good back-story, and good acting

Fresh and Exciting

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

This film was not a bad made for TV movie. It doesn't seem that all the facts are being put out during some scenes in the film. Richard Dryfuss is well placed as Al Haig. Same as Richard Crenna and Holland Taylor. And some of the side actors such as Beau Starr and Michael Murphy do fine as well. But the screenplay seems faulty at times, and you can tell it is a made for TV movie. You can also tell that Oliver Stone was involved in the project. The actors were right for this film, but the director and producers should have handled a different kind of film. Not an historical one. Don't buy it on DVD, either rent it or wait till it's back on the History Channel. HAs some f-bombs, that's the worst of the R rating.

It is clear that the low score average indicates that far too many votes were not on the film but on Reagan himself. This is an excellent film and a keeper in my library.I remember this day and this incident vividly. Who could forget the obviously shaken Al Haig telling the country that he was "in control" in the White House while Vice-President Bush was still in the air. This is the story behind the story: the chaos and panic that can set in when a President is shot. There is a theme in this real-life incident that was touched upon in television's "The West Wing" when "President Bartlett" was shot: when your first priority is to get medical assistance for an injured President, there can be oversights in procedure. And there were oversights when Reagan was shot.Richard Crenna does a wonderful job as Reagan, far superior to James Brolin's wooden caricature in "The Reagans." Richard Dreyfuss as Al Haig was brilliant. There is poignancy in the anxiety of the surgeon who "didn't even vote for the guy" and has to be reassured that he should treat Reagan like any other senior citizen in similar condition.The rest of the cast was top notch as well. I really enjoyed this film, but then I love history and I love stories that tell us what really happened. I wonder if I will live long enough to find out what really happened the day JFK was shot.

The Left leaning can really ruin a film, and I was expecting the worse. I was surprised with this film, except for the dramatizations of Haig, this film is somewhat accurate. Panic, disorganization, big time mistakes (ie the ex midterm) do happen. Agency in-fighting, phones not working is part of our imperfect world. The devil takes advantage of us when we are at our weakest. Maybe, someone can answer this question, but I do believe Weinberger, and Haig did not get along? How much of this is overdramatized I do not know. What I did like is they showed at the end, Haig loves his country, and did his best to help and lead in a time of crisis. What I really hate is that they left out that the US had to show that Reagan was strong, for the cold war sake, Bush and the rest knew this. This is part of the art of war. Did they really ask the secret service to leave the operating room, some many facts I did forget. I could imagine the stress the oval office has and what could be done in a time of crisis, like 9/11.6 out of 10 Mike

I'll get to the movie in a minute. First, someone wanted "proof" about Clinton's comments at Georgetown, where he claimed that the USA "deserved" the 9-11 attacks. Well, here's what Clinton said:"In the first Crusade, when the Christian soldiers took Jerusalem, they first burned a synagogue with 300 Jews in it and proceeded to kill every woman and child who was a Muslim on the Temple Mount. I can tell you that story is still being told today in the Middle East and we are still paying for it."WE'RE still paying for it? Whaddya mean "we", paleface? The Marines didn't storm the Temple Mount. But in truth, Clinton never really came out and flatly said that we "deserved" 9-11. Like all his statements during his presidency, he IMPLIED that we deserved 9-11. Just point out "fact" A, B, C, and maybe D, and let the listener deduce that they must add up to conclusion X. When in truth, most of Clinton's "Facts" added up to guacamole.But that's beside the point. We're here to talk movies, not politics. Unfortunately, when Oliver "Captain Conspiracy" Stone does a movie, you can't escape his warped politics. It was only a matter of time before he focused his paranoia and bitterness on the Reagan Era, and what better time than when Stone's dreams almost came true, on the day Reagan nearly bought the farm. Unable to find any nefarious plots or schemes in Hinckley's assassination attempt, he invents one with Al Haig. From a simple misunderstanding of the chain of Constitutional authority, Haig is transformed from a public servant who really should have brushed up on his remedial civics into a raving megalomaniac. You almost expect Haig to rub his hands together like Montgomery Burns and tell Cap Weinberger to "Release the Hounds." Stone even recruits the smarmiest person in Hollywood to play our former Secretary of State, Richard Dreyfuss. A guy you love to hate on sight.Overall, the movie is OK. Average, hovering on below average. Don't bother renting or buying. Try to catch it on cable. 4 out of 10.