For Liberty Lovers ‘We The Living’ Arrives on DVD

An extraordinary film just came out on DVD which couldn’t be more timely.  It’s about a fiercely outspoken, beautiful woman trapped in a country rapidly descending into socialism, with the government steadily ratcheting up control over all aspects of life.

No, it’s not The Ann Coulter Story.

The movie is We The Living, based on the Ayn Rand novel of the same title.  Rand said that We The Living “is as near to an autobiography as I will ever write.”

Conservatives and libertarians have long lamented the scarcity of movies that depict the evils of communism.  Let’s see, there’s Doctor Zhivago, The Killing Fields, The Lives of Others, and… and, well, now there’s We The Living — a long-lost classic filmed in 1942, and now available on DVD for the first time ever.

WTL takes place soon after the Bolshevik takeover of Russia (which Rand experienced as a young woman).  The stunning Alida Valli plays Kira, a fiery college student who detests the communists ruining her country.  (Valli is perhaps best known to American audiences for her indelible performances in The Third Man and The Paradine Case.) (more…)

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Tags: Alida Valli, Ayn Rand, Bolsheviks, Censorship, classic movies
Posted Oct 30th 2009 at 4:03 pm in Film, Politics, Reviews | 25336234 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/aleigh/2009/10/30/we-the-living-for-liberty-lovers-and-for-our-time/For+Liberty+Lovers+%27We+The+Living%27+Arrives+on+DVD2009-10-30+23%3A03%3A20Andrew+Leigh

A Great Chinese Thriller…Pass!

I thought about writing a script about China – thriller, action, intrigue.  The last film that dealt with China would be “Red Corner” which a Wikipedia review said, “…more the movie’s subtext swallows its story, until all that is left is Gere’s superior virtue, intermixed with his superior virility — both of which are greatly appreciated by the evidently under-serviced Chinese female population…”  The film was banned in China.  But it’s fertile ground for material.  Imagine the conversation with a Studio Executive…

Me: So, I found this article by Secretary of Defense Gates: “China Could Undermine U.S. Military Power in the Pacific.”  China is expanding its navy in the Pacific to secure disputed territories in the South China Sea with lots of oil and gas.  A Tom Clancy/Harrison Ford thriller.  I’ve followed the Chinese military since the nineties and it’s a central plot of my novel, “Stealing Thunder.” (Shameless Plug! 600 pages long; waiting for Amazon jerks to come through with the darn discount price…).   Think “Clear and Present Danger,” “Hunt for Red October”…

Executive: Liked ‘Sum of All Fears.’ (more…)

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Tags: "China", Censorship, Government censorship, hollywood, movies
Posted Oct 18th 2009 at 5:48 pm in Politics | 22806614 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mmandaville/2009/10/18/a-great-chinese-thriller-pass/A+Great+Chinese+Thriller...Pass%212009-10-19+00%3A48%3A10Michael+Mandaville

Pay Attention Hollywood: The Fate of ‘Hillary the Movie’ is No Partisan Issue

Tomorrow, the Supreme Court will take the highly unusual step of convening a special session to rehear arguments in the case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.  This case has enormous implications for all Americans, but those of us who are filmmakers who depend on the First Amendment should pay particularly close attention. 

On the last day of the June session, the Supreme Court unexpectedly decided to order a rehearing of our case in order to reexamine two cases that are the pillars of some of the more restrictive provisions of campaign finance law, and that, I believe, are unconstitutional infringements on the First Amendment.  (more…)

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Tags: "Hillary the Movie" McCain-Feingold, Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce, Celsius 41.11, Censorship, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission
Posted Sep 8th 2009 at 10:41 am in Art, Entertainment, Law, Politics | 21954222 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dbossie/2009/09/08/pay-attention-hollywood-the-fate-hillary-the-movie-is-no-partisan-issue/Pay+Attention+Hollywood%3A+The+Fate+of+%27Hillary+the+Movie%27+is+No+Partisan+Issue2009-09-08+17%3A41%3A38David+Bossie

‘NewsBusted’ 7/28/09 — Fake News from the Right

(more…)

