View source for The Reagans

{{Distinguish|The Reagans (miniseries)|Reagan (2024 film)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox television
| image                = The Reagans film DVD.jpg
| caption              = DVD cover
| based_on             = {{Based on|''First Ladies Volume II''|[[Carl Sferrazza Anthony]]}}
| writer               = {{Plainlist|
* Jane Marchwood
* [[Thomas Rickman (writer)|Tom Rickman]]
* Elizabeth Egloff
}}
| director             = [[Robert Allan Ackerman]]
| starring             = {{Plainlist|
* [[James Brolin]]
* [[Judy Davis]]
* [[Željko Ivanek]]
* [[Mary Beth Peil]]
* [[Bill Smitrovich]]
* Shad Hart
* [[Zoie Palmer]]
* Richard Fitzpatrick
* [[Vlasta Vrána]]
* Francis Xavier McCarthy
* [[Frank Moore (Canadian actor)|Frank Moore]]
* [[Aidan Devine]]
* [[John Stamos]]
}}
| music                = [[John Altman (composer)|John Altman]]
| country              = United States
| language             = English
| executive_producer   = {{Plainlist|
* [[Craig Zadan]]
* [[Neil Meron]]
}}
| producer             = Lynn Raynor
| editor               = {{Plainlist|
* Melissa Kent
* Mike Brown
}}
| cinematography       = James Chressanthis
| runtime              = 180 minutes
| company              = {{Plainlist|
* Storyline Entertainment
* [[Sony Pictures Television]]
}}
| network              = [[Showtime (TV network)|Showtime]]
| released             = {{Start date|2003|11|30}}
}}
'''''The Reagans''''' is a 2003 American [[biographical drama]] [[television film]] about [[President of the United States|U.S. President]] [[Ronald Reagan]] and his family. It was directed by [[Robert Allan Ackerman]] and written by Jane Marchwood, [[Thomas Rickman (writer)|Tom Rickman]], and Elizabeth Egloff, based on the 1991 biography ''First Ladies Volume II'' by [[Carl Sferrazza Anthony]]. The film was produced by Storyline Entertainment and [[Sony Pictures Television]]. It stars [[James Brolin]] as Reagan and [[Judy Davis]] as [[First Lady of the United States|First Lady]] [[Nancy Reagan]]. The supporting cast includes [[Željko Ivanek]], [[Mary Beth Peil]], [[Bill Smitrovich]], Shad Hart, [[Zoie Palmer]], Richard Fitzpatrick, [[Vlasta Vrána]], Francis Xavier McCarthy, [[Frank Moore (Canadian actor)|Frank Moore]], [[Aidan Devine]], and [[John Stamos]].

The network [[CBS]] had planned to broadcast it as a 2-part miniseries in November 2003 during fall "[[sweeps]]", but it was ultimately broadcast as a film on November 30 of that year on cable channel [[Showtime (TV network)|Showtime]] due to controversy over its portrayal of Reagan.

==Plot==
The film covers the period in time from 1949 when Reagan was still in [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]], through his governorship of [[California]] until his last day in office as President in 1989.

In 1968, Reagan loses the Republican nomination to [[Richard Nixon]]. At the end of his 8 years of service as the California governor in 1975, Reagan vies for the [[1976 Republican Party presidential primaries|Republican party nomination in 1976]]. Then-President [[Gerald Ford]] wins the nomination.

[[Patti Davis]], one of the daughters of Ronald Reagan, is portrayed as a drug addict.

After the [[Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan|assassination attempt on Reagan]] in 1981, American jets are [[Gulf of Sidra incident (1981)|shot down by Libya]] later that year.

