One of the things I realized when I scanned the various obit notices for the late President Reagan was that I have never, ever, seen one of his movies; not Knute Rockne: All American; not Cattle Queen of Montana; not even the now iconic Bedtime for Bonzo. So partisanship and/or rote respect for the recently dead aside, is anyone out there willing to chip in on the central question of his film career: was he actually any good at all? After Reagan's rise to political prominence in the late 1970s it became cliched to describe him as a bad B-movie actor, but surely he wouldn't have made that many leading performances if he was as lousy as they say, would he? I seem to recall Gene Zitver making a guarded defense of the Gipper's thespian skills at one time: any other bids?
Posted by Alan Allport at June 7, 2004 05:08 AMI'm a film buff... I've seen four Ronald Reagan movies. But that makes me sound like a geek. Since I'm a film buff, I've seen four films that happened to include Ronald Reagan as a cast member. Dark Victory is the only true classic of the bunch and Reagan wasn't a main character. That is the Bette Davis film that defined the tearjerker and is the greatgrandmother of the Lifetime Movie Network. Both Santa Fe Trail and This Is the Army can be called minor classics. Santa Fe Trail earns that honor by being one of the thirteen films Olivia de Havilland and Errol Flynn made together. This Is the Army is the Irving Berlin propaganda musical Michael Curtiz released in 1943. Curtiz is forgiven only because he directed Casablanca that same year. Storm Warning is the only true B movie of the four. It is a cheesey murder melodrama with Doris Day and Ginger Rodgers as damsels in distress.
Posted by: Barbara MacDonald at June 7, 2004 09:16 AMI forgot to mention in my previous post- Reagan wasn't very good in the four films I saw.
Posted by: Barbara MacDonald at June 7, 2004 09:21 AMAnyone here seen "Bedtime for Bonzo"? I remember hearing that Democratic campaign screenings thereof tended to backfire because Reagan, although playing a foolish role, appeared as an endearing character. Never seen it myself, tho. Worth renting?
Posted by: Martha Bridegam at June 7, 2004 11:32 AM