You won't be disappointed!

Lack of good storyline.

An action-packed slog

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

This is a strange little film, you never get the feeling that you know entirely what is going on. There's some intriguing dialogue hidden in the middle, but the whole theme is entirely esoteric and vague. Performances are quite good. Paul Newman seems torn but does nothing at all to overcome the lethargic pull he's drawn to. WUSA is radio station in the South where the drunk Newman gets a job.The film is intentionally claustrophobic with counter-culture elements spread throughout.The ending is rather ambivalent. It's nice to see unique films like this one.Also recommended: Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round (1966) A Dandy in Aspic (1968)

A lot of what was predicted in the film Network about the media was also put forth in this film about radio WUSA. Sad to say it was laid on a bit too thick by its players and director.Paul Newman who had a lot of faith in this project plays an itinerant disc jockey who both gets a job at this New Orleans based radio station WUSA and takes up with hooker Joanne Woodward, a girl whose heart really isn't in her work anyway.As station owner Pat Hingle says, "this is a station with a point of view" and Hingle expects that point to be emphasized at all times. At that time the Richard Nixon White House was big on telling us that they were looking toward the great 'silent majority' of Americans who took the 'my country right or wrong' dictum to the exponential height. That's WUSA's point of view.Newman is not a terribly sympathetic figure here which is one of the reasons the film flattens out. He sees what's wrong, but just goes with the flow. A whole lot like the characters with one exception in that other Louisiana based political drama, All The King's Men.One who doesn't is Anthony Perkins who plays this rather pitiable 'survey taker' whose job is really to foster racial discontent by getting minorities thrown off welfare. I imagine there were many a Perkins out there, but this one doesn't like being taken for a fool and he reacts most violently. Perkins is probably the character you most remember from WUSA.WUSA correctly predicted the advent of right wing talk radio about fifteen years before it became a fact. Rush Limbaugh would have been right at home on Pat Hingle's station. They've even got a right wing political preacher played by Laurence Harvey as part of their family. Harvey's another interesting character, but he's also laid on a bit thick for my taste. He should have adapted a more subtle approach to the part.I wish I could rate such a prescient film as WUSA a bit higher, but the heavy handed approach just gets in the way.

It is easy to go to 1970's and recapture the era. So many movies wanted to deal with the politics of the time. Parallax View with Warren Beatty, Twilight's Last Gleaming with Burt Lancaster, This movie was part of that attempt. However, unlike the excellent political movies of the 1960's, this movie lacked the quality of writing a Rod Serling and his peers brought to the table. So to truly enjoy this movie,overlook the heavy handed dialogue. Ignore the 1970's film making style and enjoy the excellent cast of actors. For its time it was an excellent movie. Looking at it today I still see the excellence but it has an eerie familiarity to today. Replace WUSA and there staring back at you is Murdoch and his Fox team. That sends a shiver up my spine.

A drifter comes to Louisiana and gets a job as a DJ at a ultra conservative radio station. Despite being a professed liberal Newman decides to just go along with it's right wing rhetoric because he has grown apathetic with things and now just wants to 'blend in'. The idea has a lot of potential, but is never able to take off. Part of the problem is that instead of trying to play it like satire (ala NETWORK) it instead works it with almost pinpoint seriousness. The film seems intent of saturating the viewer with it's gloom and doom message. It becomes such a long and winding stream of social complexities that the viewer, as with the main character, just grows apathetic with it all. It's 'powerful' statements are simply redundant. It is just too engulfed with the politics of it's day to give anything that is broadly insightful. It is easy to see why this is probably Newman's most forgettable film. There is just nothing unique or even slightly diverting about it. It meanders badly and there is absolutely no action. The 'exciting' mob scene at the end looks staged and unconvincing. The film looks to have leanings of a character study, but even they are weak. Newman's angry loner role is simply a less intense version of his HUD character. Woodward as the prostitute with a 'heart of gold' is cliched and dull. Perkins is the only one that comes off as interesting, but it's not enough to save it. This is truly a limp and lifeless picture. It would be amazing if there was ANYONE who would like it.