Most Dangerous Man In America – Official Film Site

I’ve had more than a passing interest in the splash arrival this month of Steven Spielberg’s movie The Post, starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks, which covers the Washington Post‘s role, in 1971, in publishing the so-called “Pentagon Papers,” a top-secret government study of United States involvement in the then-still-raging Vietnam War.

Judith Ehrlich and I spent four years creating the on-screen story of the man who leaked that Pentagon study to the press, in our 2009 documentary, The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers. So I’ve been waiting with bated breath to see what this stellar Hollywood team would do with similar events.

— Read the full article on Documentary.org the site of the International Documentary Association —

MSNBC will rebroadccast The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers Sunday, January 7 from 9-11 PM EST (6-8 PM PST). MSNBC first broadcast the film on December 23.

The film is also available to watch online or on DVD at www.mostdangerousman.org

With only a brief segment in Spielberg’s “The Post” film featuring Ellsberg, the Oscar-nominated Most Dangerous Man in America fills in the full true story of former defense analyst Daniel Ellsberg’s release of the top-secret Pentagon Papers. Ellsberg’s daring act of conscience revealed decades of government lies about the Vietnam War, leading directly to Watergate, President Nixon’s resignation, and a swifter end to the war – as well as a landmark Supreme Court decision expanding press freedom.

Ellsberg was inspired to risk possible life in prison for his actions by the example of draft resisters willing to face federal prison rather than fight in an unjust war.

Most Dangerous Man in America was directed by Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith.

(Daniel Ellsberg interviewed on MSNBC prior to the December 23 broadcast)