Themes: Crisis of Conscience, Fighting the System, Social Injustice
Main Cast: Robert De Niro, Annette Bening, George Wendt, Patricia Wettig, Sam Wanamaker
Release Year: 1991
Country: US
Run Time: 105 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
The directorial debut of producer Irwin Winkler, Guilty by Suspicion is a sobering account of one movie executive's woes in dealing with the political fallout from the McCarthy Era Hollywood blacklist. Robert De Niro stars as David Merrill, a film director in the 1950s whose obsession with his burgeoning career has estranged him from his wife Ruth (Annette Bening) and their son. When he returns from a trip to Paris, Merrill is surprised when told by his boss, Darryl F. Zanuck (Ben Piazza) that he's been summoned to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee, which is investigating Communist ties to Hollywood. Although Merrill once attended a meeting years before, he's not a Communist, and he refuses to help the committee wreck the career of his friend Bunny Baxter (George Wendt). Merrill becomes blacklisted, unable to find work even in menial positions or under assumed names as the editor of a B-movie or the director of a low-budget Western. Reconciled with his family, Merrill caves in and agrees to testify, but as he prepares to "name names," his conscience plagues him. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Review
Veteran producer Irwin Winkler's first film as a director is a solid, if predictable, drama on the devastating effects of the House Un-American Activities Committee on Hollywood in the 1950s. The story of a highly regarded film director (Robert De Niro) who refuses to name his friends before the HUAC and the terrible aftermath of that decision, the film demonstrates how the lives of hundreds of people were irrevocably altered or destroyed by the fanatical star-chamber. Winkler, who also wrote the film, seems to have been trying for a low-key approach to a subject that would seem to lend itself to hysteria, but in the process he has gone too far in the opposite direction and drained away much of the drama. His golden-boy protagonist is simply too restrained, thoughtful, and well mannered to be compelling as a man fighting for his life and career. There is a similarly distanced feeling about almost all of the characters in the film, so that when one blacklisted actress drives off a cliff, it's difficult to have much of a response. This sense of bland muteness is carried over into the art direction, with sets awash in gray and mauve. Yet, for those who know little or nothing about the period, the painstaking historical accuracy of the script should provide an excellent introduction to one of America's most shameful periods. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
Luke Edwards - Paulie Merrill; Martin Scorsese - Joe Lesser; Chris Cooper - Larry Nolan; Ben Piazza - Darryl Zanuck; Barry Primus - Bert Alan; Gailard Sartain - Chairman Wood; Robin Gammell - Sen. Tavenner; Brad Sullivan - Congressman Velde; Tom Sizemore - Ray Karlin; Roxann Biggs - Felicia Barron; Stuart Margolin - Abe Barron; Barry Tubb - Jerry Cooper; Gene Kirkwood - Gene Woods; Margo Winkler - Leta Rosen; Allan Rich - Leonard Marks; Illeana Douglas - Nan; Jonathan Ames - Cabbie; Martin Arsenault - Waiter; Bill Bailey - Fox Guard; Adam Baldwin - FBI Man; Joe Bennett - Choreographer; Russell Bobbitt - Propmaster; Cecile Callan - Wife Shopper; Cindy Carey - Party Guest; Monica Carrico - Nelly Lesser; Robert Chimento - A.D.; Nicholas Cilic - Matt Nolan; Paul Collins - Bernard; Ivor Leslie Dilley - 1st A.D.; Ben Dinsdale - Maurice; John Horn - Mike Rainey; Maurice Marciano - Costume Designer; F.J. O'Neil - Ad Agency Executive; Kevin Page - 2nd FBI Man; Claude Rauvier - Claude Rowan; Dianne Reeves - Singer; Stephen Root - RKO Guard; Tom Rosqui - Norman; Al Ruscio - Ben Saltman; Joan Scott - Teacher; Craig Smith - D.P.; Jon Tenney - Man Shopper; Brant Van Hoffman - Stanley; Natalie Zimmerman - Woman on Buckboard; James Mathers - Director; Marion Dougherty
Credit
Leslie McDonald - Art Director, Nelson McCormick - Associate Producer, Marion Dougherty - Casting, Alan C. Blomquist - Co-producer, Richard Bruno - Costume Designer, Irwin Winkler - Director, Priscilla Nedd - Editor, Steven E. Reuther - Executive Producer, James Newton Howard - Composer (Music Score), Richard Lightstone - Musical Direction/Supervision, David M. Dunlap - Camera Operator, Leslie Dilley - Production Designer, Michael Ballhaus - Cinematographer, Arnon Milchan - Producer, Irwin Winkler - Producer, Nancy Haigh - Set Designer, Irwin Winkler - Screenwriter
David Merrill (De Niro), a director in 1950s Hollywood, returns from abroad to find that a rising tide of McCarthyism and the Red Scare has led to his not being allowed to work in films. He will only be allowed to direct once he implicates colleagues as Communist agents. He must decide whether to turn informant, or to stick to principle at the cost of his life's work.
Sam Wanamaker, who plays an attorney here, was a real-life victim of the Hollywood blacklist.
Martin Scorsese, who has directed De Niro in several films, here plays the role of a Hollywood film director who flees to Europe to escape HUAC persecution. In an ironic twist, both De Niro and Scorsese presented an honorary Oscar to HUAC cooperator Elia Kazan at the 1999 Academy Awards ceremony.
