The Paper (1994)

I'm entirely mystified by the low ratings for what is perhaps Ron Howard's best film. Apollo 13 is more spectacular, true enough. But The Paper is a greater rarity, a 'small' story, spectacularly well done.

I've seen this film numerous times - but to do so, I had to buy it on DVD from the UK, because no proper North American edition existed. Even as I write this (September 2016), there's STILL only a cropped full-screen DVD at Amazon.com, and no Blu-ray. Incredible, considering that Ron Howard is (I think rather undeservedly) considered one of Hollywood's top directors.

The Paper starts with a brilliant script, by veteran writers David and Stephen Koepp. They absolutely nail all the plot points along several beautifully intertwining story arcs: Michael Keaton trying to land a big story, his wife having a baby, his editor trying to reconcile with an alienated daughter, and a cocky columnist feuding with the city's parking commissioner. Amazingly, these threads all tie up.

Ron Howard, not usually the most flamboyant director, does a terrific job of pacing the film. He also uses a subtle but superb approach to filming the newsroom scenes, keeping the camera floating around the cubicles, creating a sense of the perpetual state of urgency imposed by a daily deadline.

All the performances are terrific. Michael Keaton is funny, angry, emotionally conflicted. Marisa Tomei is charming and spunky as usual. Duvall is perfect as the grizzled editor. Glenn Close is suitably vile as the villain. And Randy Quaid delivers yet another unheralded mini-masterpiece, as an outspoken columnist... with a gun.

If this film had been made in the 1940s, it would have starred Clark Gable and Jean Arthur and would have been directed by Howard Hawks. And today it would be regarded as a classic. For some reason, instead, The Paper has been nearly forgotten by everyone.

The Paper is flatly one of the best films about the newspaper business, and quite simply an almost perfect film in every sense. It doesn't tackle big philosophical issues (much) - but what it does, it does as well as any film has ever done. It's funny, exciting, emotionally intense and utterly satisfying. I enjoy and appreciate its unexpected depths more with each viewing.

See this film any way you can - short of purchasing the abominable pan-and-scan DVD.

Fmovies: Fast and witty story about 1 day in the life of a newspaper journalist. Workaholic Michael Keaton is addicted to his feverish deadline job at the daily newspaper.While his wife Marisa Tomei is pregnant he still wont take time to support her because he is rushing to make the newspapers deadline. Will they release the paper in time for todays deadline or not?

"The Paper" is a somewhat romantic and feverish portrayal of a days work at a newspaper and it makes for great cinema! Seen "The Paper" many times now. It isnt a masterpiece, but is so enjoyable to watch again and again, because the characters are so loveable and full of charm and wit. The actors Michael Keaton, Glenn Close, Marisa Tomei and Robert Duvall are to thank for that. They carry this movie with ease! Lovely, energetic and witty picture! Guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

Ron Howard makes another feelgoodmovie with "The Paper". Never too sentimental, never too cliche without humour softening it, Ron Howard finds the right balance. I believe that in "The Paper" director Ron Howard is at his peak. I feel really good having watched this fast, witty and sometimes romantic flick!

Ron Howard has assembled an all-star, A-list cast to dramatize a day in the life of a New York City tabloid. And they do a great job of it. Ron Howard is not a director to choose the "edgy" themes, and The Paper is no exception. The main plot focuses on the decision of whether or not to publish a sensational story that the editors and writers suspect is false, but will nonetheless sell lots of papers. This thread is supported by a variety of minor, intertwining stories that weave in and out of the main tale. It's very enjoyable stuff, part drama and part comedy. Ron Howard has made a movie that is just right for that weekend rental for the family.

The Paper fmovies. The film tells the story of a single day in the life of "The Sun", not the British tabloid famous for its Page Three Girls, but a struggling New York newspaper. The main character is the editor Henry Hackett. He is a workaholic who enjoys his high-pressure, high-powered job, but has been offered another position with the "New York Sentinel", a prestigious broadsheet. Although he fears that he will find this largely administrative post less fulfilling, he is being pressured to accept it by his pregnant wife Martha because it will involve shorter hours and higher pay. Among the other characters are Bernie, the hard-bitten hard-drinking publisher, Alicia the bitchy, unsympathetic managing editor and McDougal, the paper's star reporter who has been running a campaign to discredit the city's parking supervisor.