==Cast==
* [[James Brolin]]  – [[Ronald Reagan]]
* [[Judy Davis]] – [[Nancy Reagan]]
* [[Željko Ivanek]] – [[Michael Deaver]], [[Deputy White House Chief of Staff]], 1981–1985
* [[Mary Beth Peil]] – [[Edith Luckett Davis|Edith Davis]], Nancy's mother
* [[Bill Smitrovich]] – [[Alexander Haig]], [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]], 1981–1982
* Shad Hart – [[Ron Reagan]], son
* [[Zoie Palmer]] – [[Patti Davis]], daughter
* Richard Fitzpatrick – Ben Weldon
* [[Vlasta Vrána]] – [[Edwin Meese]], [[Counselor to the President]], member of the [[United States National Security Council|National Security Council]] 1981–1985, and [[United States Attorney General]] 1985–1988
* Francis Xavier McCarthy – Dr. Loyal Davis
* [[Frank Moore (Canadian actor)|Frank Moore]] – [[Don Regan]], [[United States Secretary of the Treasury|Secretary of the Treasury]] 1981–1985 and [[White House Chief of Staff]] 1985–1987
* [[Aidan Devine]] – Bill Shelby
* [[John Stamos]] – [[John Sears (political strategist)|John Sears]], Deputy counsel to [[Richard Nixon]] and campaign manager for Reagan in 76 bid and briefly in his successful 80 campaign
* Stewart Bick – [[Lew Wasserman]], Hollywood agent and [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] fundraiser who was a lifelong mentor/friend to Ronald Reagan
* Tom Barnett/[[Tod Fennell]] – [[Michael Reagan]], adopted son of Ronald Reagan
* Laura Press – [[Betsy Bloomingdale]], well known [[socialite]] and close friend of Nancy's
* [[Dan Lett]] – [[Robert H. Tuttle]], assistant and director of Presidential Personnel
* [[Carolyn Dunn]] – [[Maureen Reagan]], daughter from [[Jane Wyman]]
* Victor A. Young – [[Alfred S. Bloomingdale]], close friend and member of [[President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board]]
* Don Allison – [[James Baker]], [[White House Chief of Staff]] 1981–1985, [[United States Secretary of the Treasury|Secretary of the Treasury]] 1985–1988
* John Bourgeois – [[John Tower]], [[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]] from [[Texas]] and led the [[Tower Commission]] investigating the [[Iran–Contra affair]]
* Rodger Barton – [[Robert McFarlane (American politician)|Robert McFarlane]], [[National Security Advisor (United States)|National Security Advisor]] 1983–1985
* Frank Fontaine – [[William J. Casey]], [[Director of Central Intelligence]] 1981–1987
* [[George R. Robertson]] – [[Barry Goldwater]], Republican [[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]] from [[Arizona]] and key figure in Reagan's rise in the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]]
* John Koensgen – [[Mervyn LeRoy]], [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] director/producer who set Ron and Nancy up
* John Robinson – [[Jerry Parr]], [[United States Secret Service|Secret Service]] agent who pushed Reagan in car during assassination attempt
* [[Sean McCann (actor)|Sean McCann]] – [[George P. Shultz]], [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]] 1982–1989
* [[Tom Rack]] – [[Elie Wiesel]], Jewish writer, [[Holocaust]] survivor, professor who was critical of Reagan's visit to [[Bitburg, Germany]] to visit a cemetery in which some SS soldiers were buried
* Al Goulem – [[Oliver North]], Decorated [[United States Marine Corps|U.S. Marine]] who was on the [[United States National Security Council|National Security Council]] and although controversial, widely believed to be a scapegoat in the [[Iran–Contra affair]]
* Suzanna Lenir – Colleen Sterns Reagan, daughter in-law and wife of [[Michael Reagan]]
* Claudia Besso – Doria Reagan, daughter in-law and wife of [[Ron Reagan]]
* [[Lubomir Mykytiuk]] – [[Mikhail Gorbachev]], [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|General Secretary of the Soviet Union]]
* Tatiana Chouljenko – [[Raisa Gorbachyova]], wife of Mikhail Gorbachev
* [[Susan Glover]] – [[Helene von Damm]], assistant of Presidential Personnel and [[United States Ambassador to Austria]]
* [[Daniel Pilon]] – [[Donn Moomaw]], friend, pastor of Reagan who gave the invocation at the 1981 Inaugural
* Christopher Dyson – [[Bernie Leadon]], one time Patti boyfriend and founding member of the band [[The Eagles]]
* [[Lisa Bronwyn Moore]] – Kathy Reynolds
* John Andersen – [[Jimmy Carter]], 39th President
* Sarah Carlsen – [[Sarah Brady]], lobbyist on gun control/wife of [[James Brady]] who was disabled after being shot during Reagan assassination attempt
* Brett Watson – [[Paul Grilley]], son in-law and husband from 1984–1990 of [[Patti Davis Reagan]]
* Peter Colvey – [[Gerald Ford]], 38th President
* Alan Fawcett – [[Larry Speakes]], assistant and [[White House Press Secretary]]
* Jerome Tiberghien – [[William F. Buckley]], famous conservative commentator and personal friend of Reagan
* Bibi Burton – Christina Taylor based on [[Joan Quigley]], Nancy Reagan's astrologer
* Marjorie Silcoff – [[Joan Didion]], [[journalist]], [[essayist]], [[novelist]] who wrote articles for several papers including Buckley's [[National Review]]
* Kevin Woodhouse (uncredited) – [[John Hinckley Jr.]], [[Reagan assassination attempt|attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan]]

