The Last Thing He Wanted (2020, directed by Dee Rees) is one of those movies that leaves you a taste of meh in the mouth at the end. Not that’s a bad flick, but I would not recommend it to a friend. And no, Ben Affleck is not the cause. The cast is excellent with Anne Hathaway, Ben Affleck, Willem Dafoe, or Rosie Perez.
But we are not here for cinema critique, but vintage tech spotting. And from that point of view, we are well served. We can see several late 70’s – early 80’s newsroom technologies. The production team did a fantastic job! Not less than ten ITT Teletypes terminals (the associated press feed apparently) are nicely lined-up right at the opening scene. In the room, you can also spot many WANG dumb terminals – with plausible text displayed –, as well as a Kaypro II luggable computer, likely the most advanced piece of technology in the movie. Not computers, but still cool to spot: telephones, a brick mobile phone, and a bunch of Olympia typewriters.
