The Reagans
The Reagans | |
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Based on | First Ladies Volume II by Carl Sferrazza Anthony |
Written by |
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Directed by | Robert Allan Ackerman |
Starring |
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Music by | John Altman |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Executive producers | |
Producer | Lynn Raynor |
Cinematography | James Chressanthis |
Editors |
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Running time | 180 minutes |
Production companies |
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Original release | |
Network | Showtime |
Release | November 30, 2003 |
The Reagans is a 2003 American
The network
Plot
The film covers the period in time from 1949 when Reagan was still in Hollywood, through his governorship of California until his last day in office as President in 1989.
In 1968, Reagan loses the Republican nomination to Richard Nixon. At the end of his 8 years of service as the California governor in 1975, Reagan vies for the Republican party nomination in 1976. Then-President Gerald Ford wins the nomination.
Patti Davis, one of the daughters of Ronald Reagan, is portrayed as a drug addict.
After the assassination attempt on Reagan in 1981, American jets are shot down by Libya later that year.
Cast
- James Brolin – Ronald Reagan
- Judy Davis – Nancy Reagan
- Deputy White House Chief of Staff, 1981–1985
- Mary Beth Peil – Edith Davis, Nancy's mother
- Bill Smitrovich – Alexander Haig, Secretary of State, 1981–1982
- Shad Hart – Ron Reagan, son
- Zoie Palmer – Patti Davis, daughter
- Richard Fitzpatrick – Ben Weldon
- Vlasta Vrána – Edwin Meese, Counselor to the President, member of the National Security Council 1981–1985, and United States Attorney General 1985–1988
- Francis Xavier McCarthy – Dr. Loyal Davis
- Frank Moore – Don Regan, Secretary of the Treasury 1981–1985 and White House Chief of Staff1985–1987
- Aidan Devine – Bill Shelby
- John Stamos – John Sears, Deputy counsel to Richard Nixon and campaign manager for Reagan in 76 bid and briefly in his successful 80 campaign
- Stewart Bick – Lew Wasserman, Hollywood agent and Democratic Party fundraiser who was a lifelong mentor/friend to Ronald Reagan
- Tom Barnett/Tod Fennell – Michael Reagan, adopted son of Ronald Reagan
- Laura Press – Betsy Bloomingdale, well known socialite and close friend of Nancy's
- Dan Lett – Robert H. Tuttle, assistant and director of Presidential Personnel
- Carolyn Dunn – Maureen Reagan, daughter from Jane Wyman
- Victor A. Young – President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board
- Don Allison – James Baker, White House Chief of Staff 1981–1985, Secretary of the Treasury 1985–1988
- John Bourgeois – John Tower, U.S. Senator from Texas and led the Tower Commission investigating the Iran–Contra affair
- Rodger Barton – Robert McFarlane, National Security Advisor1983–1985
- Frank Fontaine – William J. Casey, Director of Central Intelligence 1981–1987
- George R. Robertson – Barry Goldwater, Republican U.S. Senator from Arizona and key figure in Reagan's rise in the Republican Party
- John Koensgen – Mervyn LeRoy, Hollywood director/producer who set Ron and Nancy up
- John Robinson – Jerry Parr, Secret Service agent who pushed Reagan in car during assassination attempt
- George P. Shultz, Secretary of State1982–1989
- Bitburg, Germanyto visit a cemetery in which some SS soldiers were buried
- Al Goulem – Oliver North, Decorated U.S. Marine who was on the National Security Council and although controversial, widely believed to be a scapegoat in the Iran–Contra affair
- Suzanna Lenir – Colleen Sterns Reagan, daughter in-law and wife of Michael Reagan
- Claudia Besso – Doria Reagan, daughter in-law and wife of Ron Reagan
- Lubomir Mykytiuk – Mikhail Gorbachev, General Secretary of the Soviet Union
- Tatiana Chouljenko – Raisa Gorbachyova, wife of Mikhail Gorbachev
- United States Ambassador to Austria
- Daniel Pilon – Donn Moomaw, friend, pastor of Reagan who gave the invocation at the 1981 Inaugural
- Christopher Dyson – The Eagles
- Lisa Bronwyn Moore – Kathy Reynolds
- John Andersen – Jimmy Carter, 39th President
- Sarah Carlsen – Sarah Brady, lobbyist on gun control/wife of James Brady who was disabled after being shot during Reagan assassination attempt
- Brett Watson – Patti Davis Reagan
- Peter Colvey – Gerald Ford, 38th President
- Alan Fawcett – Larry Speakes, assistant and White House Press Secretary
- Jerome Tiberghien – William F. Buckley, famous conservative commentator and personal friend of Reagan
- Bibi Burton – Christina Taylor based on Joan Quigley, Nancy Reagan's astrologer
- Marjorie Silcoff – essayist, novelist who wrote articles for several papers including Buckley's National Review
- Kevin Woodhouse (uncredited) – attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan
Controversy
About a month before it was scheduled to air, portions of the script were leaked. As a result of these stories, the miniseries began to be widely criticized by conservatives as an unbalanced and inaccurate depiction of Reagan. CBS reportedly had ordered a love story about Ronald and Nancy Reagan with politics as a backdrop, but instead received what they later claimed was an overtly political film. Supporters of the film claimed that these criticisms were simply partisan bias, and were an attempt to censor a film because it did not always portray the former president in a positive light.[1]
Conservatives began criticizing the miniseries before it was broadcast and claimed that it put words in Reagan's mouth and condemned it as
CBS will not broadcast The Reagans on November 16 and 18. This decision is based solely on our reaction to seeing the final film, not the controversy that erupted around a draft of the script.
