MovieChat Forums > RKO 281 (1999) Discussion > Comment On Mankiewicz Character

Comment On Mankiewicz Character

posted 16 years ago by joshL1
4 replies | jump to latest

I'm not a film buff, and although I'd seen Citizen Kane years ago in college, I didn't know much of it.

I liked RKO 281. I liked learning of the Herman Mankiewicz through John Malkovich's portrayal. I didn't know such a person existed, but from digging around online it appears that RKO 281 was simply portraying the gist of an actual creative relationship between Welles and Mankiewicz, and then a conflict over authorship. For example:

http://everything2.com/node/1183292

"Mank became entangled in a storm over the Academy Award winning script for Citizen Kane. Even though Orson Welles initially asserted that he wrote it, the majority of the people who worked on the movie as well as host of researchers are adamant that Mankiewicz deserves the most credit."

I don't have time to dig in and learn the nuances of the controversy, but I liked this HBO movie taking a shot at laying out this and other stories about the making of Citizen Kane. Liev Schreiber was good in this, as were others.

[–] ibbi 12 years ago

Definitely barely scratched the surface in regards to that relationship, but that was never the focus of the movie, he was basically there to be a sidekick, helped provide the odd moment of drama. There's a much more interesting, complex picture to be made out of this relationship.

hope in our heart, and wings on our heels

[–] Prismark10 9 years ago

The relationship between the two will fill a film on its own.

Its that man again!!

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Hancock_the_Superb 9 years ago

the majority of the people who worked on the movie as well as host of researchers are adamant that Mankiewicz deserves the most credit."

"Vast majority" meaning John Houseman (who helped write some of the early drafts, and hated Welles) and Rita Alexander (Mankiewicz's secretary). "Host of researchers" meaning Pauline Kael, in an essay that was trashed when published and has been systematically debunked over the past several decades.

I'm afraid that you underestimate the number of subjects in which I take an interest!