Hollywoodland (2006)

One of the best things about Hollywoodland is, in the dramatization over the contreversial death of 1950′s actor George Reeves, many questions are raised, suspects laid out, and the film lets the viewer pick and choose the various possibilities on what really happened. The audience is never ahead of private eye Louis Simo (Adrien Brody), as he puts the pieces of an alleged puzzle together. As much as I loved this film, I…well I’m of the mindset that the film would have been more effective-if director Allen Coulter focused only on the life of George Reeves.

The problem with the detective style of the film is that it isn’t clear if thugs are out to stop Simo from uncovering the real story, or they are hired simply because Simo is embarrassing MGM studio honcho Eddie Mannix, played by Bob Hoskins. Yes, it is lightly touched upon that Reeves’ death caused sorrow for young children at that time, as expressed through Simo’s son from a recent divorce. The affair between Reeves and Mannix’s wife Toni (Diane Lane) is also touched upon, although Eddie has his mistresses,the reason Toni has the relationship with Reeves is because Eddie flaunts his power when he’s not showing off his extramarital libido. But the best chunk of the film is the downward spiral of Reeves, played in the best performance given to date by Ben Affleck. So great is Affleck’s performance, that I forgot I was watching Ben Affleck. Also, while I was lightly miffed at Warner Bros. for forcing the film’s promotional materals not to include the Superman ‘S’ (in trailers and photos it is CGI’d out) for the film isn’t a Superman film per se, there was something else. Warners enforced a title change of this film from Truth, Justice and The American Way to Hollywoodland, and that Focus Features could not use Superman TV footage, after seeing the film, maybe the last two demands wasn’t such a bad thing. It may have actually helped the production.

That’s because in showing the tragic death of Reeves, there is a lot to comment about the Hollywood power system as a whole. Allen Coulter could also make new footage that intergrates Ben Affleck as Reeves even more, making the story more effective. While the 50′s TV Superman is what Reeves was best known for, I thought it was a nice touch to include mention some of his past credits, notably Gone With The Wind and So Proudly We Hail(1943). I liked that they did not depict Reeves in an entirely negative light. It’s all too common to tear down heroes, popular icons and to speak ill of the dead in most Hollywood films. This is a rare occasion where a film is aboutt a dead celeberty and the filmmakers don’t go out of thier way to show all of the man’s faults while simultaneously ignoring the good. The film actually goes to great lengths to show that Reeves considered himself a serious actor, and only liked the role of the Man Of Steel for nothing other than employment.

But there’s something else missing from the film, and that is to why between Gone With The Wind and Superman vs. the Mole Men Reeves was having trouble finding work. The truth is that Reeves, like several Hollywood actors of the time- put careers on hold as they served in WWII. Since Reeves was a contract player, it hurt his career when he came back – much like Robert Hutton and Robert Clarke- and his first marriage, which is only briefly mentioned in the film. Speaking of what is missing, what about something that isn’t- Hollywoodland actually refers to the urban legend of Reeves having his scenes cut out From Here To Enternity. While it’s good to dramatize, it’s just another one of those small things that make Hollywoodland fall short of a masterpiece of filmmaking.

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Hollywoodland
Directed by: Allen Coulter
Starring: Adrien Brody, Diane Lane,Ben Affleck,Bob Hoskins and Robin Tunney

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