George Wallace (1997) User Reviews

Surprisingly involving portrait of a questionable man

[jjnxn-1 · 8/10 · 11 May 2013]

In many ways Wallace was a reprehensible man so a three hour film of his rather infamous life should be a struggle to get through, that its not is almost wholly because it has such a high quality cast.

Clarence Williams III offers quiet support in the difficult role of Wallace's long time servant and the many familiar faces that are in support all are fine in their various roles. The real spotlight is on the three main characters and its here that the film really delivers.

Mare Winningham is both strong and soft as Lurleen Wallace standing by her man who is devoted to her. Their relationship does much to humanize Wallace. Angelina Jolie, during the very brief period of her career spent in TV, is equally strong as Cornelia Wallace showing that she was more than the trophy wife she was sometimes painted. Even with all this excellent work the film would be nothing without a knockout lead actor and Gary Sinise is that. He is totally committed to the character whether showing his bigotry or his humanity, a splendid piece of work. Frankenheimer's direction is sure handed keeping the interest level high as he moves through a most complicated man's life.

Watch it for Mare

[herrgaman · 6/10 · 23 October 2003]

Sinise's portrayal of Wallace is astonishing, but I was most impressed by Mare Winningham's perfect performance as Lurleen. Like any Southerner, I'm more than accustomed to actors' ham-handed, mangled versions of Southern intonation and dialect, but Winningham was amazing. She BECAME Lurleen Wallace. At times you can be fooled into thinking that Winningham is lip-synching over an archival recording of Lurleen's speeches. Everything about her performance is superb.

Sinise is superb

[Lupercali · 6/10 · 5 November 2002]

As an Australian I was unfamiliar with many of the fine historical details depicted in the movie, so it was in part a history lesson for me. It also means I have little at stake politically, so my review ought to be fairly unbiased in that respect.

George Wallace isn't an extraordinary film (especially considering it's from John (Manchurian Candidate) Frankenheimer), but it's thoroughly enjoyable, even if a little overlong for a single sitting. There are none of the elaborate directorial flourishes which you would get if this was an Oliver Stone job. Frankly, I was relieved.

I said the movie, as a whole, wasn't extraordinary. But Gary Sinise is quite simply superb. Irrespective of anything else, Wallace is worth watching just for his remarkable performance.

6.5/10 overall 10/10 for Sinise

Gary Sinise is wonderful!!!

[dtucker86 · 13 October 2003]

The late John Frankenheimer was one of our truly great directors. He cut his teeth in the early days of television, directing over 100 tv shows and then he went on the direct Birdman Of Alcatraz, Seven Days In May, The Train and his masterpiece The Manchurian Candidate. He had a long dry spell after that where Hollywood more or less forgot about him, but in the early 90s he was able to make an amazing comeback with a series of tv films like Against The Wall, The Burning Season, Andersonville and this film. This is a man who directed actors like Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan and Edmond O'Brien, and yet he said Gary Sinise was one of the finest actors he ever worked with. Sinise is probably best remembered for his role as Lieutenant Dan in the Forrest Gump movie (one of the most depressing films that I ever saw I HATED IT!!!). He did a wonderful job as Harry Truman and he equally rises to the occasion as George Wallace. George Wallace was one of the truly controversial figures of our time. In 1958, he ran for Alabma's governor as someone who favored cival rights and lost. According to friends he vowed that he would never be "out niggered" again (excuse my language I'm just quoting what he said) and he won. He voweed in his inagural address "segregation now, segregation tomorrow and segregation forever!" If ever a man symbolized the horrors of racism in the 1960's it was certainly George Wallace. Sinise brilliantly portrays Wallace's ruthless ambition and drive for power, but then there is the 1972 assassination attempt that left him paralyzed. There is a sad scene in the film where a doctor tells him that he will be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life, that he will be impotent and not even able to control bladder or bowel and that he will never have another day without pain. It's maybe because of this that Wallace sought not power but forgiveness in the last years of his life. He apologized to those he had hurt like the Freedom Riders. Sinise is wonderful in his role as is Angelina Jolie as his wife Cornelia. Forget her tatooes and her eccentricities, she is a fine actress who always delivers. Joe Don Baker also gives as Jim Folsom, Wallace's protege. Actually, it was only thru luck that Wallace became governor in 1962. Jim Folsom was a very popular Alabama politican who had been elected Governor twice before (1947-51,1955,59). In 1962, he ran against Wallace and had a good chance at a third term until he appeared drunk on a tv show on the eve of the election. Folsom forgot the names of his children and gave an extended imitation of a cuckoo clock. The performance cost him the election and ended his career as an important politician in Alabama.

