This is not a political post. So please, don’t be like some of my friends on Facebook and try to make it one.
My wife and I took advantage of my newly-minted retirement and our first “free” Saturday since the offspring went back to campus to have a mini date night, including dinner and a movie.
We had a nice dinner and then saw Reagan which opened last week, starring Dennis Quaid as Ronald Reagan.
Was it a perfect movie? Was it the best movie cinenmatically or dramatically?
No, of course not. But it’s darned good movie.
The weaving of the historical footage and document is fascinating and accurate. Dennis Quaid totally nailed his performance as Reagan.
Perhaps most significantly, if you lived through the Reagan years, this will resonate. I remember the events, I remember when he was shot, the Reykjavik summit, the speech at the Brandenburg wall. And I remember how he faded away from us after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. I was a young conservative working in DC during the last of his term. There was no better time to be there. We were at the Inauguration of George H.W. Bush and watched the helicopter take the Reagans away for the last time.
The critics were never fans of Reagan, and he didn’t care. And quite frankly, neither do I.
Ronald Reagan was a pro at exposting the frauds and the hucksters, you know like the film critics and media who are panning the movie today.
Okay, so maybe that was a little political.
The movie also showed his genuine friendship with Tip O’Neill. Bitter enememies politically who fought it out during the day, but were men enough to set that aside and share a beer in the evening.
Ronald Reagan wasn’t perfect. None of our leaders ever are. But he was darned good.
If you care at all about history (even if you don’t like Reagan which, quite frankly, baffles me), it’s a movie worth seeing.
Ronald Wilson Reagan February 2, 1911 – June 5, 2004
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Was it a perfect movie? Was it the best movie cinenmatically or dramatically?
