Ben Mankiewicz revisits the Hollywood blacklist on TCM

Classic Hollywood had its controversies, and the blacklist of the 1940s and 1950s was a major one.

Turner Classic Movies is marking the 75th anniversary of that event – in which many entertainment professionals, suspected of being Communists or sympathizers, were banned from getting work – with three consecutive Thursdays of related films, the second night of which will be presented Oct. 20 (stretching into early the following morning).

On that date, host Ben Mankiewicz will showcase features made by talents who were blacklisted, including writer, director and star Charles Chaplin’s “A King in New York,” co-writer Dalton Trumbo’s “The Brave One,” and director Herbert Biberman, writer Michael Wilson and co-star Will Geer’s “Salt of the Earth.”

“There were maybe a couple of classes I took in college that touched on it, but not from a Hollywood point of view,” Mankiewicz says of the blacklist. “The House Un-american Activities Committee went after others in other professions, too, but going after Hollywood made headlines. That’s what they were interested in. I’m certainly not suggesting that actors are more important than teachers or physicists, but that got people’s attention.”

Arguably bringing the subject full-circle, some later movies made the blacklist their theme – including “The Way We Were,” “The Front” and “The Majestic,” the three of which comprise the concluding lineup of the TCM series Oct. 27 and 28.

“If a person questions my patriotism and I get to see them, I feel like I’m going to punch them in the face,” Mankiewicz notes. “I’d put my love of this country against anybody’s, but I grew up like so many other kids thinking that if the United States did something, it was good. But we’ve made some pretty big mistakes, and I think we’re a better country when we own up to them.”

Indeed, Mankiewicz deems the Hollywood blacklist “one of those reminders that we have behaved in ways far more embarrassing and disappointing than we care to admit. And that’s OK, but we have to talk about it and expose it ... and to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.”