High Noon at the Red River

Before we begin…

Perhaps it’s genetic and, because I’m Irish-American, I’m sounding like Joseph McCarthy when he railed against Communism with his Un-American Activities Committee. Plus, with a name like Moriarty, given that’s the “handle” for the major villain in the World of Sherlock Holmes, I’m doubly cursed.

My sometimes awkward efforts to trace the growth of communism in the American performing arts does not have the substantive weight of an historical scholar, but it does have my over-forty years of personal experience behind it.

In an almost childlike way but with plenty of time to ponder my past in film and theater, I offer up a truth that, for me, has only been glimpsed in depth by Glenn Beck. (more…)

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Tags: Blue dogs, bogart, gary cooper, High Noon, Joseph McCarthy
Posted Jan 12th 2010 at 1:27 pm in Culture, Featured Story, Film, Political Humor | 28941887 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mmoriarty/2010/01/12/high-noon-at-the-red-river/High+Noon+at+the+Red+River2010-01-12+21%3A27%3A07Michael+Moriarty

Deconstructing ‘Casablanca’: Waiting for Rick…

Rather than proceed with the more obvious examples of Hollywood Left … as I had promised, films like Platoon, Apocalypse Now, Reds and Inside Man, I’m drawn to a much subtler message in the great classic Casablanca.

Perhaps every movie buff has tried to write – if only in his or her own imagination –  a sequel to that great film classic, Casablanca, starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.

Rick’s advice to Ilsa in the last scene of the film, that the problems of two little people don’t amount to much during World War II?

How could true love be defeated by an obviously Communist father-figure such as Paul Henreid’s Victor Laszlo?

“That’s a hefty charge, Mr. Moriarty.” (more…)

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Tags: Apocalypse Now, bogart, Casablanca, Communists, FDR
Posted Jan 8th 2010 at 5:11 am in Classic Hollywood, Featured Story, Politics | 289398225 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mmoriarty/2010/01/08/waiting-for-rick/Deconstructing+%27Casablanca%27%3A+Waiting+for+Rick%E2%80%A62010-01-08+13%3A11%3A50Michael+Moriarty

I’ll Hump You, Man: How Far Will the ‘Bromance’ Go?

We’ve come a long way since tough-guy Humphrey Bogart let Ingrid Bergman away in “Casablanca,” only to tell another dude, “This could be the start of a beautiful friendship.” Or have we? 

Today, we’re living in the age of the “bromance,” where guys are no longer squinty-eyed, deep-voiced bastions of macho attitude like Clint Eastwood or John Wayne or Bogart were. Now, we’ve got dudes who wear pastels and have feelings, sharing how much they care for each other, even waking up together instead of with the girl they were lusting after in “Superbad.” 

Don’t get me wrong, these are mostly hilarious movies in which men are encouraged to be just a bit more sensitive. But one’s gotta wonder how far things are gonna go with the release of the new movie “Humpday,” which is now playing in “selected theaters” and is likely to stay that way no matter how “open minded” our society gets. 

The premise of “Humpday” isn’t focused on a workplace slogging through the midweek boredom of a Wednesday in Cubicle Land. No, it’s about two straight guys – one married, one single – who are really great, old friends – so great, in fact, that one of them dares the other to make a porno together for an amateur porn contest where the goal is to break creative boundaries.  (more…)

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Tags: "Bromance", "Humpday", bogart, Casablanca, superbad
Posted Aug 4th 2009 at 8:41 am in Culture, Film | 19597049 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ckozlowski/2009/08/04/i%e2%80%99ll-hump-you-man-how-far-will-the-bromance-go/I%E2%80%99ll+Hump+You%2C+Man%3A+How+Far+Will+the+%27Bromance%27+Go%3F2009-08-04+15%3A41%3A20Carl+Kozlowski

Margot Tenenbaum Would Not Approve

Should the Motion Picture Association of America retroactively slap an “R” rating upon To Have and Have Not (1944)? After all, the classic film famously depicts silver-screen debutante Lauren Bacall and future husband Humphrey Bogart–gasp!–smoking. The American Medical Association Alliance demands that films featuring smoking characters be given an “R” rating by the Motion Picture Association of America. The MPAA already takes into consideration the tobacco habits of celluloid characters in determining a film’s rating. The AMAA’s demand would take that consideration from the MPAA, automatically assigning an “R” to any film depicting an ordinary, everyday activity normally conducted in the open when the cameras aren’t rolling. The ACLU hasn’t voiced objection, but what about Margot Tenenbaum? The Smoking Man? The Man with No Name? (more…)

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Tags: ACLU, AMAA, Bacall, bogart, MAPP
Posted May 29th 2009 at 10:01 am in Entertainment, Politics | 14641843 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dflynn/2009/05/29/margot-tenenbaum-would-not-approve/Margot+Tenenbaum+Would+Not+Approve2009-05-29+17%3A01%3A03Daniel+J.+Flynn

Big Hollywood’s Reverse-Rick-Arc

In Doug TenNapel’s look at how politics undermine the enjoyment of modern day films, he writes:

…when a new trailer is released that takes place during the Iraq War[,] I turn to my wife and whisper, “Don’t tell me; it’s about a gung-ho soldier who wants to fight for the good cause of America then sees enough friendly fire and slaughtered children to gain a conscience that the whole war is a lie for oil.”

Don’t we all. (more…)

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Tags: battleground, bogart, Casablanca, rick blaine, william wellman
Posted Feb 1st 2009 at 6:30 am in Entertainment, Politics | 3741428 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/02/01/big-hollywoods-reverse-rick-arc/Big+Hollywood%27s+Reverse-Rick-Arc2009-02-01+14%3A30%3A20John+Nolte