Raise Hell: The Life & Times of Molly Ivins

Raise Hell: The Life & Times of Molly Ivins was warmly and lovingly received by liberal Austin at the SXSW Film Festival. The film is a loving tribute to one of the funniest political commentators who ever put pen to paper. Ivins was a daughter of Texas who made it her mission to challenge conservative Texas with wit and witticism. She used humor to skewer her enemies. This biopic relies heavily on her words and particularly on archival speeches and presentations. Her wit has become legend such as when she describes Pat Buchanan's 1992 Republican Convention as "It probably sounded better in its original German." The film is clearly meant as a tribute and so it sugar-coats some of the rough spots (although it does touch on her struggles with alcoholism). It verges of liberal hagiography, but still captures so much of her larger than life personality. For all her love of life, her death in 2007 from cancer at only 62 is sobering. Watching the film in 2019, one can not help but wonder what Molly Ivins would done with a Twitter account in the era of Donald Trump. Sadly, we will never know, but we can imagine. Recommended for her fans and admirers.

Greetings again from the darkness. We can't help but be drawn to that rare breed who possess a perfect blend of intelligence, humor, wit, and communication skills (whether written or oral). These people tend to make us laugh while they educate us and motivate us to think. Documentarian Janice Engel delivers a fascinating look at a fascinating woman, Molly Ivins.

With a subject like Molly Ivins, there is no question the time spent watching this will be entertaining; however, Ms. Engel doesn't miss an opportunity to dig a little deeper. Of course we see many archival clips of Molly delivering her own expertly chosen words - typically at the expense of some conservative politician, and we also are treated to personal insights from her siblings, as well as a couple of childhood/lifelong friends.

A traditional timeline is used for this anything-but-traditional woman. She stood 6 feet tall at age 12, and even as an adult she was a physically imposing presence in an occupation where women were still battling for acceptance. Her dad was a right-winger and she was a 3rd generation Smith College graduate, yet Molly remained an independent and (very) critical thinker ... delighting in exposing political corruption and incompetence. Her favorite punchlines typically skewered Texas politics and Texas politicians. A Master's degree from Columbia finalized her educational pedigree, but it was her colorful writing style that elevated her observations to a level of brilliance.

Molly Ivins once described the idea of objective reporting as "horse pucky". It's this type of honesty and straight talk that set her apart from so many reporters - both in her day, and even more so today. She knew and admitted that her own political views affected what she wrote, yet readers from both sides lapped up anything she committed to the page. That's not to say she didn't ruffle feathers. In fact, her feather-ruffling was world class. During her career, she held newspaper gigs in Minnesota, Austin, New York, Denver, and Dallas ... including The New York Times and The Texas Observer. Her column peaked when she was syndicated in more than 400 papers nationally. Molly Ivins was a big deal.

Others interviewed include Rachel Maddow, Dan Rather, Paul Krugman, and Ann Richards' daughter Cecile. Everyone loves to talk about a woman who brings a 6-pack of beer to a job interview, and referred to herself as the "resident communist". She admitted to being an alcoholic, and to being lonely at times; but the one thing she never did was sacrifice the work for personal gain. She wrote best-selling books, was a fabulous public speaker, appeared on TV and radio talk shows, and of course, spread her words on the page.

Molly Ivins was a wizard of words. She had much to say and many of us paid attention - whether we agreed or not. Her exceptionally strong and aggressive attacks on George W Bush might be what she is best remembered for, but "gang-pluck" may be a close second. Mostly we admire the tenacity and wit and genius that was the one and only Molly Ivins.

As "Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins" (2019 release; 93 min.) opens, we see a bunch of old TV clips with Molly Ivins appearing on various talk shows and political (CSPAN) cable shows, reminding us of the "fire brand" that was Molly Ivins, progressive political columnist in a conservative state (Texas). We then go back to "River Oaks 1958" to her childhood years, where she comes in conflict with her conservative and controlling dad. But Molly does understand the value of a good education (rd generation Smith College), while during the summer shes interns at the Houston Chronicle... At this point we are 10 min. into the movie.

Couple of comments: this is the first theatrical release from long-time TV director and documentarian Janice Engel. In this latest documentary, she lets her subject matter Molly Ivins do most of the talking, and rightfully so. There is a true treasure trove out there of Ivins appearing on various radio and TV shows, and that's not even mentioning her many, many columns that she wrote over the years for The New York Times, The Dallas Morning, the Forth Worth Star-Telegram, and in the end through her own syndicated column. Ivins was a real fire cracker (and a funny one at that), but more importantly, she was an astute observer who was not afraid to tell it like it is. Her comments from 2004, both as to Iraq ("the war in Iraq is a disaster!") and as to wealth inequality were nothing short of eerie and visionary, as we are now 15 years later and things have only gotten so much worse on both those topics. One can only imagine what she would think of the current POTUS and administration... She'd have a field day! I certainly didn't agree with everything Ivins wrote or talked about, but always found her perspective worth knowing about. Meanwhile, this documentary flew by in no time, and bottom line is that I enjoyed this more than I expected.

"Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins" premiered at this year's Sundance film festival. It finally made its way to my art-house theater here in Cincinnati this weekend, and I couldn't wait to see it. The Sunday early evening screening where I saw this at was attended okay (about 15 people). If you remember Molly Ivins (fondly or not) or have an interest in politics, I'd readily suggest you check this out, be it in the theater (if you still can), on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.

The story of outspoken texas columnist molly ivins, born in 1944. Being the liberal in her own house, the state, and the newspapers where she worked. Interviews where ivins complains of being hired for her quirky humor that was always being changed and edited. Being friends with radio host john faulk, who had been accused of being a communist, due to his liberal talk. And apparently she angered several bosses who felt she was putting too much of her own politics into her stories and columns. But molly had the ability to be good friends with her very conservative friends. She claims it was her good natured spirit, humor, and education that allowed her to be great friends with governor ann richards.... who she had known even before richards got into politics. I'm glad there were so many live interviews of ivins saved for this documentary. Not many opposing views, which would be the mark of a really great documentary. Another complaint is that frequently, we don't know who is speaking; it would have been very helpful to caption exactly who we are hearing at any time. Mostly good stuff! Directed by janice engel.

I'd never heard of Molly Ivins before watching this, and I am utterly delighted that I got to learn about her. So smart, so funny, so real.