Additional information for Roger and Me, which has a domestic theatrical release set for December 20, 1989. The film is being distributed by Unknown and has not yet been rated. Roger and Me has a total running time of 91 minutes.
14A
Canada
S
Finland
11
Norway
11
Sweden
15
UK
R
USA
PG
Singapore
M
Australia
L
Iceland
M/12
Portugal
91min
A Humorous Look at How General Motors Destroyed Flint, Michigan
USA
Dance Band on the Titanic: Autoworld and the Death of Flint
USA
O Roger ki ego
Greece
Rodzer i ja
Serbia
Roger és én
Hungary
Roger and Me
International
Roger and me, Roger e io
Italy
Roger e Eu
Portugal
Roger et moi
France
Roger i ja
Poland
Roger ja minä
Finland
Roger och jag
Sweden
Roger und ich
West Germany
Roger y yo
Spain
September 01, 1989
USA
September 09, 1989
Canada
September 27, 1989
USA
December 20, 1989
USA
January 13, 1990
Japan
February 16, 1990
West Germany
March 21, 1990
France
March 27, 1990
Sweden
March 30, 1990
Finland
April 20, 1990
UK
April 27, 1990
UK
May 03, 1990
Australia
May 23, 1990
Netherlands
July 13, 1990
Portugal
October 27, 2002
Czech Republic
December 20, 2002
Austria
March 08, 2003
Greece
August 01, 2007
France
No taglines exist for this title.
Director Michael Moore pursues GM CEO Roger Smith to confront him about the harm he did to Flint, Michigan with his massive downsizing.
Michael Moore is an eccentric, self-taught documentary film director who begins by introducing himself and his family through 8 mm archival home movies; he describes himself as "kind of a strange child," the Irish American Catholic middle-class son of a General Motors employee assembling AC Spark Plugs. Moore chronicles how GM had previously defined his childhood while growing up in Flint, Michigan, and how the company was the primary economic and social hub of the town. He points out that Flint is the place where the 1938 Flint Sit-Down Strike occurred, resulting in the birth of the United Auto Workers. He reveals that his heroes were the Flint natives who had escaped the life in GM's factories, including the members of Grand Funk Railroad, Casey Kasem, the spouses of Zubin Mehta (Nancy Kovack) and Don Knotts, and "Flint's most famous native son," game show host Bob Eubanks.Initially, he achieves his dream of avoiding the dreary tradition of blue-collared factory life that lays for the majority of the population of Flint; by moving to California and working for a magazine in San Francisco, but this venture fails for him and he ultimately travels back to Flint. As he returns, General Motors announces the layoffs of thousands of Flint auto workers, the jobs of whom will go to cheaper labor when the plant relocates to Mexico. GM makes this announcement even though the company is (according to Moore) experiencing record profits.Disguised as a TV journalist from Toledo, Ohio, Moore interviews some auto workers in Flint and discovers their strong antipathy to General Motors chairman Roger B. Smith. Moore begins seeking out Smith himself to confront him with an "up-close-and-personal" interview about the closing of the Flint auto factories. He tries to visit Smith at GM's headquarters in Detroit, yet he is blocked by building security guards as Moore hasn't made an appointment. A company spokesman comes to the lobby and exchanges contact information with Moore, initially promising him to discuss an interview with Smith, but due to lack of credentials (since Moore is independent and likewise, does not have a business card), he refuses to grant him one. Over the course of the film, Moore attempts to track down Smith at various places including the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club and the Detroit Athletic Club, only to be told that Smith is not there or to leave by employees and security guards.From here, Moore begins to explore the emotional impact of the plant closings on some of his friends. He interviews an auto worker named Ben Hamper who apparently suffered a nervous breakdown after being layed off on the assembly line and is currently staying at a mental health facility.From here, to the Beach Boys song "Wouldn't It Be Nice?", we see a montage of the urban rubble and decay enveloping Flint, interspersed with newspaper headlines about the increasing layoffs, residents moving away, and a news report informing us that the rat population in the city soon outnumbered the human population.Moore also turns his camera to the residents of the more affluent suburbs such as Grand Blanc, who display rather classist and naïve attitudes when it comes to the economic hardships of the city (at a Roaring 20's themed party they are hosting, Moore takes note when they hire laid off workers to be Human Statues).Here, Moore changes course and turns his camera on the Flint Convention and Visitors Bureau, who are in the process of response by promoting a vigorously incompetent tourism policy. The Bureau, in an effort to lure tourists into visiting Flint, permit the construction of a Hyatt Regency Hotel, a festival marketplace called Water Street Pavilion, and AutoWorld, hailed as the world's largest indoor theme park. These efforts fail, as the Hyatt soon files for bankruptcy, Water Street Pavilion sees most of its stores go out of business, and AutoWorld closes due to a lack of visitors just six months after the grand opening.