Medium Cool (1969)

Taglines: Beyond the age of innocence… into the age of awareness.

Medium Cool movie storyline. The year is 1968. Cameraman John Cassellis and his sound man Gus work for WHJP-TV news Chicago, channel 8 on the dial. John has to walk a fine line in his work, especially in this day and age of increasing public disenfranchisement due to anti-establishment feelings, with frequent civil rights protests, anti-war protests or other civil unrest taking place.

In what are already confrontational situations, John and Gus’ involvement adds yet another layer of possible confrontation. Although by the very nature of their work they are supposed to be neutral in the situation, they also have to decide when not to be neutral, in when it is more appropriate to be involved for the greater good of those in the situation. It is in one such of these moral questions that John comes to loggerheads with his superiors.

At this time, John also puts aside his largely “sexually free”. casual relationship with a nurse named Ruth to begin a more serious relationship with Eileen Horton, a recent arrival to Chicago from rural West Virginia. Their relationship is despite what could have been their very antagonistic initial meeting over an issue concerning her thirteen year old son, Harold, who largely has a mind of his own. Two concurrent items – John filming the 1968 Democratic National Convention and Harold going missing – bring the professional issues in John’s life to a head in a global sense.

Medium Cool is a 1969 American drama film written and directed by Haskell Wexler and starring Robert Forster, Verna Bloom, Peter Bonerz, Marianna Hill and Harold Blankenship. It takes place in Chicago in the summer of 1968. It was notable for Wexler’s use of cinéma vérité-style documentary filmmaking techniques, as well as for combining fictional and non-fictional content.

The movie was met with widespread acclaim from numerous critics, including Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel of Siskel & Ebert, both calling the movie a “well-crafted masterpiece.” The movie was also named one of the greatest movies of 1969, as well as one of the most influential movies in the New Hollywood movement. Robert Forster was also met with universal acclaim for his performance.

Directed by: Haskell Wexler
Starring: Robert Forster, Verna Bloom, Peter Bonerz, Marianna Hill, Harold Blankenship, Charles Geary, Sid McCoy, Christine Bergstrom, William Sickingen, Marrian Walters, Beverly Younger
Screenplay by: Haskell Wexler
Cinematography by: Haskell Wexler
Film Editing by: Verna Fields
Art Direction by: Leon Ericksen
Music by: Mike Bloomfield
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: August 27, 1969