FONDA ON FILM

An encyclopedic look at Jane Fonda’s acting and activism.

Film buffs will find much to love in this detail-rich coverage of Fonda’s acting career. As former Washington Post critic Pressley writes, his book “is about a lot of movies.” Truly, a lot of movies. An often overwhelming sea of plot points, lighting, cinematography, costuming, actors, producers, directors, and more can bog the reader down. However, Pressley’s engaging writing, quippy asides, and political criticism help to refresh. Fonda’s activism is the throughline of the book, as it has been in her movie career. Although Fonda was maligned as “Hanoi Jane” for a 1972 photo on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun, Pressley effectively shows how her anti-war activism was rooted in an understanding of the impact of the war on American soldiers. Directly refuting the message of the “drive-by documentary” Letter to Jane, which argued that movie stars should not speak publicly about politics, Pressley demonstrates the depth of Fonda’s activism. Alongside descriptions of films like Klute (1971), They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969), and Barbarella (1968), Pressley details her collaborative “alt-USO” road show, The FTA Show, the buried anti-war documentary Winter Soldier (1972), and Introduction to the Enemy (1974), a documentary in which Fonda and her then-husband, Tom Hayden, interviewed Vietnamese citizens. Her production company, IPC Films, part of her and Hayden’s Indochina Peace Campaign, produced Coming Home (1978), The China Syndrome (1979), and 9 to 5 (1980), all heavy-hitters with political messages. Interspersed with the filmography, Pressley weaves in Fonda’s presence at rallies against the Iraq War and the 2019-2020 Fire Drill Fridays, where she generated awareness to combat climate change. Even her famed home video workout business was political—the money she earned from her products funded the Campaign for Economic Democracy, a progressive political organization founded by Hayden. Pressley isn’t a fan of all of the films covered, but he is certainly a fan of Fonda.

In this celebratory volume, the message is clear: Jane Fonda is the real thing.