==Controversy==
About a month before it was scheduled to air, portions of the script were leaked. As a result of these stories, the miniseries began to be widely criticized by [[Conservatism in the United States|conservatives]] as an unbalanced and inaccurate depiction of Reagan. CBS reportedly had ordered a love story about Ronald and Nancy Reagan with politics as a backdrop, but instead received what they later claimed was an overtly political film. Supporters of the film claimed that these criticisms were simply partisan bias, and were an attempt to [[Censorship|censor]] a film because it did not always portray the former president in a positive light.<ref name="pulls">{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/11/04/cbs.reagans.ap/|title=CBS pulls Reagan miniseries|date=November 5, 2003|work=CNN.com|publisher=Associated Press|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080619075056/http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/11/04/cbs.reagans.ap/|archive-date=June 19, 2008}}</ref>

Conservatives began criticizing the miniseries before it was broadcast and claimed that it put words in Reagan's mouth and condemned it as [[Political left|leftist]] [[historical revisionism]]. Much of the criticism was based upon early drafts of the script and featured scenes that were never shot or were cut from the final version. Eventually, after several weeks of outspoken criticism by conservatives, on November 4, 2003, CBS withdrew the miniseries from the broadcast schedule and announced that the program did "not present a balanced portrayal of the Reagans." The network chose instead to broadcast the miniseries on the cable channel [[Showtime (TV network)|Showtime]], which along with CBS was owned by [[Viacom (2005–present)|Viacom]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/reagan-series-dropped-after-attacks-from-conservatives-734598.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/reagan-series-dropped-after-attacks-from-conservatives-734598.html |archive-date=2022-06-18 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Reagan series dropped after attacks from conservatives|last=Buncombe|first=Andrew|date=November 5, 2003|work=The Independent|access-date=January 11, 2010}}</ref> In a statement on its web site, CBS said:

{{blockquote|CBS will not broadcast ''The Reagans'' on November 16 and 18. This decision is based solely on our reaction to seeing the final film, not the controversy that erupted around a draft of the script.

Although the mini-series features impressive production values and acting performances, and although the producers have sources to verify each scene in the script, we believe it does not present a balanced portrayal of the Reagans for CBS and its audience. Subsequent edits that we considered did not address those concerns.

A free broadcast network, available to all over the public airwaves, has different standards than media the public must pay to view. We do, however, recognize and respect the filmmakers' right to have their voice heard and their film seen.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cbs.com/homepage/popups/hp_popup_reagans.shtml|title=CBS statement regarding "The Reagans"|date=November 4, 2003|publisher=CBS|access-date=January 11, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525155105/http://www.cbs.com/homepage/popups/hp_popup_reagans.shtml|archive-date=May 25, 2011}}</ref>}}

CBS's denial that it was yielding to the furor did not persuade its critics. The producers of the movie noted that, before the outcry, CBS had approved both the script for the miniseries and had seen [[dailies]] as they were shot, and the film had been approved by two sets of lawyers. Jeff Chester, head of the Center for Digital Democracy, a communications [[lobbying]] group, said that CBS had chosen not to offend [[U.S. Republican Party|Republicans]] at a time when the federal government was considering rules restricting ownership of local television stations. CBS executives "made a business decision," he said. "In doing so, they clearly caved in to the political pressure."  [[United States Senate|Senator]] [[Tom Daschle]], the [[United States Democratic Party|Democratic]] leader of the time, commented that the decision "smells of intimidation to me."<ref name="pulls"/>

