But he is back in a way via this new documentary by Avi Belkin. And trust me. He still has his fan base. The theater I saw it at was packed. And the crowd was largely over 80. I mean, that's the median age of the "60 Minutes" viewer, right?
Oddly enough, I remember Mike Wallace more from a program that I had to watch when I was a kid. It was a syndicated TV offering from perhaps the early 60s called "Biography." Teachers encouraged us to watch it as every installment told the story of a famous American. Mike's distinctive voice was the narrator.
Years later, after doing commercials and acting and hosting game shows, Wallace found his niche at CBS News in the days of Walter Cronkite, Eric Sevareid, and Harry Reasoner. Back when journalists gave you facts and you could formulate your own opinions. In 2019, so-called "journalists" give you their opinions and encourage you to accept them. A different world.
Wallace, of course, made his biggest leap when he became one of the original hosts of "60 Minutes." At that place, Wallace became famous for doing one-on-one interviews with everybody from Johnny Carson to Bette Davis to the Ayatollah. His no-nonsense style became legend. And a little bit contradictory when tables were turned and interviews tried to chat Wallace up.
This documentary essentially focuses on those interviews. Most of the movie is a juxtaposing of clips from interviews Mike did on both the asking and the receiving sides. As a result, this probably barely skims the surface of Mike Wallace, the man. I have one friend who worked with at CBS News and she told me there was a lot to like about the guy. Unfortunately, you only get one side here.
Oh, sure, there are snippets of his personal life. There is one clip where he is being interviewed by son Chris. And there's a segment detailing how he found the body of his late son who fell off a cliff. And, of course, Wallace did suffer through bouts of depression.
As a result, there is a lot of darkness here and I'm pretty sure there was a lot of light when it came to Mike Wallace. You just don't see it here. Instead, the film maker uses this as a showcase for his own opinions about journalism today. Insert your favorite 'Trump fake news" reference here. It probably shows up in this documentary.
From what I have told, Mike Wallace was a heck of a guy. Too bad it doesn't come through in this film, which is interesting but ultimately a tad unsatisfying.
LEN'S RATING: Two-and-a-half stars.
Dinner last night: Chopped salad with the last of the beef tri-tip.
No comments:
Post a Comment