Ed Rampell

Ed Rampell is an LA-based film historian and critic, author of "Progressive Hollywood: A People’s Film History of the United States," and co-author of "The Hawaii Movie and Television Book." He has written for Variety, Television Quarterly, Cineaste, New Times L.A., and other publications. Rampell lived in Tahiti, Samoa, Hawaii, and Micronesia, reporting on the nuclear-free and independent Pacific and Hawaiian Sovereignty movements.

LATEST ARTICLES BY Ed Rampell

Opinion

U.S. imperialism’s original sin in Afghanistan began in 1979, not on 9/11
September 10, 2021 By Ed Rampell
As the 20th anniversary of 9/11 is observed, we also must pay attention to what led up to it back in 1979.
Read more
Culture

‘The Big Scary “S” Word’: Documentary film viewers of the world, unite!
September 3, 2021 By Ed Rampell

Read more
Culture

Breakfast at Truman’s: Unanswered questions in ‘The Capote Tapes’ film
August 25, 2021 By Ed Rampell
This excellent, entertaining, informative documentary chronicling the life and career of one of America’s literary and gay icons is a cautionary tale.
Read more
Opinion

No socialism, please! CNN gives AOC the corporate media treatment
August 13, 2021 By Ed Rampell
Remarkably, Fox News is more honest about the left-wing congresswoman's politics than CNN.
Read more
Culture

Wilder’s classic Our Town gets 21st century treatment—Race, class, and all
August 3, 2021 By Ed Rampell
In 'The Last, Best Small Town', playwright John Guerra has adapted Thornton Wilder’s 1938 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, resetting the turn-of-the-last-century Grover’s Corner, New Hampshire at turn-of-the-21st-century Fillmore, California.
Read more
Culture

On the Topanga Trail of the Assassins: ‘Caesar’ on stage in L.A.
July 14, 2021 By Ed Rampell
After an extended intermission suffering under the twin tyrannies and plagues of Trumpism and COVID, the return of Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum marks a major milestone on our road back to fully living. For what is life...
Read more
Culture

A man’s man: Tinseltown’s gay star lives again in ‘Taming the Lion’
July 13, 2021 By Ed Rampell
William Haines loved to act and make motion pictures. He also adored having sex with other men.
Read more
Arts

‘An Octoroon’: Intellectual rollercoaster ride of a play about race in America
June 22, 2021 By Ed Rampell
In that “the show must go on” spirit, live theater is returning to Los Angeles stages.
Read more