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Tags: Blue Dog Democrats, Censorship, ESPN's Erin Andrews, Gidget the Taco Bell Chihuahua, Health Care Bill
Posted Jul 28th 2009 at 8:01 pm in Political Humor, Video | 1937508 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/newsbusters/2009/07/28/%e2%80%98newsbusted%e2%80%99-72809-%e2%80%94-fake-news-from-the-right/%E2%80%98NewsBusted%E2%80%99+7%2F28%2F09+%E2%80%94+Fake+News+from+the+Right2009-07-29+03%3A01%3A48NewsBusters

Political Correctness Must Die

In the early 20th century Marxism seemed like a good idea to many of the poor and downtrodden the world over. It hadn’t yet resulted in the untimely deaths of more people than all the wars of the 20th century combined.

Even so, radicals then were as annoying and crazed as radicals now. So the people weren’t universally jumping on their bandwagon. The Marxists couldn’t flip governments without the masses. So they worked on a system to undermine unity in society. The old adage “United we stand, divided we fall” was on their mind. They had to divide the people in order to tear society apart and remake it their way. Thus, political correctness was born.

This documentary does an excellent job of telling its story. PC is designed by German Marxists of the Frankfurt School to destroy Western culture. (more…)

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Tags: Censorship, Culture, leftism, marxists, political correctness
Posted May 13th 2009 at 3:18 pm in Media Criticism, Politics | 1317387 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jhudnall/2009/05/13/political-correctness-must-die/Political+Correctness+Must+Die2009-05-13+22%3A18%3A32James+Hudnall

Meet the New Boss: McCain-Feingold

It is unnecessary for me to tell any of you reading this that the left has a stranglehold over both Hollywood and the mainstream media.  It is axiomatic in today’s news world dominated by the likes of Keith Olbermann and The New York Times that the “news” is delivered to your doorstep with a leftward slant.  

What are less well understood, however, are the lengths to which the government has gone to protect the left’s monopoly during the last decade and the complicity of the news media in that endeavor.  The recent confrontation between General Electric CEO Jeffery Immelt and an O’Reilly Factor producer at GE’s shareholder meeting highlighted the nexus between government and the left-leaning media for all to see. 

For decades, the major broadcasting corporations and newspapers were the gatekeepers of the national political discourse in this country because the enormous infrastructure costs associated with setting up a news organization and a distribution network were prohibitive.  If you were a candidate, incumbent, or someone with a cause, you had to go hat-in-hand to the editors of these organizations asking them to take an interest in you or your cause.  If they accepted you, national attention followed, but if you were rejected by the media elites, you languished in anonymity.  In the last five or ten years, however, the cost of entry declined precipitously due to the proliferation of the internet, and the old guard found its cherished position atop the hierarchy being threatened by smaller upstart organizations.  (more…)

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Tags: "Hillary: The Movie", Censorship, FCC, internet, McCain-Feingold
Posted May 1st 2009 at 10:02 am in Media Criticism, Politics | 1238543 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dbossie/2009/05/01/meet-the-new-boss-mccain-feingold/Meet+the+New+Boss%3A+McCain-Feingold2009-05-01+17%3A02%3A29David+Bossie

Redistributing the Media

During his campaign Mr. Obama stated numerous times his desire to increase diversity of ownership of media.  Minions on the FCC such as Commissioners Copps and Adelstein have also stated their desire to redistribute the media.  The first step toward that goal has been announced.  And, it threatens conservative talk in America.

Acting FCC Chairman Michael Copps has set May 7th as the date for a meeting of the commission’s Advisory Committee on Diversity for Communications in the Digital Age. Copps has been stating loudly that he wants to increase diversity in media ownership and that it will be a priority of the FCC.  National hearings on the topic were held in 2007 and the FCC commissioners turned up their criticism of large media companies like Clear Channel and others.  This will get the ball rolling on diversity before new FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is confirmed by the Senate and seated at the FCC.  They are deadly serious.  (more…)

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Tags: Censorship, FCC, Michael Copps, Obama, talk radio
Posted Apr 24th 2009 at 3:22 pm in News, Politics | 1143102 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bjennings/2009/04/24/redistributing-the-media/Redistributing+the+Media2009-04-24+22%3A22%3A41Brian+Jennings

Official: Dissent Now Unpatriotic

You all know the drill. The recent vague and controversial DHS report on right-wing extremism, the cover of which DHS might just as well have put on the Republican Party platform. The endless puerile teabagging jokes from the fourth estate’s finest, giggling into their microphones like ten-year-olds who just found a tittie mag.