Corrupted by Power Wallace Finally "Saw the Light" Seeks Redemption

[LeonLouisRicci · 7/10 · 25 May 2016]

A Fine Emmy Winning Portrayal by Gary Sinise as Gov. George Wallace the Opportunist Southern Politician that let His Ambitions Corrupt His Principles and later "Saw the Light".

A Good Supporting Cast helps the proceedings and Solid Directing from Frankenheimer, who doesn't let Style intrude on the Story and tells it Matter of "Fact". Relying on Stock Footage to set the Mood and Tone, the Story of Wallace and His Influence on Politics and Society is Interesting.

It might Lack the Impact that His Racists Proclamations had on Blacks and Hateful Whites, He never did get the Implications of His Influence until it was Too Late and much Damage had been done.

Wallace is shown On Screen Contemplating these things now and then. But He never seems to realize what He had Wrought and only in the End does He come to grips with the Guilt and Truth.

Overall, it's a Long TV-Movie, originally shown over Two Nights and does seem a bit Shallow in Stretches and has Difficulties Maintaining a Profound and Consistent Message. But Overall, the some of the parts and the Acting make it a Good Study of the Man and His Time in and out of Power.

Letting Loose The Dark Forces

[bkoganbing · 9/10 · 2 December 2006]

Gary Sinise delivers a superb performance in the biographical television film George Wallace. I well remember Wallace from back in the sixties and Sinise is so good in the part you think you're seeing home movies of Wallace, albeit a slightly skinnier version.

No southern politician since Huey Long had the impact of Wallace on the national scene. He was a product of the white backlash to the Brown vs. Board of Education School integration decision of the Supreme Court. Wallace, previously a moderate who lost a gubernatorial primary in 1958, courted the die-hard segregationist vote in 1962 and won the first of several terms as Governor of Alabama. It was a platform that he used to rattle both the Democratic and Republican parties for several years.

He unleashed a lot of dark and evil forces beyond even what he knew and maybe he never realized the full extent of them even after the attempted assassination of him at a presidential campaign rally in Laurel, Maryland in 1972. But he had to come to grips with pain and suffering as he never did before and maybe he caught a bit of empathy for those of the disenfranchised he'd demagogued against previously.

It is a fact that the former poster boy for race segregation got a large amount of black support in his final race for Governor in 1986.

Sinise is aided and abetted by good performances by Clarence Williams, III who serves as a kind of Greek Chorus, a fictional black servant at the Governor's mansion who is Wallace's sounding board as neither his two wives became.

Mare Winningham who is the small town girl Lurleen who he married and who just wanted a normal home life. She became part of his ambitions when she was elected Governor herself in a ploy to get around Alabama's term limit law. Winningham is as I remember Lurleen Wallace and conceive of what she was like in her private life.

Angelina Jolie in a break out role for her plays Wallace's second wife Cornelia who was the niece of former Governor Jim Folsom played her ably by Joe Don Baker. After Wallace was shot and paralyzed and lost the control of a number of lower body functions, she tries as best she can to adjust. A whole lot is against it though in both her's and his personalities.

George Wallace is a much better than average made for TV product, it probably should have gotten a theatrical release. It's a portrait of some dark corners of America and shouldn't be missed.

well worth seeing

[rupie · 6/10 · 5 August 2002]

I had to order this movie online to see it, as it has disappeared from local video stores up here in the "progressive" Northeast. Since it was made only in 1997 and much older films are still readily accessible one wonders if perhaps the reason for its scarcity up here is its presentation of Wallace as something other than the standard, portrait of an ignorant, cardboard cutout racist, a conception which make the liberal New England chest swell with self-satisfied, holier-than-thou virtue.

I remember seeing, years ago, video coverage on the evening news of Wallace's farewell speech as governor to the Alabama state house employees. As the cameras panned over the crowd - vastly minority - tears were streaming down as many black faces as white. I knew then that there was an untold story here. This, one of the brilliant John Frankenheimer's last productions, tells that story. The acting, pacing, dramatic line and production values are all first rate.

