Reds (film)

Reds
Theatrical release poster
Directed byWarren Beatty
Screenplay by
Produced byWarren Beatty
Starring
CinematographyVittorio Storaro
Edited by
Music by
Production
companies
  • Barclays Mercantile Industrial Finance
  • JRS Productions
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • December 4, 1981 (1981-12-04)
Running time
195 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
Languages
  • English
  • Russian
  • German
Budget$32 million
Box office$40.4 million[2]

Reds is a 1981 American epic historical romantic drama, co-written, produced, and directed by Warren Beatty, about the life and career of John Reed, the journalist and writer who chronicled the October Revolution in Russia in his 1919 book Ten Days That Shook the World. Beatty stars in the lead role alongside Diane Keaton as Louise Bryant and Jack Nicholson as Eugene O'Neill.

The supporting cast includes Edward Herrmann, Jerzy Kosiński, Paul Sorvino, Maureen Stapleton, Gene Hackman, Ramon Bieri, Nicolas Coster, and M. Emmet Walsh. The film also features, as "witnesses", interviews with the 98-year-old radical educator and peace activist Scott Nearing, author Dorothy Frooks, reporter and author George Seldes, civil liberties advocate Roger Baldwin, and the American writer Henry Miller, among others.

Reds was released on December 4, 1981, to widespread critical acclaim, with high praise for its direction, screenplay, and performances. It emerged as a major commercial success at the box office, grossing $40.4 million worldwide and ranking as the 13th-highest-grossing picture of the year.

Reds received a leading 12 nominations at the 54th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor (for Beatty), Best Actress (for Keaton) and Best Supporting Actor (for Nicholson), and won 3 awards, including Best Director (for Beatty) and Best Supporting Actress (for Stapleton).[a] Beatty became the third person to be nominated for Academy Awards in the categories Best Director, Actor, and, with co-writer Trevor Griffiths, Original Screenplay.[b] The film received 6 nominations at the 36th British Academy Film Awards, including Best Actor in a Leading Role (for Beatty) and Best Actress in a Leading Role (for Keaton), and won 2 awards – Best Actor in a Supporting Role and Best Actress in a Supporting Role (for Stapleton). It also received a leading 7 nominations at the 39th Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama (for Beatty), Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama (for Keaton), Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture (Nicholson) and Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture (for Stapleton), with Beatty winning Best Director.

In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed "AFI's 10 Top 10"—the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the film community. Reds came in ninth in the epic genre.[3]

  1. ^ "Reds (AA) (CUT)". British Board of Film Classification. January 25, 1982. Retrieved November 22, 2016.
  2. ^ "Reds (1981)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  3. ^ "Top 10 Epic". American Film Institute. Archived from the original on June 19, 2008. Retrieved June 18, 2008.


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