The protagonist of the film is Eddie Mannix (played by Josh Brolin) who is the "fixer" for Capitol Pictures, a motion picture company. It's his job to get the studio's stars out of any potentially career-damaging scandals that they manage to get themselves into, and save their reputations. For example, when we first meet him, Mannix is hauling a young starlet out of a skeezy photographer's pad, where she was having girlie pics taken.
Last week, I got to watch a film I'd been wanting to see since it was released: Hail, Caesar! the 2016 movie by Joel and Ethan Coen. It is a comedy set in the world of 1950's Hollywood during the filming of a Ben Hur-style Biblical epic (it even borrows the subtitle from Ben Hur: "A Tale of the Christ." Everything which I had watched and read about Hail, Caesar! made me think that this was my kind of film, and it really was. The protagonist of the film is Eddie Mannix (played by Josh Brolin) who is the "fixer" for Capitol Pictures, a motion picture company. It's his job to get the studio's stars out of any potentially career-damaging scandals that they manage to get themselves into, and save their reputations. For example, when we first meet him, Mannix is hauling a young starlet out of a skeezy photographer's pad, where she was having girlie pics taken. Another scandal which he is handling is the pregnancy of one of their stars- an Esther Williams-type swimming actress who had an affair with a married director. The solution which Mannix comes up with is to have the baby sent to an orphanage and then have the star- DeeAnna Moran- adopt her own child. She will then be seen as a benefactress rather than a home wrecker and unwed mother. Mannix spends his days handling these types of scandals and messes which the movie stars get themselves embroiled in. As can be imagined, this is a highly stressful and time consuming job which keeps him from spending a lot of time with his wife and kids. However, he is being wooed by an aerospace company which is offering a high-paid executive position and he has been putting off making a decision. Somewhat incongruously, Eddie Mannix is also a devout Catholic who goes to confession almost every night after work, confessing to things like deceiving his wife about quitting smoking. Soon, however, the problems Mannix is dealing with at the studio are eclipsed by one involving one of their biggest stars. Baird Whitlock, the actor starring in the Biblical epic "Hail, Caesar!" being filmed at Capitol, suddenly disappears in the middle of the shoot. At first it's assumed that he's gone off on a binge, but then a ransom note arrives... Whitlock has been kidnapped! Of course, the now-paused epic is not the only film in development at the studio. There is a western finishing up production which stars singing cowboy Hobie Doyle. Doyle is young, earnest, and eager to please, and is becoming quite popular with the public. To capitalize on this, the studio casts him in a period drama. The problem is, Hobie, who was an actual cowboy before going to Hollywood, has trouble pulling off the demeanor and accents of an English gentleman. He is willing and ready to work hard to succeed at it, though, if his director doesn't have a stroke from frustration first. There's also a musical filming at the studio which stars Gene Kelly-esque all-American song and dance man Burt Gurney. It is actually on the set of this film that the ransom note directs Mannix to drop off the briefcase full of money which he's gotten from the studio. Coincidentally, the director of this film is the man with whom DeeAnna Moran was having the affair. Eddie Mannix is trying to keep all of these balls in the air, with the added stress of attempting to keep Thessaly and Thora Thacker, twin sisters who are rival gossip columnists, from breaking a scandal- a different one- about Baird Whitlock. In an attempt to distract them, he tells them that Hobie Doyle is dating a young starlet, Carlotta Valdez, and tells them that Doyle will be taking Valdez to the premiere of his latest western. He then contacts Hobie to tell him that he will be taking Carlotta to the premiere. It is while he has Hobie in his office that the kidnappers call to tell him where to drop the ransom, and in a moment of weakness, he tells Doyle about the kidnapping. Hobie thinks for a minute then tells Mannix that he should check out the extras working on Hail, Caesar! He points out that they are hired for short periods of time without being known very well, and can come and go at the studio without causing suspicion. Mannix sees the wisdom in this and after making the drop, starts looking into the extras. As it happens, Hobie is correct... it was two of the extras who drugged and carried off Baird Whitlock. In Part II of my summary of Hail, Caesar! we'll find out where Whitlock finds himself when he awakens.
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