The Reagans

In the aftermath of Reagan's passing, the entire media is hurriedly engaged in rewriting the truth about this highly-flawed but interesting man. Virtually all of his significant errors, short-comings, and failures are being sanitized, and as his canonization completes itself the myths that remains will be a sham. Every citizen who values the truth should buy this DVD now and watch it before it disappears, just like the truths it reveals are disappearing.

In this remarkably factual production we learn about Reagan the actor, capable and pleasant. We also learn that he snitched off his pals to the HUAC. We learn that during the war he made movies in Culver City for the Army, and later had trouble finding work, finally winding up as GE's spokesman for Death Valley Days on Television, a medium he always held in contempt.

We watch his disdain for the IRS grow as his income skyrockets, and how it matures into a complete repudiation of the Federal Government. And as his resentment of the Federal Government grows, we witness how the shadowy rich seduce him into becoming their tax-cutting puppet, from the Governship of California through 2 terms in the White House.

Most importantly, we learn the truth about the most dysfunctional family ever to inhabit the White House, based largely on Reagan's shocking disinterest in his own flesh and blood.

Mainly, however, we learn the truth about Nancy. Let's just say that the truth as it is revealed here eclipses everything that you though you knew about this shrewd and manipulative woman.

This film contains the truths about Reagan that the Modern Cons don't want you to know. The source-work for this film is beyond reproach, with most of it coming from the writings of Reagans children first published years ago.

Production wise, it's great. James Brolin is uncanny in his capture of the Reagan personna, and he delivers a performance that is charitable and kind. I think it's his best ever. The other performances are equally as good.

Bottom Line: The truth is out there, and this is it.

Let me get right to the point: The problem with this movie is its utter lack of dramatic content. The story of Ronald and Nancy Reagan is so well known that this movie cannot offer any surprises. Further, the movie mocks Ronald and Nancy Reagan for being who they were - an actor and his devoted wife, and offers a simplistic portrayal of Mr. Reagan as being part Jed Clampett and part Gomer Pyle. What the movie glosses over is Ronald Reagan's career - college graduate, a Captain in the U. S. Army, the president of one of the most influential labor organizations in the entertainment industry, Governor of California and President of the United States. Pretty good resume for a small-town guy.

It's easy to accuse anyone who dislikes Robert Allan Ackerman's 'Looney Tune' production of "The Reagans" as a conservative biased in favor of the near-legendary President, but in all honesty, a hatchet job is a hatchet job, no matter what your political persuasion, and this film is nothing less, wrapped up in gauzy nostalgic ribbons.

From the opening scenes in late-forties Hollywood, as an already brain-dead Ronald (caricatured by a too-old-for-this-sequence James Brolin) is manipulated by a glowering, 'agenda'-driven Nancy Davis (Judy Davis, rechanneling her shrewish performance from ABSOLUTE POWER) into a date, the pair are not presented as balanced human beings, but cartooned clichés of the worst qualities their critics would accuse them of, years later (He is incapable of an original thought, she is hardly better, solely basing her opinions on 'fan' magazines, and, later, astrologers).

As the aged conservative power brokers (all pictured as rich, chain-smoking, self-serving vultures) twist the gullible half-wit Ronald into becoming their puppet, Nancy does a MOMMY DEAREST routine, callously using both their children and Ronald's by Jane Wyman to further her own ambitions (lest you feel any sympathy for the siblings, THEY are cartooned, too).

Long before the nearly nightmarish vision of Reagan's Presidential years, you are thoroughly convinced that a) Ronald and Nancy needed psychiatric help more than the Oval Office; b) the Reagan kids needed a shrink even WORSE; and c) all Republicans are either young and cynical or old and corrupt.

And how are the Democrats represented? Ah, they never appear! In a 'balanced' production, shouldn't both sides be represented? Otherwise, Reagan's personal attitudes and political beliefs cannot be rationalized...and this is just one reason why the film is really nothing more than a hatchet job.

When Reagan does something 'laudable' (like ending the 'Cold War'), it is merely a lucky accident, stumbled upon in the midst of bad decisions, between infamous 'naps', while Nancy lashes out at everyone.

I won't go on...this film is a disservice to the memories of people who, while not perfect, were certainly not idiots!

But then, Miss "Just say no" was not happy about a lot of things. There's no telling what might have really been said behind closed doors, but when one compares the historical record with this docudrama, it's hard to imagine how else it might have been. If you're a die-hard Reagan fan, you probably will not like this. Personally, I think it's dead on, but that's just an opinion.

Far more controversial docudramas have been shown, but CBS caved into pressure from the Reagan cultists. That shows the power of the Reagan myth. I might add that I used to be a Reagan supporter, but after he was elected president, I changed to independent....

James Brolin and Judy Davis should have won Emmys for their performances as President Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis Reagan from their first meeting to the end of their two terms in the White House. Brolin reminds me of why everybody liked Reagan. He seemed easy-going and he could talk to anybody. When Michael flunks out of school, he doesn't bash or criticize him but gets him a tutor and help with Nancy. The Reagan household is a blended one. He was married to actress, Jane Wyman, who was an Oscar winner and on Falcon Crest during his years of Presidency. Sadly, we never see Jane Wyman at all. I didn't know that the younger Patti and Ron Jr. didn't know about Michael and Maureen until Michael came to stay with them. Judy Davis as Nancy Reagan is divine in this role. She really portrays her as a wife, mother, and above all else Ron's best friend and partner in life. They really were an extraordinary couple in marriage. When he actually did die, Nancy didn't want to leave his coffin. It was a heartbreaking goodbye.