Anchored by a brilliant lead performance from Gary Sinise, GEORGE WALLACE chronicles the political career of one of America's most notorious statesmen, the Alabama governor who qualified as one of the greatest enemies of the American Civil Rights movement. This made-for-cable miniseries
was released on home video in 1998.
In 1955, George Wallace (Gary Sinise) is a judge who is being groomed by Governor "Big Jim" Folsom (Joe Don Baker) to succeed him. When it comes time to campaign for that office four years later, though, Wallace is defeated when he denounces the Ku Klux Klan. Vowing never again to lose touch with
his constituency, Wallace becomes a zealous proponent for segregation, a platform that carries him to the governor's office in 1963. In order to retain his seat, Wallace opposes the Civil Rights movement in all its forms. When two black students attempt to enroll in the all-white University of
Alabama, Wallace stands in the doorway to bar them, and must be removed by the National Guard.
Wallace prepares for a presidential bid; however, he soon finds that crowds in the North do not share his views on racial segregation. Back in Alabama, Martin Luther King organizes a march from Selma to Montgomery, the state's capital. Wanting to hold onto his office, Wallace first appeals to the
Alabama Legislature to amend the state's constitution to allow him to succeed himself; when that fails, he convinces his wife, Lurleen (Mare Winningham), to run for governor. For a few months it appears as though Wallace may continue the fight through Lurleen, but the campaign comes to an end when
Lurleen, suffering from cancer, collapses. Wallace retires from politics to be by her side, and remains there after her death.
Several years later, Wallace meets Cornelia Folsom (Angelina Jolie), the niece of Big Jim, and the two quickly marry. Feeling rejuvenated, Wallace once again enters the political world, regaining the governor's office and setting his sights on the presidency. While on the campaign trail in 1972,
Wallace is shot five times by a would-be assassin, an attack that leaves him paralyzed from the waist down. Still he continues his presidential campaign, until a chilly reception to a pro-segregation speech at the Democratic National Convention reveals that he has once again lost touch with the
people. Two years later, his marriage falling apart, Wallace begins to realize the error of his ways. One night he goes to Martin Luther King's former church, the birthplace of the Civil Rights movement, and asks forgiveness for his years of fighting on the wrong side.
The centerpiece of GEORGE WALLACE is the performance by its star, Gary Sinise, who captures the complexity of the man who stood against Martin Luther King. As the consummate "man of the people," Sinise effectively conveys the bafflement Wallace felt when his reluctance to embrace the Klan
separated him from his constituents; and, years later, that same disbelief when his pro-segregation platform began to crumble beneath him, leaving him high and dry. Sinise's performance is perfectly complemented by Mare Winningham and Angelina Jolie as his two wives, one loyal to the point of
self-destruction, the other too ambitious for her crippled husband to keep up with.
The only sour note among the performances (if there is one) comes from Clarence Williams III as Archie, a prison trustee who works as a servant in the Governor's mansion from the days of Big Jim Folsom to the end of Wallace's term. As explained at the end of the film, Archie is not a real person,
but a construct intended to illuminate a particular point of view. As such, his presence feels a bit forced, and the frequent shots of Archie's horrified or seething reaction to Wallace's statements are unnecessarily unsubtle.
In addition to fine performances, GEORGE WALLACE offers viewers some pleasing visual techniques, care of veteran director John Frankenheimer (THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE). Frankenheimer frequently switches to a grainy, black-and-white documentary style to recreate key scenes, such as Wallace's stand
at the doors of the University of Alabama. These pieces help to underscore the film's comparison of the hard-line public Wallace with the often self-doubting private man.
GEORGE WALLACE was nominated for a number of awards, garnering Emmys for Gary Sinise, Mare Winningham, and director John Frankenheimer. (Profanity, sexual situations, adult situations, violence.) leave a comment
