It is a strange film. Honestly, if you sit down to watch Julia the movie 1977 today, you might be struck by how quiet it feels compared to the loud, fast-paced biopics we get on streaming services now. It doesn't rush. Directed by Fred Zinnemann, this is a movie that breathes, lingers on cigarette smoke, and spends a massive amount of time inside the head of Lillian Hellman.
Jane Fonda plays Lillian. Vanessa Redgrave plays Julia.
Most people remember it for the Oscars or the politics, but at its heart, it’s a story about a friendship that felt more like a haunting. It’s based on a chapter from Hellman’s memoir Pentimento, and while the movie presents itself as a cold, hard fact, the reality behind the scenes was a total mess of lawsuits and accusations of literary theft. You've got to appreciate the irony: a movie about the absolute moral truth of fighting fascism was built on a foundation that many claim was a complete fabrication.
The Plot and the Tension of Julia the movie 1977
The story kicks off with Lillian, a playwright struggling with her work, living at the beach with her partner, the legendary hard-boiled writer Dashiel Hammett (played by Jason Robards). She’s successful but restless. Then there’s Julia. Julia is the childhood friend, the wealthy rebel who went to Oxford and Vienna and eventually got her leg blown off while fighting the Nazis.
The meat of the film involves Lillian smuggling $50,000 through Nazi Germany to help Julia fund the resistance. It’s tense. You see Lillian on a train, sweating, hiding the money in her hat, terrified that every border guard is a death sentence. Zinnemann shoots these scenes with a heavy, claustrophobic dread.
It worked.
The film was a massive hit. It pulled in eleven Academy Award nominations and won three. It’s one of those rare 70s dramas that managed to be both a "woman’s picture" and a gritty political thriller without losing its soul in the process.
Why the Casting Was Lightning in a Bottle
Jane Fonda was at the height of her powers here. She had this nervous, prickly energy that perfectly matched the real Lillian Hellman’s reputation. But Vanessa Redgrave? She’s barely in the movie. I think she has maybe ten or fifteen minutes of screen time total. Yet, she looms over every single frame. Her performance as Julia is ethereal and tragic.
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When Redgrave won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, she gave that infamous "Zionist hoodlums" speech. It nearly tanked her career and overshadowed the film itself for years. If you watch the footage of the 1978 Oscars, you can feel the oxygen leave the room. But looking back at the performance itself, away from the 1970s political firestorm, she’s incredible. She plays Julia as someone who has moved beyond fear because she’s already lost everything.
The Murky Truth: Did Any of This Actually Happen?
Here is where things get really messy.
Lillian Hellman claimed Julia was a true story. She swore up and down that she took that train, met that woman, and risked her life. But almost immediately after the book and the movie came out, people started poking holes.
A woman named Muriel Gardiner eventually came forward.
Gardiner was an American psychoanalyst who actually lived in Vienna and worked for the anti-Nazi resistance. Her life story was almost identical to the "Julia" in the film. The problem? Gardiner didn't know Lillian Hellman. They had a mutual friend, but they had never met. It became widely believed that Hellman took Gardiner's life story, stripped it for parts, and inserted herself as the heroic protagonist who saved the day.
The writer Mary McCarthy famously said of Hellman on The Dick Cavett Show: "Every word she writes is a lie, including 'and' and 'the'."
Hellman sued her for $2.25 million.
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This controversy adds a bizarre layer of meta-commentary to Julia the movie 1977. You’re watching a film about the importance of standing up for what is right, yet the person who told the story might have been committing a massive act of intellectual dishonesty. Does that ruin the movie? Not necessarily. But it makes the "truth" the film claims to represent feel a lot more like a fever dream.
The Craftsmanship of Fred Zinnemann
Zinnemann was a master of the "man (or woman) of conscience" genre. He did A Man for All Seasons and High Noon. He knew how to film a person sitting alone in a room, wrestling with a moral choice, and make it look like an action sequence.
In Julia, he uses a desaturated color palette.
Everything looks like an old photograph that’s been left in the sun too long. Browns, greys, muted greens. It captures that 1930s European decay. It’s not a "pretty" movie, but it is a gorgeous one. He also took a huge risk with the pacing. The first forty minutes are almost entirely flashbacks and conversations about writing. Most modern editors would have hacked that to pieces, but Zinnemann lets it build. He understands that if you don't care about the friendship between Lillian and Julia, the train sequence has no stakes.
Impact on 1970s Cinema and Beyond
Before this film, female friendships in Hollywood were usually about competing for a man.
Julia the movie 1977 changed the game. It was a high-budget, prestigious drama where the central relationship was between two women, and men were almost entirely secondary. Even Dashiel Hammett, played by a powerhouse like Jason Robards, is relegated to the "supportive partner" role. That was revolutionary for the time.
It also served as a bridge between the old Hollywood style and the New Hollywood cynicism. It has the polish of a classic studio film but the bleakness of a 70s thriller.
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The film influenced how we see historical dramas. It paved the way for movies like Schindler's List or The Pianist by showing that you could tell a small, intimate story against the backdrop of a global catastrophe. It didn't need to show the battlefields to show the war. It showed the war in a broken pair of glasses and a whispered conversation in a cafe.
Key Takeaways for Today's Viewers
If you're going to watch it, keep a few things in mind:
- The Soundtrack: Georges Delerue’s score is haunting. It’s understated and melancholic, perfectly mirroring the loss of innocence.
- The Debut: Look closely at the party scenes. You’ll see a very young Meryl Streep in her first-ever film role. She plays a socialite named Anne Marie, and even in those few minutes, you can see her "acting circles" around everyone else.
- The Memoir Aspect: Read Pentimento alongside it. It’s fascinating to see how Alvin Sargent (the screenwriter) took Hellman’s prose and turned it into a linear narrative.
How to Experience the History of Julia Today
To really appreciate the depth of this film, you should look beyond the DVD or the streaming link.
Start by researching Muriel Gardiner’s book, Code Name: Mary. It tells the "real" story that Hellman likely stole. Comparing Gardiner’s actual accounts of the Vienna underground to the dramatized version in the movie is a masterclass in how Hollywood "fixes" reality to make it more cinematic.
Next, check out the 1978 Oscar ceremony clips on YouTube. Seeing the tension in the room when Vanessa Redgrave speaks gives you a sense of just how much this film was at the center of the cultural zeitgeist. It wasn't just a movie; it was a political lightning rod.
Finally, watch the film for the cinematography of Douglas Slocombe. He’s the same guy who shot Raiders of the Lost Ark. The way he uses light and shadow in the European train stations is pure noir perfection.
Julia the movie 1977 remains a landmark of 20th-century cinema. Whether it’s a true story or a brilliant piece of fiction doesn’t change the fact that it’s a masterwork of atmosphere and acting. It reminds us that friendship is often the most dangerous thing we possess.
To get the most out of your viewing, find a copy of the 2004 DVD release which includes a commentary by Jane Fonda. She discusses the grueling nature of the shoot and her complicated relationship with Lillian Hellman, who was still alive and very much a presence during the production. Exploring the "Mary McCarthy vs. Lillian Hellman" feud through archives like The New York Times or The New Yorker provides the necessary context for the legal drama that eventually eclipsed the film's reputation. Following these steps transforms a simple movie night into a deep dive into one of Hollywood's most fascinating historical scandals.