Seeing Red: Stories of American Communists

"They were a special breed of American outlaw... and their story has never been told."

1983 1h 40m EN

😐

6.4

MID

★6.4TMDB · 7

HistoryDocumentary

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A unique documentary that looks at the political activities of the American Communist Party in the early to mid-twentieth century.

“They were a special breed of American outlaw... and their story has never been told.”

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Cast

Oscar Hunter
Himself - Printer
Rose Podmaka
Herself - Steel Mill Worker
Sylvia Woods
Herself - Auto Worker
Howard 'Stretch' Johnson
Himself - College Professor
Bill Bailey
Himself - Seaman and Longshoreman
Edna Whitehouse
Self - Legal Secretary
Ruth Maguire
Self - Program Administrator
Stanley Postek
Self - Seaman

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Jim Klein
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 6

ERA

Did you know

43 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 6

CRAFT

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 6

AWARDS

Did you know

Oscar Hunter and Rose Podmaka and Sylvia Woods carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 6

ERA

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "They were a special breed of American outlaw... and their story has never been told.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 6

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0086273 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 6

WILD

Did you know

Only 7 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Jim Klein directs. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

143 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
3Oscar Hunter and Rose Podmaka and Sylvia Woods carry the top of the cast.
4Marketing tagline: "They were a special breed of American outlaw... and their story has never been told.".
5IMDB entry: tt0086273 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
6Only 7 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Runtime: 100 min · 1h 40m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
IMDB: Seeing Red: Stories of American Communists (1983)

Also by

Jim Klein

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2025-06-22
★ 6/10
The introduction from the then President Reagan gives us an indication of what’s to come as he adopts that hale-fellow-well-met approach of his to warn of the continuing dangers to the USA of ever-expanding Communism. Thereafter, for about ten minutes, we see examples of the congressional accusatory and defensive rhetoric that abounded during the “witch-hunt” period and subsequently. Then, though, rather counterintuitively it starts to talk to people . Ordinary people. Ordinary socialists or people of the left wing involved in the trades union movement as far back as the 1930s or with anti-war protests - and what many of them say makes eminent sense. They refer back to the whole principles of the founding fathers creating a free America. Free for thought, work, bringing up your family. Free from government interference, censorship and bullying. Many of these contributors are professional, coherent, sensible and rational as they put forward plans, extolled contemporaneously but now largely reported retrospectively, to provide for education, religious freedom, an end to racial segregation and sexual discrimination. Indeed, the vast majority of the views put forward here have little, if anything, to do with the perceptions prevalent of the Stalinist or Brezhnev’s Soviet Union. Often, it’s a communism in it’s undiluted, depoliticised, form that could convince readily that it is something all can benefit from. Latterly, it does inject a little more realism to that idealism as it clearly illustrates that communist principles don’t always transfer well to government. All too easily, radicalised Orwellian scenarios can develop and lies and deceit can be used to convince those naïve and gullible that everyone is working, eating, warm and safe - when actually the situation is largely the same only the political class is just wearing a different coloured rosette. There is a great deal of well researched and powerful archive here that vacillates from the verbal shenanigans of the politicians to the more measured and reasoned commentators, both pro and anti, who actually formulate a less reactionary and more considered debate. It’s that debate that I can’t imagine was what the producers actually wanted, because they most certainly don’t present us with a film that would have your curtains twitching to report your neighbour Ivan to the feds. It’s full of fear and paranoia, certainly, but if you are watching with any sense of perspective then this might not be as ominous as you might expect.

Production companies