Rather Review – Essential, Revisits the Career of Dan Rather, A Must See
- Details
- Category: Haute This Issue
- Published on Monday, 11 August 2025 10:35
- Written by Janet Walker
Rather, from Giant Pictures, presents a celebration of the life of Dan Rather, revisiting his more than six decade career as the most trusted name in journalism, highlighting pivotal moments, costly mistakes, and adapting to reach a new generation.
The documentary begins with a montage of memorable moments that historians, news junkies, and even the citizens will remember with Dan Rather, formerly the CBS evening news anchor bringing the world and these cataclysmic events around the globe into the living rooms of Americans.
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We return with Mr. Rather to the beginning of his career, at radio station KTRH in Houston, where he worked covering the local sports games, calling the play-by-plays. He explains this time was a training ground as it helped him build his ability to ad lib, a skill many fail to see as relevant but time and time again in Rather's career his ability to adjust, in the moment, was critical.
During this time, he also met his wife, Jean Goebel, who begin working at the same radio station. He explains he was career minded and even considered deferring his dreams of a family, and then Jean began working and, as he says, the cliché of seeing her and being struck by cupid's arrow ended the deferment period and soon they were dating, and to his surprise when he asked her to marry him, she agreed. They are celebrating nearly 70 years of marriage.
Of course, his success as a radio announcer led to a gig in New York as television was just taking off, and then a return to Dallas to run the CBS news station as a television reporter. And of course, he was the most recognizable reporter on the ground in November 1963, and the first to report that President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated, feeding the news to Walter Cronkite, who told a shocked nation of the events. As all eyes remained on Dallas, the alleged gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald, was being transferred, and Rather standing among the media and reporting the movements, the play by play, witnessed and explained to the nation live, the killing of Oswald by Jack Ruby, seen, as a man in a tall Texas white hat and white suit.
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This event catapulted Rather to global recognition. He explains, like many historians, the tumultuous times the assassination ushered in, of the Civil Rights movement, and his own feelings of guilt, as a bystander instead of a participant, and reconciling he was giving what he could, and doing what he could to exact change, While some fought on the front lines of the movement, Rather fought to get the word of these atrocities out to the world.
We also learn that Dan Rather is a spiritual man, more than cultural Christianity, he has a devout faith and as his daughter attests reads the Bible and believes in his faith.
As the 1960s continued to convulse, the stories that captured the attention of Americans, and the world, but lie in the heart of the nation included the civil war on the streets but also the Vietnam war. Rather requested and was given permission to be stationed in Vietnam for a year, and in his role as a war correspondent, he brought the senselessness of the egregious loss and injury home to the people. Television clips of his time are woven together we see him dodging gunfire, reporting on casualties, and when needed he dropped his reporting duties, and his humanity is seen as he comforts the wounded.
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One would think that after the 1960s, the nation would settle somewhat, and the trembling agitation would give way to a more calm time. However, is appears that the 1960s created a different season, and now we meet Dan Rather, White House correspondent.
To hear, President Richard Nixon explain, "that Dan Rather is a son-of-a-bitch," and so we understand, Rather's dogged, tenacious, reporting has developed a new type of war reporting, the war between the president and the press. Rather had his ups and downs with Nixon, we see a collage of those times, at the 1968 Republican convention where he was manhandled, shoved, punched in the stomach, and knocked down. Once the Watergate story broke, it eventually led to the resignation of President Nixon on August 8, 1974.
His reporting once again earned him a promotion, and he began working with 60 Minutes in 1975, bringing the forgotten stories of the disenfranchised, the explosive cover-ups, and exposes on a nation run amuck into the living rooms, and helping boost the ratings of the Sunday evening news show.
Rather continues to walk the viewers through the seasons of his career, and his move to anchor of the CBS evening news, replacing Walter Cronkite, the first anchor of modern news, his mugging and assault in Manhattan, the world of stories, and of course, the moment in his career when he was confronted with a choice to save his career of throw his team under the bus. As Dan Rather has always been a man of integrity we know the answer.
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The documentary continues with Rather, now 90, evolving once again, and to his credit he explains he wasn't really into social media, but thought he would give it a try. He is now an influencer guiding a generation of youth who never even knew he anchored the news. His opinions are leading this generation to see the world through the lens of experience and wisdom. In the volatile political landscape, with threats to journalism and democracy more prevalent than ever, Dan Rather remains the resounding voice of resistance, with millions reading and sharing his posts on social media.
Rather is an essential documentary for every journalism student, every news junkie, every historian and documentarian of the 20th century. Not only do we relive those critical moment of change, but through the lens of time and the reporting of someone who shaped the medium. The documentary provide unrestricted access and offers an unfiltered look at the stability and instability of his career and his present renaissance as one of the last beacons of quality reporting.
Rather is available on Blu-Ray and DVD August 12, 2025. It is essential, a must-have. Buy it, rent it, own it.
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Country: U.S.
Language: English.
Runtime: 95 minutes.
Director: Frank Marshall.
Producer: Frank Marshall, Jenifer Westphal, Joe Plummer, Jeff Hasler, Ethan Goldman, Aly Parker.
Executive Producer: Jenifer Westphal, Wayne Nelson, Jessica Sherif, Ryan Suffern.
Co-Producer: Taylor Wildenhaus, Jennifer Dugan, Tony Rosenthal.
Writer: Dan Crane.
Featuring: Dan Rather, Ronan Farrow, Mark Cuban, Andy Cohen, Samantha Bee, Soledad O'Brien
Shepard Smith.
Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade. A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays, "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She has completed two books, the non-fiction narrative, "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story," and "Days, Times, Seasons, Events: A Collection of Poetry & Prose." Both are available on Amazon. She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a former member of the International Federation of Journalists.
