War and Hollywood: Then and Now
by Noel AnenbergPresident-elect Obama’s election and inauguration is a victory for wisdom in the war against ignominious hate. President Obama will inherit a nation which, by the unwavering commitment of President George W. Bush, has taken the steps necessary to stop Terror Inc., in its tracks. Hollywood Studios which, let us not forget, remain on Al Qaeda’s hit list, have continued to produce films of protest to the former President’s war policies and defamatory to his character. They thrive and get rich by hating him. Rather than support our President and our troops, rather than vilifying our enemy, Hollywood has in the main chosen to vilify those sworn to protect it. Hollywood has indeed changed. Let’s compare Hollywood’s response to WWII to its response to 9/11 and our war effort.
Classic and contemporary Hollywood feature films about America’s heroic contribution to victory in World War II are legion. My favorite three classics are “Casablanca,” the splendid “Victory at Sea” (NBC TV), and “The Longest Day.” During, and for some time after World War II, most American filmmakers celebrated the American fighting spirit which, once awakened, crushed Nazism, defanged the Imperialist Japanese and corralled Communism. Then, American film critics were generally supportive. A glance at reviews published about “Victory At Sea,” contemporary with the series’ release in 1952, are illuminative. The New York Times praised the series for its “rare power”; The New Yorker pronounced the combat footage “beyond compare;” Harper’s proclaimed that “‘Victory at Sea’ [has] created a new art form.” The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Harper’s sing praises of war! The horror, the horror.
American feature films about World War II and the American film critics’ responses reveal a radical shift in Hollywood.
With the bold exception of “Flight 93,” in which our heroic American fighting spirit shines, Hollywood films mock our war effort and worse. Warner Brothers’ “Syriana,” indicts American foreign policy and business interests as co-conspirators responsible for the murderous animus directed at us by otherwise benign leaders. In “Three Kings,” or “The Three Amigo’s Do Iraq,” George Clooney and his men must, as did Caballeros’ Dusty Bottoms, Lucky Day, and Ned Nederlander, decide whether they will take the money and run or stand and fight for the hapless souls they were duty bound to rescue. The Clooney platooney courageously decide to help their wards escape, to IRAN! (God, if you happen to read this essay, please, if I ever pray for help, whatever you do, don’t send George Clooney!)
“World Trade Center,” directed by that Ozymandian pillar of Hollywood morality Oliver Stone, offers up Americans as proud victims able to take a hit, pick themselves up, dust themselves off and in the end, survive. The heroes of Stone’s film are cops and firefighters. They are without doubt real-life heroes each and every time they put on a uniform and report for duty. It’s in their blood and they should be celebrated for it. The caveat here is that it took the destruction of two giant skyscrapers and the savage televised murder of thousands for truculent Hollywood liberals like Stone to acknowledge their heroism. Many people who’ve seen “World Trade Center,” including New York Times’ critic, A.O. Scott, who used “public tragedy,” to describe 9/11 in his review, left the theater feeling understandably sad. But public tragedies include plane crashes, hurricanes, tornadoes, the death of a beloved leader, etc. 9/11 is more than a public tragedy, it was a beastly and cowardly act of war! Where is the celluloid rage! Where are the celluloid heroes who will kill those who design to kill us?
“World Trade Center,” reviews appearing in national newspapers differ sharply from those written for “Victory at Sea.” They demure. The New Yorker magazine’s Film Critic David Dentry, praised “World Trade Center,” but only after constructing a blast proof wall between himself and conservative commentators who are waxing eloquent about the film. Richard Schickel of Time opined “’World Trade Center’ is…a hymn in plainsong that glorifies that which is best in the American spirit.” Newsweek’s David Ansen wrote, “…’World Trade Center’ celebrates the ties that bind us, the bonds that keep us going.” What has kept us going is the quality of “rare power,” which The New York Times ascribed to “Victory at Sea.”
We have to be more than tough victims, we have to be righteous victors.
The national buzz surrounding the releases of “Flight 93,” and “World Trade Center” has been characterized by the question: “Are we ready to revisit 9/11?” Just three years after Pearl Harbor, in 1944, Spencer Tracy as General James Doolittle was flying across motion picture screens with Van Johnson and Robert Mitchum en route to bomb Tokyo.
Where are our celluloid heroes when we need them?