The main drama centres on the murder of two white businessmen in a predominantly black area of the city. This is initially assumed to be a racially motivated killing, an assumption shared by most of the press, and two black youths are taken into custody by the police. Hackett, however, has a hunch that the two are innocent and that the killings are in fact linked to organised crime. When, late in the day, he finds a policeman who confirms his suspicions he is presented with a dilemma. Under pressure from Alicia he has agreed to lead the next day's edition with a picture of the two men being taken into custody and the headline "Gotcha!" (once famously used by the British "Sun" in a different context) which will imply the men's guilt. Although the edition has already gone to press, Henry wants to stop the presses and use the same photograph but with a different headline emphasising their innocence. Alicia, however, puts financial considerations before journalistic accuracy and is reluctant to stop the print run because of the extra costs involved.

The film could have been made in one of two ways, either as a satirical comedy about the press or as a serious drama about journalistic ethics. Unfortunately, it does not fall into either of these categories but rather falls somewhere between the two. The overall tone is too light for a serious drama, and some scenes verge on the farcical. I am thinking particularly of the one where Henry and Alicia have a stand-up fist fight while he tries to turn the printing press off and she tries to stop him. I have never been Michael Keaton's greatest admirer, with his rather frenetic style of acting (or overacting), but if the film had been made as a pure comedy he might have worked well as the frantically overactive Henry. He did not, however, seem convincing in his attempts to make Henry into a crusader for truth and integrity. The scriptwriter must also bear some of the blame for this; it is hard to regard as a paragon of virtue a journalist who steals a story from a rival editor's desk while being interviewed for a job. The best acting performance was probably from Glenn Close as Alicia, but even she was something of a comic villain- the Cruella de Vil of the newspaper industry- rather than a rounded character.

On the other hand, the film is insufficiently biting and cynical and too sentimental to work as satire. It has been said of this film that even when Ron Howard tries to make a semi-serious film he ends up reducing it to cotton candy. To be fair to Howard, he has made some reasonably good films since 1994 on serious themes, such as "Apollo 13" or "A Beautiful Mind", but with regard

There are not too many solid Newspaper stories which ever make it to the silver Screen. Occasionally one does comes along and if it's message is important with respect towards the audience, it deserves attention. Such a movie is, " The Paper ". The star of the movie is Michael Keaton who plays Henry Hackett a city editor who's boss is Bernie White played by noted actor Robert Duvall. Jason Robards is the Publisher, Graham Keighley. Their newspaper is about to print a story about a local derailment, when a small item arrest in Williamsburg NY, inspires Hackett to risk his position and a promotion with 'The Sentinal'' a prestigious uptown Newspaper. There are a number of hurtles to following up on the Williamsburg murder of three prominent bankers who lost several million dollars of the Mafia's money, primary of which is Alicia Clark (Glenn Close) an envious supervisor who is more interested in saving money than the reputations of two black youths. She explains that without more information on the dead men, additional corroboration or a quote by the tight-lipped police, she is running the subway derailment story. Confident he is right, Hackett pulls out all the stops to beat a four hour deadline, attend his wife's (Marisa Tomei) social life, protect his top reporter (Randy Quaid) from a gun-toting parking official (Jason Alexander) and file the story by press time. The movie possess all the exciting impetus of a modern front page story including the daily problems confronting the staff and the personal lives of all concern. The film is powerful in it's direction and will in time be seen as a Journalistic Classic. Easilly recommended for all. ****

Kudos to my fellow Canadian from Manitoba who got it dead on! This is one of those movies that can should be played during college and university recruiting presentations. Being a newspaper journalist myself, this one kept me up until 2 or 2 in the am on a Sunday night. It was that good. The end of the movie makes it all worthwhile. I am surprised I had never heard of this movie until the day I saw it. Mchael Keaton, Glenn Close and Randy Quaid were excellent and this movie gives you a very good look at what it's like to be working in the newspaper business, with deadlines, dealing with superiors and the things you have to go through sometimes in order to get the job done. I guess it's a little late to be wondering about a sequel to this one but hopefully another director can take a stab at creating what this one just did.