was the guy on stage with him supposed to be Abbie Hoffman?  I had no idea that was supposed to be an actual real life figure but while watching Chicago 7, between the accent and the shirt, I was like, "That also has to be based on the same person, right?"

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Critics' Choice Award wins!

Best Acting Ensemble

Best Editing

[ProudMary]

11 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Critics' Choice Award wins!

Best Acting Ensemble

Best Editing

But NOT for the screenplay! I was screaming at my TV screen. 😠

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Producers Guild of America nomination!

Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures

“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” (Amazon Studios)
Producers: Sacha Baron Cohen, Monica Levinson, Anthony Hines

“Judas and the Black Messiah” (Warner Bros)
Producers: Charles D. King, Ryan Coogler, Shaka King

“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” (Netflix)
Producers: Denzel Washington, Todd Black

“Mank” (Netflix)
Producers: Ceán Chaffin, Eric Roth, Douglas Urbanski

“Minari” (A24)
Producer: Christina Oh

“Nomadland” (Searchlight Pictures)
Producers: Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey, Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Chloé Zhao

“One Night in Miami” (Amazon Studios)
Producers: Jess Wu Calder, Keith Calder, Jody Klein

“Promising Young Woman” (Focus Features)
Producers: Josey McNamara, Ben Browning, Ashley Fox, Emerald Fennell

“Sound of Metal” (Amazon Studios)
Producers: Bert Hamelinck, Sacha Ben Harroche

“The Trial of the Chicago 7” (Netflix)
Producers: Marc Platt, Stuart Besser

[ElectricBoogaloo]

BAFTA nominations!

BEST FILM
THE FATHER Philippe Carcassonne, Jean-Louis Livi, David Parfitt
THE MAURITANIAN TBC
NOMADLAND Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey, Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Chloé Zhao
PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN Ben Browning, Emerald Fennell, Ashley Fox, Josey McNamara
THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 Stuart Besser, Marc Platt

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
ANOTHER ROUND Tobias Lindholm, Thomas Vinterberg
MANK Jack Fincher
PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN Emerald Fennell
ROCKS Theresa Ikoko, Claire Wilson
THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 Aaron Sorkin

Edited March 9, 2021 by ElectricBoogaloo

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Directors Guild of America nomination!

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures
Lee Isaac Chung, Minari (A24)
Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman (Focus Features)
David Fincher, Mank (Netflix)
Aaron Sorkin, The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Netflix)
Chloé Zhao, Nomadland (Searchlight Pictures)

[chocolatine]

I just watched it and thought it was very well written and acted. Didn't know much about the events on which the movie is based, so I'll go and read up on that.

I have to wonder about SBC's accent though, did it seem a bit too much to anyone else? Abbie said he went to Brandeis, so was that supposed to be a Boston accent? I know SBC does really great accents for Ali G. and Bruno (the Borat accent is completely made up though), but this was the first time I saw him do an American accent.

On 10/19/2020 at 8:24 AM, GHScorpiosRule said:

But I could tell Aaron's hand was behind this with the characters saying "yeah"--something his West Wing characters said ad nauseam.

I actually thought it worked really well for Eddie Redmayne's character. He said it every time he was about to be arrested, like "yeah, totally saw it coming."

On 2/14/2021 at 4:11 AM, Avabelle said:

My favourite character was Jerry though - he just added unintentional lightness at times which I appreciated.

It was hilarious how butthurt he was that the blonde special agent whom he'd known for 93 hours wasn't really into him. "It could have been a lifetime."

ETA: I was just looking up the real-life events and characters on Wikipedia, and it turns out that Tom Hayden (played by Eddie Redmayne) married Jane Fonda in 1973 and they were married for 17 years. I know Jane was/is an anti-war activist, but never would have made the connection if I hadn't read about it.

ETA 2: Richard Avedon made a mural of the Chicago 7. I wish Bobby Seale had been included.

Edited March 14, 2021 by chocolatine

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Oscar nominations!

