Roger and Me

Theatrical Release Date: 1989 12 20 (USA)

UPC: 085392764525

Studio: Warner Home Video

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Violence, Not For Children]

Summary: Michael Moore's wickedly iconoclastic documentary was inspired by the decline and fall of Flint, Michigan. Once the site of a thriving General Motors plant, Flint went quickly to seed when GM decided to close down and move out. As Moore pokes around what has been described by one magazine as "the worst place to live in America", he finds out how the local populace is coping with GM's betrayal of the American Dream. Among those visited are a family who is evicted just before Christmas, and an enterprising middle-aged woman who set up a thriving business slaughtering and skinning rabbits. Never feigning objectivity, Moore contrasts the impact of the shutdown on the average Joes and Janes with the diffident reaction of Flint's power elite. The latter's patronizing attitude towards the unemployed multitudes is succinctly captured in the scenes in which visiting celebrities Robert Schuller, Anita Bryant, Bobby Vinton and Pat Boone exhort the citizenry to grin and bear it. Even more out of synch is "Miss Michigan" Kaye Lani Rae Rafko, who in her morale-boosting speech to the disenfranchised GM employees begs them to pull for her in the upcoming Miss America pageant! The film's throughline is Moore's futile effort to locate GM chairman Roger Smith, so that he can show Moore first-hand the utter devastation of Flint. Roger & Me is very funny, but it is the gallows humor of soldiers about to embark on a suicide mission. In 1992, Michael Moore more or less updated Roger & Me with his half-hour short subject Pets or Meat: The Return to Flint. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Category: Culture & Society

Awards: Best Documentary – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Documentary – National Board of Review Best Documentary – New York Film Critics Circle Film Presented – Telluride Film Festival

Features: ccCommentary track from director Michael Moore
Theatrical trailer
Scene access

Roger and Me

Format: DVD

Release Date: 08/19/2003

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Pre-1954 Standard

Audio: DD1 Dolby Digital Mono

Runtime: 90 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Subtitles: English,French,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1 --
1. Every Day a Great Day [4:11]
2. San Francisco [1:31]
3. Back to Flint [4:25]
4. GM Headquarters [3:29]
5. Repercussions (Wouldn't it Be Nice?) [3:04]
6. President's Visit [1:02]
7. Great Gatsby Party [1:37]
8. Deputy Fred at Work [1:50]
9. Grosse Pointe Yacht Club [1:41]
10. Bob Eubanks [2:31]
11. The Parade and Miss America [4:12]
12. Poor People [2:22]
13. Detroit Athletic Club [1:34]
14. Rev. Robert Schuller [1:14]
15. Anita Bryant and Pat Boone [5:55]
16. Amway Lady Janet [3:06]
17. Taco Bell; Lint Rollers [1:57]
18. The Bunny Lady [2:02]
19. Blood Bank [:59]
20. Police Blotter [3:09]
21. On the Links [1:17]
22. People on the Move [3:07]
23. Renewed Vigor [2:46]
24. Tourist Mecca [8:34]
25. Meet James Bond [1:40]
26. Pets or Meat [2:43]
27. Burning Money and Nightline [2:18]
28. Jailhouse Rock Gala [2:06]
29. Shareholders Meeting [1:08]
30. The Plant's Final Day [2:06]
31. A Dickens' Christmas [5:27]
32. "New Era"; End Credits (Wouldn't it Be Nice?, I Am Proud to Be an American) [5:16]

Perry Seibert

Michael Moore's Roger & Me offers a scathing critique of corporate America. Offering a strong point-of-view and a palpable contempt for anyone who takes advantage of the working class, Moore reveals a series of heartbreaking people whose lives and city have been taken away from them due to corporate greed. Moore's everyman persona provides a perfect disguise. Those in positions of authority who are willing to talk to him for this film seem unable to comprehend how this chubby average guy could possibly do them any harm. While he certainly takes (arguably deserved but always hilarious) potshots at a future Miss America, game show host Bob Eubanks, and crooner Pat Boone, Moore's bitterness is tempered by a sadness that allows one to forgive him when his satire hits an innocent bystander rather than his intended target. Funny, cruel, outraged, and sad, Roger & Me offers more emotions than the average fiction film -- one of the many reasons it became the most successful documentary ever at the time it was released. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Pat Boone  Actor 
Michael Moore  Actor 
Connie Francis  Actor 
Roger B. Smith  Actor 
Anita Bryant  Actor 
Bob Eubanks  Actor 
Michael Moore  Director 
Michael Moore  Producer 
Michael Moore  Screenwriter 

Country: USA