Milk(2008) R
| Director: | gus van sant | Runtime: 2 hrs 8 min ( 128 min) |
|---|---|---|
| harvey milk | ..... | sean penn |
| cleve jones | ..... | emile hirsch |
| dan white | ..... | josh brolin |
| jack lira | ..... | diego luna |
| scott smith | ..... | james franco |
| anne kronenberg | ..... | alison pill |
| mayor moscone | ..... | victor garber |
| john briggs | ..... | denis o' hare |
| dick pabich | ..... | joseph cross |
| rick stokes | ..... | stephen spinella |
| danny nicoletta | ..... | lucas grabeel |
| jim rivaldo | ..... | brandon boyce |
| david goodstein | ..... | zvi howard rosenman |
| michael wong | ..... | kelvin yu |
| art agnos | ..... | jeff koons |
| dennis peron | ..... | ted jan roberts |
| denton smith | ..... | robert boyd holbrook |
| frank robinson | ..... | frank robinson |
| allan baird | ..... | allan baird |
| tom ammiano | ..... | tom ammiano |
| thelma | ..... | carol roth silver |
| mary ann white | ..... | hope tuck |
| mcConnelly | ..... | steven wiig |
| dianne feinstein | ..... | ashlee temple |
| carol ruth silver | ..... | wendy king |
| gordon lau | ..... | kelvin han yee |
| phil burton | ..... | robert chimento |
| lily | ..... | ginabel mochado |
| morning show host | ..... | velina brown |
| riot cop | ..... | richard gross |
| medora paine | ..... | camron palmer |
| assistant sheriff | ..... | cully fredricksen |
| sylvester | ..... | mark martinez |
| priest | ..... | mark e. stanger |
| chamber clerk | ..... | jesse caldwell |
| don amador | ..... | cleve jones |
| pizza delivery man | ..... | drew kuhse |
| robert hillsborough | ..... | eric cook |
This entire movie is an account of the short, but significant and effective political career of Harvey Milk (Sean Penn). Although the entire movie is not told as a narrative, the movie is supposed to be a portrayal of the recordings made by Milk as he reflected, in the movie, in solitude, into a tape recorder. The movie periodically flashes to this scene, with Harvey sitting at his kitchen table, speaking into a microphones.
The film begins with real archive news footage of police officers raiding public establishments such as restaurants and movie theatres. Included in this footage is the public announcement of the assassination of Mayor Moscone (Victor Garber) and supervisor Harvey Milk.
The first theatrical scene has Harvey meeting his soon-to-be friend and partner, Scott Smith (James Franco) at a train depot. They have a night together (which just happens to be Harvey's 40th birthday) and become partners.
Harvey and Scott start a photography shop in a small (six blocks square
) Irish-Catholic district in San Francisco called The Castro.
The other shop owners are not happy about it, but they leave it alone, and eventually, the business is accepted.
When Harvey sees the violence all around his neighborhood, he decides to run for San Francisco Supervisor.
He finds that, even with a legitimate cause and backing, there are always those who will fight you and attempt to stand in your way. He learns the ins and outs of politics, often not agreeing with them. He learns how others in government often play ball
with each other. Friends
often takes on a different meaning.
Although, being California, and a highly Liberally populated state, the politics are some of the most ruthless (looks like the disease has done nothing but spread in 35 or so years). Among the opponents to Harvey's movement
are Anita Bryant, a very out-spoken, religious, anti-gay activist, and her go-to
guy, State Senator John Briggs.
Not only is Milk fighting the anti-gay movement (i.e. Proposition 6), but he is also fighting the idea of using politics to fight the issues rather than truly believing in the issues at hand.
Dan White (Josh Brolin) , another supervisor, asks for Harvey's help in keeping a mental health facility out of his district. Harvey votes against the bill, which puts this friendship on the rocks.
Harvey is a fighter with a strong following. Anita Bryant moves her cause throughout the nation, but Harvey moves his followers just as swiftly…causing riots in the streets. He is losing support, though, so it is suggested that he focus his political efforts somewhere else in addition to the gay rights movement. As it is sort of a comic relief
to the serious tone of the story, I will not reveal here which cause he chooses, but I will say that it sure does beat the crap out of Anita Bryant's movement of the moment.