One’s jumping up and down on daytime talk show sofas proclaiming that psychiatry is a pseudo science. Another helped hapless Iraqis, probably Sunnis, escape to Iran! One other, who would not fit into a tent let alone fatigues, roams about lambasting the very institutions which afford him the liberty to make millions discrediting them. I don’t think we’ll see an “Inman, Where’s My Mosque,” movie on Egyptian, Iranian, or Saudi movie theater screens soon. Movies are forbidden in Saudi Arabia.
Then, Humphrey Bogart, Ernest Borgnine, Richard Burton, Clark Gable, Kirk Douglas, Henry Fonda, Jack Lemmon, Sal Mineo, Gregory Peck, and John Wayne volunteered for screen action. Laurence Fishburne, Cuba Gooding Jr., Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, and others have portrayed World War II heroes as well. But the stars have not come out for this war. Where are Ben Affleck, Pierce Brosnan, Matt Damon, Johnny Depp, Robert De Niro, Paul Giamatti, Samuel L. Jackson, Edward Norton, Sean Penn, and, again, Fishburne, Gooding, Hanks, and Washington? At the Ivy having lunch?
A sign once stood in a snowy Rocky Mountain meadow at the main gate of Camp Hale, Colorado – the training camp for the 10th Mountain Division, America’s first ski troops, citizen soldiers recruited by the National Ski Patrol! On this white sign there was a bold black caricature of Adolph Hitler. “WE’VE GOT A DATE WITH THIS SON OF A BITCH, LET’S BE ON TIME!” was the caption which ran in big bold black letters next to Hitler’s mug. Sadly, tragically, realistically, history has asked our nation on another date with destiny. Will Hollywood pacify us in order that we might behave like good victims or inspire us to fight for victory?
The boogie-woogie bugle boy of company “C” is playing his tune, Hollywood. Reveille! Reveille!
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23 Comments
The last war movie that tried to be honest was "The Green Beret" and it was lampooned by the media for being "overly patriotic" and "jingoistic". It painted the North Vietnamese as being brutal and willing to win at any cost (which they were). It warned that is the media failed to show the enemy as they were, the war would be lost (which it was).
Substitute Radical Islamic Fundamentalist for North Vietnamese and "The Green Beret" could be re-released. It would be treated the same way, forty years later.
The “War” film had gone down hill since the late 60’s. No matter the film there is a pacifist sentiment in it. One of my favorite WW II films,”A Bridge Too Far” has Gene Hackman saying at the end “………….When we play the war game, everybody dies!”.
So expecting Hollywood to make films about heroic action during this war is Foolish.
I would love to make the film that honors the Marine Heros who cleaned out of Fallujah. But, that won’t happen any time soon or at all.
“Is this what Big Hollywood is really going to be about? Conservatives whining that movies…”
Oh it’s not just whining about movies but everything thing else in-between, welcome to Big Hollywood!!!!
Also Noel, as of yesterday Obama is our president now, not the president-elect.
Credit where it’s due: Transformers (2007). All soldiers in this movie were portrayed as unabashedly professional, dedicated, and heroic. The scene in which an AWACS scrambles A-10s and an AC-130 while the Rangers mark surround and mark targets on the Decepticon Scorponok is about as gung-ho as any I’ve seen in any movie. In the climax, the Decepticons have to battle the Autobots as well as this Ranger team and the Air Force.
There’s no mention of the WoT in this flick, but everyone in this movie, including the Qatarian villagers, understands that the US armed services are a force for good.
I support the troops by opposing needless wars for Israel. As a Navy vet, I would think you would side with your comrades who were sacrificed to Israel in the attack on the USS Liberty by that treacherous nation, rather that supporting more war for them.
With all due respect, did you even SEE “Three Kings”. At the end of the movie, Clooney as his fellow soldiers help the Iraqis flee to safety FROM SADDAM. In fact, if I remember correctly one of the soldiers who had been portrayed as a hopeless rube by Spike Jonze, died heroically protecting the Iraqis in an attack. Not to mention, didn’t Clooney and crew also not end up stealing the money/gold they found?
The whole point of the movie was that George Bush told the Iraqis to rise up against Saddam, and then abandoned them to get slaughtered, and Clooney and his soldiers attempted to right that wrong with a group of people.
By the way, the movie “Flight 93″ is actually more commonly known as UNITED 93. Even a quick glance at Wiki would have told you that. When you get things like the titles of recently released movies completely wrong, it sort of undercuts your credibility.
