CBS' Reagan Movie Widely Criticized for Inaccuracies
By Jimmy Moore
Talon News
October 27, 2003
CBS is scheduled to televise a miniseries depicting an openly liberal
interpretation of the life of former conservative Republican President
Ronald Reagan. In the two-part drama entitled "The Reagans,"
the conservative icon who is credited with helping win the Cold War
and bringing about the defeat of communism in the 1980s is depicted
as a heartless and sometimes absent-minded leader, according to Reagan
supporters.
Reagan, who has been in failing health due to the onset of Alzheimer's
disease since leaving Washington, is portrayed by left-wing Hollywood
actor James Brolin. He is the husband to outspoken liberal activist
Barbara Streisand, who was frequently on the set during the shooting
of the movie.
Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, who produced the miniseries, say they confirmed
every piece of information in the story with at least two sources. But
they admitted to embellishing some portions of the story in order to
make it more cinematically appealing. The final version of the movie
was approved by the CBS legal department.
Meron and Zadan maintain that their liberal political stance as well
as the actors in the movie does not show up in the movie as an unfair
bias against Reagan.
"This is not a vendetta, this is not revenge," they told
the New York Times. "It is about telling a good story in our honest
sort of way. We all believe it's a story that should be told."
A spokesperson for the Reagans stated that they do not wish to comment
on the CBS movie at this time. However, Nancy Reagan has asked television
giant Merv Griffin to help her halt the broadcast of this movie until
all of the inaccuracies are corrected, the Drudge Report posted on its
website on Saturday.
Conservative radio talk show host Michael Reagan, son of the former
president and his first wife, actress Jane Wyman, says the few excerpts
of the upcoming CBS miniseries he has seen are an inaccurate and distorted
view of his father's legacy and that his family is "all upset about
it."
"It's horrendous, it's absolutely horrendous," he told FOX's
Sean Hannity on Friday. "The eight minutes' worth of clips that
I saw [showed] Nancy as the head of the government, and Dad was just
the buffoon going along for the ride, with everybody laughing at him.
It is so sad."
One of the most upsetting aspects of the movie to Michael Reagan is
the profanity that it shows his father using.
"They also have my dad taking God's name in vain in an angry,
angry way," he told Hannity. "They have him calling another
person in anger an S.O.B."
He continued, "I've never seen my Dad that angry, and I've never
heard him use the 'G-D' word in my life."
Michael Reagan says the obvious hatred the liberal left has for his
father led them to create this fictitious movie about his life, including
poking fun at his Alzheimer's disease.
"[Liberals] dislike my father, and you can see that," he
continued with Hannity. "They actually infer that Alzheimer's was
setting in at the time the whole thing was going on with Ollie North
and Iran-Contra -- which is absurd."
In an interview with the New York Times, Marlin Fitzwater, one of Reagan's
press secretaries during his eight-year term in office, inquired whether
the major accomplishments of the Reagan presidency will be included
in the broadcast.
"Does it show he had the longest and strongest recovery in postwar
history?" he asked in the interview with the Times. "That
the economy, stimulated by the tax cuts, was creating something like
200,000 jobs a month, for years?"
According to details of the script released to the press, there is
nothing in the movie about how Reagan brought the United States an unprecedented
period of economic growth and job expansion after the Jimmy Carter presidency.
In addition to Ronald Reagan, his wife Nancy is portrayed in an unflattering
manner by actress Judy Davis. Although she is painted as a strongly
supportive wife, she is also shown to display some odd characteristics.
The producers of the movie present her as a compulsive controller who
relies on a psychic to guide her. In addition, they make her look like
she is a physically abusive mother to her children and a prescription
pill addict.
Also, according to the script, Nancy Reagan held control over many
decisions in the White House, including decisions regarding public policy
and staff changes.
Michael Reagan, who is the stepson of Nancy, said this depiction of
her is "obscene."
"All the bad things you've heard about Nancy -- I mean, this show
just hates her -- absolutely hates her," he told Hannity.
CBS, which has previously aired a mini-series on the life of Jesus
Christ as well as another controversial one last spring on the life
of Hitler, says this movie is historically accurate based on biographies
and other sources.
"The miniseries is a compelling and historical account of Mr.
and Mrs. Reagan's remarkable relationship set against the backdrop of
the former president's political career," CBS representatives wrote
in a statement. "The film has been meticulously researched and
offers a respectful and balanced portrayal of the Reagans."
Representatives for the network say they will not back down and will
still air the miniseries during the fall television sweeps on November
16 and 18 despite the swell of criticism they have been receiving.
CBS Chairman Leslie Moonves, who has long supported liberal Democrat
politics, says airing this miniseries is necessary to represent Reagan
in a way he believes is most accurate.
"This was very important for me, to document everything and give
a very fair point of view," he told the New York Times.
But even portions of the miniseries have been found to be entirely
false. In one scene, Reagan supposedly responds to a question about
the plight of AIDS victims by quoting the Bible.
"They that live in sin shall die in sin," says Brolin in
his role as Reagan in the movie.
Secretary of Defense under Reagan, Caspar Weinberger, said proclamations
such as that are not typical of the man he served under.
"That does not sound like the President Reagan I know," Weinberger
told Reuters. "I can't imagine him saying anything like that. He
was not given to pronouncements of that kind or that pomposity."
In fact, the movie's playwright Elizabeth Egloff unashamedly concedes
that she made that up for the movie.
Film critic and conservative radio talk show host Michael Medved says
he is concerned about the impact this movie will have on the public
perception of Reagan since modern society is so driven by the entertainment
medium.
"The major source of media influence in our society isn't journalism;
it's entertainment," he told The Washington Times. "The American
public is a much more voracious consumer of entertainment media than
of information media, and this show is a good example of it."
Former Reagan speechwriter Peter Robinson is extremely skeptical that
a liberal actor playing the role of his former boss will not present
the role factually.
"It sure makes me suspicious," he told FOX News. "With
James Brolin as Ronald Reagan, something is definitely up."
Robinson said that the liberal stereotype that Reagan was not an intelligent
man will likely be embellished greatly for this movie.
"It sounds to me as though this script takes this idea that the
man is tremendously appealing personally, that he's gifted with words,
but that there's nothing in his head and he just somehow lucks into
all the accomplishments of his presidency," he expressed to FOX
News. "That's a preposterous notion."
He added, "They simply want to belittle the man. It's just outrageous."
Former senior policy advisor to Reagan, Martin Anderson, says the "left
wing" is obsessed with trying to explain away the Reagan years
as a political anomaly.
"The bottom line is I think if the left is so upset about Reagan
15 years after he left office, they've got a real problem," he
concluded to the Washington Times.
Michael Reagan made light of the fact that Brolin was playing his father.
"I'm glad that Brolin has found a job. It gets him out of the
house and gives him something to do," he wrote on his website.
"Once again, Ronald Reagan has found work for someone in Hollywood."