RKO 281

As an admitted Orson Welles stan, the idea of a movie that dramatically examines the making of the movie considered his greatest achievement tickles me to no end. Not just because I’m a fan of his work, or a fan of the actors, but because I believe Welles himself would be delighted at the idea of real life being dramatized as if it were word-for-word fact. He loved bending and playing with reality. That’s what Citizen Kane was, after all; a minor warping of a man’s life story for dramatic effect. RKO 281 is about the making of that movie, and of Welles’ war of words and wills with the man on whom it was based: publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst. For those who know their film history, there is little revelatory here in the way of information. What this movie does have, however, are fantastic performances, by nearly everybody. Lieb Schrieber embodies Welles’ unique charisma and drive, but also brings out the fragility and selfishness of the man. Welles here is not a tortured genius because nobody understands him; he is tortured because he himself doesn’t believe in his supposed genius, and he is desperate for that validation, even if it means burning bridges. James Cromwell’s Hearst is also multi-dimensional, a loathsome, petty tyrant with an ego just as fragile as that of his nemesis. Only for Hearst, life is winding down, and money is running out, and his ego is no closer to having what will soothe it. He is tragic in the true, classic definition, and, it could be argued, so is Welles. The one flaw for me is Melanie Griffith, playing Hearst’s lover. Her acting is as flat and unbelievable as a child. She doesn’t emote; she merely speaks her lines, a dull cypher that pulls along what little bit of the plot she affects like a mule pulling a cart. Beyond her, though, is a brisk, enjoyable story about the making of a legendary movie, and the war between two men not so different from one another that also kept it from being seen. I’m not sure that non-fans of Welles would be as fascinated by it, unless you’re just a general history nerd. But for those of us who fall into one of those buckets, it’s a movie worth watching, and one Welles would be proud of in his own way.