Between the Lines

Standard ensemble dramedy about 60's "youth quake" hippies running a radical paper, trying to maintain their anti-establishment values in the face of encroaching corporate greed, with all the joys and conflicts inherent in the enterprise. Good performance from lotsa youngish stars that continued to deliver for years, Jeff Goldblum even today.

Standard.

"Between the Lines" works far better as a document of its time than as a comedy or drama. The interactions between the characters are what's best here, while the actual "plot" gets lost somewhere between maybe too many characters and too many side plots which do nothing but make the whole thing feel a bit disjointed. It's characteristic of the movie that the funniest scene (about a wannabe conceptual artist) comes out of nowhere and leads to nothing, a complete non sequitur. You might think that in a story about a newspaper there would be ample opportunity for a good plot, but very little of this potential is actually used.

Recommended for the nice performances and overall atmosphere, which I liked, but don't expect anything particularly gripping or hilarious.

Joan Micklin Silver's ensemble masterpiece is watchable again and again! This is one of those rare films for which we can name 10 cast members. It captures the fading press counterculture of the late 60's and 70's in a memorable way. If you see it more than a few times, you will enjoy blurting out lines of dialog right before they are spoken... i.e. "some say 'whither rock 'n roll?...not at my house--I don't have the room" from Jeff Goldblum.

I'll wait a year or two, then watch it again. It's a 'cult' movie--at least with some friends I know-- along the lines of "Head Over Heels" a.k.a. "Chilly Scenes of Winter" another gem from Joan Micklin Silver.

Between the Lines, and it's pleasant. BtL is one of those ensemble, renegade, rage-against-the-machine flicks that have always been with us, but were completely at home in Post-Watergate Land.

All I remember is that I enjoyed the actors (and if you look at the cast, it's an A-Team of talent), that Lindsey Crouse was really cute, and Jeff Goldblum insults some corporate suit or sell-out or whatever with "You pernicious eel-sh**!"

You can tell that Between the Lines didn't make much of a splash because--not counting mine--when I wrote this review, there were nine others.

I saw the movie, I think, on HBO in something like 1978 or 1979, right about the time FM came out. FM was another ensemble, renegade ratm flick, but with great music, and it was really dumb.

I don't remember Between the Lines being stupid. Unfortunately, I just watched it again on TUBI, and, although the movie isn't dumb, it's bland and predictable, an WKRP in Cinncinati kind of mish-mash of actors who have gotten old and, for the guys, bald.

I looked up Lindsey Crouse, and she has aged well. I think the last time I saw her on anything was Law and Order: SVU back in 2000. Jeff Goldblum looks like Jeff Goldblum, only with a shock of white hair. Steven Elliot did something somewhere that got him "canceled." If I'm wrong, I apologize.

John Heard died. The Venus Flytrap character was Joe Morton, and you'll remember him as the black scientist/voice of reason in Eureka. Michael J. Pollard? Passed away? Bruno Kirby? Don't know. Gwen Welles?

As you can see, Between the Lines was oozing with talent, the sort of movie that puts some oomph in an actor's resume.

I still like the movie. It's on TUBI. TUBI's free. You can afford to blow 100 minutes on a snapshot of what raging against the machine looked like in 1977.

This note perfect film really must be seen. It is one of the best ensemble pieces ever made.

Viewed as an exercise in character, is is a strong enough . As a comment on its times, it was accurate and prescient. It was once possible to have a newspaper, music, a life that was not co-opted by corporatism.

Some of weaknesses in our culture are manifested in the sell-out, the opportunist, the survivor, the careerist. The real politician who changes political parties out of expedience, even if it means laying down with the dogs, could have stepped out of this picture. The once progressive believer who becomes a lapdog of the powerful was portrayed here.

This movie was too smart and knowing for Hollywood.