Reagan relished playing the role of critic-in-chief

By PETER BAKER

WASHINGTON POST

Fred Dalton Thompson, of course, wouldn’t be the first actor to run for president. But it turns out it’s easier to take the movie star out of Hollywood than Hollywood out of the movie star.

We learn from “The Reagan Diaries,” the new collection edited by Douglas Brinkley and published by HarperCollins, just how much Ronald Reagan loved screening movies in the White House and how he made sure to record his assessments of them.

Herewith, the critic-in-chief’s reviews of the movies of the Reagan era:

“Reds” (1981)

“A most imaginative job.”

“Gandhi” (1982)

“A truly great movie.”

“The Color Purple” (1985)

“A magnificent job of picture making.”

“An Officer and a Gentleman” (1982)

“Good story spoiled by nudity, language & sex.”

“Missing” (1982)

“A pretty biased slam at Chile and our government.”

“Health” (1980)

“The world’s worst movie.”

“The Day After” (1983, TV)

“It is very effective & left me greatly depressed. ... Whether it will be of help to the ‘anti-nukes’ or not, I can’t say. My own reaction was one of our having to do all we can to have a deterrent & to see there is never a nuclear war.”

“Star Trek III: The Search for Spock” (1984)

“It wasn’t too good.”

Country” (1984)

“A blatant propaganda message against our Agri. programs.”

“Nine to Five” (1980)

“Funny — but one scene made me mad. A truly funny scene if the 3 gals had played getting drunk but no they had to get stoned on pot. It was an endorsement of Pot smoking for any young person who sees the picture.”