Although the mini-series features impressive production values and acting performances, and although the producers have sources to verify each scene in the script, we believe it does not present a balanced portrayal of the Reagans for CBS and its audience. Subsequent edits that we considered did not address those concerns.
A free broadcast network, available to all over the public airwaves, has different standards than media the public must pay to view. We do, however, recognize and respect the filmmakers' right to have their voice heard and their film seen.[3]
CBS's denial that it was yielding to the furor did not persuade its critics. The producers of the movie noted that, before the outcry, CBS had approved both the script for the miniseries and had seen
Reagans' daughter Patti Davis criticized the portrayal of her parents. She accused the show's producers of "astounding carelessness and cruelty" and said the script was "quite simply, idiotic." She said that her father was caricatured as a "demented evangelist", while her mother Nancy was made out to be "a female Attila the Hun." "To deliberately and calculatingly depict public people as shallow, intolerant, cold and inept, with no truths or facts to back up the portrayals, is nothing short of malevolent." "And my father, obviously, cannot correct the lies told about him."[4]
A controversial line excised
One of the most controversial points in the script was the depiction of Reagan telling his wife during a conversation about
This line was dropped in the Showtime and DVD versions of the film. The Reagans producers, Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, have insisted that every fact (but not every line of dialogue) was supported by at least two sources.[8] However, according to Reagans' daughter Patti Davis,[citation needed] no family member or close friend of the Reagans was consulted by the filmmakers throughout the production.
Another factor which has motivated certain critics to claim bias was that Reagan was played by James Brolin, whose wife Barbra Streisand is an outspoken liberal.[1]
Barbra Streisand criticized CBS's decision not to screen The Reagans as a "sad day for artistic freedom" and said the network "caved in to right wing Republican pressure". Patti Davis commented, that CBS did the "right thing" in pulling it from schedules.[4]
Brolin would later play Governor Rob Ritchie, a fictional
References
- ^ a b c "CBS pulls Reagan miniseries". CNN.com. Associated Press. November 5, 2003. Archived from the original on June 19, 2008.
- ^ Buncombe, Andrew (November 5, 2003). "Reagan series dropped after attacks from conservatives". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-06-18. Retrieved January 11, 2010.
- ^ "CBS statement regarding "The Reagans"". CBS. November 4, 2003. Archived from the original on May 25, 2011. Retrieved January 11, 2010.
- ^ a b "Streisand slates Reagans TV axe". BBC News. 2003-11-05. Retrieved 2024-01-06.
- ^ Susman, Gary (November 4, 2003). "In Dutch". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 11, 2010.
- ^ "Highlights of career of C. Everett Koop, only surgeon general to become a household name". The Washington Post. February 25, 2013. Archived from the original on December 14, 2018.
- ^ "The C. Everett Koop Papers: AIDS, the Surgeon General, and the Politics of Public Health". Archived from the original on 2010-04-08. Retrieved 2010-04-08. AIDS, the Surgeon General, and the Politics of Public Health
- ^ Smith, Sean (9 November 2003). "The War Over The Gipper". Newsweek. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
External links
- The Reagans at IMDb
- Full statement from CBS