Movie Review - Medium Cool
Medium Cool (1969). Directed by Haskell Wexler. 111 minutes.
Medium Cool is an attempt to place the turmoil of 1968 America onto celluloid. Examining the turbulence of the civil rights and anti-war movements, the conservative reactionary response, and the influence of 1960’s Counterculture, Medium Cool employs a cinema verite/documentary style to place events in a realistic context. Far from an escapist film, Medium Cool deviates from many of the established norms in a Hollywood production.
The plot of Medium Cool is less important than the images Wexler captures. Indeed, the plot is very loosely defined around events and themes. Television cameraman John Cassellis travels from scene to scene, capturing with his camera the various strains fracturing American society. Initially, Cassellis captures the tumult of American life without any personal connection; in the opening scene, he coldly films a deadly highway accident without offering assistance to a critically injured passenger. Along the way, Cassellis loses this journalistic detachment after learning his films of antiwar protests have been passed along to the FBI, leaving the television station. Cassellis then enters into a romance with an Appalachian widow Eileen, acting as a father-figure to her young son Harold. The film culminates in the fateful Chicago Democratic Convention of 1968. As violence engulfs the city, Cassellis and Eileen perish in a violent car crash, which is casually filmed by a passing tourist, bringing the film full circle.
One of the key themes of Medium Cool is the problem of differentiating between fiction and reality. Wexler throughout Medium Cool employs live footage of events intertwined with staged scenes. Cassellis tours Washington D.C.’s “Resurrection City”, a modern “Hooverville” camp for the urban poor of the nation’s capital, reminiscent of an African refuge camp. Most notorious and noteworthy, however, is, Wexler’s shots of Eileen searching for her son during the violence of the Democratic Convention. Filmed during the demonstration and police riot, as tear gas swirls around protesters and advancing police a voice calls out to the director, “Look out, Haskell, it’s real!” (Wexler would suffer temporary blindness from his exposure to tear gas).[1] In employing this documentary style, Wexler not only depicts reality but also places the audience within the center of the action.
Medium Cool depicts the social declensions of the 1960’s in central focus. Prominent amongst these declensions is the Civil Rights Movement. Cassellis is investigating a “human interest” story on an African-American who returned $10,000 lost in a taxi cab. Viewed with suspicion by white police and derided as a fool by cynical members of the black community, this honest man (and perhaps honest men in general during the 60’s) cannot catch a break. Other African-Americans ask him if he is a “black man” or a “Negro”: a free, independent man or an Uncle Tom. Black anger at the media results as Cassellis attempts to film this man,. Confronted by African Americans possessed of the same militant worldview as Malcolm X and the Black Panthers, they explain to the cameraman the power of television ss a tool of the Establishment. One individual declaims that: “The Tube is life, man!” Wexler continues explorations of this theme in similar scenes centered around the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
The anti-war movement and Counterculture also receive attention. Flashbacks by Eileen and Harold reveal the death of the Appalachian preacher and head of the family. Patriarch of their small family and responsible for a small, rural religious community, he is drawn away to Vietnam and subsequently loses his life. With his death, the family must move to the city to maintain themselves. The family history of Eileen and Harold gives moral credence to opposition to the Vietnam conflict. Wexler is less deft in presenting 60’s Counterculture. The scene in which Cassellis and Eileen attend a psychedelic rock show, described as “almost risibly phony” by a critic, fails to present the true character of the Counterculture. [2] While featuring music by Frank Zappa, this scene nevertheless presenting an inauthentic caricature of 60’s popular culture instead.
Wexler does present a skillful portrayal of the reactionary conceptions of conservative America. Socially, the row of white housewives practicing at the shooting range in fear of a crime spree, a Communist revolution, or race riot is right on the money. Politically, the clash between the government authority of Johnson and Daley and anti-war forces are clearly presented. In an early scene, National Guard troops practice their riot control skills against other troops posing as hippies and protestors. Donning long-haired wigs and drinking beer, their faux-protestors are a caricature of what the “Establishment” believes about the anti-war movement and Counterculture in general. Authority figures also deride the Civil Rights movement in this anti-riot exercise, as a role-playing mayor announces to the protesters that they have little to complain about. Doesn’t the state run enough liquor stores for them? Didn’t they let them enjoy the swimming pools on July 4? These race-baiting jibes are revelatory of the conservative backlash.