CNN reporter Susan Roesgen even called a Tea Party “anti-government and anti-CNN” when her pro-government handout rant to a Tea Partier was rudely interrupted. Ms. Roesgen took particular offense at a sign of Obama with a Hitler moustache. “Why be so hard on the President of the United States though with such an offensive message?” the offended Ms. Roesgen asked.

Yet in 2006, Ms. Roesgen was perfectly comfortable with this Satan/Hitler Bush mask, jokingly calling it a Bush ‘look-alike.’ I guess it all depends on which POTUS you’re hard on. Right, Suzie?

And therein lies the rub. Dissent was SO patriotic not so long ago, wasn’t it? Dissent against war, dissent against torture, dissent against wiretapping, dissent against Gitmo, dissent against rendition, dissent against government abuse of power. In fact, now-Secretary of State Clinton was quite vocal on the matter back in the day: (more…)

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Tags: Anderson Cooper, Censorship, clinton, CNN, DHS
Posted Apr 19th 2009 at 6:57 am in Featured Story, Media Criticism, Politics | 1081106 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/04/19/when-dissent-becomes-unpatriotic/Official%3A+Dissent+Now+Unpatriotic2009-04-19+13%3A57%3A40John+T.+Simpson

Free Speech Fades in America

There is growing alarm among talk radio personalities and executives nationwide as the Obama administration embeds socialistic values into the American mainstream.  Thanks to President Reagan, broadcasters have been free from the Orwellian Fairness Doctrine for over twenty years.  The number of talk stations has grown from 125 to now over 2000 thanks to his great wisdom of repealing this doctrine which muzzled free speech.  Radio and Television owners simply didn’t want to risk being turned into the FCC and potentially lose their broadcast license if they said something controversial.  I worked for twenty years under this doctrine and we never broached major controversy – free thought and expression was tightly controlled over the airwaves.  When Reagan dropped the restrictions, Rush Limbaugh and a multitude of other conservative hosts emerged and succeeded because there was so much pent up demand by those who felt their views negated by restrictions and by the overwhelming liberal media bias.  Now, Democrats want to restore speech restrictions and it is simply covert censorship. (more…)

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Tags: Censorship, Censorship: The Threat to Silence Talk Radio, Conservative talk radio, Fairness Doctrine, Orwell
Posted Mar 19th 2009 at 10:44 am in Media Criticism, Politics | 84046163 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bjennings/2009/03/19/free-speech-fades-in-america/Free+Speech+Fades+in+America2009-03-19+17%3A44%3A01Brian+Jennings

Return of Bill Hicks: Letterman Right in ‘93, Wrong Today

I did a short interview yesterday with talk show host Marc Germain about my old friend the late, great comic Bill Hicks. You can hear the interview on Marc’s Web Site wwwtalkradioone.com.

The Late Great Bill Hicks

Bill died at age 31 fifteen years ago but is still a cult celebrity among comedy mavens. His last national television appearance was on Letterman’s show. The set was cut due to controversial content. It was aired last Friday by CBS with Bill’s mom making an appearance on the show. Letterman was profusely apologetic about the censorship of the material fifteen years ago. You can watch the set here. (more…)

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Tags: alec baldwin, Bill Clinton, Bill Hicks, Billy Ray Cyrus, Censorship
Posted Feb 4th 2009 at 5:15 am in Celebrity News, Entertainment | 4002668 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjena/2009/02/04/the-return-of-bill-hicks/Return+of+Bill+Hicks%3A+Letterman+Right+in+%2793%2C+Wrong+Today2009-02-04+13%3A15%3A48Jeffrey+Jena