The Post (2017)
In 1966, during the Vietnam War, U.S. State Department military analyst Daniel Ellsberg accompanies American troops in combat, documenting military progress for Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. On the flight home, McNamara tells Ellsberg and William B. Macomber that the war is hopeless. Upon landing, however, he tells the congregated media that he has every confidence in the war effort. Ellsberg, overhearing this abrupt turn-about, becomes disillusioned. Years later, as a civilian military contractor/consultant working for the RAND Corporation (a military/defense “think tank”), Ellsberg photocopies hundreds of pages of classified reports documenting the country’s decades-long involvement in Vietnam, dating back to the Truman administration. Ellsberg then leaks these documents first to The New York Times, through reporter Neil Sheehan.
In 1971, Katharine Graham has been owner and publisher for the past eight years of The Washington Post, following the suicide of her husband, the Post’s former publisher, and the death of her father, the previous owner. She nervously prepares for the Post’s stock market launch, a move to help financially stabilize the paper. Graham lacks journalistic experience and is frequently overruled by her domineering financial advisers and editors, including editor-in-chief (executive editor) Ben Bradlee and board member Arthur Parsons. McNamara, a long-time friend of hers, advises Graham that an unflattering story featuring him will be published in The New York Times, another example of the Times’ ability to get preemptive scoops while the Post languishes behind. The story is an exposé of the American government’s long-running deception about America’s position in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. However, a federal district court injunction halts the Times from publishing further articles on the subject.
Date of download: 2015-11-11T17:22:34+00:00
Cast:  Meryl StreepKay Graham  Tom HanksBen Bradlee  Sarah PaulsonTony Bradlee  Bob OdenkirkBen Bagdikian  Tracy LettsFritz Beebe  Bradley WhitfordArthur Parsons  Bruce GreenwoodRobert McNamara  Matthew RhysDaniel Ellsberg |
In 1966, during the Vietnam War, U.S. State Department military analyst Daniel Ellsberg accompanies American troops in combat, documenting military progress for Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. On the flight home, McNamara tells Ellsberg and William B. Macomber that the war is hopeless. Upon landing, however, he tells the congregated media that he has every confidence in the war effort. Ellsberg, overhearing this abrupt turn-about, becomes disillusioned. Years later, as a civilian military contractor/consultant working for the RAND Corporation (a military/defense “think tank”), Ellsberg photocopies hundreds of pages of classified reports documenting the country’s decades-long involvement in Vietnam, dating back to the Truman administration. Ellsberg then leaks these documents first to The New York Times, through reporter Neil Sheehan.
In 1971, Katharine Graham has been owner and publisher for the past eight years of The Washington Post, following the suicide of her husband, the Post’s former publisher, and the death of her father, the previous owner. She nervously prepares for the Post’s stock market launch, a move to help financially stabilize the paper. Graham lacks journalistic experience and is frequently overruled by her domineering financial advisers and editors, including editor-in-chief (executive editor) Ben Bradlee and board member Arthur Parsons. McNamara, a long-time friend of hers, advises Graham that an unflattering story featuring him will be published in The New York Times, another example of the Times’ ability to get preemptive scoops while the Post languishes behind. The story is an exposé of the American government’s long-running deception about America’s position in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. However, a federal district court injunction halts the Times from publishing further articles on the subject.