Hollywood can’t do otherwise.
Hollywood can’t come out in favor of the war without abandoning their liberal (hippie) heritage, and without admitting that their seemingly endless attacks on our military were incorrect. And heavens forfend, they start to look like Republicans (or even worse, being mistaken for one.)
Hollywood is heavily Jewish. Even though they all claim to be non-religious, they simply can’t bring themselves to ever criticize Israel for anything (when is the last movie made that made Israel look bad?) Thus any action in the middle east that they don’t like has to be blamed on the nearest Republican (a group of people they are free to criticize any time they want.)
Hollywood can’t criticize Arab and Palestinian terrorists, because that would be siding with the “right wing hate machine” and with Israel. Thus any action these chuckleheads cause is blamed on Israel but due to the above, is rapidly converted to the fault of the nearest Republican (Quick, tell me the name of the most recent movie that blamed the Palestinians for anything.)
What drives this? Money. Hollywood simply can’t do otherwise as long as there is so much money involved and the financial difference between success in your industry and non-success in your industry is so incredibly VAST. Its all the Golden Rule. He who has the gold makes the rules. A bunch of lefties have the money, and they make the rules.
Consider that some 85% of SAG members are unemployed at any given time, and that the average salary of their members is about 11 grand/yr. Now consider how much Tom Hanks makes for anything he makes. Your choice, live by the above rules and experience obscene wealth beyond measure, or break out them waitress shoes. Sing the song these lefties want and you make vast sums of cash. Don’t, and you don’t.
I’ve been in the military since I was 18 and love movies, but for the life of me can’t (err, no I can) understand why so many anti-military or anti-US films get made. It seems Hollywood bends over backwards to rush a film into theaters that paints the US or military in a bad light, but the thousands of awesome stories I’ve read or heard from friends which should be on film never will be.
Anyone see NBC “Saving Jessica Lynch”? IMO one of the few as well that was historically correct and postitive. Some thought the movie was going to be a fairy tale about PVT Lynch but if you can find it I’d reconmend checking it out.
Pageiv, so “Saving Jessica Lynch” was historically correct? Ummm..you do realize that Lynch herself said that the film was incredibly inaccurate. Of course, the US government wouldn’t have fudged a few details of her rescue in order to make it look more heroic and dangerous than it actually was? Nahh…
Next thing you’ll tell me that Pat Tillman wasn’t actually killed in a Taliban ambush, and that the Bush military invented that story to cover up that he was killed in a friendly fire incident. I mean, covering up the truth of Tillman’s death wouldn’t have been such a wise move when he died the very week the Abu Ghirab photos came out. Oh, that’s right, Sam the Plumber said that in a time of war, reporters shouldn’t ask questions or even be allowed to report.
There seems to be a lot of whining around here in general. Quite frankly, however, I sympathize with some of it. The quality of writing in general is not nearly up to the standards John Nolte maintained for himself and occasional guests at Dirty Harry’s Place (of blessed memory). A great many of the articles, apart from rambling and meandering, are focusing very heavily on the insults instead of what is good.
Rush has mentioned this website several times over the last few weeks. We can’t win elections if we lose the culture. The way to win back the culture is not to complain about what’s wrong. The way to win it back is to focus on what’s right and give some business to the good guys. We’re getting more of that in the commentary (interspersed among the annoyingly frequent troll attacks) than the actual articles.
Tell someone with money and spine to fund a film version of Michael Yon’s “Moment of Truth in Iraq.” Read it if you haven’t, then pass it along. You’ll appreciate why Yon refers to our military as America’s elite.
For Titov: ‘United 93′ and ‘Flight 93′ are two different movies. About the same thing. Flight 93 is a tv movie. United 93 is a theatrical release and has uniformly been given four stars. Flight 93 doesn’t hold up to the same standards, but it is clear in both versions these heroes , all ordinary people just like us, rose to the occasion and died to save others.
I love Three Kings and I believe it shows American military with a good heart, if a decidely mercernary one. ( Something like Kelly’s Heroes years ago) They gave up the gold for their new friends freedom and that made them the kind of American Military we all admire.
Blackhawk Down was an indictment of both the UN and President Clinton.
Abandonment in the face of withering attack by both.
