Yet Cook says when industry executives circled around the film adaptation of his spiritually-driven book, “Seven Days In Utopia,” they weren’t sure it could draw a crowd.

It’s one reason Cook took control of the film adaptation. He started his own film studio (Utopia Films) to produce the movie and served as both executive producer and co-screenwriter.

“I’m a sports psychologist. What do I know about making a movie?” he asks. “But I do know about telling stories, and that’s what filmmaking is. I just made sure the story didn’t get botched up.”

Cook wouldn’t let Hollywood warp his beloved story about a young golfer who finds his stroke again after spending a week in a tiny Texas hamlet. That meant the film’s spiritual component stayed intact, but just as importantly the main character would be played by an actor who knew his way around the golf course.

“I’ve been playing golf since I was six. All these golf movies coming out are so fake. [Non-golfers like] Kevin Costner, Matt Damon … you put a club in their hand and it always discredits the movie,” he says. “We wanted to make sure we got it right.”

So Cook’s studio reached out to Lucas Black, a scratch golfer who just so happens to have a few impressive films on his resume (“Get Low,” “Sling Blade”).

“He read the book and felt like this was the story of his life … plus, he loves to hunt and fish, too,” he says. The book’s emotional themes also helped snare one of film’s biggest stars, Oscar-winner Robert Duvall, to play the main character’s spiritual mentor. It helped that the project’s casting director previously worked on Duvall’s film “Crazy Heart,” and that Ducall had a rare gap in his film schedule.

The script for “Seven Days in Utopia” took two years to complete, in part because the film’s interior monologues were tricky to translate to the big screen.

“The book has a lot of introspection. You can see what’s going on in his head,” he says of Black’s character. “We had to bring that out through characters and action. It took a while to get the story right.”

Cook found making a movie somewhat similar to working with a football team.

“Hollywood’s business model is so un-businesslike that it scares you to death,” he says. “You raise a lot of money and then you spend it all in 30 days. You don’t have time to sit around in a board meeting and say, ‘what do you think about this decision?’

On top of that, Cook’s crew had to deal with some “intense moments” on the shoot, from a helicopter nearly hitting a pole to a fan breaking at an inopportune time.

“There are so many moving parts that move so fast … people coming in and going out … you just have to trust ‘em,” he says.

At times, the production reminded him of his duties helping sports teams be the best they can be.

“We had 30 days to pull this off, and any day over that cost $100,000,” he says. “We’re doing it outside, we needed the weather [to cooperate]. It’s lots of patience and persistence similar to training camp. We’re going all day every day to get it right.”

The film’s sports themes also tie into the greater story of personal reinvention.

“What does it take to be the best at your sport, to come out from crisis? We tried to answer it without getting preachy,” he says. “I don’t think we turned too many people off.”

“Seven Days in Utopia” couldn’t repeat the box office success of other faith-based films like “Courageous” and “Fireproof.” Cook looks at films like “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “The Ultimate Gift,” movies which underwhelmed at the box office during their initial runs but found new life on cable and home video, for inspiration.

Cook may be a neophyte movie maker, but he’s savvy enough to know today’s audiences hunger for G-rated family fare that tips its cap to religion.

“150 million people go to church twice a month. There’s a huge faith element out there,” he says.

Cook is working on a new chapter to his “Seven Days in Utopia” story, but he’s not pursuing it for the usual reasons.

“You don’t write a sequel [to 'Seven Days in Utopia'] to sell another book. It’s such a part of my life. I don’t want to do it unless it’s done right,” he says.

Occasionally, however, Hollywood gives us something else: something so far out of the norm for the Left coast, so utterly pro-American and purely patriotic, that we have to pause and take note. We saw this with comedian Vince Vaughn, who launched Chicago’s 52^nd annual Air and Water Show by parachuting out of an airplane over the city with one of the Army’s elite parachute teams.  We saw this with Sylvester Stallone, who refused to apologize for his pro-American film “The Expendables,” and who told his antagonizers that “America apologizes too much,” just for good measure.

And to give credit where credit is due, we’ve also seen this kind of grit from Robert Duvall, Larry the Cable Guy, and Nick DiPaolo, among others.

Now we’re seeing it with comedian Rob Riggle (from the movie “The Hangover”). What few know is that Riggle is not only an accomplished actor but also a Marine Corps Reservist who holds the rank of Lt. Colonel. And he recently told Marines Magazine that one of his proudest accomplishments is of “serving his country” as a Marine.

