ABSTRACT
Moviemakers produce movies primarily to entertain audiences and to make money, but, like books on which they are sometimes based, movies also can help educate and sway viewers about political matters. Despite famous remark by Hollywood mogul Samuel Goldwyn that "messages are for Western Union," movies have always dealt with weighty political and legal topics—including issues related to civil liberties. Crime and the legal system have long been popular film topics. Numerous movies stress the need for an effective system of criminal justice. The constitutional protections given to persons charged with crimes have often generated public opposition, a feeling that intensified as Supreme Court expanded the rights of the accused in 1960s. From 1947 to 1962, film industry blacklisted, or refused to hire, persons suspected of having had Communist sympathies. This episode, prompted by Cold War and America's strong fear of communism, was a key event in the history of the movie industry and had significant civil liberties implications.
