Radio Free never accepts money from corporations, governments or billionaires – keeping the focus on supporting independent media for people, not profits. Since 2010, Radio Free has supported the work of thousands of independent journalists, learn more about how your donation helps improve journalism for everyone.

Make a monthly donation of any amount to support independent media.





​Red Alert: The Redhead, the Red Scare and Aaron Sorkin’s Big Lie Caught Red-handed

In Being the Ricardos Aaron Sorkin takes a cerebral look at physical comedy, with a complex, multifaceted plot. The intellectual writer/director dramatizes the marital difficulties of Lucille Ball (Nicole Kidman) and Desi Arnaz (Javier Bardem), the ri…

In Being the Ricardos Aaron Sorkin takes a cerebral look at physical comedy, with a complex, multifaceted plot. The intellectual writer/director dramatizes the marital difficulties of Lucille Ball (Nicole Kidman) and Desi Arnaz (Javier Bardem), the rivalry between Ball and her I Love Lucy co-star Vivian Vance (Nina Arianda), the vicissitudes of television sponsorship and network protocols regarding sex. Ricardos also visualizes Ball’s creative process and deftly, cleverly cuts from color to black and white, with flashbacks that enable Sorkin to revisit classic scenes from the sitcom. Defying celluloid stereotypes, the Cuban-born Desi is portrayed as a shrewd businessman and innovative TV producer who helped introduce the three-camera setup for shooting sitcoms before live studio audiences. Sorkin’s biopic also tackles the heady, heavy topics of TV’s first major interethnic marriage and the Hollywood Blacklist.

The other feature that Sorkin’s look back at 1950s television most reminded me of was 2005’s Good Night, and Good Luck. But with one glaring difference: While George Clooney’s tribute to legendary broadcaster Edward R. Murrow illumines actual events, Being the Ricardos falsifies history. Sorkin’s two-hour, 11-minute movie is put under the magnifying glass here by a Hollywood Blacklist historian who consulted several other Blacklist scholars and film historians, sought repeatedly (futilely) to interview Sorkin and did extensive research into the subject online and in books, such as Victor Navasky’s Naming Names and Ceplair and Englund’s The Inquisition in Hollywood.

To read this article, log in here or subscribe here.

In order to read CP+ articles, your web browser must be set to accept cookies.

More

The post ​Red Alert: The Redhead, the Red Scare and Aaron Sorkin’s Big Lie Caught Red-handed appeared first on CounterPunch.org.


This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Ed Rampell.


Print Share Comment Cite Upload Translate Updates

Leave a Reply

APA

Ed Rampell | Radio Free (2022-01-09T09:28:04+00:00) ​Red Alert: The Redhead, the Red Scare and Aaron Sorkin’s Big Lie Caught Red-handed. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2022/01/09/%e2%80%8bred-alert-the-redhead-the-red-scare-and-aaron-sorkins-big-lie-caught-red-handed/

MLA
" » ​Red Alert: The Redhead, the Red Scare and Aaron Sorkin’s Big Lie Caught Red-handed." Ed Rampell | Radio Free - Sunday January 9, 2022, https://www.radiofree.org/2022/01/09/%e2%80%8bred-alert-the-redhead-the-red-scare-and-aaron-sorkins-big-lie-caught-red-handed/
HARVARD
Ed Rampell | Radio Free Sunday January 9, 2022 » ​Red Alert: The Redhead, the Red Scare and Aaron Sorkin’s Big Lie Caught Red-handed., viewed ,<https://www.radiofree.org/2022/01/09/%e2%80%8bred-alert-the-redhead-the-red-scare-and-aaron-sorkins-big-lie-caught-red-handed/>
VANCOUVER
Ed Rampell | Radio Free - » ​Red Alert: The Redhead, the Red Scare and Aaron Sorkin’s Big Lie Caught Red-handed. [Internet]. [Accessed ]. Available from: https://www.radiofree.org/2022/01/09/%e2%80%8bred-alert-the-redhead-the-red-scare-and-aaron-sorkins-big-lie-caught-red-handed/
CHICAGO
" » ​Red Alert: The Redhead, the Red Scare and Aaron Sorkin’s Big Lie Caught Red-handed." Ed Rampell | Radio Free - Accessed . https://www.radiofree.org/2022/01/09/%e2%80%8bred-alert-the-redhead-the-red-scare-and-aaron-sorkins-big-lie-caught-red-handed/
IEEE
" » ​Red Alert: The Redhead, the Red Scare and Aaron Sorkin’s Big Lie Caught Red-handed." Ed Rampell | Radio Free [Online]. Available: https://www.radiofree.org/2022/01/09/%e2%80%8bred-alert-the-redhead-the-red-scare-and-aaron-sorkins-big-lie-caught-red-handed/. [Accessed: ]
rf:citation
» ​Red Alert: The Redhead, the Red Scare and Aaron Sorkin’s Big Lie Caught Red-handed | Ed Rampell | Radio Free | https://www.radiofree.org/2022/01/09/%e2%80%8bred-alert-the-redhead-the-red-scare-and-aaron-sorkins-big-lie-caught-red-handed/ |

Please log in to upload a file.




There are no updates yet.
Click the Upload button above to add an update.

You must be logged in to translate posts. Please log in or register.