Directed by Irwin Winkler 'ARE YOU NOW, or have you ever been, a member of the Communist Party?' Those words struck terror into the heart of a generation of Americans at the height of the Cold War. When the Senate Committee on Un-American Activities moved from searching for reds under the bed, to those supposedly on the Silver Screen, Hollywood's heads ducked for cover, while directors, actors and actresses got shot down.
surprisingly, HolIvwood, so adept at mythologising its own history, has been notoriously incapableat dealing with this, its most murky period. Indeed, only two films nave been made previously neither being particularly politi cally sharp.
So it is with trepidation that Guilty By Suspicion should be viewed. Especially when it is known that the original script had the fictionalised main character Merrill as a Communist, while the final film has him as a liberal.
Merrill (De Niro, in unusually, but excellently, understated performance), starts the film as studio chief Darryl Zannuck's golden boy, on the verge of directing two sure fire hits. All he needs to do to get going on the films is to name a few names from his past minor flirtation with the Communist Party.
However, he has already seen his scriptwriter friend destroy his own wife by informing on her. So he refuses to snitch, for personal rather than political reasous.
Immediately, Merrill goes from being toast of the town to being one of its pariahs. His films are pulled, he finds next to no work, and he eventually loses his home. What stops him going under is the love of his little boy and his estranged wife. Theirs is a reconciliation waiting to happen.
Meanwhile, others, incapable of putting personal honour Sodomy' Campaign.