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Reporter World provides a variety of safety equipment, identification products, specialized high-visibility clothing, pertinent news, product reviews, book reviews and useful links specifically for reporters, writers, assignment editors, news correspondents, journalists, ENG crews, photographers, production staff, directors, segment producers, media security personnel, and freelancers: in short, anyone who is part of the news gathering, information reporting, or documentary film industries.

The Movies area of ReporterWorld.com showcases films of specific interest to writers, journalists, correspondents, ENG crews and other members of the press, media or film industries. Our industry has been the focus of several movies -- entertaining us, making us laugh, recording history, and, in some cases, even changing the world. This area highlights these films and, wherever possible, offers them in multiple region DVD formats.

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Note: all movies in this section are available in "DVD Region 1 format". This means they are suitable for viewing on DVD players manufactured for markets in the US, US Territories, Canada and Bermuda. Besides Region 1, there are five other regions around the world, with each region's DVD encoding technology being slightly different. Consequently, a Region 1 DVD may or may not work on a DVD player manufactured for a different region.

Please note that films are listed in reverse chronological order, that is, the most recently released film is listed first, with older films pushed down the list.

Good Night and Good Luck

Good Night and Good Luck (2005, drama) – This movie pays tribute to the journalistic excellence of legendary CBS newscaster Edward R. Murrow, a man who cut his correspondent’s teeth covering the madness of the Blitz during World War II and honed his craft during the virulent anti-Communist witch-hunt of Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy. While using crisp black-and-white filming to recreate the electrifying atmosphere of the CBS newsroom during the early years of TV, director George Clooney (whose father was Cincinnati newsman, Nick Clooney) weaves together several themes with an ensemble cast. Best of all, Clooney uses a particularly light touch to drive home his message that journalistic integrity knows no time period. Rated: PG, 4 stars. Director: George Clooney. Cast: Robert John Burke, Patricia Clarkson, George Clooney, J. D. Cullum, Jeff Daniels, David Strathairn, Robert Downey jr., Alex Borstein, Rose Abdoo, Peter Martin and Tate Donovan.

This movie is available in the following formats:

• DVD Region 1 widescreen format;
• DVD Region 1 standard format;
• DVD Region 1 HD format; and
• DVD Region 1 Blu-ray format.
Almost Famous Almost Famous (2000, drama-comedy) – Director Cameron Crowe has been waiting a long time to tell this story: a (somewhat) fictionalized tale of his own life as a teenage reporter working for Rolling Stone magazine in the 1970s. A simple assignment to do an inside piece on a band called Stillwater (an contrived agglomeration of the Allman Brothers, Zed Zeppelin and other period groups) turns into a series of defining moments in William Miller's life (played by Patrick Fugit). Great performances by Miller's mom (Frances McDormand) and groupie Penny Lane (Kate Hudson) round out the movie. Rated R, 5 stars. Director: Cameron Crowe. Cast: Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand, Kate Hudson, Jason Lee, Patrick Fugit, Zooey Deschanel, Michael Angarano, Noah Taylor, John Fedevich, Mark Kozelek, Fairuza Balk and Anna Paquin.

This movie is available in the following format:

• DVD Region 1 standard format.
Almost Famous - Director's Edition The Almost Famous Untitled, The Bootleg Cut (Director's Edition) (2000, drama-comedy) – Features 36 minutes of never-before-scene footage, a new behind-the-scenes featurette, deleted scenes with commentary including Stillwater's Cleveland concert featuring 6 original songs and Cameron Crowe's Top 10 albums of 1973. Also included are the shooting script with Cameron Crowe's own notes, original Rolling Stone articles with commentary, and Nancy Wilson's original music. Commentary by Crowe and his mother (!) fleshes out original film sequences and adds even more depth to this comedy-drama. Rated R, 5 stars. Director: Cameron Crowe. Cast: Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand, Kate Hudson, Jason Lee, Patrick Fugit, Zooey Deschanel, Michael Angarano, Noah Taylor, John Fedevich, Mark Kozelek, Fairuza Balk and Anna Paquin.

