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

Culture

“In the Fade”: Lone wolf antifa in new anti-neo-Nazi German film
January 4, 2018 By Ed Rampell
The thought-provoking, gripping "In the Fade" will have moviegoers sitting on the edge of their seats
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Culture
$Actor/activist James Cromwell continues anti-fracking fight$

Actor/activist James Cromwell continues anti-fracking fight
December 11, 2017 By Ed Rampell
"This is the federal government under Trump undermining states’ rights. Washington is overruling a state decision to stop construction."
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Culture

AFI film festival shines spotlight on racism and more
November 28, 2017 By Ed Rampell
AFI’s several films focusing on racism enhance Hollywood’s progress from the Oscars-too-white controversy toward greater diversity.
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Culture

Anti-Trump artists’ group rides again in short films
November 22, 2017 By Ed Rampell
ARULA has moved to the film front, with a Short Film Festival at L.A. Downtown Independent, an outpost of indie cinema.
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Culture

Giuseppe Verdi’s “Nabucco”: 19th-century political theater
November 10, 2017 By Ed Rampell
In the case of this Verdi spectacle, it remains thematically and politically pertinent 175 years later.
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Culture

Brian Willson, a profile in pacifist courage at the Awareness Film Festival
October 19, 2017 By Ed Rampell
“In America, if you say ‘Brian Wilson,’ people think the Beach Boys, but in Nicaragua if you say ‘Brian Willson,’ people think of the peace activist."
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Arts

“Captain Greedy’s Carnival”: The P.T. Barnum musical about free market capitalism
October 4, 2017 By Ed Rampell
The frenetic play has lots of visual flourishes, and a Brecht/Weill vibe, but it also reminded me of Depression-era satire "Of Thee I Sing."
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Culture

Not quite ready for Freddy: Andy Warhol’s herky-jerky Herko
October 3, 2017 By Ed Rampell
"Freddy" tells the story of real-life dancer Freddy Herko (Marty Dew) largely through choreography (by Cate Caplin) and a recorded soundtrack of music.
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