The Majestic : The story of how Peter Appleton lost his Memory and found Himself

If Truman Show proved his mettle as an actor, The Majestic (2001) proves Jim Carrey not only as a serious actor but also a great one.  The movie is set during the Golden Era of Hollywood, the 1950s, when the US was in throes of Cold War with Russia and communism was considered a federal crime. It was during this time at many a-list screenwriters of Hollywood were blacklisted by the studios, because they were suspected of having communist ties by the FBI.

As the movie begins, Peter Appleton is a worldly a-list Hollywood screenwriter with an actress girlfriend, two movies in the pipeline and a major career in Hollywood ahead of him. Then he is informed that his movies are cancelled and he is blacklisted by Hollywood, on FBI’s suspicion of communist-ties, an accusation based on the fact that he attended a communist meeting, while in college. Suddenly, he is out on the street with no one to help or even support him. Disillusioned and in despair, he gets drunk and “goes on a drive” only to crash into a river.

The town of Lawson, CA, is a small town that has lost more than 30 of its “sons” in WWII. When Peter washes up on the shores bloodied and bruised with absolutely no idea of who he is or what happened, the entire town is in uproar. Not because a stranger has landed but because a lost son has come back. Peter, incidentally, happens to look exactly like Luke Trimble, the son of the Town-theater owner Albert Trimble who has been MiA since the war. Here, surrounded by Luke’s family and friends, Peter slowly and unconsciously takes on Luke’s life – falling in love his fiancée Adele and re-opening the theatre ‘The Majestic’ – and starts changing his own ideas about life and courage.

Several names in the movie are connected to real-life persons involved in Senator Joseph McCarthy's "witch hunt" investigations. The town of Lawson is named for screenwriter John Howard Lawson who stood up to HUAC and ended the Red Scare. Another writer, Lester Cole, gives his surname to the mayor. Luke Trimble is named for blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo. Appleton is named for Senator McCarthy's Wisconsin home town.

Some movies make a splash, you can see them once or even a dozen times at-one-go, and then you tend to forget or outgrow them; like one-night stands or a fashion fad. But some movies are like your first love or trusted blue jeans that, no matter how many outgrow them, you go back again and again, if only in lingering memories. This is one such movie.