(AutoWorld would reopen the next summer only to close down again, and in the end was demolished, which is seen in Moore's film 'The Big One'.)Well-known personalities and celebrities are also shown coming to Flint to bring hope to the unemployed, some of them interviewed by Moore. President Ronald Reagan himself visits the town and suggests that former auto workers find employment by moving away... across the country, though the restaurant where they are meeting has its cash register stolen during Reagan's visit by an unemployed factory worker. The mayor pays television evangelist Robert Schuller to preach to the town's unemployed. Pat Boone and Anita Bryant, who have supplied GM with celebrity endorsements, also come to town; Boone tells Moore that Roger Smith is a "can-do" kind of guy. Moore also interviews Bob Eubanks during a fair near Flint, during which Eubanks cracks an anti-semitic and homophobic joke.Moore also attends the General Motors annual 1988 Shareholders Convention, disgusied as a shareholder himself. However when he gets a turn at the microphone to air his grevances to the board, and even though he is the last one, Smith immediately shuts him out and has the convention adjurned, despite Moore's attempts to interject him. In a close up of Smith, he can be heard joking about what he did with a fellow boardmember before leaving.Moore also meets some of the residents of Flint, who are reeling from the economic fallout of the layoffs. Moore meets a former feminist radio host named Janet who, to find work, joins Amway as a saleswoman. Also met is a former auto worker, angered over the layoffs, who is named James Bond. The most famous resident that appears in the film is Rhonda Britton, who sells rabbits for "Pets or Meat".(The scene many believe was the reason 'Roger & Me' received an R-rating features Britton killing a rabbit on-camera by beating it with a lead pipe. The rabbit fights back before and during the early part of the beating.)Prevalent throughout the film is Sheriff's Deputy Fred Ross, who worked at a Flint GM plant for 17 years before accepting his new job as a sheriff's deputy position, whose job now demands that he go around town carrying out evictions on families unable to pay their rent or mortgages on their houses or apartments.During all of this, as the film progresses, Flint's crime rate skyrockets, with shootouts and murders becoming all too common. Crime becomes so prevalent, that when the ABC News program Nightline tries to do a live story on the plant closings, someone steals the network's van (along with the cables), abruptly stopping the broadcast. Living in Flint becomes so desperate, that Money magazine names the town as the worst place to live in America. The residents react with outrage and stage a rally where issues of the magazine are burned.At the film's climax, Moore finally confronts Smith at the chairman's annual 1988 Christmas message, addressing him from a distance (Moore claims that two bodyguards are restraining him to keep him from getting closer to Smith). Smith is shown expounding about generosity during the holiday season, concurrently as Sheriff Fred Ross evicts more families. After Smith's speech, Moore is led out of the convention room into a hallway where he finally has his up-close-and-personal interview with Roger B. Smith. One part of the interview is shown as this:'Michael Moore: Mr. Smith, we just came down from Flint, where we filmed a family being evicted from their home the day before Christmas. A family that used to work in the factory. Would you be willing to come up with us to see what the situation is like in Flint, so that people...Roger B. Smith: (cutting Moore off) I've been to Flint, and I'm sorry for those people, but I don't know anything about it, but you'd have to...Moore: (interupting) Families are being evicted from their homes on Christmas Eve!Smith: Well, I'm... listen, I'm sure General Motors didn't evict them. You'd have to go talk to their landlords.Moore: They used to work for General Motors, and now they don't work there anymore.Smith: (shrugs) Well... I'm sorry about that. I don't know what can I do. What do you want me to do about it?Moore: Could you come up to Flint with us?Smith: (walks away) I cannot come to Flint. I'm sorry.Dejected by his failure to bring Smith to Flint to see the crime-ridden slum that it has now become due to the closing of the GM factory, Moore proclaims in the final shot of the movie: "as we neared the end of the 20th century, as the rich got richer and the poor got poorer... it was truly the dawn of a new era."After the closing credits, the film displays the message: "This film cannot be shown within the city of Flint, for all the movie theatres have closed."
Michael Moore
Director(s)
Michael Moore
Writer(s)
Michael Moore
producer
Wendey Stanzler
associate producer
Producer(s)
Composer(s)
Himself
Michael Moore
Himself
James Blanchard
Himself
James Bond
Himself
Pat Boone
Herself ('Pets or Meat')
Rhonda Britton
Herself
Anita Bryant
Herself
Karen Edgely
Himself
Bob Eubanks
Himself
Ben Hamper
Herself
Dinona Jackson
Himself
Timothy Jackson
Himself
Tom Kay
Himself (archive footage)
Ted Koppel
High School Student
Correy Lennox
Video Tour Guide
Brian MacDonald
Herself (Miss America)
Kaye Lani Rae Rafko
Himself (archive footage)
Dan Rather
Herself - Amway Lady
Janet K. Rauch
Himself (archive footage)
Ronald Reagan
Himself (eviction deputy)
Fred Ross
Herself - Reporter
Barbara Schroeder
Himself (archive footage)
Robert Schuller
Himself (local TV news anchor)
George Sells
Himself
Roger B. Smith
Zorro (archive footage)
Guy Williams
Himself
Steve Wilson
Herself
Sue Zelenko
Spot welder (uncredited)
Richard Earl Sawdon
Director(s)
Writer(s)
producer
Wendey Stanzler
associate producer
Producer(s)
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