Mike Wallace Is Here

The suspicious look Bette Davis gave Wallace in the image IMDb uses for this documentary drives it home. In the early days of television, Mike Wallace was a provocateur, always asking the questions that other formally trained journalists like Cronkite and Murrow (labeled "Ivy League journalists" in the film) would not ask. And in the early days of TV, right up to the mid 1990s (before gossip, sensationalism, and then the Telecom Act of 1996 would forever change the landscape of "news networks"), Americans had a hunger for the truth. And 60 Minutes was at its best setting its sites on corrupt businesses, real estate deals, environmental destruction, and even American warmongering and its blunders, particularly in Vietnam. All of this made 60 Minutes the top rated show in the country week after week during the 1970s and to the mid '80s.

Then the elimination of the Fairness Doctrine came along in 1987, and news made a hard turn. News had to be sensationalistic, entertaining, and as "payback" for Watergate, bring down Democrats whenever possible. And all of this should be done with loud voices. And here we are now. The son of Mike Wallace is the occasional voice of reason on a network that is so right wing it doesn't even claim to be "fair and balanced" anymore.

The documentary opens with Bill O'Reilly interviewing Wallace. O'Reilly admits that Wallace was his inspiration to become a "journalist," and he simply upped the ante that Wallace started with his shouting "oh shut up!" over guests on his old show. O'Reilly isn't wrong. He's just delivering what nearly half of the American population wants--porn for audiences conditioned for decades into believing the "old" news media was, as the elder Wallace says to his own son during an interview, "socialist" and "liberal."

The documentary delves into the loss of Wallace's son Peter, his struggle with depression, the lawsuit General Westmoreland brought against CBS (stemming from his interview with Wallace), the Jeffrey Wigand saga (the story that was depicted in the 1999 film The Insider). Clips of many of his interviews are shown, and in most cases, the interviewees look nervous and even spiteful. Exposing the truth hurts.

It's a sad time in 2021 when there are no legitimate news outlets out there to do this, because doing so would upset the corporations and special interest groups which own and control all major antenna, and cable, networks. Heck, even PBS and NPR now tip toe around their quests for the truth, worried that their corporate-controlled counterparts will tag them as "socialist," or even "communist." Storming the U. S. Capitol to overturn the results of a fair election? "Just patriotic Americans tired of their votes being stolen from them" (actually, no....more like those Americans can't bear the thought that more Americans voted against their candidate in 2020). But Occupy Wall Street protests? "Rapists and murderers!" (as even CNN speculated).

Wallace saw all of this coming, and it's conveyed in this fine, but too short, documentary.

By far this was one of 2019's best doc's as it showcased and highlighted the 50 years of investigative reporting from legendary newsman Mike Wallace. The film begins with Wallace's humble upbringing and how radio influenced him. And how he broke into the business he started with advertising and doing commercials which lead to the Mike Wallace interview hour. Yet in a tragedy when his son died it caused Mike to take a leap to network news as at "CBS" it's where his found his gem and bread and butter special that was being a reporter on the news magazine hour "60 minutes". Wallace known for his direct and tough questions lead the way combined with the programs hard hitting investigative look at issues and many 20th century leaders. This would become a broadcast staple despite controversy and law suits from companies, still Mike was a leader as the evolution of broadcast TV began with him! Never before scene footage and the interviews are revealing and eye opening as many well known people were featured and it highlights Wallace's bout with depression. Overall well done doc of the investigative legend which was a killer strong self portrait.

Mike Wallace's career peak coincided with my lifetime. So this look at his life and his work, and the context of the times, was breathtaking for me in many ways. I learned new details of his backstory, and followed the arc of his work, with great interest and new perspective.

I wonder, though, if people younger than I am will recognize and understand the influence and sway that the 60 Minutes stories held for all of us back in the day. In these days of fractured and siloed media strategies, I worry that will be lost on new viewers.

There were a number of instances where the protagonists of the stories were not identified, and even I was searching my memory files for some of their names. But I know they were key figures in their times. Others, though, will be obvious, for sure.

That said, I think the news media ecosystem that we follow with this story is crucial to understanding where we are today. The infotainment pablum combined with cautious corporate legal teams we have now makes you yearn for the hard-driving precursors that Wallace represented.

I came out of this film thinking hard about the past and the future. Definitely worth a watch.

I really wanted to like this documentary, as the critical reviews for this were mostly positive, and I found Mike Wallace to have an interesting career. But the film basically was just a history of Mike Wallace interviewing people, with no cohesion, and no bigger picture. It would have been nice to hear how his colleagues thought of him, or how his son and TV journalist Chris thought about him, but there is none of that. I also thought it was a mistake not to caption during the movie which famous person he was talking to. That was revealed at the very end, and who cares at that point? Since I'm in my late 50's, I recognized almost everybody he spoke to without needing to see a caption, but people younger than me are going to recognize fewer people. And I was annoyed that there were no captions identifying people that I was unable to recognize.

Also, because they show his interviews from the 60's in black and white, there is lots of smoking going on...lots.

The New Documentary Film " Mike Wallace Is Here" is pretty good. Deep look back at his work with CBS and intimate background about his personal Life. If you are old enough to have watched 60 Minutes for multiple years ? Really cool archived footage of his work over a 50 year career on TV and Radio. His Interviews were Ground breaking but may have fueled the current glut of News shows some of which are very Controversial and Shady. Great job on the research for Film