This movie is available in the following format:

• DVD Region 1 standard format.
The Insider The Insider (1999, drama) – Director Michael Mann takes wide dramatic license to showcase how the tobacco industry has affected broadcast journalism. On one side, there is Jeffrey Wigand (played by Russell Crowe), a tobacco scientist who exposed Brown & Williamson's inclusion of addictive ingredients in cigarettes. On the other side is 60 Minutes producer Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino), whose struggle to report Wigand's story puts him at odds with veteran correspondent Mike Wallace and other CBS executives. Rated: G, 4.5 stars. Director: Michael Mann. Cast: Al Pacino, Russell Crowe, Christopher Plummer, Diane Venora, Gina Gershon and Lindsay Crouse.

This movie is available in the following format:

• DVD region 1 standard format.
RKO 281 RKO 281: The Battle Over Citizen Kane (1999, drama) – This pseudo-documentary tells the fascinating story of Citizen Kane, considered by many to be America's greatest film. When "boy genius" Orson Welles accepts a dinner invitation to publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst's castle, San Simeon, it inspires him to use Hearst's story as the basis for a brilliant, yet scathing, allegory about the absolute corruptibility of power. Rated: not rated, 4.5 stars. Director: Benjamin Ross. Cast: Liev Schreiber, James Cromwell, Melanie Griffith, John Malkovich, Brenda Blethyn and Roy Scheider.

This movie is available in the following format:

• DVD Region 1 standard format.
Mad City Mad City (1997, drama) – John Travolta plays a barely educated museum guard who is laid off from his job and ends up holding his former boss (played by Blythe Danner) and a group of schoolchildren hostage in an effort to get his job back. Dustin Hoffman plays a has-been television-network journalist trying to stage a professional comeback by pushing and controlling press coverage of the story. Rated: R, 3.5 stars. Dircetor: Constantin Costa-Gavras. Cast: John Travolta, Dustin Hoffman, Mia Kirshner, Alan Alda, Robert Prosky, Blythe Danner, William Altheton and Ted Levine.

This movie is available in the following format:

• DVD region 1 standard format.
Wag The Dog Wag The Dog (1997, comedy-drama) – Can the US President's sexual dalliances be buried in the two weeks before an election using skilled – but entirely phony – news stories and inaccurate reporting? Robert De Niro (the mysterious "Mr. Fix-It" man), Dustin Hoffman (the cynical Hollywood producer) and Anne Heche (the high-strung White House aide) construct a worthy deception: a war in Albania to distract the voting population. A convenient conflict using the latest Hollywood fakery ("all developed by the new James Cameron film") creates images all designed to mislead the public. Worst of all, it works. Rated: R, 4 stars. Director: Barry Levinson. Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, Anne Heche, Woody Harrelson, Denis Leary, Willie Nelson, Andrea Martin, Michael Belson, Craig T. Nelson, James Belushi, Suzanne Cryer, Kirsten Dunst and William H. Macy.

This movie is available in the following format:

• DVD Region 1 standard format.
Michael Michael (1996, comedy-drama) – John Travolta plays a grubby angel who's got one last good deed to do before heading back to heaven. But when tabloid reporters (William Hurt, Robert Pastorelli) learn of Michael's alleged existence and head to Iowa to check him out, Michael soon realizes that it's his task to see that Hurt falls in love with an "angel expert" (Andie MacDowell) and breaks free from his habitually cynical attitude. Rated: PG, 3.5 stars. Director: Nora Ephron. Cast: John Travolta, Andie MacDowell, William Hurt, Bob Hoskins, Robert Pastorelli, Jean Stapleton and Teri Garr.

This movie is available in the following format:

• DVD Region 1 standard format.
To Die For To Die For (1995, satirical comedy/drama) – Nicole Kidman delivers a deliciously satirical performance as Suzanne Stone, a small-town New Hampshire housewife who fancies herself the next Barbara Walters, Jane Pauley, Diane Sawyer and Maria Shriver – all rolled up into one meticulously coifed package. So determined is she to have a successful career on TV that she'll stop at nothing -- even the cold-blooded murder of her husband (Matt Dillon) – to get the attention to which she feels entitled. Rated: R, 4 stars. Director: Gus Van Sant. Cast: Nicole Kidman, Matt Dillon, Joaquin Phoenix, Casey Affleck, Illeana Douglas, Alison Foland and Dan Hedaya.