One would have wished for a bit more time given to the apoplexy which Wallace's presidential drives in the 60's gave to the powers-that-be in both parties. We forget that Wallace's successes in the northeast as a candidate who articulated the disenfranchisement felt by the middle class, was a huge factor in the movement of the country away from LBJ liberalism and towards conservatism, culminating in the elections of Richard Nixon (himself no conservative, though he ran as one) and ultimately Ronald Reagan.

An iconoclastic film which deserves all the awards it received. Just don't try to find in the video stores north of the Mason/Dixon line.

Change comes through suffering

[jackie080254 · 10/10 · 1 March 2006]

George Wallace is a wonderful piece of cinema portraying the life of the politician who became Governor of the state of Alabama. The film starts with a campaign and ends with repentance, showing how suffering can change a man. Intertwined with news features from the time and capturing moments like the Selma march and Martin Luther King and his "dream" speech, the film portrays life in this turbulent period of American history to perfection. For lovers of political dramas this is an excellent film, starring the excellent Gary Sinise as Wallace for which he won an Emmy and directed by John Frankenheimer. The film also stars Angelina Jolie and Joe Don Baker.

Some great performances, but bad case of biopic story-itis.

[shoobe01-1 · 6/10 · 17 November 2018]

Some great performances, nice mixing of stock footage and otherwise getting the time period. Adequate attention paid to Lurleen, even before her governorship. I was not offended by Archie, and even with that it's more accurate than 99% of biopics these days.

But... and it's a big but, it absolutely suffers from the complication that most biopics do, story-itis. Way, way, way too many disconnected vignettes. It even has to have captions, like "1972, two years later." Yes, we need that because it's SO easy to get lost with all this flitting around to try to cover the whole political life.

A bit overlong but exceptionally well made.

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 20 June 2012]

"George Wallace" is a made for TV documentary about the famous and very controversial governor of Alabama. Gary Sinese plays the title role and won an Emmy for his performance. The film runs about three hours and is a very long film. Very, very long. While there was more than enough material on the man to make a very long film like this possible, I question the need. Now this isn't to say it's a bad film. It's just that it seems to go on too long and loses some of its momentum through the course of the film. Yet, despite this, the film still is exceptional and is a quality production throughout--and I strongly recommend it. Another reason I recommend it is that while George Wallace is a rather famous historical figure, the WHOLE picture is not known by most people. How the repellent man changed through the course of the film is THE reason to see the film, as it's a rare chance to see a true story about redemption and change.

By the way, look closely during the scene in Boston about midway through the film. One of the hard-hatted protesters is Ron Jeremy!

Watchable

[JurijFedorov · 6/10 · 7 February 2022]

I'm not American so I'm not that interested in some low-tier American politicians. But I am interested in history and this 2 episode biography is seemingly overall well-liked so it enticed me. It's really not much. It's pretty dull and slow-paced just showing various talks and arguments by George C. Wallace to people around him.

These historical TV shows are always suffering from budget and access. It's hard to just go outside and film. You have to get 5-10 cars, 30 actors and clothes for them, find old buildings. Just finding settings is endlessly hard. Here they solve the problem by largely having it be set indoors in rooms where a single scene can last 2-3 minutes of arguments and dialogue. It's fine dialogue, but boring too. Wallace is doing something political or at times talking with his wives. That's it. No kids whatsoever, no parents, to outside family. He had 4 kids yet not a single one is shown for even a single second. Just this pretty dry man talking to people. At times we get a scene on a greenscreen or with a big old building in the background and that's it really. We don't really move from scene to scene. We just see settings. Indoors or in front of buildings for a few seconds.

We jump back and forth in his life . At first the old governor told him to keep the anti-racist line in Alabama. But as he loses the election he tries a new tactic: apartheid where Blacks and Whites have their own settings. He's elected and feels like this is now the way forward. Martin Luther King and other pro-Black protestors smell the big news story in this and right away create a bunch of protests there to get on the news. He's basically gifting them amazing TV exposure they couldn't get anywhere else in the country. Later he runs for president and sees that his Alabama ideas don't work outside his state. He totally changes his way and becomes progressive anti-racist as the rest of the politicians.

