Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Charles Herold (cherold) It's interesting reading the comments for this movie here. Some are rather bizarre; an actor with a non-speaking part complains that he wasn't directed well and someone manages to watch this whole movie and still believes fervently in the blacklist. So I'll add my own thoughts to the mix.The first part of the movie, which deals with the effects of the blacklist on a few people, is a little dull. The subject has been tackled much better often over the years. The performances are good but it's all rather lacklustre. There are also these rather jarring little hops in time that are meant to add punch but just seem slightly off.The second part, involving the filming of Salt of the Earth, is more interesting, because it's something new and it is pretty shocking what lengths the government went to to stop this little movie. It could have been done better, and still feels a little lacklustre, but it's an interesting side story of the blacklist. The movie would have been better off just rushing through the early part and devoting the movie entirely to Salt of the Earth.Perhaps the movie can be understood through it's title, "One of the Hollywood Ten." What a lame title. It's like they couldn't bother to come up with a real title and just figured they'd name it something that would let people know the subject matter. Personally, I think I would have been more inclined to call it "8000 Feet of Freedom," (something said in the movie) although there's probably a better title out there.I would like to see a documentary on the same subject to see what really happened (while I know from googling around that a fair amount of what is in the film happened in real life, I don't know if it happened so melodramatically; perhaps it did). Salt of the Earth, by the way, is an interesting movie. A little stilted in places, but affecting, with a feminist slant that proves there was more progressive intelligence in the country than you ever could have guessed from Hollywood offerings.

netsmith2001 I thought this film did a fine job of portraying the ugliness of the US government in the repressive McCarthy era. Goldblum is excellent in his depiction of the courage it took to stand up to this tyranny and I found it very inspirational. In particular his attempt to confront the panel during the hearings in Washington was very well handled and it made me deeply consider how I would hold up in similar circumstances. I also appreciated the tenderness and commitment the he and his wife showed to each other. A mature portrayal. I recommend it. 7 stars out of 10.

Zen Bones Unfortunately, any film chronicling a specific period in history that most Americans are only barely knowledgeable about is going to have to be somewhat pedantic. To encompass the varied complexities of those `Reds' in Hollywood would come off as a history lesson that would last longer than `The Wings of War'. So a made-for-cable film like this must brush its canvas with wide strokes. This film focuses not so much on the agenda of the HUAC -for that I recommend "Tail Gunner Joe" and "Citizen Cohn"-, but on a select few of the victims of their persecution. For the most part, this film succeeds in showing what it was that these people, and other leftists in this country believed in (and still believe in). There's a great line in this film by the owner of the land where the director Biberman wants to film. He says, `I'm a Jeffersonian American'. It was Thomas Jefferson who wrote: "Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others." That form of liberty and equality has been a fight by the Left in this country for every generation since this country's inception. There has always been and always will be tyrants (fascists) who will try to squash that, and other tyrants (communists) who will promise liberty and equality in order to get the people to embrace their brand of tyranny. No doubt, there were many communist dupes in this country. There certainly were communist spies lurking in this country, and Stalinist and Maoist communism were verifiable threats the world over. But in post-WWII America, tyranny was used against the people in order to fight the THREAT of tyranny against the people. The principles that this country claimed to be so frightened of losing were tossed out altogether. In the USSR, people who didn't name names were sent to Siberia or executed. In the USA, the penalties were much less severe, but the process of unveiling ‘dissidents' was the same. Plus, there was the very audacious fact that most of those brought up in front of the HUAC were in fact the `real' Americans; the Jeffersonian Americans who believed in democracy and the principles of liberty and equality. `One of the Hollywood Ten' is a good introduction to those who wanted desperately to bring those principles to every American. They knew that a country that is oppressive and does not value equal rights for all is perfect bait for communism (as well as for fascism –the two are strikingly similar in practice). They also knew that if they didn't present the populace with the very real struggle that the millions of oppressed people in this country faced, those oppressed people might very well embrace the false liberty that communists promised. Everyone is aware of the fact that the silver screen (broadened today by TV) is a very powerful tool. But it cannot be manipulated to make people join another system of government if their own system government is sound. The left wing of Hollywood set to make it sound (something that people who opposed free speech, integration and decent housing and safe working environments did not want to see). Had the Hollywood Ten been able to continue their mission, perhaps the equalities and freedoms we enjoy today would have come sooner. And there would have been more great cinematic achievements like `Salt of the Earth'. I do think that `One of the Hollywood Ten' should have shown more of the conditions in this country that were so perfectly depicted in `Salt of the Earth' (such as racism, shameful poverty, and unsafe working conditions). But it does at least give us a valued glimpse of the hearts and minds of those who retained this country's greatness in its darkest hour.

lesliejoanne "One of the Hollywood Ten" isn't a film worth wasting your money and time one. If this is the state of "mature" British film making then will someone please send me back to the nursery. The tiresome, unwatchable performances creak of another era: the 1980s! This is a "perfect" example of boring, unentertaining, left-wing film making. The kind that had too much to say for it's own good. Frankly I'd rather watch a repeat of "Thunderbirds". They weren't nearly as wooden as this bunch.