Just got done watching the 1981 film, "Absence of Malice", starring Paul Newman and Sally Field on TCM. Haven't seen it since it was first released. It's a very well done treatise on the responsiblities of The Press, and how they can be manuevered by outside forces to supply the public with misinformation. The ending has much hand-wringing done by the Sally Field character, who played the somewhat novice newspaper reporter, and by her Chief Editor and the rest of the Miami newspaper staff where her charcater worked, after they have realized that she was being used by a overly zealous FBI agent. Paul Newman plays the innocent victim of a smear campaign, who ultimately get his name cleared and also gets a measure of revenge, without by the way having to resort to violence.
As I believe this film is unfortunately somewhat of an anachronism, my questions are....
(1)-When exactly did Hollywood stop making intelligent movies such as this, where justice isn't attained with a gun?
(2)-When exactly did The Press(and this ESPECIALLY includes the television "news" sources) stop caring about the rules of journalistic propriety, as do the characters in this film?
(3)-(And maybe most importantly)...When exactly did the public stop wondering about the weightier issues of the world and start their collective fixation about the lastest exploits of dead golddiggers, bald ex-teen singing idols and the like?
My guess...It was about the time the typewriter was replaced by the computer.(the film shows Ms.Field hard at work at her typewriter)
Any thoughts out there?
Cheers,
Dwight
(Lord...I've lived too long)