Best Picture
“The Father”
“Judas and the Black Messiah”
“Mank”
“Minari”
“Nomadland”
“Promising Young Woman”
“Sound of Metal”
“The Trial of the Chicago 7″

Best Supporting Actor
Sacha Baron Cohen (“The Trial of the Chicago 7”)
Daniel Kaluuya (“Judas and the Black Messiah”)
Leslie Odom Jr. (“One Night in Miami”)
Paul Raci (“Sound of Metal”)
Lakeith Stanfield (“Judas and the Black Messiah”)

Best Original Screenplay
Will Berson, Shaka King, Keith Lucas, and Kenny Lucas (“Judas and the Black Messiah”)
Lee Isaac Chung (“Minari”)
Emerald Fennell (“Promising Young Woman”)
Derek Cianfrance, Abraham Marder, Darius Marder (“Sound of Metal”)
Aaron Sorkin (“The Trial of the Chicago 7”)

Best Cinematography
Sean Bobbitt (“Judas and the Black Messiah”)
Erik Messerschmidt (“Mank”)
Dariusz Wolski (“News of the World”)
Joshua James Richards (“Nomadland”)
Phedon Papamichael (“The Trial of the Chicago 7”)

Best Film Editing
“The Father”
“Nomadland”
“Promising Young Woman”
“Sound of Metal”
“The Trial of the Chicago 7”

Best Original Song
“Fight For You” from “Judas and the Black Messiah”
“Hear My Voice” from “The Trial of the Chicago 7”
“Husavik” from “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga”
“lo Sì (Seen)” from “The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se)”
“Speak Now” from “One Night in Miami”

 

[ProudMary]

While I'm pleased by the Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay for Aaron Sorkin, I'm annoyed about the snub for him in the Best Director category. 😠

On the other hand, I'm delighted by the Best Original Song nomination for "Hear My Voice." It's a great song yet it has missed a couple of other nods. I was afraid it wouldn't get Oscar recognition.

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 10/19/2020 at 5:28 PM, GHScorpiosRule said:

I just want to know if Judge Hoffman was THAT stupid that he actually thought any conversation between President Johnson and Attorney General Ramsey Clark was considered attorney/client privilege? As if Clark was Johnson's personal attorney?

Like Clark corrected, it wouldn't be attorney/client privilege because he in his role as AG wasn't Johnson's lawyer. That's not the way it worked, I think he said. Unbelievable.

Actually, yeah, apparently unbelievable.  According to History vs. Hollywood, the court transcripts show that Ramsey Clark appeared in a voir dire proceeding but didn't discuss a call with LBJ; he testified about discussions he had with city officials and federal planning in preparation for the convention.

Suffice to say Sorkin's version isn't a documentary, but I loved it anyway.

 

On 3/14/2021 at 12:33 AM, chocolatine said:

I have to wonder about SBC's accent though, did it seem a bit too much to anyone else? Abbie said he went to Brandeis, so was that supposed to be a Boston accent? I know SBC does really great accents for Ali G. and Bruno (the Borat accent is completely made up though), but this was the first time I saw him do an American accent.

SBC's accent sounded broad when he first spoke, but I immediately remembered Hoffman's real voice, and maybe it was just my small-town Texas teenager ears, but Hoffman's accent was broad and distinctive to me back during the day, so the movie version seemed right.

 

On 3/14/2021 at 12:33 AM, chocolatine said:

It was hilarious how butthurt he was that the blonde special agent whom he'd known for 93 hours wasn't really into him. "It could have been a lifetime."

The blonde cop was apparently completely made up, but was excellent comic relief, so I'm okay with it.

[Simon Boccanegra]

On 3/22/2021 at 1:38 PM, StatisticalOutlier said:

The blonde cop was apparently completely made up, but was excellent comic relief, so I'm okay with it.

Also, it's such a male-heavy movie. That's fine; movies are about the characters and situations they're about. I wouldn't advocate a new film of Billy Budd or whatever with some gratuitous female presences shoved into in it Just Because, and writing women hasn't always been an Aaron Sorkin strength anyway (Molly's Game did show some growth). But I still liked the contrast the blond cop and the snarky receptionist added. They were well played and well written and made the movie a little better.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

SAG Award win!

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Guild of Music Supervisors award!

Best Song Written and/or Recorded for a Film

“Hear My Voice” from “The Trial of The Chicago 7”
Writer: Celeste Waite, Daniel Pemberton
Performed By: Celeste
Music Supervisor: Peter Afterman, Alison Litton

[ElectricBoogaloo]

American Cinema Editors award!

BEST EDITED FEATURE FILM (DRAMATIC): The Trial of the Chicago 7 - Alan Baumgarten

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Celeste Performs 'Hear My Voice' at the Oscars