For Conservative Movie Lovers: John Ford, John Wayne, and ‘They Were Expendable’ Part 1

YouTube -- click here to watch in full-screen HD

“[John Ford] was the only one of the Hollywood directors who fought who did not forget his men.”

– Captain Mark Armistead, USN –

Thus quotes Joseph McBride in his masterful biography Searching for John Ford, at the head of the chapter dealing with the director’s wartime activities. It is usually seen as lamentable when a genius is pulled from the practice of his art for any extended period, but here we must make a special allowance. As filmmaker Lindsay Anderson (1923-1994) explains in his essential critical volume About John Ford (which, like the McBride book, should be sitting proudly and dog-eared on the bookshelf of every conservative film fan): “War service took Ford away from the making of films for some three years when his powers were at their height. One would regret this interruption more had it not led directly to the making of a masterpiece.” (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: "John Ford's Navy", About John Ford (book), Bette Davis, bob hope, Charles Trowbridge
Posted Oct 17th 2009 at 11:09 am in Classic Hollywood | 24699460 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/lgrin/2009/10/17/for-conservative-movie-lovers-john-ford-john-wayne-and-they-were-expendable-part-1/For+Conservative+Movie+Lovers%3A+John+Ford%2C+John+Wayne%2C+and+%27They+Were+Expendable%27+Part+12009-10-17+18%3A09%3A04Leo+Grin

Gold Star Mother: Deborah Tainsh

Betrayed by Liberal Hollywood

Psychologists say that a parent’s grief over the death of a child is “the most difficult loss to endure and surely among the most difficult to integrate into one’s life” because our children are an enormous part of our legacy, and “in their deaths, a large part of our own future dies.”  The natural order of our lives has been turned upside down, bringing on an emotional chaos.

For the parents of military men and women who have died after volunteering to serve their country and walking into the face of death in the 21^st century’s war on terror, this grief and chaos has been exponentially multiplied by liberal Hollywood.  But one has to actually walk this path to understand it.  The anti-war sentiment and films that have spewed from liberal actors, producers, and directors have burdened our hearts unspeakably as they have served only to aide the greatest enemy our country has ever faced and to deface and demoralize the greatest ambassadors our country has: the men and women who wear the uniforms of the United States military. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: Betty Grable, bob hope, Charles Durning, Ed McMahon, gene hackman
Posted Jun 25th 2009 at 4:59 pm in Entertainment, Featured Story, Military | 168922No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/gsmothers/2009/06/25/gold-star-mother-deborah-tainsh/Gold+Star+Mother%3A+Deborah+Tainsh2009-06-25+23%3A59%3A45Gold+Star+Mothers

USO: How Hollywood Serves

The last guy you want to meet in the entertainment industry is a writer.  We just aren’t very interesting.  Sure, guys like Joss Whedon seem cool, but that’s only when compared to other writers.  Put him in a room with any actor, musician, or even Key Grip, and Whedon is the pasty guy in the corner having a conversation about the vagaries of the flux capacitor with himself.  So when I had the opportunity last week to travel with a small group of actors (Zachary Levi, Joel David Moore, Kal Penn, and Christian Slater) to the Middle East and Africa with the USO, I jumped at the chance.  Finally.  A perk.

For my actor friends, though, there was a bit more trepidation.  After all, they were the actual celebrities on this celebrity tour, the ones people would want to meet.  I doubt they are alone.  In fact, I suspect that a big reason why more actors in Hollywood don’t volunteer their time with the USO is that they simply don’t know what the experience will be like.  Sure they’ve seen video of Bob Hope out entertaining crowds of troops, but as an actor, you don’t carry your show on the road.  Will the troops even care that you are there?  What will you have to offer them?  Is it uncomfortable?  Is it political?  Fortunately for me, the actors in my party decided to give it a try in spite of these questions.  Here is what we learned. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: armed forces, bob hope, Christian Slater, gary sinise, Joel David Moore
Posted Jun 2nd 2009 at 5:03 am in Celebrity News, Entertainment, Featured Story, Military | 14921010 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jdboreing/2009/06/02/uso-calling-hollywood-to-serve/USO%3A+How+Hollywood+Serves+2009-06-02+12%3A03%3A11Jeremy+D.+Boreing

NBC: National Broadcasters Against Conservatives

Robert Avrech’s lovely paean to the patriotism of Old Hollywood reminds me, by way of contrast, of a blink-and-you-missed-it scandal from seventeen months ago. Even in a cultural arena rife with liberal outrages against military families, it marked a new low. And although it was but one small battle in the culture war, it is worth recalling in the wake of Memorial Day as a reminder of just how far our popular media has fallen from the sterling ideals of our forefathers.

