WUSA [Blu-ray]

WUSA was Paul Newman's follow-up to the highly successful BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID and was a complete 180 compared to that film. It was also one of his biggest flops and today it's easy to see why. The film was way ahead of its time not only in its portrayal of the nature of right wing radio but in it's use of unsympathetic, self-centered, and amoral characters led by Newman who emerge unscathed while the inherently good characters played by Joanne Woodward and Anthony Perkins suffer for their goodness. The script by Robert Stone of DOG SOLDIERS fame (made into the movie WHO'LL STOP THE RAIN? a few years later) brilliantly captures the apathy and the disillusionment of the country after the deaths of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy two years earlier. Unlike M*A*S*H which came out the same year, there is not an ounce of comedy in WUSA and that's what makes it so difficult to accept. It's cynical look at the effects of looking the other way was just too much for audiences in 1970. Today it looks like a prophetic period piece.Paul Newman plays a drifter who winds up in New Orleans and gets a job at a right wing radio station appropriately called WUSA. He doesn't believe the stuff they preach, it's just a job to him, a way to keep him in drinking money. He takes up with down and out floozie Joanne Woodward and encounters Peace Corps dropout Anthony Perkins who doesn't realize that's he being used by the right wing powers that he despises. In addition to those three, WUSA has a strong supporting cast of capable players including Pat Hingle, Robert Quarry, Moses Gunn, and Laurence Harvey as a fake preacher. In later years Newman felt that the film failed from lack of studio support and because it wasn't political enough. He was half right. Paramount hated the movie and did little to promote WUSA but the film makes a powerful statement even if it's a downbeat one. It's much easier to appreciate the film today than when it came out 40 years ago. This is its first ever appearance on home video of any kind. Thanks to Olive Films for making it available since Paramount wouldn't release it on their own.

i am 74 years of age. When this movie was released I was a veteran with an anti war point of view. I have since become a conservative. WUSA was prophetic, in that any extreme point of view is dangerous and can incite a violent reaction. I was taught that in a disagreement there is your truth, my truth. The real truth is in the middle. The right wing group, depicted in the movie, was manipulative, much like CNN and Fox News, from opposite sides of the ring. Interestingly enough, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward were liberals, in real life. Both were politically active. Their characters wandered aimlessly through life. The movie had a great cast, including Anthony Perkins. While the film flopped, it was a well made character study.

40 years ago, Paul Newman made a most prophetic film about the future of talk radio and America. The film and its characters were so exactly on target, the public overlooked the film because it lacked the normal cheerleader mentality of our films. Newman and Woodward are up to their standard performances, meaning excellent. Joanne Woodward is one of the most talented and beautuful women ever in American films. Too few films allowed her to showcase her sexuality and beauty, WUSA and The Stripper were two exceptions. Newman is perfect as the cynical intellectual who knows he is telling lies but like all of America is doing what is necessary to survive. The last scene in the movie is especially forward looking, when he says "Don't worry about me, I am a survivor. Ain't I lucky?" For those of us who lived through the era of JFK and RFK we know how the films portrays a drop in our nation's expectations from Camelot to survival. It is the perfect political film.

WUSA is a 1970 Paul Newman movie . I received my copy DVD and after watching it, it seemed like it was much shorter than the original movie. 1hour15min.The original was 1hour 55 min.The cutting and sound isn't top quality either in the DVD I received.Still I enjoyed seeing Paul Newman andJoanne Woodward together in this movie. That alone makes this worth watching ; about a disc jockey , his drinking, his politcal ideas , in the USA 1970. 4 stars for the original movie. ( 3 starts for the shorter version I received )

While dated and not his greatest work, Paul Newman does what he can to save this movie. It has a good cast; but just comes across as dated and under done.

Good picture until you got to the ending. Ending very weak and not believable. I was disappointed since I am a Paul Newman fan.

Product arrived safe and undamaged. GREAT service, once again!

I was so glad to find this movie and the price was just right. The transaction went smoothly. will do business with the seller again. This is a great movie from the past.

A good, but not great film although I think it is under-rated. I had not seen this since the 1970's when it impressed me greatly. Many of the issues dealt with in the film are still relevant but the way they are dealt with are clearly dated. One thing to emphasise is that this is a Region A film (USA) so you need to make sure you have a way of playing such Blu-rays before ordering this.

Produced in 1970 during the Hippy Era in the USA this departure of a film attempted to portray a "Deep South"KKK type plot.However the English actor used and others appear to be "putting on the drawl".The rather depressing sub plot of skid row characters is too false and morose.The whole thing was too late after "Rights"and was out of synch with the mood of the time.It does however portray the liberal sympathiser as a swivel eyed fanatic whos passion for his idea of justiceends in his gunning down of KKK style Party leaders with a pistol.

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