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Medium Cool is a 1969 film directed by Haskell Wexler and starring Robert Forster. It takes place in Chicago in the summer of 1968. The country is experiencing great turmoil because of the war in Vietnam, extreme violence on the home front (such as the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., the assassination of Robert Kennedy), glaring class divisions, and an increase in police and military activity against the people.

Plot summary

John Cassellis (Robert Forster) is a television news cameraman. In one of the opening scenes a group of cameramen and journalists are discussing the ethical responsibilities within their profession; when should filming a gruesome scene end and human responsibility to help another come in to try and save a life? As viewers we are presented with issues such as violence as spectacle, political and social discontent, extreme racism and class divisions. The film is constantly juggling actual footage with feature film image; Wexler uses footage from military training camps in Illinois who are preparing for potential riots and demonstrations from students during the Democratic National Convention later that summer.

Cassellis is seemingly hardened to ethical and social issues at first and is more concerned with women and getting the job done right. Yet once Cassellis finds out that his news station has been leaking all of the stories and information gathered by the cameramen and news journalists to the FBI, he becomes enraged. The news station has created an excuse to fire him and Cassellis is let go. Cassellis meets a widow whose husband died in the Vietnam War. Eileen (Verna Bloom) and her son moved from West Virginia to Chicago. Cassellis grows fond of both Eileen and her son Harold. The film concludes with a scene wherein Eileen is walking through rioting crowds, which is actual footage of students in Chicago demonstrating during the Democratic National Convention in the summer of 1968; her son has gone missing and she is desperately seeking Cassellis for help, but he is filming the Democratic National Convention. As a result, the fictional story and real-life brutality merge. The director explained that he planned principal photography to coincide with the convention, expecting that a riot would occur, which it did.

The title comes from Marshall McLuhan's work in which he described TV as a "cool" medium. The "cooler" the medium, "the more someone has to uncover and engage in the media"Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).

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 John Cassellis ([[Robert Forster]]) is a television news cameraman.  In one of the opening scenes a group of cameramen and journalists are discussing the ethical responsibilities within their profession; when should filming a gruesome scene end and human responsibility to help another come in to try and save a life? As viewers we are presented with issues such as [[violence]] as spectacle, political and social discontent, extreme [[racism]] and class divisions. The film is constantly juggling actual footage with feature film image; [[Wexler]] uses footage from military training camps in [[Illinois]] who are preparing for potential riots and demonstrations from students during the [[Democratic National Convention]] later that summer.
-Cassellis is seemingly hardened to ethical and social issues at first and is more concerned with women and getting the job done right. Yet once Cassellis finds out that his news station has been leaking all of the stories and information gathered by the cameramen and news journalists to the [[FBI]], he becomes enraged. The news station has created an excuse to fire him and Cassellis is let go. Cassellis meets a widow whose husband died in the [[Vietnam War]]. Eileen ([[Verna Bloom]]) and her son moved from [[West Virginia]] to [[Chicago]].  Cassellis grows fond of both Eileen and her son Harold. The film closes with a scene wherein Eileen is walking through rioting crowds, which is actual footage of students in [[Chicago]] demonstrating during the [[Democratic National Convention]] in the summer of [[1968]]. Her son has gone missing and she is desperately seeking Cassellis for help, but he is filming the [[Democratic National Convention]]. The tragic ending of the film gives the audience a cyclical affect.  The director explained that he planned principal photography to coincide with the convention, expecting that a riot would occur, which it did.
+Cassellis is seemingly hardened to ethical and social issues at first and is more concerned with women and getting the job done right. Yet once Cassellis finds out that his news station has been leaking all of the stories and information gathered by the cameramen and news journalists to the [[FBI]], he becomes enraged. The news station has created an excuse to fire him and Cassellis is let go. Cassellis meets a widow whose husband died in the [[Vietnam War]]. Eileen ([[Verna Bloom]]) and her son moved from [[West Virginia]] to [[Chicago]].  Cassellis grows fond of both Eileen and her son Harold. The film concludes with a scene wherein Eileen is walking through rioting crowds, which is actual footage of students in [[Chicago]] demonstrating during the [[Democratic National Convention]] in the summer of [[1968]]; her son has gone missing and she is desperately seeking Cassellis for help, but he is filming the [[Democratic National Convention]]. As a result, the fictional story and real-life brutality merge. The director explained that he planned principal photography to coincide with the convention, expecting that a riot would occur, which it did.
 The title comes from [[Marshall McLuhan]]'s work in which he described TV as a "cool" medium. The "cooler" the medium, "the more someone has to uncover and engage in the media"<ref>[[Marshall McLuhan]]<ref> in order to "fill in the blanks."<ref> The movie questions the role and responsibilities of television and its' newscasts.