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Dec 30, 2017andreajesse rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
This movie is a great history lesson. Lest we forget that horrible period in American history when the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), beginning in 1938, went after people who were merely exercising their First Amendment Rights. In particular, they went after people in Hollywood who had particular influence. Dalton Trumbo was a brilliant and successful Hollywood screenwriter who, yes, was a communist. He was one in the idealistic sense. He was opposed to fascism and for the rights of the working class. Those at HUAC were having none of it, and, aided by gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, were determined to take him and his like-minded screenwriters and actors down. Spoiler Alert - they did, for a time, when they were imprisoned them for being in contempt of congress when they refused to "name names." Once back on the outside, they worked under pseudonyms in order to stay afloat. By the early 1960s, President Kennedy himself watched Trumbo's (credited) 'Spartacus' and liked it. The witch-hunt was finally coming to a close. The movie captures time and place and creates real drama as it relates to the impact HUAC had on the screenwriter, his friends, and family. Director Jay Roach, who is mostly known for comedies, has done a nice job with this. Bryan Cranston inhabits the role of Trumbo brilliantly.