Reagans' daughter [[Patti Davis]] criticized the portrayal of her parents. She accused the show's producers of "astounding carelessness and cruelty" and said the script was "quite simply, idiotic." She said that her father was caricatured as a "demented evangelist", while her mother Nancy was made out to be "a female Attila the Hun." "To deliberately and calculatingly depict public people as shallow, intolerant, cold and inept, with no truths or facts to back up the portrayals, is nothing short of malevolent." "And my father, obviously, cannot correct the lies told about him."<ref name="BBC News">{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3244713.stm|title=Streisand slates Reagans TV axe|website=[[BBC News]]|date=2003-11-05|access-date=2024-01-06}}</ref>

===A controversial line excised===
One of the most controversial points in the script was the depiction of Reagan telling his wife during a conversation about [[AIDS]] patients, "They that live in [[sin]] shall die in sin." Co-writer Elizabeth Egloff acknowledged that there was no evidence that Reagan ever said this.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/21/arts/grumbling-trickles-down-reagan-biopic-some-see-peril-presidential-legacy-tv.html|title=Grumbling Trickles Down From Reagan Biopic; Some See Peril to Presidential Legacy From TV Movie Coming Next Month|last=Rutenberg|first=Jim|author-link=Jim Rutenberg|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=October 21, 2023|access-date=August 30, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,536964,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016203340/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,536964,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 16, 2012|title=In Dutch|last=Susman|first=Gary|date=November 4, 2003|magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|access-date=August 30, 2024}}</ref>

This line was dropped in the Showtime and [[DVD]] versions of the film. ''The Reagans'' producers, [[Neil Meron]] and [[Craig Zadan]], have insisted that every fact (but not every line of dialogue) was supported by at least two sources.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Smith|first1=Sean|title=The War Over The Gipper|url=http://www.newsweek.com/war-over-gipper-133385|access-date=19 April 2017|work=Newsweek|date=9 November 2003}}</ref>  However, according to Reagans' daughter Patti Davis,{{citation needed|date=March 2014}} no family member or close friend of the Reagans was consulted by the filmmakers throughout the production.

Another factor which has motivated certain critics to claim [[media bias|bias]] was that Reagan was played by [[James Brolin]], whose wife [[Barbra Streisand]] is an outspoken liberal.<ref name="pulls"/>

Barbra Streisand criticized CBS's decision not to screen ''The Reagans'' as a "sad day for artistic freedom" and said the network "caved in to right wing Republican pressure". Patti Davis commented that CBS did the "right thing" in pulling it from schedules.<ref name="BBC News"/>

Brolin would later play Governor Rob Ritchie, a fictional [[U.S. Republican Party|Republican]] candidate for the Presidency in ''[[The West Wing]]'', while his son [[Josh Brolin|Josh]] would play the 43rd President [[George W. Bush]] in the 2008 [[Oliver Stone]] film ''[[W. (film)|W.]]''

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0383139|The Reagans}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110525155105/http://www.cbs.com/homepage/popups/hp_popup_reagans.shtml Full statement from CBS]

{{Robert Allan Ackerman|state=expanded}}
{{Ronald Reagan}}
{{Nancy Reagan}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reagans, The}}
[[Category:2003 television films]]
[[Category:2003 films]]
[[Category:2003 biographical drama films]]
[[Category:2003 in American television]]
[[Category:2000s American films]]
[[Category:2000s English-language films]]
[[Category:2000s political drama films]]
[[Category:American biographical drama films]]
[[Category:American biographical television films]]
[[Category:American drama television films]]
[[Category:American political drama films]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Gerald Ford]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Jimmy Carter]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Ronald Reagan]]
[[Category:English-language biographical drama films]]
[[Category:Films about Ronald Reagan]]
[[Category:Films based on biographies]]
[[Category:Film censorship in the United States]]
[[Category:Films directed by Robert Allan Ackerman]]
[[Category:Films scored by John Altman (composer)]]
[[Category:Films set in the 1980s]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Thomas Rickman (writer)]]
[[Category:Self-censorship]]
[[Category:Showtime (TV network) films]]
[[Category:Sony Pictures Television films]]
[[Category:Television censorship in the United States]]
[[Category:Television controversies in the United States]]
[[Category:Television films based on books]]