Charles Colson was probably one of the most controversial, yet colorful of the Nixon gang who was caught up in the Watergate Scandal. He entered Bartlett's Familiar Quotations with his thoughts on motivation, those being "when you've got them by the gonads, their hearts and minds will follow". A guy like that Machiavelli would have learned to love.
Dean Jones plays the controversial White House Counsel to the President who was in charge of the infamous White House Plumbers group. Though Colson was not directly connected to the Watergate break-in he was inextricably linked to the theft at Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office and did his jail time for that.
But before that Colson became in that overused phrase 'born again' becoming an evangelical Christian and part of a Washington Prayer Group headed by Democratic Senator Harold Hughes. In those days before the founding of the Moral Majority by Jerry Falwell you actually could be a Democrat and an evangelical.
This film is an interesting exercise in sophistry, so much so that Colson as played by Dean Jones comes out a martyr for his faith, not a guy who was ruthless beyond all bounds of decency in pursuit of political aims.
The story of Born Again is not about Colson and Watergate, the bulk of it is his time in what looks like Club Fed. Believe me, I'm not sure if this guy had been in general population in a place like Leavenworth his story might not have come out the same. Colson is in a prison that the military are in charge of and these guys look like the security is minimal. The story here is about his deciding that what God intended him to do is found a prison ministry. He's left with few options because he's been disbarred.
What really got me was that the power of prayer is supposed to be proved by the fact that Jones's protector in the joint Raymond St. Jacques is granted parole after the group all prays for him. I mean, really.
I can't get into Chuck Colson's mind and know if his conversion was real or became real at a certain point. That's the trouble with these kind of films, the subject's conversion is based on faith and you're supposed take that on face value.
Anne Francis is Colson's wife, the second Mrs. Colson the film doesn't mention that he was married before. The film was directed by Irving Rapper who was one of those folks from the big studio system days in Hollywood who was taking any work he could get. Among his credits are those Bette Davis classics Now Voyager and The Corn Is Green. Born Again doesn't come close to, not even light years as good as those films.
Dana Andrews plays the businessman who witnesses and converts Jones, Jay Robinson plays his law partner and attorney. Born Again was the farewell film for George Brent who had not been on the screen for about 20 years when he did this film. He did not look well, he died the following year and I suspect this short role as Judge Gerhard Gessell was done because he need money for medical expenses. All of these guys were well past their prime.
If you're a born again believer than this film is for you. I think the rest of us will be scratching our heads.
Dean Jones plays the controversial White House Counsel to the President who was in charge of the infamous White House Plumbers group. Though Colson was not directly connected to the Watergate break-in he was inextricably linked to the theft at Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office and did his jail time for that.
But before that Colson became in that overused phrase 'born again' becoming an evangelical Christian and part of a Washington Prayer Group headed by Democratic Senator Harold Hughes. In those days before the founding of the Moral Majority by Jerry Falwell you actually could be a Democrat and an evangelical.
This film is an interesting exercise in sophistry, so much so that Colson as played by Dean Jones comes out a martyr for his faith, not a guy who was ruthless beyond all bounds of decency in pursuit of political aims.
The story of Born Again is not about Colson and Watergate, the bulk of it is his time in what looks like Club Fed. Believe me, I'm not sure if this guy had been in general population in a place like Leavenworth his story might not have come out the same. Colson is in a prison that the military are in charge of and these guys look like the security is minimal. The story here is about his deciding that what God intended him to do is found a prison ministry. He's left with few options because he's been disbarred.
What really got me was that the power of prayer is supposed to be proved by the fact that Jones's protector in the joint Raymond St. Jacques is granted parole after the group all prays for him. I mean, really.
I can't get into Chuck Colson's mind and know if his conversion was real or became real at a certain point. That's the trouble with these kind of films, the subject's conversion is based on faith and you're supposed take that on face value.
Anne Francis is Colson's wife, the second Mrs. Colson the film doesn't mention that he was married before. The film was directed by Irving Rapper who was one of those folks from the big studio system days in Hollywood who was taking any work he could get. Among his credits are those Bette Davis classics Now Voyager and The Corn Is Green. Born Again doesn't come close to, not even light years as good as those films.
Dana Andrews plays the businessman who witnesses and converts Jones, Jay Robinson plays his law partner and attorney. Born Again was the farewell film for George Brent who had not been on the screen for about 20 years when he did this film. He did not look well, he died the following year and I suspect this short role as Judge Gerhard Gessell was done because he need money for medical expenses. All of these guys were well past their prime.
If you're a born again believer than this film is for you. I think the rest of us will be scratching our heads.