A Very Dangerous Citizen: Abraham Lincoln Polonsky and the Hollywood Left

by Paul M. Buhle, Dave Wagner

When he was summoned before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1951, Abraham Lincoln Polonsky (1911-1999) was labeled "a very dangerous citizen" by Harold Velde, a congressman from Illinois. Lawyer, educator, novelist, labor organizer, radio and television scriptwriter, film director and screenwriter, wartime intelligence operative, and full-time radical romantic, Polonsky was blacklisted in Hollywood for refusing to be an informer. The New York Times called his blacklisting the single greatest loss to American film during the McCarthy era, and his expressed admirers include Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Sidney Lumet, Warren Beatty, and Harry Belafonte. In this first critical and cultural biography of Abraham Polonsky, Paul Buhle and Dave Wagner present both an accomplished consideration of a remarkable survivor of America's cultural cold war and a superb study of the Hollywood left.

The Bronx-born son of immigrant parents, Polonsky―in the few years after the end of World War II and just before the blacklist―had one of the most distinguished careers in Hollywood. He wrote two films that established John Garfield's postwar persona, Body and Soul (1947), still the standard for boxing films and the model for such movies as Raging Bull and Pulp Fiction ; and Force of Evil (1948), the great noir drama that he also directed. Once blacklisted, Polonsky quit working under his own name, yet he proved to be one of television's most talented writers. Later in life he became the most acerbic critic of the Hollywood blacklist's legacy while writing and directing films such as Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1970).

A Very Dangerous Citizen goes beyond biography to help us understand the relationship between art and politics in American culture and to uncover the effects of U.S. anticommunism and anti-Semitism. Rich in anecdote and in analysis, it provides an informative and entertaining portrait of one of the most intriguing personalities of twentieth-century American culture.

Genres: Biography, History

285 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Now retired as Senior Lecturer at Brown University, Paul Merlyn Buhle is the author or editor of 35 volumes including histories of radicalism in the United States and the Caribbean, studies of popular culture, and a series of nonfiction comic art volumes.

Reviews

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just re-read this and gave it another star based on all the work that Buhle and Wagner put into this book, and on how well they captured the importance of Polonsky's vision and talent. It's also a great social history of the Hollywood Left before, during, and after the blacklist that's packed with fascinating information for radical movie maniacs and kindred culture vultures.

[Mark Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used this book, along with Steven C. Smith's A Heart at Fire's Center, as background for a short story I wrote about the early friendship between Abe Polansky and Bernard Hermann and its later tragic dissolution. Both biographies are laced with the kind of particular detail that brings the men and their milieu alive. Perfect for those interested in the era of the blacklist and film noir.