There was a lot wrong with military decisions made early in WWll, expressly in the Pacific, leading to sacrifices from our military that might not have been necessary, but you will never see the criticism. On the contrary movies like ‘They Were Expendable’ tout sacrifice and bravery in a war that was to the death, literally. Without that sacrifice they knew their homeland was in vital peril. Something our military know to their core today but the public do not. As they are wont to say in Iraq: “The US Military is at war. America is at the Mall.”
Hollywood plays a huge role in the attitude of the general public. They did a great job letting America know what the sacrifices were and how much we owed to those sacrifices being made all over the world AND how we could help at home to ensure victory. Yes, VICTORY! Hollywood talked of it openly and often. More and deeply, those movies in those times reflected what real people were experiencing and going through at the time. I think of: “Watch On The Rhine”, “Battle of Britain” the aforementioned “Casablanca” and the wonderful “To Have And Have Not”
America knew who she was then and knew what was at stake after watching England and Europe explode and Japan on the march for at least 4 years, the attack at Pearl Harbor was the last straw.
We watched all through the Clinton Administration the attacks that were essentially terrorists attacks both on this soil and on foreign soil, yet no response from Clinton. If Clinton had been in the WH on 9/11 it would have reacted in the same way: Litigation.
This is what will happen with the Obama Administration: He will get out of Iraq asap and may be foolish enough to tweak the Pakistan nose once too often and inherit the whirlwind accordingly but you will never see any other war prosecuted as Hollywood did in the past and GW Bush did in the present. There are just not enough of the kind of movies being made today to state the case and be the rallying cry needed to galvanize a nation to action. Not even movies like Transformers or The Dark Knight can do that.
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1) Hollywood is still stuck in the 1960s, because it’s run by the same anti-war leftover hippies (and their spiritual heirs) that burned their draft cards and are still obsessed with Stickin’ It To The Man.
They just refuse to grow up, and realize that they ARE The Man now.
Especially as seen by 14-year-old vacant-eyed kids being brainwashed in madrassas to strap on vests full of dynamite and roofing nails.
2) Above the line, you can acount the number of people in Hollywood who actually know anything about the military, let alone who have ever SERVED in the military, on your fingers. If you took out Dale Dye and Lee Ermey, you’d probably only need your thumbs. The pedigree of actors, directors, producers, writers, etc. who served before 1960 is an aged and dwindling remnant, and the number who served after that is…virtually non-existant.
With that sort of talent base, it’s no wonder we continue to get the peurile, traitorous dog droppings most studios plop on the lawn and try to pass off as military pics. What’s more a wonder is how we ever, even accidentally, get anything else than that.
Even back in my military days, we regarded any Hollywood effort to portray the military as a de facto comedy. Probably a very bad one. Any resemblance to our actual military was purely coincidental.
And there certainly isn’t a star with the guts John Wayne had in 1968, willing to risk career suicide by making a 21st century “Green Berets”. Our modern crop of nancy-boy metrosexuals are too afraid they might break a nail, or be confused for someone who actually had a spine, a bass voice, and testicles.
They needn’t fear.
I am waiting for the movie simply named “Petraeus”. When this movie is produced properly, we will know history will be told. Cheers.
When I visited Iraq, I visited a greatful nation. I heard, “Bless President Bush” and “Thank you America for our liberation.” The mainstream media and Hollywood crowd does not want to hear this. They did not want to hear it when seven Gold Star parents returned from Iraq. We were there the day Saddham was sentenced. I worked on a documentary about women’s new roles in society. Women were attending colleges and helping to rebuild their nation. The stories of the suffering of women in Iraq, seeing their tears and hearing their gratitude to our military and our President were overwhelming. I’m sorry that some of our women’s activist groups from this nation were not involved. The Hollywood crowd was not interested in, nor would hear our story. Once again, they could have used their soap boxes for some good. Instead…silence.
Deb
Proud mom of Capt. Derek Argel, KIA Memorial Day, 2005
Mr. Blifil – seen the body count in Chicago recently?
Here is an independent film that Hollywood stopped years ago and I ran out of money. FORGOTTEN HEROES
http://www.forgottenheroesthemovie.com
Deb GOD BLESS YOU, you are one of our GOD STAR MOMS and I honor you. You son is now in the ranks of real heroes that protected all of us. Forget the traitors and what they don’t do. My own son is over in Iraq and I can vouch for everything you have said because he has told me how much the Iraqi people just love President Bush, America and our troops over there.
