Many who grew up watching 60 Minutes regularly will find Avi Belkin’s documentary, Mike Wallace is Here, a trip down memory lane. And still, this fresh look at a premiere television show, and career we thought we knew, offers many surprises. Wallace worked his charm and good looks on commercials, and other odd acting jobs. When he first came on board for this great show, known for superb reporting, his colleagues thought he would not be rigorous enough. He proved them wrong. And at a recent special screening at the Whitby Hotel, with 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Croft attending, as well as a stellar group of documentarians, Barbara Kopple, Karen Goodman, Katherina Otto-Bernstein, the consensus was, here was a serious journalist, and an impressive, entertaining look at an esteemed part of American culture by an Israeli filmmaker.
Avi Belkin’s narrative strategy was to take Wallace’s hard-hitting interview style and turn it on his subject, Wallace himself. Using every interview the newsman ever gave, juxtaposed with footage from the 60 Minutes vault of interviews Wallace conducted, with key figures: the Ayatollah Khomeini, Trump in the ‘80’s, --he even brought Leona Helmsley, the “queen of mean,” to tears asking her about her deceased son—a subject he unfortunately knew in his own experience. Admittedly, he was not a great family man, but he did search for his son when he went missing in the mountains
Yes, it is a jolt to realize a time when the news was the news, and not soft -pedaled or deemed fake at whim. Being hard-hitting means asking the tough questions to get at often discomfiting answers. We do have a right to know; and, we admire those who risk much to bring us the truth. Even seeing admired shows like 60 Minutes from a bygone era is a reminder of a more formidable 60 Minutes.
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