Medium Cool [Robert Foster] (1969) DVDRip Oldies

1968. Cameraman John Cassellis and his sound man Gus work for WHJP-TV news Chicago, channel 8 on the dial. John has to walk a fine line in his work, especially in this day and age of increasing public disenfranchisement due to anti-establishment feelings, with frequent civil rights protests, anti-war protests or other civil unrest taking place. In what are already confrontational situations, John and Gus' involvement adds yet another layer of possible confrontation. Although by the very nature of their work they are supposed to be neutral in the situation, they also have to decide when not to be neutral, in when it is more appropriate to be involved for the greater good of those in the situation. It is in one such of these moral questions that John comes to loggerheads with his superiors. At this time, John also puts aside his largely "sexually free" casual relationship with a nurse named Ruth to begin a more serious relationship with Eileen Horton, a recent arrival to Chicago from rural West Virginia. Their relationship is despite what could have been their very antagonistic initial meeting over an issue concerning her thirteen year old son, Harold, who largely has a mind of his own. Two concurrent items - John filming the 1968 Democratic National Convention and Harold going missing - bring the professional issues in John's life to a head in a global sense.