Old adage about “those who aren’t left-wing radicals before the age of twenty lack heart and those who aren’t right-wing conservatives past the age of forty lack brain” could be applied to many prominent members of Baby Boomer generation. That includes American writer Roger L. Simon, who became famous thanks to his series of crime novels about private investigator Moses Wine and later known as one of the founders of influential right-wing website Pajamas Media. Process of ideological transformation from youthful idealistic revolutionary into defender of traditional values was, however, slow and gradual. Simon chronicled its initial stages in *The Big Fix*, the first novel in Moses Wine series, adapted in 1978 into eponymous film directed by Jeremy Kagan.
Protagonist, played by Richard Dreyfuss, is Moses Wine, who used to be student at UC Berkley in late 1960s, and, like many of his colleagues, embraced radical left activism. A decade later, Wine cares little about politics and instead works as private investigator in order to pay for child support. He is contacted by Lela Shea (played by Susan Anspach), ex-girlfriend from radical student days, and asked to conduct investigation for her boss Miles Hawthorne (played by John Cunningham), Democrat politician running for governor of California. The campaign is concerned about mysterious leaflets associating Hawthorne with Eppis, former radical student leader who went into hiding after being charged with terrorism and similar crimes. Wine tries to locate Eppis, but his efforts get complicated with disappearance of a union activist, terrorist threats and murder.
Simon, who also wrote the film’s script, had created character of Wine with a lot of autobiographical elements. *The Big Fix* has a complicated plot that looks a lot like those used for politically charged (and often very depressive) 1970s thriller. Simon, however, used his script more as an opportunity to explore how the passage of years affected his generation and how many young radicals faced the world which, instead of glorious social revolution, offered continuation of banal status quo. By having the plot set in Southern California, *The Big Fix* also uses opportunity to add a lot of humour to characters and various subplots. One of the example is the way some 1960s radicals embraced new, apolitical and “safe” forms of non-conformism, which included New Age cults like the one led by guru (played by Ron Rifkin) who lives with Moses’ ex-wife (played by Bonnie Bedelia). But the most telling and most memorable transformation belongs to Eppis (played by F. Murray Abraham) who is revealed to live in suburbs under assumed name as successful advertising executive and traditional family man, the very embodiment of capitalism and tradition he had fought against. This point is made even better by the large number of good and well-known actors in small but effective roles.
The actual murder mystery in *The Big Fix* is nothing particularly special and the actual villain could be easily guessed as soon as his character appears. Although Kagan directs the film with the steady hand, at times there are issues with pace and segments and subplots that could have been left on the cutting room floor. Some of the references in the film might be next to incomprehensible to viewers without at least some familiarity with Marxism and other left-wing ideologies. Despite that, *The Big Fix* deserves recommendation as the film that offers good and at times very entertaining insight into Baby Boomer generation.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/42213-the-big-fix
Critic: AA