Wow – who saw that coming?

I know such sentiment was common back in the Hollywood of Ronald Reagan and John Wayne, but this is 2011. Now it seems the idea of serving one’s country largely equates to a bunch of utopian chatter about being nice to our enemies so the rest of the world will like us. Not so with Riggle. Instead, he said two other things he’s extremely proud of in his life include taking part in “liberating Afghanistan from the Taliban rule” and “helping evacuate and secure the embassy in Liberia.”

On top of all this, Riggle volunteered to work in the “Bucket Brigades” at Ground Zero after the 9/11 attacks on NYC. (If you’re familiar with the “Bucket Brigades,” you know it’s hard to think of a more selfless act than that. If you’re not familiar with the “Bucket Brigades,” here’s a video of some anonymous volunteers at work.)

Riggle said one of the reasons he joined the Marines was to learn about “honor, courage, and commitment,” and it looks to me like he’s mastered all three.

Thank you Rob Riggle for not only making us laugh, but for also reminding us that America is great and freedom isn’t free.

There are too few of you in Hollywood.

Various Hollywood professionals who support the military like actors Robert Duvall Jeremy Renner, Kelsey Grammer, Rick Schroeder, Glenn Close and JAG’s Karri Turner, as well as directors and producers like Ron Maxwell and Lou Reda, are often in attendance. CSI: New York and Forrest Gump’s Lieutenant Dan,  Academy Award-nominated Gary Sinise, will host a reception for Congressional members who have served, or who are currently serving in the U.S. Military. With veterans on both he and his wife’s side of their families, Sinise has been an active supporter of the festival since its inception, as he has of so many other pro-military causes. This year actor William Devane will premiere the drama Flag of My Father at the festival’s Hollywood Patriots Night and a salute to International Warriors will host military films from several other countries.

Last year at I wrote a piece for Big Hollywood highly critical of box-office and morale-killing Hollywood military films like The Green Zone that have dominated movie screens. Well, the G.I. Film Festival has been out front in the battle for positive depictions of the military since it started back in 2007. Festival creators, husband and wife Brandon Millett and Major Laura Law-Millett, first created the festival to combat the continuing inaccurate and negative stereotypes that Hollywood has so often fostered about the United States Armed Forces. In an interview with the Washington Post during the launch of the first G.I. Film Festival, Major Law offered up that, “In movie after movie all you see then was soldiers raping and killing. We want to show something more positive.”

Her husband Brandon emphasized that, “We wanted to do something to focus public attention on the courage and selflessness of the American soldiers.”

The chairman of the festival, former naval officer Steve Bannon, is also an award-winning filmmaker, successful entertainment company president, and proud father of a West Point graduate who is currently serving her country as a lieutenant in the 101st Airborne. “It was a spark of genius when Brandon and Major Law-Millett started this festival five years ago. They saw the need and said, ‘We just have to do this.’ Every year they personally go out of their way to find the best films.” Bannon told me a few days ago.

Bannon points out knowingly, “In the 242 years of our history, this is only the second time besides World War II that this country has been involved in two wars at the same time. The G. I. Film Festival works against the Hollywood fads because telling great stories about the American fighting man, their families, their triumphs and their tragedies is never out of fashion.”

On Friday May 13th Bannon will share his considerable film industry knowledge in a day long filmmaker’s “boot camp” that will also feature other experienced film industry professionals. “We’ve got young G.I. filmmakers and older vets, as well as pro-military filmmakers who have never served. They’re all trying to find their voice. We want to provide access for them so they can learn their craft and get their films out there.” Says Bannon. “With the technology available today, it doesn’t matter how old or young you are. We can find you technical people for support to help them out.”

The festival has grown from 22 juried and selected films its first first year to 31 top quality films this year selected from over 200 submissions. Over the last five years a handful of the best military-themed projects have received such high praise and notice that they were rewarded with theatrical distribution deals. Excellent military themed films like Operation Homecoming, The Last 600 Meters and Brothers at War made it onto theater or television screens, in no small part because of their positive reception at the G.I. Film Festival. Recently the festival signed a deal with Discovery’s Military Channel to feature the top festival films on that popular cable military channel.

