Overview
Medium Cool (1969) Learning Beyond the Classics
The protests of 1968, made visible by increased and more accessible media, often harken memories of the 1968 Democratic National Convention, which is portrayed here in Haskell Wexler’s 1969 narrative film about the ripped-from-the-headlines events. John Cassellis (Robert Forster) is a hardened TV news cameraman who manages to keep his distance while he captures daring footage of a nation in the throes of violent change. He maintains this professional detachment when he covers the social unrest in Chicago surrounding the 1968 DNC. But, when he discovers that the TV network has been quietly cooperating with the FBI, the enraged Cassellis realizes that he too must join the fight against the establishment.
