Fantastic, indeed

Witness

Imagine, for instance, the six-part HBO series that a really talented scribe could make out of Witness. Or alternatively, you could do what Robert Redford did in Quiz Show, and center the story around, say, a young and idealistic Truman Administration staffer who is assigned to discredit Chambers - this fat, bizarre, tragicomic figure - and who worships the poised and brilliant Hiss. Over the course of the movie, of course, you would have the protagonist realize, to his horror, that Chambers is right and Hiss is guilty - a belief that all his right-thinking friends and probably even his wife/girlfriend would think is absurd. Or again, look at what Michael Mann did in The Insider - you could have Russell Crowe play another heavyset informant whose life goes down the drain, only this time, instead of pairing him will Al Pacino, you cast someone poised and beautiful as Hiss. Christian Bale, maybe? And then have Peter Sarsgaard as a young Richard Nixon . . . Oh, it'd be fantastic!

(Pointer from The Yankee, who really knows how to start a day off on the right foot.)