The sacrifice of Gold Stars Mothers like yourself will return to the entire world a 100 fold. Just as the Gold Star Mothers of WWII, that their hero sons saved the world from total evil in 1945. Your brave Capt. Argel has saved the world from Islam taking over the world. It is men like your son that become legends for future generations, who will return the favor when it is their turn to do their duty.
I think Snowbunnie hit the top notes. The vital necessity is to make a good movie. Despite Clooney’s later politicing (And Anenbergs adroit dissection of SYRIANA), David Russell made a good movie with THREE KINGS; it’s provocative ONLY because the story’s compelling as are all it’s characters.
I look at what Peter Berg did with THE KINGDOM and find a ‘yes we can’ pony in the Hollyweird manure pile. First, it’s an excellent film, every character vital to it’s compelling story. Second, politics is a viseral pathos that any ten-year-old implicitly detects without need for explaination. Third, particularly carried by Jamie Foxx, it is unappologetically heroic without descending into melodrama or becoming didactic.
People provided box office (as they did for THREE KINGS) BECAUSE IT WAS GOOD CLEAN PROVOCATIVE AND ENGAGING ENTERTAINMENT.
Contrast that with IN THE VALLEY OF ELI. Why was this suck of a film such a total morgue at the box office? Heck of a cast. I didn’t catch any drop off on production that provided any LOL moments. But take a closer look at what that esteemed ensemble signed on to: A hardened army vet – whose strained marriage is suffering the loss of his son after serving in Iraq – when viciously murdered stateside – becomes obsessed with finding his killer. The Army covers it up and fights him at every turn. The local police don’t care – until he shames a single mom detective into giving a damn. What does he discover – through shrewd and determined detective work with that ally – but to his dismay his son, tested in the ultimate way, discovered a sadistic dark side, as did the uncared for vets who served with him after they came home, got inebriated, and slaughtered him. Of course he is devestated, and, in a poingant ending, he reinstructs a local immigrant on how not to fly the flag.
To me, the whole point Breitbat & Nolte are making with Big Hollywood is sadly wrapped up in this monster. Not just that it is disgusting – tugging on all the strains of leftist anti-heroics to bash who we are as a people – Post-Stress = murder = grandiose commentary on Bush’s immoral war – BUT THAT HOLLYWOOD AS IT EXISTS BELIEVES THIS MESSAGE – AND WORSE BELIEVES THAT THE REST OF AMERICA NEEDS TO BELIEVE IT AS WELL.
It was many years after my Uncle returned from Vietnam that he shared one of his most angry resentments. In 1991. That the Post-Stress strain that became common wisdom represented barely a fraction of those who served, and, as heartwrenching as those stories were, there was rarely a mention that the vast majority found their ways through to live their pursuit of happiness. Nor that Corporate America was largely averse to hiring ex-military. That the chasm between those educated on revolting colleage campuses and those in the military remained seemingly unbridgable well into the Clinton years. Is there any corporate domain more doggedly recalcitrant in this manner than Hollywood? One of his favorite films from the whole sub-genre? THE GREAT SANTINI – hardly jingoistic despite Duvall’s powerful performance.
As a child of the sixties I believe part of that was because like it or not PLATOON and BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY and even ‘Apoxy Now’ & COMMING HOME had a lot of influence.
Waldo more elequently expressed my heartfelt sympathies to Deb for her sacrifice and loss. I’ll only add that I truely believe that the generation who served with her son are already re-awakening the true spirit of sacrifice and service with what they are doing in the military today, and the books and articles reflecting on that sacrifice when returning home to grateful Americans.
They will make great movies – and help the rest of us muddle about what and why we believe what we believe – if they make movies good enough to compell us to watch – and take us on the magical journey back to ourselves. Free enough to view, and secure enough to have the time to contemplate it.
Of this I no longer have any doubt. There is no stopping the passion to get these projects made; not because of money, or politics, or the entrenched editorializing of a generation in power with the determined intent to blacklist them from existence.
Thank you Big Hollywood. God Bless Deb. And congradulations Peter Berg, miracles can happen, even on Hollywood & Vine (or there abouts)
(when is the last movie made that made Israel look bad?)
Try taking a look at “Munich”.
Nuff said
“With all due respect, did you even SEE “Three Kings”.
Please don’t let details like this get in the way of his victim hood.
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