This movie is available in the following format:

• DVD Region 1 standard format.
The Paper The Paper (1994, comedy-drama) – Perhaps not everyday is as crazy and hectic as this 24-hour period portrayed in a fictional New York tabloid's life, but The Paper closely mimics the gritty streets and the complex decisions that go into printing the news on a deadline. When an apparent racially motivated murder is committed, the newspaper's grizzled editor-in-chief (Robert Duvall), its cold female managing editor (Glenn Close), and the slightly whacked-out ace columnist (Randy Quaid) all have their own spin on how the story should be presented, regardless of the facts. Rated R, 4 stars. Director: Ron Howard. Cast: Michael Keaton, Glenn Close, Marisa Tomei, Randy Quaid, Robert Duvall, Jason Robards Jr., Jason Alexander, Spalding Grey, Catherine O'Hara, Jack Kehoe and Clint Howard.

This movie is available in the following format:

• DVD Region 1 standard format.
Pump Up The Volume Pump Up The Volume (1994, drama) – In the suburban hinterlands of Arizona, misfit high school student by day and pirate-radio DJ by night "Hard Harry" (Christian Slater) battles against boredom from his bedroom transmitter. In between his fantastic and poignant rants, Harry attacks the airwaves with the likes of wild new wave music. Fellow misfit Nora (Samantha Mathis) eventually discovers Hard Harry's true identity, and the two of them become torchbearers against the stifling status quo of the town as they dodge the cops, the school administration and, of course, the FCC. Rated: G, 3 stars. Director: Allen Moyle. Cast: Christian Slater, Scott Paulin, Samantha Mathis, Ellen Greene and James Hampton.

This movie is available in the following format:

• DVD Region 1 standard format.
Groundhog Day Groundhog Day (1993, comedy) – Snowed in during a road-trip expedition to cover Groundhog Day, jaded and supremely arrogant TV weatherman Bill Murray falls into an unexplained time warp in which he must continually relive the same day: doing a stand-up package for groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil. Murray's overly serious segment producer (played by Andie MacDowell) and his blissfully clueless cameraman (Chris Elliott) complete the talented ensemble cast. Very funny, especially to those reporters, writers and other creative types who've been asked to do "just one more edit (or take)" at some time or other -- which, unfortunately, is most of us. Rated: PG, 3.5 stars. Director: Harold Ramis. Cast: Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott and Stephen Tobolowsky.

This movie is available in the following format:

• DVD Region 1 standard format.

The Russian House

The Russian House (1990, drama) – A British book publisher is dragged into the world of espionage by an intriguing woman after a smuggled Russian manuscript falls into his hands. What makes this movie work (besides Connery's and Pfeiffer on-screen chemistry) is the top-notch adaptation of John Le Carre's novel. Rated: R, 4 stars. Director: Fred Schepisi. Cast: Sean Connery, Michelle Pfeiffer, Roy Scheider, Klaus Maria Brandauer, James Fox, John Mahoney, Michael Kitchen, J. T. Walsh and Ken Russell.

This movie is available in the following format:

• DVD Region 1 standard format.

Eight Men Out Eight Men Out (1988, drama) – Eliot Asinof's detailed book Eight Men Out illustrates how the system of American sports collapsed in 1919, the year the Chicago White Sox threw the World Series. The movie version introduces viewers to bickering owners, famous crooks, high-minded judges, lowlife gangsters, investigative reporters (who kept digging until they found the story they were after), and, most of all, players who are at the breaking point when it comes to low salaries and degrading situations. Rated: PG, 4.5 stars. Director: John Sayles. Cast: Charlie Sheen, John Cusack, Christopher Lloyd, D. B. Sweeney, David Strathairn, Michael Lerner, Clifton James and Studs Terkel.

This movie is available in the following format:

• DVD Region 1 standard format.

Broadcast News Broadcast News (1987, comedy-drama) – William Hurt plays a pretty-boy, up-and-coming anchorman with whom Holly Hunter, the over-analyzing network news producer, falls in love. Unfortunately for Hunter, Hurt's character is all shine and no substance, but his quick advance through the network is an overwhelming metaphor for how hard news has shifted towards packaged infotainment over the last few years. Completing the love triangle is Albert Brooks, who provides contrast as a reporter with huge talent but absolutely no camera presence. Rated: R, 5 stars). Director: James L. Brooks. Cast: William Hurt, Albert Brooks, Holly Hunter, Jack Nicholson, Robert Prosky and Joan Cusack.

