Clint Eastwood Turns the Story of ‘Richard Jewell’ Into a Memorable Lesson of Injustice 

Alci Rengifo

No other director captures the bygone American ethos like Clint Eastwood. Particularly in his most recent work, the emphasis tends to be on the ordinary citizen loyal to the spirit of the country, suddenly beset by powerful and corrupt forces. It’s almost a conservative body of work where individual patriots stand for what’s right. “Richard Jewell” is the latest Eastwood film in this vein. It tells the true story of a simple man, who loves the idea of authority and uniforms, finding himself attacked by those same institutions. Eastwood makes the narrative engaging by shaping a vivid lead character likeable for his imperfections, yet slips when it comes to the movie’s key female role.

In 1996 Richard Jewell (Paul Walter Hauser) works security during the Olympic Games in Atlanta. Jewell is a wannabe cop who lives with his mother Bobi (Kathy Bates), and daydreams of one day becoming like the uniformed types he adores. It’s gotten him into trouble before, with his overbearing attitude leading to being fired at Georgia’s Piedmont College. But on the night of July 27 his amateur skills actually work when Jewell notices a suspicious backpack during one of the Olympic concerts. He badgers the nearby police officers until they check and realize it is indeed a pipe bomb. The explosive still goes off, causing injuries and casualties, but it could have been worse and Jewell is a national hero. But the praises don’t last when FBI agent Tom Shaw (Jon Hamm) starts investigating this odd man in his 30’s still living with his mother who is known for seeking prominence. Catching wind of the investigation is Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Kathy Scruggs (Olivia Wilde), a scrappy go-getter willing to do nearly anything to get a story. When she leaks the FBI’s snooping on the paper’s front page, Jewell is assaulted by a media firestorm slamming him as a suspect. His only help comes from former employer and attorney Watson Bryant (Sam Rockwell), who is ready for a fight with the powers that be.

“Richard Jewell” becomes something more than a thriller by emphasizing the late Jewell as a person trapped in a Kafkaesque nightmare. From the beginning we know he didn’t commit the bombing, even if you walk in with no knowledge of the 1996 Olympic attack, Eastwood clearly shows us the real bomber (who turned out to be right-wing fanatic Eric Rudolph) placing the backpack at the concert, later alerting authorities through an eerie phone call. Eastwood and writer Billy Ray, taking inspiration from the Vanity Fair article “American Nightmare—The Ballad of Richard Jewell” by Marie Brenner, want the audience to feel both the outrage and stress of an innocent man under the shadow of government relentlessness. Like Angelina Jolie desperate to find a missing son in Eastwood’s “Changeling,” Jewell becomes sympathetic enough that we truly feel for him. His room is adorned with military posters and he gives the cops free sodas while on duty. Even as it becomes obvious Shaw and the FBI want to railroad him, Jewell can’t resist obeying authority. When agents raid his apartment and take away everything from Tupperware to underwear, Jewell still tries to explain it casually while his mother breaks down. His lawyer Bryant at one point wonders why he’s the more enraged one. It is Bryant who has always treated Jewell like a human being, even when Jewell pushed a cart in his office years before. 

The performances have to be emphasized to see why “Richard Jewell” works well as drama. Paul Walter Hauser is a revelation as Jewell, tapping into the kind of personality where insecurities are masked by an ego fueled by big dreams. He knows others see him as large and not the ideal image of a macho hero, so he imposes his authority as a security guard by being a bit self-righteous. He gets fired from Piedmont when he smugly reads back to the Dean his own comments and after barging into dorm rooms to sniff out drinking students. But he’s not a mean-spirited person, just that sort who really takes the idea of a badge seriously to the point of having blinders. He can barely follow Bryant’s instructions to shut up whenever the FBI’s around. There are echoes here of the buffoon fake detective Hauser played in “I, Tonya.”  Kathy Bates has already won a Best Supporting Actress award from the National Board of Review for her role as Jewell’s mother Bobi, which she does wonderfully and endearingly. She’s that overly caring mom who doesn’t mind having a 33-year-old living at home and is in a sense the saddest victim of this whole crisis. She can’t understand why the FBI is harassing her world, and a sudden euphoria of pride in her son is brutally brought down.

It is also in the performances that we find the film’s key flaw, and that is the role of Kathy Scruggs. There’s been an outcry over the way Scruggs is played by Olivia Wilde as a kind of vixen reporter, flaunting her page one successes loudly in the office and offering up her body when useful to get information. It’s as if Eastwood wants Scruggs to represent all that is bad about the mainstream media desperate for a story, even if it means shaming a hero and in turn he slut-shames Scruggs. She offers Shaw sex at a bar for the key tip on who the FBI is investigating and delivers (“so should we get a room or just go to my car?”). When her story hits page one she doesn’t so much laugh in the office as cackle. Eastwood later attempts to redeem the character but her change in attitude is imbalanced. Maybe Eastwood at 89 just doesn’t feel like dumping old objectifying trends. There’s also the issue of how to be fair with a character based on someone who is dead and is the female lead. Another female character, Nadya (Nina Arianda) is quite likeable but only operates as Bryant’s dutiful secretary, and as a Russian knows Jewell is innocent because in her country whenever the government accuses someone of a crime it’s probably a set-up.

These issues aside, the rest of “Richard Jewell” operates comfortably in the Eastwood cinematic universe where the American spirit represents a goodness that goes beyond the system. It’s almost a statement against big government as Ham’s FBI agent Shaw never relents and is always stone-faced and without scruples when luring the naïve Jewell into compromising situations like fake FBI training video shoots or uttering Rudolph’s phone call dialogue into a recorder for evidence. Rockwell’s feisty Bryant is the voice of defending the constitution, warning Jewell the system is rarely on the common citizen’s side. Like Eastwood’s “Sully,” “The 15:17 to Paris” and even last year’s excellent “The Mule,” about a grandfather who makes extra money via the drug trade, there’s a sense of reaching back to a simple idea of people taking certain decisions just because they are right. Bryant defends Jewell because he’s a good guy, only Nadya points this out as a juicy case for their firm. Eastwood of course gives us those close-ups of waving U.S. flags and should be commended for at least casting rural America types who actually look like rural Americans. The editing moves with a great rhythm, making its 2 hours fly by.

“Richard Jewell” is another highly entertaining Eastwood film culled from the headlines, with its main character being the most memorable in his authenticity. In a way any one of us could be Richard Jewell, suddenly thrust into a major situation out of one’s control. We also tend to wish we were more. The great irony is that Jewell got what he wanted, but at a very stressful price. Maybe that’s why Eastwood keeps looking at the news for inspiration, it nearly always beats fiction.

“Richard Jewell” opens Dec. 13 in theaters nationwide.