Trumbo (2015) * * *

Directed by:  Jay Roach

Starring:  Bryan Cranston, Diane Lane, Helen Mirren, John Goodman, Louis C.K., Michael Stuhlbarg, Elle Fanning, Alan Tudyk

 Dalton Trumbo was jailed for contempt of Congress for his refusal to "name names", which became a popular term during the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings which occurred from the late 1940s to the mid-1950s.     For as strong a nation as the United States claims to be, it is scared easily.    After winning World War II, the United States and Soviet Union became enemies, resulting in a decades-long Cold War.    Communism was suddenly the next big threat to America, and the committee chair J. Parnell Thomas believed potential subversion was festering in Hollywood.      So he trotted out movie stars, directors, studio executives, etc. to be interrogated under intense scrutiny.    Failure to answer questions or name other known Communist party members resulted in blacklisting.     This fate befell Dalton Trumbo, who was a rich, famous screenwriter who was blacklisted and spent the next decade of his life punching out scripts under assumed names.    He even won two Oscars but naturally could not show up to accept the statuettes.    

What exactly did the hearings solve or fix?    The Communist party was more fearsome in reputation than actuality.    It did not have a large membership, but that didn't stop the committee from flexing its muscle in what were basically publicity stunts disguised as investigations.    The trouble is, many people lost their livelihoods and had their lives altered forever based on fear and ignorance.     America is quite famous for that.    Being a member of the Communist party was not and never has been illegal, yet the committee (later to be run by Senator Joe McCarthy) treated it like it was.   

Trumbo represents a dark time in America.     It shows simply how fear can ruin lives and how some people, like Dalton Trumbo, are willing to sacrifice to stand up to it.     I sometimes complain how movies feel like TV movies and this usually means the film is superficial and lacks quality.    Trumbo has the same feel, but in this case it works.     It is told simply, but not simplistically.      It does not show Trumbo as a blowhard, but a man with deep beliefs who is willing to give up his freedom for them.     History has shown Trumbo and the other many blacklisted writers, directors, actors, and other film industry workers were wronged.     Trumbo himself was awarded his Oscar for Roman Holiday properly one year before his death.     His widow Cleo received Trumbo's Oscar for The Brave One in 2011 shortly before her death.   

Trumbo ingeniously worked while being blacklisted by at first writing scripts for a B-movie studio and then creating a network of pseudonyms and aliases to fix other writers' scripts.    He worked tirelessly, even typing while bathing in the tub.     This eventually presents problems for his understanding family which proves even their patience was not unlimited.       The blacklist was eventually broken thanks to director Otto Preminger and star Kirk Douglas, who had enough muscle and moxie to stand up to Hollywood and openly employ Trumbo.     They knew how to throw their weight around.  

Trumbo is played by Bryan Cranston, who plays him as a brilliant writer who walked the talk when it came to standing up for the First (or even Fifth) Amendment.      Cranston, complete with hoarse voice, never reaches for effect.    He loves the riches Hollywood provided for him, but is willing to sacrifice it all in the name of principle.     It is a courageous decision that many would not make.    Yet, he is never played as a self-righteous bore.     This is important in Trumbo's effectiveness.

Cranston is aided by a top-notch supporting cast, including Helen Mirren as Hedda Hopper, the gossip columnist with a lifelong ax to grind with Trumbo and John Goodman as the B-movie studio executive who breaks the rules to keep Trumbo working.      Hopper writes her columns to ostensibly stand up for America, but is she truly doing so?     Was the committee standing up for America when it was sending people to jail and ruin because they had beliefs that were contrary to their own?    I say no.   

My favorite scene in the movie is when Trumbo runs into John Wayne (David James Elliott) at a fundraiser in which Wayne speaks about his hatred for Communists and his love for America.     Trumbo, whom Wayne naturally did not like, asks a simple question, "Where did you serve in World War II?    I was a wartime reporter in Okinawa."     Wayne's credibility is shot right there and Trumbo never even has to raise his voice.