Winchell

In the 20's, the controversial New Yorker journalist Walter Winchell (Stanley Tucci) begins his career writing gossips about his acquaintances. He is hired by the New York Daily Mirror and using inside information from informers, he becomes the first American gossip columnist. He becomes successful and is invited to host a successful broadcast show in the radio. In the 30's, he attacks Adolf Hitler and befriends President Franklin D. Roosevelt (Christopher Plummer). After the World War II, Winchell attacks the communists and becomes a collaborator of Senator Joseph McCarthy. Winchell is not able to adapt his show to the audience of television and when McCarthy is censured by the Senate, Winchell becomes unpopular and his career virtually ends.

"Winchell" is a good HBO movie about the polemic columnist Walter Winchell, who was feared by the powerful and famous in the 30's and 40's. Along the years, Winchell hires a ghost-writer, Herman Kurfeld (Paul Giamatti), who admires him and has a lover, the showgirl Mary Louise "Dallas" Wayne (Glenne Headly) that likes him. Winchell is shown as a manipulative man that uses his personal dossier to force people to provide inside information for his column and his radio show; a man that neglects his family and has a wrong move supporting the McCarthyism and denouncing people. In the end, he pays a high price for his mistakes, and is forgotten by the public opinion He ends his life alone, without family or friends, and his son commits suicide. The last scene with his mentally disturbed daughter attending his funeral alone is one of the saddest conclusions of a film (and a life) that I have seen. Stanley Tucci gives one of his best performances in the role of Winchell. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Poder da Notícia" ("The Power of the News")

Stanley Tucci leads a super ensemble cast, in this HBO movie biography of Walter Winchell. His knack for sensationalism, gossip mongering and trademark rapid fire bark zoomed him to a pinnacle of media influence. His heavy handed approach brought the news to many, and the ire of many, as well. His tirade over the differences over FDR, as opposed to Harry Truman, really nailed home the notion of Winchell's megalomania. His ghost writers (who did an inordinate amount of the work he claimed) argued the resulting event was the same. Winchell rattled on about the difference in "finesse."

Mr. Tucci makes his subject a sympathetic, zealous and outrageous character. An excellent perormance. The supporting cast is above par, with Glenne Heady, Christopher Plummer and Kevin Tighe as W.R. Hearst (who could use a biopic of his own...oh, that's right...a movie HAS been made about him! *wink, wink*). The stand out is truly Paul Giamatti, as the talented and much-abused Herman Klurfeld, whose book was the basis for this movie.

The only detractions is that some other characters are not well developed, and seem to suffice as only background setting. The business relationship between Winchell and FBI Chief Hoover would've been interesting to delve into. Also, Winchell's family life and the tragedy of his son, would've been interesting to explore. Of course, with that said, this movie is still very interesting, and well worth your time.

Being a child of television. The legacy of Walter Winchell to me previously consisted of bits and pieces. ITEMS as it may.

This recent in a series of HBO bio-pics gives loving attention to Winchell, the man, his inventiveness, dedication and ultimately, his power. It seems complete enough in the spectrum with which we view the man. There is suggestion that his influence may have rivaled FDR himself, and he shows William Randolph Hearst to be no match mano-a-mano.

Paul Mazursky is perfectly suited to direct this and gives us everything we need on the screen. Stanley Tucci earns a well-deserved Golden Globe in the title role. Paul Giamatti is superb as Winchell's ghost, Klurfeld (who's book sourced this film), only Glenne Headley, who's work tends to be spotty at times, seems a bit overmatched as WINCHELL's southern-fried moll, Dallas.

I left with renewed respect, for the man.

I had never heard of Walter Winchell before Paul Mazursky's movie came out. I was pretty impressed by his movie. We see Winchell's beginnings and rise to mild gossip (where he started ratting on philandering politicians) until he became a major part of the political discourse. But there came a major split. While Winchell befriended Franklin Roosevelt and tried to make the Nazis' actions known to Americans - and went so far as to oppose the bombing of Hiroshima because Harry Truman "didn't do it right" - after WWII he sided with Joe McCarthy and started red-baiting people. When a former girlfriend got blacklisted, he didn't come to her aid. I'm not surprised that few people attended his funeral.

Stanley Tucci does a really neat job bringing Winchell to life. You gotta love how he reports on the issues of the day, even if it was sort of a forerunner to infotainment. Christopher Plummer looks almost exactly like FDR, and Paul Giamatti makes Winchell's promoter Herman Klurfeld really something. Also starring is Glenne Headly as the former girlfriend.

Overall, I recommend "Winchell". It shows that Paul Mazursky is in fact a capable director, even if a few of his movies haven't been masterpieces.

"Winchell", a Tucci tour-de-force and docudrama, tells a somewhat biased story of Walter Winchell, renown gossip columnist of the 30's and 40's who rose to considerable influence and fame in the early days of radio as the most listened to reporter in America only to die in obscurity in 1972. An okay biography, this journeyman HBO flick does a good job of hitting the high points of Winchell's life but will have little value to those with no particular interest in the period or the man as he simply wasn't, by cinematic standards, that interesting.