Vintage Trailer of the Week 46

A genuinely great and important movie, Haskall Wexler's Medium Cool (1969) is that rare thing, an American film which bears the real influence of the European cinema of the 1950s and 60s. Following a cameraman in Chicago during a few turbulent weeks in the last year of that decade, its drama is loose and elliptical, without any of the leaden ironies or contrived plotting of most Hollywood product. Shot documentary style on location, its cast and crew find themselves at one point amidst a real riot with tear gas and fleeing protesters all made part of the narrative.
Yet its still a lovely piece of cinema. Wexler made his name as a genius-level cinematographer, and this film is frequently inspired in its visual storytelling and lighting. A young and beautiful Robert Forster proves a magnetic lead, too: