Richard Dewey’s informative documentary about famed New York City author Tom Wolfe places subtle reflection on Wolfe’s coded right wing stance.
Hailing from Richmond, Virginia, Wolfe adopted his signature white suit as an extension of his public persona as a dandy.
The suit harkens to plantation owners whose authority over his enslaved subjects, demanded complete subjugation.
It is this similar brand of intellectual superiority that the Yale-graduated Wolfe lorded over the media, his fans, and his many enemies.
Wolf could easily have been the inspiration for the Elvis Costello song “This Town” (from his 1989 “Spike” album).
The chorus goes:
“You’re nobody in this town
You’re nobody in this crowd
You’re nobody till everybody in this town
thinks you’re poison,
Got your number, knows it must be avoided
You’re nobody till everybody in this town
thinks you’re a bastard”
Wolfe was big into the cult of his own personality, or lack thereof.
The film’s title “Radical Wolfe” tips its hat toward the radicalization of the Republican party that ‘70s and ‘80s era reprobates such as Morton Downey Jr. and Donald Trump seized upon.
Ironic, not ironic how Conservative came to equate as Radical ideology.
The term Conservative should be altered to reflect its actual intent.
Transparency is as transparent does, so “Radical” is the new term for Conservative.
Out with the old, in with the new.
Telling is the fierce degree of hatred that Tom Wolfe instilled in his literary rivals.
Hunter S. Thompson, John Irving, and J.D. Salinger all rebuked Tom Wolfe for his cruel stance and grandiose style that Wolfe used to attack sacred cows, such as Leonard Bernstein.
There is no question that Tom Wolfe was a groundbreaking writer and journalist. The fast paced biopic takes us through Wolfe’s dynamic books that made him the most financially successful author of his time.
We get hooked.
“The Right Stuff,” “The Bonfire of the Vanities,” and “The Electric Kool-aid Acid Test” made Tom Wolfe a very wealthy man indeed.
Although, Wolfe’s daughter appears, along with such iconic figures as Michael Lewis, Gay Talese, and the dubious Peter Thiel, we never get any sense of Tom Wolfe as much of a family man. The film explicitly leaves out any mention of Wolfe’s wife.
Weird.
“Radical Wolfe” has the potential to inspire its viewers to read a Tom Wolfe book. You might even venture into the work of Wolfe’s contemporaries, Hunter S. Thompson, John Irvine, Joan Didion, or Kurt Vonnegut.
Taste, chew, eat.
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Not Rated. 76 mins.
