Cradle will Rock (1997)

Stars: John Cusak as Rockefeller, Emily Watson as a starving actress, Bill Murray a right-wing ventriloquist, Saradon an Italian-Jewish art dealer, and Vanessa Redgrave and Phillip Baker Hall as rich swells.
Pros: Energetic direction, stylish sets, Good acting, Bill Murray subplot.
Cons: Disjointed, Portrayal of Welles and Houseman, uneven script, unrealistic story and characters, awful music by Marc Blitzstein.

Tim Robins wrote and directed this story about a New York City WPA theater group performing Rock The Cradle in 1937. I enjoyed half of “Cradle will rock” especially Bill Murray's performance. But the movie is blend of the good, the bad, and the ridiculous. The direction is excellent and the acting good, but the script and story are very uneven, and the actual “Cradle will rock” music is awful. The main flaw is the script. Too many banal lines, too many subplots, and too much left-wing propaganda. Of the 6 major subplots, only two or three are well done or interesting.

On the plus side, Bill Murray steals the movie as a bitter, anti-communist comedian and Cherry Jones is excellent as the head of the theater group. OTOH, Phillip Baker Hall and Redgrave are wasted as cartoonish “Rich Swells”, and the whole Diego Rivera-Rockefeller subplot was pointless. Finally, the movies view on 1930s NYC, communism, Orson Welles, and the WPA, theater group is one-sided and historically wrong. Robins actually shows the 1930s Stalinists as the “good guys”! An offensive and incredible viewpoint in 1999.

Summary - A historically inaccurate, Left-wing propaganda piece, made bearable by Bill Murray and some excellent performances. Rating **1/2