Violence is perhaps the central key to Medium Cool. Violence and the fear of violence permeates every scene. In a bizarre Rollerball sequence, Cassellis and his girlfriend revel the violence of a game reminiscent of a tawdry version of Roman gladiatorial events. As the brutality climaxes, the sequence shifts to a sex scene featuring Cassellis. Sex and violence tie together again in Cassellis’s apartment, as the couple makes love before a famous execution photograph shot during the Tet Offensive. A inspired sequence regarding Robert Kennedy’s assassination is revelatory. As perhaps the last hope for a peaceful settlement to Vietnam and a return to Camelot, the death of a second Kennedy crushes many Americans dreams. As critic Paul Authur describes:
The ultimate culmination is the violence of the Democratic Convention. As Daley police club protestors, the activists scream: “The whole world is watching!” Unfortunately, in Medium Cool violence is the ultimate spectator sport, something to observe but not to interrupt. While Jefferson Smith in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was able to restore the decay of the Republic through the good-natured wisdom of the common people, the society of Medium Cool is paralyzed, unable to provoke meaningful change and doomed only to consume reality, not alter it.
Thus, Medium Cool is viewed by some critics as the birth of the “guerilla documentary”, a film which not only depicts real events but places the viewer into the center of the action. Describing the re-release of Medium Cool at the 2001 Edinburgh International Film Festival, critic Richard Kelly described Wexler’s work as one of: “…only a precious few films [that] are strong enough to stand up and speak for their times, articulating something vital about a historical moment.”[4] By filming the Democratic Convention and becoming part of the action, Wexler helped develop a new style. Film and television efforts employing similar techniques, such as Cops and Michael Moore’s films Rodger & Me and Fahrenheit 911 owe a debt to Haskell Wexler.
Mr. Misanthrope
[1] Hoberman, J. The Dream Life: Movies, Media, and the Mythology of the Sixties. (New York: New Press, 2003) 219.
[2] Arthur, Paul. “Medium Cool”. Cineaste. Summer 2002, Vol 27, Issue 3. 45.
[3]. Arthur, Paul. “Medium Cool”. Cineaste. Summer 2002, Vol 27, Issue 3. 45
[4] Kelly, Richard. “Film: Bravely in Harm’s Way: A report from the 55th Edinburgh International Film Festival”. Critical Quarterly. December 2001. Vol. 43, Issue 4. 95
Medium Cool is an attempt to place the turmoil of 1968 America onto celluloid. Examining the turbulence of the civil rights and anti-war movements, the conservative reactionary response, and the influence of 1960’s Counterculture, Medium Cool employs a cinema verite/documentary style to place events in a realistic context. Far from an escapist film, Medium Cool deviates from many of the established norms in a Hollywood production.
The plot of Medium Cool is less important than the images Wexler captures. Indeed, the plot is very loosely defined around events and themes. Television cameraman John Cassellis travels from scene to scene, capturing with his camera the various strains fracturing American society. Initially, Cassellis captures the tumult of American life without any personal connection; in the opening scene, he coldly films a deadly highway accident without offering assistance to a critically injured passenger. Along the way, Cassellis loses this journalistic detachment after learning his films of antiwar protests have been passed along to the FBI, leaving the television station. Cassellis then enters into a romance with an Appalachian widow Eileen, acting as a father-figure to her young son Harold. The film culminates in the fateful Chicago Democratic Convention of 1968. As violence engulfs the city, Cassellis and Eileen perish in a violent car crash, which is casually filmed by a passing tourist, bringing the film full circle.
One of the key themes of Medium Cool is the problem of differentiating between fiction and reality. Wexler throughout Medium Cool employs live footage of events intertwined with staged scenes. Cassellis tours Washington D.C.’s “Resurrection City”, a modern “Hooverville” camp for the urban poor of the nation’s capital, reminiscent of an African refuge camp. Most notorious and noteworthy, however, is, Wexler’s shots of Eileen searching for her son during the violence of the Democratic Convention. Filmed during the demonstration and police riot, as tear gas swirls around protesters and advancing police a voice calls out to the director, “Look out, Haskell, it’s real!” (Wexler would suffer temporary blindness from his exposure to tear gas).[1] In employing this documentary style, Wexler not only depicts reality but also places the audience within the center of the action.