We also see how he gets shot and suffers from that. Very negative stuff that I didn't enjoy watching at all. It was already moody and depressive so this made it too much. And then his constant apologies were also too much. Today if you apologize for some cultural offense you are eaten alive so it will just invite more hate. "never apologize" is the popular slogan online among people who dislike the cancel culture. I guess times were different and you could easier apologize without getting even more hate for it. He stayed in regional politics at least. Basically, he adapts to whatever is around him. It's like any other politician, but he just got bitter and tried to appease a weird White subgroup. It worked for very few years and then he had to change ways.

We also see his 2 marriages. Nothing really that interesting as there are no kids around anyhow. And we have a Black butler who is a murderer serving the household. It's also pretty dry. The butler is extremely boring here. He just stands around. It's a character invented for the movie. Also, both Gary Sinise as Wallace and the butler have terrible old man makeup. That really takes away a lot from the movie.

Overall it's a slow and dry recreating of real scenes with Wallace where we see his life overall. There is nothing much here. I do like the political side of it and how he adapts to his voters. But it's way too long. We just jump around and never quite feel like he is solving problems or moving in a direction. We don't see him do anything political besides running for office or being pro apartheid. What about all the good he did for the state? Schools, hospitals, the police? Where is that stuff? Also, they use racist caricatures for many White people especially all policemen. It's the typical Hollywood stuff. I would have liked a bit less bias here. Show why they want to be in White groups. They could have shown crime differences or IQ differences to illustrate where the motivation comes from instead of just making them pure racist out of nowhere. But I'm getting better at ignoring these biases and tolerated it here for sure.

Skip it or don't, it's not a huge deal at any rate. But from news articles and TV shows I did think he would be some gigantic racist that remained racist forever. From this I don't see any racist action whatsoever. He seems very friendly towards Blacks and just politically a bit too smart. So I enjoyed learning that about him, but wish I was more entertained from it.

a great performance

[lee_eisenberg · 10/10 · 16 June 2006]

More than simply showing a part of history, "George Wallace" shows how a person - in this case a white supremacist - can change. In the title role, Gary Sinise does as intense a job as ever. Seeing what Wallace does early in his career, you're horrified, but you don't really grow to hate the guy (granted, you don't admire him either). Another interesting performance in the movie is a very young Angelina Jolie as Wallace's second wife Cornelia.

In conclusion, I don't know how good most of John Frankenheimer's movies have been, but this one is definitely worth seeing. Also starring Mare Winningham, Clarence Williams III and Joe Don Baker.

Angelina Jolie's breakout performance - a star of the future.

[bluetwin · 8/10 · 9 November 1999]

She steals every scene she is in and oozes sensuality all over the screen. Mark my words - she will be a major star and actress of the next decade. He also gives a powerhouse performance of a controversial historical figure. John Frankenheimer directs the movie with a knowing and sure hand. Fascinating and informative movie of a pivotal moment in America's history and the relation of the races.

A Lesson For Everyone

[Bronco46 · 9/10 · 24 May 2016]

They don't always give Oscars to the right person. But in this case, they definitely got it right. Gary Sinese's portrayal of the extremely controversial man. He showed us the human side of this man who went through one of the most amazing transitions ever seen in public. We don't often get to see someone change to this degree. I followed this man's life as he lived it in the news. But unless you looked deeper you would have never gotten to see his transformation. He was much more than a one-dimensional racist. This is an excellent film that draws you in with tight writing. And amazing performances by everyone. But Sinese stood out. It's a shame this film didn't greater theatrical success. There're several lessons in this film. But one of the big ones was near the end when he went into the Dexter Ave. church. The people in that church. LISTENED. They didn't shout him down or interrupt in any way. We've gotten away from that in the 21st century. Even if we just "think" we don't agree with a speaker. We don't show basic decency like the people in that church did. I found it enlightening. See what you think. Give it a chance.

How did I miss this

[cryptodad · 9/10 · 12 January 2022]

The performances are great. Gary Sinise gives life to Wallace that reminds one of Gary Oldman giving life to Sid Vicious. A mini series that you can watch easily in a sitting. Wallace is redeemed in the show although I believe Truth will require all politicians to pay the Faustian debt.