An account of the revolutionary years of the legendary American journalist John Reed, who shared his adventurous professional life with his radical commitment to the socialist revolution in Russia, his dream of spreading its principles among the members of the American working class, and his troubled romantic relationship with the writer Louise Bryant.
Direction
Beatty's obsessive 10-year passion project actually works.
Acting
Keaton and Nicholson's agonizing triangle outshines the leads.
Writing
Real 'witnesses' interrupt like ghosts judging history.
Director
Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty
John Reed
Diane Keaton
Louise Bryant
Edward Herrmann
Max Eastman
Jerzy Kosiński
Grigory Zinoviev
Jack Nicholson
Eugene O'Neill
Paul Sorvino
Louis Fraina
Maureen Stapleton
Emma Goldman
Nicolas Coster
Paul Trullinger
M. Emmet Walsh
Speaker at Liberal Club
Ian Wolfe
Mr. Partlow
Bessie Love
Mrs. Partlow
MacIntyre Dixon
Carl Walters
Pat Starr
Helen Walters
Max Wright
Floyd Dell
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Beatty shot 1.3 million feet of film—roughly 240 hours—for a 195-minute movie, and still went $20 million over budget.
The 'witness' interviews are real radicals from the era; several died before the film's release, making their testimony feel like seances.
US