What does NBC stand for again? National Broadcasters against Conservatives? No Blessings for the Corps? On December 7, 2007, as the country solemnly remembered Pearl Harbor and the timeless sacrifices of soldiers long dead, one of our major television networks decided that running ads praising today’s modern armed forces constituted a bridge too far. The two thirty-second spots had been produced by Freedom’s Watch, a now-defunct conservative action group which aspired to be the MoveOn.org of the right, using “grassroots lobbying, education and information campaigns, and issue advocacy” to fight the good fight against the legion of hippy-dippy protesters, nihilists, and ideological bullies that perpetually rage (and increasingly reign) throughout blue-state America. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: "It's Morning Again in America" (commercials), 30 Rockefeller Plaza, A Room with a View (1985), A.N.S.W.E.R., bob hope
Posted May 27th 2009 at 6:51 am in Media Criticism, Military | 1434103 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/lgrin/2009/05/27/must-see-tv/NBC%3A+National+Broadcasters+Against+Conservatives2009-05-27+13%3A51%3A50Leo+Grin

Flashback: Hollywood Celebrates American Military Resolve

During this Memorial Day Weekend Big Hollywood pays tribute those who have fallen, and those who sacrifice so much in the cause of freedom.

Remember when Hollywood celebrities flocked across the globe to entertain and support American troops? Remember when Hollywood—as a community—denounced tyrants, Jew-haters, and mass murderers?

Joan Crawford as Miss Liberty

My father was a Rabbi, a Chaplain in the 42nd Division during World War II and the Korean War. He often told me just how much the troops loved and respected their Hollywood supporters.

Here’s just a brief sampler of what Hollywood patriotism once looked like.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: Bette Davis, bob hope, Carole Landis, Carole Lombard, Clark Gable
Posted May 25th 2009 at 6:21 am in Entertainment, Military, Politics | 1405589 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ravrech/2009/05/25/hollywood-celebrates-american-military-resolve%e2%80%94past-tense/Flashback%3A+Hollywood+Celebrates+American+Military+Resolve2009-05-25+13%3A21%3A06Robert+J.+Avrech

What Sequels Teach Us About Developing Character

I hated the ending of Raiders of the Lost Ark. No, not the Citizen Kane homage rosebud scene at the end – I loved that – but the ending of the movie. I didn’t want it to end. I hadn’t enjoyed a film that much since, well, Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, or Jaws. I wanted it to continue. I wanted more. 

I got more and I didn’t want it. 

Why don’t sequels do well? Obviously, I’m not alone in feeling the way I do about Raiders or Star Wars or Jaws or any other great character-rich, dynamically set film that pulls you in and doesn’t fully let go even after the end titles trail up and we see that film certification symbol fade out. So, why is it that more of what we love, we hate? Well, maybe not hate, but not love quite so much. What’s going on here?  (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: Alien, Alien 3, Alien Resurrection, Aliens, bob hope
Posted Apr 5th 2009 at 2:07 pm in Entertainment, Reviews | 9724281 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/smann/2009/04/05/developing-character/What+Sequels+Teach+Us+About+Developing+Character2009-04-05+21%3A07%3A59Schizoid+Mann

Big Hollywood’s Top 100 Screen Legends

The American Film Institute went a little list-crazy a few years back. Most of their surveys were fun and about the pure pleasure of movie watching (top 100 chills, quotes, songs, laughs… ), but 1999’s “100 Years…100 Stars” definitely caught my eye because it was less about fun, more about creating something defining and just that bad.

For starters, the list was a bit of a cheat. There weren’t 100 stars, there were 50; 25 men and 25 women. But in order to get to the number 100, the AFI counted the 50 stars and celebrities who acted as on-camera hosts and presenters. In other words, the television show produced around the list was more important than creating a serious, comprehensive list. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: 100 Years...100 Movies, AFI, American Film Institute, bob hope, charlton heston
Posted Mar 26th 2009 at 1:33 pm in Entertainment, Top 5 | 89550No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/03/26/big-hollywoods-top-100-screen-legends/Big+Hollywood%27s+Top+100+Screen+Legends2009-03-26+20%3A33%3A22John+Nolte

Oscar ratings up 11% and up over 14% with the coveted 18-49 demo!

Good news for the Motion Picture Academy. Despite the fact that the five Best Picture nominees had combined to gross less than $300M domestic by showtime, Oscar ratings were up considerably from last year’s all-time low. Early numbers show that the ABC telecast scored a 27 share, surging by 11% overall and by over 14% with TV’s “money demo” 18-49s. Compare that to last year when the show was down 25% in households from 2007 and down 30% among 18-49s.

The credit should go to producers Lawrence Mark and Bill Condon, although I can see why the streamlined show is a bit of a Rorschach test for viewers. If you love movies, and especially actors, last night’s show was respectful and enlightening. If you are inclined to dislike awards shows and actors, then the telecast would be pretty dreary.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: acadamy awards, anne hathaway, ben kindsley, ben stiller, bill condon
Posted Feb 23rd 2009 at 10:55 am in Entertainment, Media Criticism, News | 6465022 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/smason/2009/02/23/oscar-ratings/Oscar+ratings+up+11%25+and+up+over+14%25+with+the+coveted+18-49+demo%212009-02-23+18%3A55%3A10Steve+Mason