BARBARA WALTERS TELL ME EVERYTHING (Tribeca 2025) – Review by Leslie Combemale
In Jackie Jesko’s somewhat by-the-book Hulu documentary Barbara Walters Tell Me Everything, one thing is made very clear. Cultural icon and news trailblazer Barbara Walters was a complicated woman. At one point in the film, she’s called “transactional”, she had a bit of a love/hate relationship with Diane Sawyer, and at various points in her life, was involved with a married politician, and Trump’s notorious lawyer Roy Cohn. She also opened doors for women in broadcasting and journalism, as well as in the larger working world, to such an extent that they are hard to even quantify in retrospect.
The documentary is made up of a mix of archival footage and interviews with Walters herself, with her colleagues, and between Walters and important figures in politics and pop culture. They build a full picture emerges of the women in public and private life. The film reminds those who were there, and those who can’t remember a time before the internet, that she was an integral and essential part of history. She interviewed Anwar Sadat before ANYONE else, pissing off the bevy of broadcast bros who thought her “less than”. Then there was that iconic interview with Monica Lewinsky, which broke all records for viewership. Over 70 million people watched all or part of it. To put things in perspective, the most-watched shows these days have 12 million viewers, and anything getting over 10 million is cause for celebration. She also shifted news coverage to include interviews with noted celebrities, something that seems passé now, but caused quite a bit of judgment and condescension at the time. She was, it is made clear, before her time.
There are some interesting insights from a wide range of people inspired or influenced by her, including Bob Iger, Katie Couric, Oprah Winfrey, and Connie Chung. We also hear from several on the receiving end of her sharp, canny interviewing skills, like Bette Midler, Diana Ross, and Monica Lewinsky.
Barbara Walters died in 2022, so it was time for a good survey of her importance to forwarding the path for working women, and her historic place in journalism. In Tell Me Everything, there are no deep insights, and the documentary isn’t breaking any new ground, unlike the woman herself. Barbara Walters Tell Me Everything still makes for compelling tv, and will likely inspire audiences who didn’t know just how important she was and is to American history. It’s a good thing it will stream on Hulu, where a wide audience will have access to it.
3 out of 5 stars.