This movie is available in the following format:

• DVD Region 1 standard format.
The Killing Fields The Killing Fields (1984, drama) – A disturbing film that chronicles the real-life relationship between New York Times reporter Sidney Schanberg and his Cambodian guide, Dith Pran (played by Haing S. Ngor), the latter left at the mercy of the Khmer Rouge after Schanberg fails to get Pran safe passage out of this war-town region. The gripping passport scene is enough to remind every photojournalist to always keep an extra roll of fresh film around, just in case. Rated: R, 5 stars. Director: Rolland Joffre. Cast: Sam Waterson, Haing S. Ngor, John Malkovich, Julian Sands and Craig T. Nelson.

This movie is available in the following format:

• DVD Region 1 standard format.
Absence of Malice Absence of Malice (1982, drama) – The ethics of the newspaper industry are lampooned in Absence of Malice, an entertaining story about a Miami reporter (Sally Field) who is set up to leak information on a dead-end murder investigation. When the story runs, it uncorks an ethical minefield that puts the innocent on trial for their reputations. Perhaps the best part of the movie arrives when the newspaper's lawyers rationalize the continuing coverage by maintaining the paper's story is accurate, even though it may be untrue. Rated: PG, 4 stars. Director: Sydney Pollack. Cast: Paul Newman, Sally Field, Bob Balaban, Melinda Dillon and Wilford Brimley.

This movie is available in the following format:

• DVD Region 1 standard format.
Reds

Reds (1981, drama) – This movie is an epic account of an American journalist’s experiences while reporting on the Russian Revolution. Warren Beatty plays John Reid, a left-leaning writer covering Soviet affairs for an American socialist journal called The Masses. By being in-country when the old regime falls and the new regime emerges, Reid somehow falls into a series of important roles in the fledgling Soviet government. Jack Nicholson has an important role as fellow intellectual Eugene O'Neill and Diane Keaton plays writer Louise Bryant, Reid’s romantic, political and spiritual companion. Rated: PG, 4 stars. Director: Warren Beatty. Cast: Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Gene Hackman, Edward Herrmann, Maureen Stapleton, Jerry Kosinski.

This movie is available in the following formats:

• DVD Region 1 standard format;
• DVD Region 1 HD format; and
• DVD Region 1 Blu-ray format.
All The President's Men All the President's Men (1976, drama) – Movies about journalism just don't get any better than this one. Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein (played by Dustin Hoffman) and Bob Woodward (played by Robert Redford) investigate the Watergate Hotel break-ins – and write stories that later set the stage for President Richard Nixon's eventual resignation. The masterpiece also features Jason Robards in his Oscar-winning role as Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee. Simply fantastic. Rated: PG, 5 stars. Director: Alan J. Pakula. Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, Jason Robards, Jane Alexander, Jack Warden and Martin Balsam.

This movie is available in the following format:

• DVD Region 1 standard format.
Network Network (1976, drama) – Before reality TV, "infonews" and The Jerry Springer Show, we had Network. Peter Finch plays a veteran network anchorman who's been fired because of low ratings. His character's response is to announce he'll kill himself on live television before he leaves the station in two weeks. What follows, along with skyrocketing ratings (naturally), is the anchorman's descent into insanity, during which he rages against the very medium that made him a celebrity. The movie that gave us the now-famous mantra "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take it anymore!" for which Peter Finch won a posthumous Oscar for Best Actor. Rated R, 5 stars. Director: Sidney Lumet. Cast: Peter Finch, William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Robert Duvall, Ned Beatty and Beatrice Straight.

This movie is available in the following format:

• DVD Region 1 standard format.
Dog Day Afternoon Dog Day Afternoon (1975, drama) – Al Pacino plays Sonny, who, along with his rather dim-witted accomplice Sal (John Cazale, familiar as Pacino's brother, Fredo, in The Godfather), holds hostages after a botched a bank robbery. Sonny finds himself transformed into a rebel celebrity when his standoff with police is covered live on local television. An interesting look at how spinning the facts can change viewer's emotions and perceptions. Rated R, 4 stars. Director: Sidney Lumet. Cast: Al Pacino, John Cazale, Charles Durning, Carol Kane and Chris Sarandon.

