Medium Cool **** (1969, Robert Forster, Verna Bloom, Peter Bonerz, Marianna Hill) – Classic Movie Review 9949

Writer-director Haskell Wexler’s 1969 documentary-style drama Medium Cool is based on the novel The Concrete Wilderness by Jack Couffer, and stars Robert Forster, Verna Bloom, Peter Bonerz and Marianna Hill.

Ace cinematographer Wexler’s first stab at directing is a subject that is obviously close to him: a tough news-cameraman/ reporter called John Cassellis (Forster) is involved in violence at a political convention while concerned about a young widow teacher looking for her 13-year-old boy.

There is a lot to get excited about in the astonishing pictures of the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, and the riot sequences, and the film’s involving performances. Wexler boldly and expertly mixes documentary footage with conventional narrative, and professional actors with non-professionals.

The title is a canny play on media guru Marshall McLuhan’s reference to TV as ‘the cool medium’.

It is long ago and far away, but this slice of realism brings 1968 back with intensity. This half-forgotten cult item is one of the key American movies of its topsy-turvy era.

Haskell Wexler (1922–2015).

Robert Forster (1941–2019).

Verna Bloom (1938–2019).

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9949

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