American journalist John Reed journeys to Russia to document the Bolshevik Revolution and returns a revolutionary. His fervor for left-wing politics leads him to Louise Bryant, then married, who will become a feminist icon and activist. Politics at home become more complicated as the rift grows between reality and Reed's ideals. Bryant takes up with a cynical playwright, and Reed returns to Russia, where his health declines.
Sweeping, epic, stirring and any other cliche you want to use, Warren Beatty's passion project about the radical American left of the WWI era has lost none of its power over the years. Its central hook is the tumultuous romance of journalists John Reed and Louise Bryant and Reed's involvement -- and eventual disillusionment -- with the Russian Revolution. But the film also has the courage to include numerous scenes of people arguing about politics late into the night, in ways you just don't see in other movies. It's fascinating and highly relatable for political junkies, and boosts the picture's verisimilitude as surely as any element of production design.
It's hard to overstate Beatty's achievement in making this happen. At the dawn of the Reagan era, he had to secure financing for a ``3-and-a-half-hour movie about a communist who dies in the end,'' then marshal a huge budget and an imposing cast, convincingly recreate a long-gone era of history on multiple continents, and somehow get audiences to care about a fairly obscure figure many would still consider a traitor. Miraculously, it all works -- the romance, the politics, the history, the drama and the spectacle. The film looks beautiful and the cast is littered with wonderful touches. Getting Jack Nicholson to play Eugene O'Neill, despite the lack of resemblance in their respective frames, is one of those divine strokes of casting genius that comes along once in a generation -- like Gary Cooper playing Lou Gehrig. And no one who sees the film will ever forget ``The witnesses.'' Beatty took out newspaper ads seeking anyone who knew Reed and Bryant, then flew them to New York and let them talk, filmed against a stark black background. The result is grand, as is the movie. (BTW, this lost out to Chariots of Fire for best picture at the Oscars.)
Reviews
Reds
DavidBunnyDad reviewed
Reds
August 7, 2026Sweeping, epic, stirring and any other cliche you want to use, Warren Beatty's passion project about the radical American left of the WWI era has lost none of its power over the years. Its central hook is the tumultuous romance of journalists John Reed and Louise Bryant and Reed's involvement -- and eventual disillusionment -- with the Russian Revolution. But the film also has the courage to include numerous scenes of people arguing about politics late into the night, in ways you just don't see in other movies. It's fascinating and highly relatable for political junkies, and boosts the picture's verisimilitude as surely as any element of production design.
It's hard to overstate Beatty's achievement in making this happen. At the dawn of the Reagan era, he had to secure financing for a ``3-and-a-half-hour movie about a communist who dies in the end,'' then marshal a huge budget and an imposing cast, convincingly recreate a long-gone era of history on multiple continents, and somehow get audiences to care about a fairly obscure figure many would still consider a traitor. Miraculously, it all works -- the romance, the politics, the history, the drama and the spectacle. The film looks beautiful and the cast is littered with wonderful touches. Getting Jack Nicholson to play Eugene O'Neill, despite the lack of resemblance in their respective frames, is one of those divine strokes of casting genius that comes along once in a generation -- like Gary Cooper playing Lou Gehrig. And no one who sees the film will ever forget ``The witnesses.'' Beatty took out newspaper ads seeking anyone who knew Reed and Bryant, then flew them to New York and let them talk, filmed against a stark black background. The result is grand, as is the movie. (BTW, this lost out to Chariots of Fire for best picture at the Oscars.)
