BuzzFlash Reviews

December 8, 2005

Point of Order! (DVD, 1964)
Starring: Joseph McCarthy, Roy M. Cohn; Director: Emile de Antonio

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Although accusing someone or a political party of McCarthyism tactics has become a cliche, it doesn't mean that such comparisons are always invalid.

After watching the riveting 1954 Senate hearings that led to Joe McCarthy's downfall, "Point of Order!" validates the charge that McCarthy used "Communism" to bully and intimidate opponents in the same way that the Busheviks use "Terrorism" to silence the pro-democracy, pro-Constitution patriots today. In fact, in watching "Point of Order!", we kept imagining (we are not joking) McCarthy's smug sneer of a face morphing into Dick Cheney's snarling mug.

It's not to say there weren't Communists in America, just as it's not to say that there aren't terrorists who would like to do harm to America. But McCarthy and the Busheviks use a major tool of demagogues in bullying their way to unchallenged power by asserting that if you disagree with them then you are aiding the Communists (McCarthy) or the terrorists (Busheviks).

There are more interesting similarities between McCarthy and Bush (although Cheney has more of the McCarthy demeanor). McCarthy, for instance, had a phony war record too: "When the United States entered the Second Word War McCarthy resigned as a circuit judge and joined the Marines. After the war McCarthy ran against Robert La Follette to become Republican candidate for the senate. As one of his biographers has pointed out, his campaign posters pictured him in 'full fighting gear, with an aviator's cap, and belt upon belt of machine gun ammunition wrapped around his bulky torso.' He claimed he had completed thirty-two missions when in fact he had a desk job and only flew in training exercises."

And McCarthy was a hypocrite extraordinaire. He portrayed himself as a God-fearing middle American, but his favorite book was Mein Kampf (because he admired Hitler's political and propaganda strategy) and he was homosexual. In fact, his infamous general counsel was the bulldog anti-gay gay, Roy Cohn (who eventually died of AIDS) -- and he fell from grace during hearings by his fellow senators over special favors McCarthy and Cohn sought from the Army for another gay member of their smear squad, David Schine.

Although McCarthy's first round of Communist hysteria witch-trial hearings helped critically wound the Democrats under Truman and paved the way for an Eisenhower election, Eisenhower eventually felt that McCarthy had become overreaching and gave the green light to bring him down.

As a result, in 1954 the Senate held what came to be known as the "Army-McCarthy Hearings." Combined with the courageous March, 1954, Edward R. Murrow "Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy" (aired on CBS), the hearings unmasked McCarthy as a thug who had neither scruples nor actual evidence. The fuel of his power was fear, intimidation, and bluster, not proof. As in the Bushevik world, he relied on the creation of a kind of hypnotic mass hysteria.

"Point of Order" is a highly unusual film. It was just re-released this month (December of 2005) in an updated and restored version by New Yorker Video. The documentary was originally put together by the filmmaker Emile de Antonio in 1963. The 97-minute DVD consists entirely of grainy archival black and white television footage of the 8-days of hearings that marked the downfall of McCarthy. (It was the most riveting political drama to unfold before a national audience on TV up to that time.)

A masterful editing job was done by de Antonio and his staff, reducing nearly 200 hours of filmed hearings to an hour and a half. To those not attuned to the significance of McCarthy, the fact that the film has no narrative and just limited titling to identify key players and key segments might be less than riveting. But if you are fascinated by monsters like McCarthy and wonder how the Busheviks have forged a smoother version of the Wisconsin Senator's feverish demagoguery, then "Point of Order!" is for you.

We found it absolutely fascinating and riveting. The kinescope quality of the film makes it seem like you are actually watching the hearings live.

"Point of Order" includes the pivotal scene when the mild mannered -- but shrewd litigator from Boston representing the Army as a special counsel -- Joe Welch accuses McCarthy of being cruel, reckless and having no decency. A youthful Bobby Kennedy can be seen sitting behind the questioning senators (Kennedy once worked for McCarthy, but had "switched sides" by the time of the hearing). Roy Cohn sits like a junkyard dog as McCarthy's counsel throughout the hearings. And senators you barely remember make appearances as they grapple with how to deal with McCarthy.

One of the most interesting facets of the hearings is how a secondary issue -- McCarthy's and Cohn's request of special favors for Schine in the Army -- became the focal point of a drama that was ultimately McCarthy's undoing. It was not his abuse of the public trust and his "crusade against Communist subversion" that marked his downfall; it was how he "performed" before his peers on an issue that is normally seen as a perquisite of senatorial privilege: asking special favors.

But the Army, Eisenhower and most of the Senate were ready to throw McCarthy overboard -- and so they used these hearings as a means of getting him to reveal his true nature to the American public. Welch brilliantly uses the opportunity at hand to "deconstruct" the deceptive tactics of McCarthy and Cohn. In December of 1954, Joe McCarthy was censured by his Senate peers, 67 votes to 22.

He died in May of 1957 of the effects of alcoholism.

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