Television Reviews : ‘Real Life of Ronald Reagan’ Falls Short as Biography

“Where’s the rest of me?!” Ronald Reagan cried in his role as an amputee in the film “King’s Row.” Reagan used the line as the title of his mid-’60s autobiography. It also applies to the “Frontline” documentary, “The Real Life of Ronald Reagan,” narrated by Garry Wills, that airs at 9 tonight on Channels 28 and 15; 10 p.m. on Channel 50.

This biographical study at first appears to be the very model of thoughtful reportage. Reagan is documented from earliest childhood days (his father had a serious “drinking problem,” and his family moved almost yearly during this time) all the way through to his rebound from the Iran-Contra scandal.

The cumulative image is one of a superficial but quick-learning emcee taking complex ideas (already compressed by a brainy staff) and delivering them with the conviction of Jimmy Stewart and the charm of Bob Hope.

Wills, the author of “Reagan’s America,” leaves it at that.

Where is the rest of Reagan? An example of Wills’ deletions is the George Gipp myth. Gipp was the ill-fated kicker and mascot played by Reagan in “Knute Rockne: All-American.” Reagan used him as his guiding spirit of optimism and gumption, as Wills notes, for five decades. The crucial point missed by Wills is that the Gipp tale of the movie never happened. For Reagan, it was real; it was the metaphor of his presidency.

Wills hints at other matters, then leaves them unexamined. On one hand, the popular conception of Reagan, and the model he played after the Jimmy Carter debacle, is the provider of paternal comfort. On the other hand, Reagan’s life unfolds as a case of arrested adolescence. This conflict would seem to be considerable grist for a documentarian’s mill. It’s barely suggested by narrator Wills, whose tone of voice occasionally sounds like the intellectual exasperated at a small mind.

“The Real Life of Ronald Reagan,” in a now-hallowed tradition for the press, finally lets Reagan off the hook.