Honestly, I have a very hard time liking actors whose main talent seems to be "being themselves", the Godfather of actors who do this, is, of course, Jack Nicholson, but he is by no means the only one to do this, and it isn't always the actors' fault, to this end, I have never thought of Clooney as a great actor, although I really liked his work in "Roseanne", and while I enjoyed his directing of "Good Night and Good Luck", "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" is a far, FAR superior film.
Years and years ago, I found Chuck Barris' book "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" in the Mesa (AZ) Public library, I read it, frankly disbelieving many parts of the book (guess which ones), but started thinking about all the stuff he DIDN'T say in his book, which if one were so deluded as Barris seems to be (at first blush), why would he not simply claim the CIA propped up Barris' game shows, so as to keep his cover in place? Instead he relates being part of a spy exchange, where the main spy was a former contestant of the show, in effect, doing the enemy's work for them (otherwise known as being hoisted by their petards). And honestly, WHY would they pick such places to send the winners as West Berlin (during the height of the Cold War) and Helsinki? Why not send them to Paris, Amsterdam, London?
The one country I cannot remember Barris and Co. ever taking winners to was Austria. In Austria (what was, at the time, sort of the neutral country spies from all over the political spectrum came to do their work (recruiting traitors, assassination assignments, exchanging Intel, etc) in relative safety. But from Barris' own book, he never went there (but being deliberately vague as to where he DID get his assignments). Anyway, the book, does strain "Suspension of Disbelief" pretty hard at times. The movie makes it all seem pretty damn possible. Again, though, the only thing I have trouble swallowing is the whole "Spy Exchange" part of the movie. The East (The East European Iron Curtain) suffered GRIEVOUS losses in scientists, engineers, teachers, etc., basically, intellectuals tend to shun repressive societies, moving or emigrating to less restrictive countries to live and work. Because of this fact, the US and its Allies were collecting enormous amounts of Intel from these disgruntled citizens of the "Worker's Paradise", while the Iron Curtain's very isolationism caused them to receive very little Intel in return (comparatively).
The point is, they would have held onto a CIA assassin, getting as much information about his contacts and such as they could. Point 2, Barris was (allegedly) hired by the "CIA" as an "independent contractor", who would be, as a matter of SOP, be cast off immediately, all connections with existing contacts would be broken, all drops used by that agent would be abandoned, any thing that operative knew would be automatically assumed to now be information the enemy has and can use against us. Point 3: Long story short, as soon as he was captured, he was irrevocably compromised- the KGB would at LEAST have full photos and a file on Barris, as a result of his capture in East Berlin; once "outed", his "cover" was blown and his arrival in ANY foreign country would put the KGB on alert, especially since they only had to watch the shows to determine where Barris was at any given time.
But I'll tell you what, this is one helluva movie. Again, a lot of today's actors try, but they're actually personalities-Clooney got some incredible performances out of some of them. The first time I remember seeing Sam Rockwell was in "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Gallaxy", where he impressed me as someone who could'not perform a credible George W. Bush impersonation. But I'll tell you, he deserved an Oscar nomination for his work in this movie.
And Clooney should have gotten a Best Director nomination as well. Drew Barrymore was mesmerizing, but Krista Allen has one of the best scenes in the entire movie, giving Barris these come hither glances, luring him into this private area where's she's in the water and he's standing a the side of a pool and she very intelligently eviscerates him and his ideas about what constitutes entertainment in the US.
I HIGHLY recommend this movie, but do NOT think it's non-fiction: The subtitle of Barris' book (and this movie) is, "An Unauthorized Autobiography", but if there were a shred of truth to Barris' "admissions", the book would never have been published in the first place. The screenwriter had a much lighter touch writing the movie, than Barris had, writing the book. Clooney did an excellent job with what has to have been a fascinating but difficult to adapt story of the "alleged" life of Chuk Barris.
Years and years ago, I found Chuck Barris' book "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" in the Mesa (AZ) Public library, I read it, frankly disbelieving many parts of the book (guess which ones), but started thinking about all the stuff he DIDN'T say in his book, which if one were so deluded as Barris seems to be (at first blush), why would he not simply claim the CIA propped up Barris' game shows, so as to keep his cover in place? Instead he relates being part of a spy exchange, where the main spy was a former contestant of the show, in effect, doing the enemy's work for them (otherwise known as being hoisted by their petards). And honestly, WHY would they pick such places to send the winners as West Berlin (during the height of the Cold War) and Helsinki? Why not send them to Paris, Amsterdam, London?
The one country I cannot remember Barris and Co. ever taking winners to was Austria. In Austria (what was, at the time, sort of the neutral country spies from all over the political spectrum came to do their work (recruiting traitors, assassination assignments, exchanging Intel, etc) in relative safety. But from Barris' own book, he never went there (but being deliberately vague as to where he DID get his assignments). Anyway, the book, does strain "Suspension of Disbelief" pretty hard at times. The movie makes it all seem pretty damn possible. Again, though, the only thing I have trouble swallowing is the whole "Spy Exchange" part of the movie. The East (The East European Iron Curtain) suffered GRIEVOUS losses in scientists, engineers, teachers, etc., basically, intellectuals tend to shun repressive societies, moving or emigrating to less restrictive countries to live and work. Because of this fact, the US and its Allies were collecting enormous amounts of Intel from these disgruntled citizens of the "Worker's Paradise", while the Iron Curtain's very isolationism caused them to receive very little Intel in return (comparatively).
The point is, they would have held onto a CIA assassin, getting as much information about his contacts and such as they could. Point 2, Barris was (allegedly) hired by the "CIA" as an "independent contractor", who would be, as a matter of SOP, be cast off immediately, all connections with existing contacts would be broken, all drops used by that agent would be abandoned, any thing that operative knew would be automatically assumed to now be information the enemy has and can use against us. Point 3: Long story short, as soon as he was captured, he was irrevocably compromised- the KGB would at LEAST have full photos and a file on Barris, as a result of his capture in East Berlin; once "outed", his "cover" was blown and his arrival in ANY foreign country would put the KGB on alert, especially since they only had to watch the shows to determine where Barris was at any given time.
But I'll tell you what, this is one helluva movie. Again, a lot of today's actors try, but they're actually personalities-Clooney got some incredible performances out of some of them. The first time I remember seeing Sam Rockwell was in "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Gallaxy", where he impressed me as someone who could'not perform a credible George W. Bush impersonation. But I'll tell you, he deserved an Oscar nomination for his work in this movie.
And Clooney should have gotten a Best Director nomination as well. Drew Barrymore was mesmerizing, but Krista Allen has one of the best scenes in the entire movie, giving Barris these come hither glances, luring him into this private area where's she's in the water and he's standing a the side of a pool and she very intelligently eviscerates him and his ideas about what constitutes entertainment in the US.
I HIGHLY recommend this movie, but do NOT think it's non-fiction: The subtitle of Barris' book (and this movie) is, "An Unauthorized Autobiography", but if there were a shred of truth to Barris' "admissions", the book would never have been published in the first place. The screenwriter had a much lighter touch writing the movie, than Barris had, writing the book. Clooney did an excellent job with what has to have been a fascinating but difficult to adapt story of the "alleged" life of Chuk Barris.
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