Radical Wolfe

Released Sep 15, 2023

1 hr. 16 min.

Documentary

Biography

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68%

22 Reviews

Tomatometer

78%

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Audience Score

From a beat reporter at the Washington Post to an overnight sensation as the leader of the New Journalism movement, Tom Wolfe was at the forefront of reshaping how American stories are told. Recognizing the importance of overlooked subcultures and communities, Wolfe documented everything from rural stock car drivers to hippies in Haight Ashbury to the Apollo Astronauts, and his ability to bridge cultural and class divides while tackling stories central to American Life was unique in fiction and non-fiction. With a distinctive and oft-imitated style all his own, Wolfe's body of work includes some of the most memorable and culturally impactful stories of the 20th century like The Right Stuff, The Bonfire of the Vanities, and A Man in Full. Radical Wolfe is a deeply personal and illuminating look at the man inside the famous white suit, featuring conversations and interviews with those who knew him best, including Michael Lewis, Gay Talese, Lynn Nesbit, Terry McDonell, Tom Junod, Christopher Buckley, Niall Ferguson, and Alexandra Wolfe.

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Steve R

When the movie begins with a relatively unknown author saying, "I grew up in New Orleans, not a particularly literary place," (yeah sure, it's only one of the most literary places on earth) you know immediately you're in the hands of a sloppy bullshit film maker. Or maybe he took his cue from Wolfe, using attention getting, outrageously false statements for shock value.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

12/21/23

Full Review

John C

Great documentary covering the life of one of the most controversial authors of a generation.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/15/23

Full Review

David F

This documentary gives a wonderful overview of the life of the journalist and novelist, Tom Wolfe. It doesn't go too deep into any topic and it doesn't have much of a point of view, it's just a great biography full of pictures and recordings of its subject that shows you how he became such a treasured literary institution.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

12/15/23

Full Review

Brent M

The impact that words carry can be tremendous, sometimes powerful enough to change everyday speech, the nature of literature and even an entire culture. And, in many cases, those shifts can be traced back to the musings of gifted, insightful individuals. That's where author Tom Wolfe (1930-2018) enters, stage left, as seen in this new documentary from director Richard Dewey, based on a Vanity Fair article by author Michael Lewis. Wolfe, a onetime newspaper reporter, made his mark beginning in the 1960s with an Esquire magazine article about southern California's hot rod and custom car culture that turned conventional journalism on its ear. Almost overnight, he became a New York and national media sensation, introducing what he called "the new journalism," a practice of writing and reporting that called for drawing upon all of the literary tools available to authors of all stripes in the penning of nonfiction works, a move aimed at eliminating much of what he saw as the tiresome tedium that had come to characterize most of such pieces. Before long, over the next several decades, he established a reputation for cutting-edge writing through various magazine articles and such books as The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers, The Right Stuff and From Bauhaus to Our House. He subsequently went on to release novels like The Bonfire of the Vanities and Man in Full. And several of these titles were even adapted as motion pictures, clips from which are liberally featured in this film biography. In addition to his prolific bibliography, Wolfe also distinguished himself as a character unto himself, a transplanted polite Southern gentleman and flamboyant sartorial dandy who could cut people to the quick with the stroke of his pen and wasn't afraid of tackling controversial subjects that many of his contemporaries would never touch. His story is told in an admittedly somewhat conventional but exceedingly well-defined, economical, briskly paced manner, featuring interviews with those who knew him and admirers who savor his work, as well as archive footage of the author himself from many well-known media vehicles of his time. "Radical Wolfe" is an insightful and entertaining celebration of the writer's life and work without ever gushing and never shying away from portraying him warts and all. Wolfe took New York literary society and the country by storm with his singular way with words, the kind of unabashed, articulate, inventive scribe we could use more of these days.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

11/07/23

Full Review

Jorge C

Que buen programa muy recomendable

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/03/23

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Richard Dewey

Director

Tom Wolfe

Self

Jon Hamm

Narrator

Michael Lewis

Self

Jann Wenner

Self

Gay Talese

Self

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Radical Wolfe: Trailer 1

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Mark Jenkins

Washington Post

Dewey just doesn’t have the patience for a subtle approach. Sections of this informative but unimaginative movie are presented as hectic montages in an apparent attempt to mirror Wolfe’s speedy, ebullient prose.

Rated: 2.5/4

Oct 12, 2023

Full Review

Robert Abele

Los Angeles Times

The documentary is always lively. Archival clips zip by and nobody ever gets more than a sentence or two before the film cuts away, which means it never burrows in as often as you might want it to, considering the colorful, thick life on display.

Sep 25, 2023

Full Review

Owen Gleiberman

Variety

“Radical Wolfe” is only 76 minutes long, but as directed by Richard Dewey, it’s a highly entertaining movie that manages to pack in more or less every important thing you’d want to know about Tom Wolfe.

Sep 15, 2023

Full Review

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Spirituality & Practice

A spiffy documentary on the life and work of Tom Wolfe, who pioneered disruptive journalism and exposed American obsessions.

Rated: 4/5

Dec 14, 2023

Full Review

Dennis Harvey

48 Hills

This movie inadvertently raises a different concern, namely: What's the point? Wouldn't it be better for all concerned if you just left that snake unpoked?

Oct 16, 2023

Full Review

Manuel Betancourt

FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)

He was a larger than life character clearly playing a role, and this documentary does a good job of laying that out... We never skim past the surface, but you do get an exhaustive understanding of his career.

Oct 4, 2023

Full Review

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Synopsis

From a beat reporter at the Washington Post to an overnight sensation as the leader of the New Journalism movement, Tom Wolfe was at the forefront of reshaping how American stories are told. Recognizing the importance of overlooked subcultures and communities, Wolfe documented everything from rural stock car drivers to hippies in Haight Ashbury to the Apollo Astronauts, and his ability to bridge cultural and class divides while tackling stories central to American Life was unique in fiction and non-fiction. With a distinctive and oft-imitated style all his own, Wolfe's body of work includes some of the most memorable and culturally impactful stories of the 20th century like The Right Stuff, The Bonfire of the Vanities, and A Man in Full. Radical Wolfe is a deeply personal and illuminating look at the man inside the famous white suit, featuring conversations and interviews with those who knew him best, including Michael Lewis, Gay Talese, Lynn Nesbit, Terry McDonell, Tom Junod, Christopher Buckley, Niall Ferguson, and Alexandra Wolfe.

Director: Richard Dewey
Executive Producer: Nathan Epstein, David Light, Gerry Ohrstrom, Brian Kaufman
Distributor: Kino Lorber
Genre: Documentary, Biography
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 15, 2023, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 31, 2023
Box Office (Gross USA): $39.3K

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