Scandal Sheet

There is what I think an important point to be made about this TV movie which has not been touched on in any of the few comments made so far. It is that the superb character actor Burt Lancaster resumes here in 1985 the rôle of the similar character he played in "The Sweet Smell of Success", so many years before in 1957. As can only be expected with a low budget TV film, it is no artistic masterpiece like the earlier work, but all the same, well worth seeing.

The all-powerful gossip columnist of the first film, J.J.Hunsecker and Fallen,the editor of the yellowest of gossip magazines in this one, are both manipulative, calculating, and ruthless, but the first rôle was shown as being far more complex, so that Lancaster would have been able to play the more straightforward second rôle standing on his head, as they say.

Lancaster, as J.J.Hunsecker, is not only a megalomaniac, who bullies politicians and forces the ambitious Tony Curtis, his minion and errand boy, to commit despicable acts of betrayal and deceit and finally arranges for him to be savagely beaten by the police and thrown into clink, but he also appears to be a psychopath, with an unpleasantly more than brotherly love for his young sister, always ready to commit a crime at one remove to achieve his sinister ends.

On the other hand,Lancaster as Harold Fallen in "Scandal Sheet", is very "correct", quite unemotional, impassive, and not even contemptuous or verbally disrespectful as he schemes and uses his bag of dirty tricks single-mindedly to obtain, through his equally unscrupulously staff, who hate one another and probably him too, some new eye-catching story such as an interview with the late Grace Kelly by a self-styled spiritual medium on a Californian beach, a story about siamese twins who died on being separated but were "stuck back together" again by one unspeakable male reporter in the same coffin to make a good photo, or the trials and tribulations of an ex-alcoholic and ailing filmstar trying with the aid of his loving wife to make a come-back.

Fallen is always soft-spoken, calm and cautious as he goes about trying to get his filthy rag off the presses. He is a malignant force rather than a personality, who does what he feels he has to do, deploying others to do the actual dirty work, so that he seems hardly to be more blameworthy than a spitting cobra blinding its enemies or prey with its venom - that is just the nature of the beast. This character is also reminiscent of Mephistpheles, emissary of Lucifer the arch devil, whether in the "Faust" of Goethe or the "Doctor Faustus" of Marlowe: calm, logical, seducing with "offers you can't refuse", all without ever raising his voice, his blood pressure or even his eyebrows.

This made-for-TV piece moves quickly and has an arsenal of great acting talent. Caught between a stalled writing career in the "legitimate" publishing world, and an offer she can't refuse, Helen Grant (Pamela Reed) gets in over her head with a seedy but successful tabloid. The new job takes her on a wild ride, and us right along with her. Usually a supporting actress, Ms. Reed holds her own in the lead here. In fact she is the perfect pawn for the crafty Mr. Fallen (Burt Lancaster) who pulls all her strings. Burt is brilliant.

It is a story of two kinds of betrayal: to others and to one's own self. The movie makes you ask, "What's my price to sell out my ideals?" Strong performances by Robert Urich and Lauren Hutton as well. Very watchable. I rate it an 8/10.

Over and over...Money is the root of all evil.

Helen Grant needs money and her writing assignment will not be published for over a year.

Enter Burt Lancaster, head of a vicious gossip newspaper that is in the process of destroying an alcoholic actor.

He promises Helen the world. He lures her out to California where he wines and dines her. Beautiful house, expense account, good schools for her son, great salary, great everything. Lead us not into temptation, but Helen will not be delivered from evil.

Lancaster had hired her because she is best friends with the actor he wants to destroy-Robert Urich along with his wife, her college room mate played nicely by Lauren Hutton.

When Helen destroys papers that show that Hutton is paying the insurance on her husband's contract, Lancaster makes sure to write the story stating that Helen had written this up. This destroys her friendship as well as the Urich character, who suffers a fatal heart attack.

At the funeral, Hutton spits at Helen. Helen takes pictures of the deceased and hands them over to Lancaster exclaiming that she wants the job. She has become a real stinker now. Money is certainly the root of all evil.

In a recent biography of Burt Lancaster , Henry Winkler who was the producer of Scandal Sheet said that he wanted Burt Lancaster for the part of the supermarket tabloid media mogul in the film. Winkler said he imagined what J.J. Hunseker which was one of Lancaster's most acclaimed roles in the 50s in Sweet Smell Of Success would do in this day and age's media.

I think Scandal Sheet provides the answer as Lancaster channels his old role as the Broadway gossip columnist based on Walter Winchell to the 80s. Here Lancaster is the mega rich owner of a supermarket channel rag and he hires Pamela Reed who is a freelance writer published in more respectable journals for his publication. Reed is a single mother of Bobby Jacoby and there are way too much fringe benefits and salary to refuse.

The real purpose in hiring her was to get the inside dope on fading film star Robert Urich. Reed knew Urich and his wife Lauren Hutton back in the day.

Hutton has been offered a big movie role, but she won't do it without Urich and no movie company will insure him. Hutton has put up her salary as the guarantor of Urich. As for Urich he's a man trying to kick the alcohol habit. It all ends badly.

The lure of money and the good life it can bring is the real subject of Scandal Sheet and Pamela Reed is the real protagonist of the movie. The reason for watching Scandal Sheet is to see how she handles it. Integrity is nice and honorable, but it can be expensive.

The Urich/Hutton part of the story is based I believe on Greta Garbo and John Gilbert. Garbo tried to rescue Gilbert who was falling into dissipation as his career was circling the bowl after talkies came in. She insisted on and did Queen Christina with Gilbert and while he got good reviews it did nothing to save his career. There's a bit A Star Is Born in this as well.

In the supporting cast look for Peter Jurasik as Lancaster's second in command. What a lizard that one is, but a great performance.

Scandal Sheet is a disturbing, but excellent made for TV film.

"Scandal Sheet" is a made for TV film that was probably a bit more timely back in 1985. After all, there were some high profile lawsuits against "The National Enquirer" back then and there was a lot of public uproar about the sort of tabloid journalism they used to boost sales. This is still pretty timely today.

The film is about a fictional scandal sheet which engages in the sleaziest sorts of 'journalism'. They'll do anything in order to sell papers...ANYTHING. Unfortunately, the editor of the paper is very suave and sweet....on the surface. I say unfortuntely because he (Burt Lancaster) is able to convince a decent writer (Pamela Reed) to work for him...and makes all sorts of promises he has no intention of keeping. Why? Because she not only is a writer but knows a famous Hollywood couple...and the newspaper is bent on destroying them and want her to help. She naively thinks they want her for her journalistic skills and integrity! How all this plays out is very sad to watch...but very well written.

This is one of the better made for TV films I have seen...mostly because it has some really good points to make and does it very well. Having an impressive cast also helped.

If you like this film, also try finding the old movies "Five Star Final" or its remake "Two Against the World"...films about newspapers in the 1930s which stop at nothing to create a story...even if it means destroying people in the process. I guess things never really change very much...at least when it comes to tabloids.