This movie is available in the following format:

• DVD Region 1 standard format.
Medium Cool Medium Cool (1969, drama) – Director Haskell Wexler began filming a movie about racial tensions in Chicago during the weeks prior to the 1968 Democratic National Convention, on the assumption that there would be a riot there. This is made stranger still by the story: a reporter covering the growing unrest in the black ghettos of the city discovers that the FBI may be working with his TV network to create the news and catch "troublemakers". Despite its age, the movie continues to be worth seeing for its striking footage and (until Forrest Gump) unprecedented combination of the real and the cinematic. Director: Haskell Wexler. Cast: Robert Forster, Verna Bloom and Peter Bonerz.

This movie is available in the following format:

• DVD Region 1 standard format.

The Sweet Smell of Success The Sweet Smell of Success (1957, drama) – A classic of the late 1950s, this film looks at the string-pulling behind-the-scenes action between desperate press agent Sidney Falco (played by Tony Curtis) and the ultimate power broker in that long-ago show-biz Manhattan: gossip columnist J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster). The film follows Falco's attempts to promote a client through Hunsecker's newspaper column -- until he is forced to make a deal with the devil and help Hunsecker ruin a jazz musician who dares to date Hunsecker's sister. Rated: PG, 3.5 stars. Director: Alexander Mackendrick. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Martin Milner, Sam Levene, Barbara Nichols and Susan Harrison.

This movie is available in the following format:

• DVD Region 1 standard format.

The Blue Gardenia The Blue Gardenia (1953, drama) – Anne Baxter stars as Norah Larkin, a naive girl who wakes up an accused murderess after passing out in the apartment of brutish playboy Harry Prebble (played by Raymond Burr). Branded "The Blue Gardenia" by a sensational columnist (Richard Conte), Norah dodges police dragnets, greedy informants and other challenges as she fights to clear her name. A nifty twist at film's end reveals the identity of the actual killer after intrepid reporter Conte successfully follows up on an important clue. Title song by Nat "King" Cole. Rated: PG, 2.5 stars. Director: Fritz Lang. Cast: Anne Baxter, Richard Conte, Ann Sothern, Raymond Burr, Jeff Donnell, George Reeves, Ruth Storey and Richard Erdman.

This movie is available in the following format:

• DVD Region 1 standard format.
Citizen Kane Citizen Kane (1941, drama) – Orson Welles plays newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane, taken from his mother as a boy and made the ward of a rich industrialist. The result is that every well-meaning or tyrannical or self-destructive move he makes for the rest of his life appears in some way to be a reaction to that deeply wounding event. William Randolph Hearst, the powerful newspaper magnate widely thought to be parodied in the movie, did everything in his power to prevent this movie being released. Rated: G, 5 stars. Director: Orson Wells. Cast: Orson Wells, Joseph Cotten, Everett Sloane, Agnes Moorehead, Ray Collins, George Coulouris, Ruth Warrick and Dorothy Comingore.

This movie is available in the following format:

• DVD Region 1 standard format.
His Girl Friday His Girl Friday (1940, comedy) – Cary Grant plays a newspaper editor and Rosalind Russell his ex-wife (and fellow reporter). Russell's character is about to quit her job and remarry but understandably Grant doesn't want to lose one of his star reporters. As the plot develops, we see Grant is unscrupulous enough to do just about anything to stop the marriage, including having her prospective husband framed and thrown in prison. Watching Russell alternate between her desire to be a journalist and a "retire" to be a housewife is truly funny. Rated R, 5 stars. Director: Howark Hawks. Cast: Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy, Gene Lockhart, Helen Mack and Ernest Truex.

This movie is available in the following format:

• DVD Region 1 standard format.
It Happened One Night It Happened One Night (1934, comedy) – This movie stars Clark Gable at his most charming as a scheming newspaper reporter who hopes to get the inside scoop on "the brat," played beautifully by Claudette Colbert, who is on the run from her millionaire father. Funny and sexy, the film is full of memorable scenes, such as the "walls of Jericho" (a bed sheet hung on a line down the middle of a room so opposite-sex roommates can get undressed) and Colbert's famous flash of thigh to stop a speeding car. Comedy. Rated: G, 5 stars. Director: Frank Capra. Cast: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert and Ward Bond.

This movie is available in the following format:

• DVD Region 1 standard format.