Saturday, January 24, 2026 at 11:00 AM
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema - Downtown, Los Angeles
When you've become one of Hollywood's most bankable stars, what do you do for an encore? In the case of Warren Beatty, he used the commercial clout he'd built up with a string of celebrated hits (BONNIE AND CLYDE, THE PARALLAX VIEW, SHAMPOO, HEAVEN CAN WAIT) to bankroll the tempestuous love story of journalists John Reed and Louise Bryant, two free-spirited Americans who were swept up in the Russian revolution in 1917. Released during the Christmas season in 1981, REDS was an extraordinary epic that earned Beatty glowing reviews and a best director Oscar (it was nominated for 12 Oscars and won three). It remains one of the most audacious, innovative, and stunning films of its time. Beatty took on the role of Reed, a seductive charmer whose idealism frustrates friends like the cynical playwright Eugene O'Neill (Jack Nicholson, at his very best) and the fiery feminist Emma Goldman (Maureen Stapleton, who won as best supporting actress). But he's catnip to the determined Louise Bryant (a ravishing, electrifying Diane Keaton), who is eager to escape a stifling life as a dentist's wife and explore the bohemian world in New York City. Beatty and Keaton had been offscreen lovers when they began filming REDS, and the volatile chemistry between Reed and Bryant is utterly intoxicating. Bryant gets her man, but a love triangle soon develops, as Bryant also falls prey to O'Neill's charms. When Reed and Bryant venture into World War I Europe and then onto Moscow, they see the entire world transforming itself before their eyes as Lenin rises to power and Reed's hopes for a glorious new regime are quickly jeopardized. The genius of REDS lies in Beatty's brilliant mix of old-school spectacle and contemporary docudrama, as he weaves into the story potent interviews with "witnesses" who actually knew Reed, Bryant, O'Neill, and their associates. The superb cast also includes Edward Herrmann, Paul Sorvino, the real-life writers Jerzy Kosinski and George Plimpton, and Gene Hackman in a wonderful cameo as Reed's bewildered editor. REDS dominated the Golden Globe Awards, winning best picture, best director, best actor, and best actress, a rare time when the Globes were more credible than the Academy Awards (where the lovely but far less ambitious CHARIOTS OF FIRE claimed best picture). Thirty-five years later, REDS is still a knockout, the kind of movie that no one would dare to make today.