Medium Cool depicts the social declensions of the 1960’s in central focus. Prominent amongst these declensions is the Civil Rights Movement. Cassellis is investigating a “human interest” story on an African-American who returned $10,000 lost in a taxi cab. Viewed with suspicion by white police and derided as a fool by cynical members of the black community, this honest man (and perhaps honest men in general during the 60’s) cannot catch a break. Other African-Americans ask him if he is a “black man” or a “Negro”: a free, independent man or an Uncle Tom. Black anger at the media results as Cassellis attempts to film this man,. Confronted by African Americans possessed of the same militant worldview as Malcolm X and the Black Panthers, they explain to the cameraman the power of television ss a tool of the Establishment. One individual declaims that: “The Tube is life, man!” Wexler continues explorations of this theme in similar scenes centered around the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
The anti-war movement and Counterculture also receive attention. Flashbacks by Eileen and Harold reveal the death of the Appalachian preacher and head of the family. Patriarch of their small family and responsible for a small, rural religious community, he is drawn away to Vietnam and subsequently loses his life. With his death, the family must move to the city to maintain themselves. The family history of Eileen and Harold gives moral credence to opposition to the Vietnam conflict. Wexler is less deft in presenting 60’s Counterculture. The scene in which Cassellis and Eileen attend a psychedelic rock show, described as “almost risibly phony” by a critic, fails to present the true character of the Counterculture. [2] While featuring music by Frank Zappa, this scene nevertheless presenting an inauthentic caricature of 60’s popular culture instead.
Wexler does present a skillful portrayal of the reactionary conceptions of conservative America. Socially, the row of white housewives practicing at the shooting range in fear of a crime spree, a Communist revolution, or race riot is right on the money. Politically, the clash between the government authority of Johnson and Daley and anti-war forces are clearly presented. In an early scene, National Guard troops practice their riot control skills against other troops posing as hippies and protestors. Donning long-haired wigs and drinking beer, their faux-protestors are a caricature of what the “Establishment” believes about the anti-war movement and Counterculture in general. Authority figures also deride the Civil Rights movement in this anti-riot exercise, as a role-playing mayor announces to the protesters that they have little to complain about. Doesn’t the state run enough liquor stores for them? Didn’t they let them enjoy the swimming pools on July 4? These race-baiting jibes are revelatory of the conservative backlash.
Violence is perhaps the central key to Medium Cool. Violence and the fear of violence permeates every scene. In a bizarre Rollerball sequence, Cassellis and his girlfriend revel the violence of a game reminiscent of a tawdry version of Roman gladiatorial events. As the brutality climaxes, the sequence shifts to a sex scene featuring Cassellis. Sex and violence tie together again in Cassellis’s apartment, as the couple makes love before a famous execution photograph shot during the Tet Offensive. A inspired sequence regarding Robert Kennedy’s assassination is revelatory. As perhaps the last hope for a peaceful settlement to Vietnam and a return to Camelot, the death of a second Kennedy crushes many Americans dreams. As critic Paul Authur describes:
In a striking scene. Wexler scans mundane activities in a restaurant kitchen as
the soundtrack replays the finale of RFK’s ill-fated speech at L.A. Ambassador
Hotel, as if to reconfigure his assassination from the point-of-view of
subminimum wage workers, a key group of Kennedy’s mythologized constituency.[3]
The ultimate culmination is the violence of the Democratic Convention. As Daley police club protestors, the activists scream: “The whole world is watching!” Unfortunately, in Medium Cool violence is the ultimate spectator sport, something to observe but not to interrupt. While Jefferson Smith in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was able to restore the decay of the Republic through the good-natured wisdom of the common people, the society of Medium Cool is paralyzed, unable to provoke meaningful change and doomed only to consume reality, not alter it.
Thus, Medium Cool is viewed by some critics as the birth of the “guerilla documentary”, a film which not only depicts real events but places the viewer into the center of the action. Describing the re-release of Medium Cool at the 2001 Edinburgh International Film Festival, critic Richard Kelly described Wexler’s work as one of: “…only a precious few films [that] are strong enough to stand up and speak for their times, articulating something vital about a historical moment.”[4] By filming the Democratic Convention and becoming part of the action, Wexler helped develop a new style. Film and television efforts employing similar techniques, such as Cops and Michael Moore’s films Rodger & Me and Fahrenheit 911 owe a debt to Haskell Wexler.
Mr. Misanthrope
[1] Hoberman, J. The Dream Life: Movies, Media, and the Mythology of the Sixties. (New York: New Press, 2003) 219.
[2] Arthur, Paul. “Medium Cool”. Cineaste. Summer 2002, Vol 27, Issue 3. 45.
[3]. Arthur, Paul. “Medium Cool”. Cineaste. Summer 2002, Vol 27, Issue 3. 45
[4] Kelly, Richard. “Film: Bravely in Harm’s Way: A report from the 55th Edinburgh International Film Festival”. Critical Quarterly. December 2001. Vol. 43, Issue 4. 95
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