Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Dalbert Pringle To say that this Hollywood, celebrity documentary (about a 15-year blacklisting of screen-writer, Dalton Trumbo) could've been a whole lot better would truly be an understatement.It was in 1947 that Trumbo was brought forward before those witch-hunters, the House Un-American Activities Committee, in order to testify against others in the film industry who were suspected of having Communist ties. Trumbo, of course, refused to cooperate (hence the blacklisting).What inevitably lost this potentially promising documentary (about pigheaded democracy) some serious points was the overall approach that it took towards its subject where irksome, grandstanding actors (all a bunch of annoying talking heads) read, out loud, letters that Trumbo had written before, during, and after his blacklisting. It was all a heap of totally redundant drivel, IMO.*Note* - In 1976 - Dalton Trumbo died at the age of 71.

leonblackwood Review: I actually enjoyed this documentary which showed how hard it was for screenwriters during the hunt for communists in America. I liked Dalton Trumbo's clever way of writing, which was truly wasted during this period. He wrote movies like Spartacus and in some of his films he had to go under a different name, even though he did win a couple of Oscars, which one of them he couldn't collect. The director of this documentary cleverly used great actors to narrate some of Trumbo's story through his own writings, which shows how Trumbo used words in a extraordinary way. The only problem that I found with the film was that it doesn't really show what movies Trumbo made or his actually contribution to Hollywood, which is a shame because he was a highly talented individual. The movie concentrates on the negative side of his life more than the whole writing process which would have made a better documentary but it's definitely worth a watch just to see how far we have come in the movie world. Watchable!Round-Up: I must admit, it was the list of actors that drew me to this documentary and not the subject matter, but after watching it the thing that I enjoyed the most was the way that Trumbo wrote and his life story. The actors do portray his story well and because of the fact that they are all A-Listers, it shows how much Trumbo was highly respected. It's was good to see Kirk Douglas and Donald Sutherland, who have actually worked with Trumbo, so they were talking about there experiences with this great screen writer. We could do with a person like Trumbo in this day and age because there is a lack of scripts in Hollywood which are original and classed as classics.I recommend this documentary to people who are interested in the writing process of making a film during the blacklist period. 5/10

gavin6942 Through a focus on the life of Dalton Trumbo (1905-1976), this film examines the effects on individuals and families of a congressional pursuit of Hollywood Communists after World War II. Trumbo was one of several writers, directors, and actors who invoked the First (rather than the typical Fifth) Amendment in refusing to answer questions under oath.We have insights from Donald Sutherland; we also have Michael Douglas, Nathan Lane, Brian Dennehy and Liam Neeson reading letters in their smooth, rich voices. What a great way to welcome audiences to the story of political persecution.Trumbo himself says that "people joined the Communist Party because they felt it was doing something". He never really comes out and embraces Communism, but the whole era was a mess -- America allied with the Russians in World War II, and once the Nazis were defeated, anyone with Communist sympathies was tossed aside.This film also has great archive footage of Walt Disney and others.

nataloff-1 Screenwriter Dalton Trumbo was arguably the most famous of the "Unfriendly Ten" who were blacklisted in 1947 in the first flash of America's witch-hunts. But that's pretty much all that the casual observer knew about him before his son, Christopher, presented his letters in the two-hander "Trumbo." Now Peter Askin's documentary, which includes dramatized readings from Trumbo fils' epistolary drama, fills in the historical gaps with newsreels, interviews, and a minimum of film clips ($). The importance of this documentary is that it shows how unquiet Trumbo was, how his insistent visibility helped break the Blacklist, and how the forces that tried to make the Blacklistees toe the line are still running things. For any doctrinaire Right-wingers reading this summary, "Trumbo" isn't about Communism, it's about thought control -- something both Left and Right seem to be fixated on imposing. The power of this film comes from its varied, non-manipulative portrayal of an indomitable creative spirit.