(See the movie to find out why that's so funny.)
Dan White retaliates against Harvey for not supporting his bill by voting No
on Milk's gay rights bill. From this point on, White is vengeful against Milk, and does not support him in anything else. Harvey, however, does get the backing of the Mayor (Victor Garber) and most of those on the Board of Supervisors.
Obviously, in reviewing a true story, there's not much room for criticizing the plot. Also, not being previously familiar with the story or the people involved previous to this viewing, I will not attempt to evaluate the validity or accuracy of facts.
As far as the movie in itself and the performances, they are superb. Though it was not intentional on my part, this does seem an appropriate movie on which attention is to be focused. (Don't you love my perfect sentence structure, Mrs. Holley?)
Although it might be hard to overwrite unpleasant memories of Sean Penn and his days with Madonna, as an actor, he is fantastic as Harvey Milk.
I also want to extend praise to Josh Brolin, playing the part of Dan White. Nothing in specific, which I believe is the best type of praise. His overall performance is unbelieveable..
I have not seen Sean Penn in many performances in quite some time. It's hard to imagine Harvey Milk being portrayed by the same actor who played Jeff
in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. However, if you've seen I Am Sam,you can see how Sean Penn is very talented at portraying several varied types of characters.
As I have said before, spoiler
is not in my cache. If you know the real story, watch this movie to compare it to the history books. If you are not familiar with that part of political history, this is a terrific movie from which you may learn something.
Critics's personal note: I am very disappointed that some 30+ years after this movement, conservatives and the tea party
are rallying up the same issues that were fought for so hard in the '70s.
Finally, a short list of quotes I think are worth repeating. You may recognize some of you've seen the movie, but these are my own picks, not ones that are particularly famous:
- Harvey :
My name is Harvey Milk, and I wanna recruit you.
- Anita :
I believe that, more than ever before, that there are evil forces, roundabouts, even perhaps disguised as something good, that would want to tear it down, the very foundation of family unit that holds America together.
- Briggs :
Sir, my bill has procedures for identifying homosexuals.
[Further heckling]
Briggs :You can argue with me. You cannot argue with God.
- Harvey :
Privacy. In this movement, at this time…I'm not saying this as a supervisor…privacy is the enemy. And if you want real political power…if that's what you want…try telling the truth for a change.
- Harvey :
A powder blue pen to sign the city's first gay rights law.
- Scott :
Congratulations to you. Looks like you're part of "The Machine" now.
- Scott :
Happy 48! Looks like you're going to make it to 50 after all, Mr. Milk.
- Harvey :
This is not just jobs or issues, this is our lives were fighting for.
- Harvey :
And how do you teach homosexuality? Is it like French?
- Harvey :
Dan, even Ronald Reagan is against Proposition 6.
- [After Jack's suicide.]
Scott :Harvey, look at me. You did everything that you could.
Harvey :No, I didn't.
Scott :So, what more could you have done?
Harvey :I could've come back at 6:00 or 6:15.
- Harvey :
I like that. A Homosexual with power. That's scary!.
- Harvey :
Any witnesses?.
Cop :Yeah. Just a trick. Jerry Keller.
Harvey :Jerry's not his trick. He's his lover.
Cop :Hey, call it what you will. All I know is, he's our only witness. He said he can't identify the attacker.
Harvey :You'd have a dozen witnesses if they thought you boys had any interest in protecting them.
- Briggs :
My proposition promises to protect our children from these gay perverts and…these gay perverts and pedophiles who recruit our children to participate in their deviant lifestyle, including the ones who do it in our public schools. The time has come for us to root them out.
[Gets booed off the stage.] - Dan :[drunk]
Hey, I gotcha a little somethin'.
Harvey :[under his breath]You didn't have to…
Dan :‘You didn't have to’ I knew you were gonna say that. Why do people always say that? ‘ You didn't have to.’ I mean, of course, right? But that's what they always say. They always say things like that…Always.
10 /10 
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