There’s a romance about newspapers within our population.

Newspapers are a fixture of Americana themselves. Plus they do a decent job to be in position to capture other slices of Americana.

Hollywood loves newspapers as a backdrop, and this week, a newspaper trade magazine, Editor & Publisher, asked readers to vote on the best newspaper movies made by Hollywood.

Here’s a link to http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004000824" target="_blank">the story. More importantly, here are the poll results as reported today by Greg Mitchell of E&P::

8) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZahHekI0gE" target="_blank">"Absence of Malice" starring Paul Newman and Sally Field. 1981
7) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtE8r-VTsPY" target="_blank">"Sweet Smell of Success" starring Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis. 1957
6) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DKYR58HHSE&feature=fvw" target="_blank">"His Girl Friday" starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell. 1940
5) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzhb3U2cONs" target="_blank">"Citizen Kane" starring Agnes Moorehead and Joseph Cotton. 1941
4) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1Aza_OyeEE&feature=related" target="_blank">"The Paper" starring Robert Duvall, Glenn Close and Michael Keaton. 1994
3) http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2991849497/" target="_blank">"Ace in the Hole" starring Kirk Douglas/Billy Wilder. 1951
2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzZJamfE48Q&feature=related" target="_blank">"All the President's Men" starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford. 1976

And the winner:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgdE-qPv6kw" target="_blank">"Deadline U.S.A.," starring Humphrey Bogart (1952). It's got an oddball cast - Bogie, Kim Hunter, and mostly a bunch of radio actors - Ed Begley, Joe De Santis, Martin Gabel and Joyce McKenzie to name a few - who have three days to bring down a gangster.

Here are some voter comments on the films:

-- Why is (“Deadline U.S.A.”) still relevant today? Well at the end, the newspaper is sold and closes.

-- Line from "Deadline USA":
"What's that noise?"
"That's the press baby, the press and there is nothing you can do about it....nothing!"

-- “The Paper." There's a very quick scene in passing in the newsroom when one reporter annoyingly calls out, "How do you spell ..." and a copy editor turns and yells, "Look it UP!"
-- "Ace in the Hole" – Billy Wilder's 1951 film in which a washed-up big city newsman (Kirk Douglas), now working for a small paper in Albuquerque, tries to regain fame by exploiting a local story about a man trapped in a cave. The whole affair becomes a media-fueled circus, complete with food vendors, a tent city of gawkers, and an amusement park ride. The portrayal of the press and of the public appetite for sensation seem pretty over-the-top, but the film is based on a real event that became a similar media circus.

-- Great movie lines:
"... if there's no news, I'll go out and bite a dog."
"Bad news sells best. Cause good news is no news."
"It's a good story today. Tomorrow, they'll wrap a fish in it."