“We want to get these films and filmmakers the broadest possible exposure and our arrangement with Discovery’s Military Channel does just that.” Says Festival chairman Bannon.

Stand by at Big Hollywood over this week for reports on some the G. I. Film Festival’s best films and featured events.

Why it’s a left-wing film

Maybe my eternal affection for director Robert Altman’s brilliantly irreverent comedy clouds my judgment, but I don’t want to be too hard on “MASH.” Yes, it uses Korea as pretty weak cover to deliver a withering anti-war criticism of Vietnam and the military, and in the person of The Mighty Robert Duvall’s Frank Burns, the attack on Christianity does, at times, border on mean-spirited (Burns is a cold, manipulative, ambitious, backstabbing, unbalanced hypocrite and the Catholic Father Mulcahy is bumbling and absolutely useless), but man this movie’s fun…

…And funny.

And brilliant.

And refreshingly politically incorrect.

But now we’re getting into…

Why it’s a great film

One of the very first jokes in “MASH” perfectly sets the tone for what’s to come. After a quick sequence at the 4077th and a subtle jibe at Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Capt. Hawkeye Pierce arrives in the person of Donald Sutherland. He’s fresh off a plane from the States and needs a ride to report for duty. While waiting by a jeep, Hawkeye barely gets a word out before a Black enlisted man from the motor pool dresses him down under the assumption he’s going to get pushy about demanding the ride right away. Hawkeye had no intention of getting pushy, barely gets a word out, and after the jerk walks off, Hawkeye mutters under his breath, “Racist.”

Remember when liberals could be funny? If nothing else, “MASH” is a reminder that politics haven’t destroyed the Left’s ability to entertain or be creative or even charismatic, self-seriousness, bitterness, political correctness and multiculturalism have. What you have in “MASH” is an over-arching anti-military, anti-war, anti-religious theme, but within this leftist message you also have a ribald and truly irreverent comedy that refuses to recognize sacred cows. There’s also nothing preachy or even close to heavy-handed. To the contrary, there’s a contagious spirit of joy, playfulness and, at times, humanity.

Today, “MASH” and especially the characters of Hawkeye, Trapper John (the great Elliott Gould), and Duke (a very funny and charming Tom Skerritt)  would be denounced as sexists and likely redrawn completely in 1984-ish production meetings. And you can bet the subplot involving all the comedic machinations that go on to cure “Painless” the dentist of his homosexuality would never survive in this tender and totalitarian day and age. The entire storyline would either be removed altogether or Painless would have to learn to embrace the awesomeness of his gayness.(He’s not really gay, he just fears he is and decides to commit suicide.)

In other words, the movie would look a lot like the last few unwatchably sanctimonious seasons of the television show based on it did.

The script by Ring Lardner Jr., which won an Oscar, is uniquely outstanding. Or, if the legend is true, the ad-libbing Altman encouraged that so infuriated a screenwriter still happy to accept the Oscar, is uniquely outstanding. Either way, the director picking up where Howard Hawks left off in choreographing actors’ dialogue to overlap in ways where we only hear the details we need to, adds a subtle dimension to a comedy I’ve never seen work so well before. Because you feel like you’re overhearing what’s being said, it’s actually funnier than if you had the actors working to hit the punchline. Another legend surrounding the production is that the director’s insistence that the actors work this way so confused and worried them they wanted Altman fired.

What’s especially ingratiating about “MASH” is that it’s sure enough of itself to end like some old-fashioned 1940s comedy, with a slapstick football game worthy of Abbott and Costello or the Marx Brothers. Suddenly the 4077th, including Hotlips (a perfectly cast Sally Kellerman), has come together as a real unit and now they’re the typical underdogs in a pretty typical (though hilariously profane) underdog comedy. Which brings me to the real triumph of the film. Using a plotless script, Altman displays an uncanny ability to keep the story from feeling episodic and just as impressively, the story’s tone keeps switching without us ever noticing as the narrative smoothly runs the gamut from classic slapstick to sex comedy to tragedy and finally, moving sentiment.

Cards on the table, I’m not an Altman fan. I find most of his films stiff and all that “naturalness” rather stagy. Actors loved and built the director up because he let them do pretty much whatever they wanted. But with rare exceptions, that wasn’t a good thing. “MASH,” however, is the director’s one-of-a-kind gem and it’s probably not a coincidence that this was a rare instance where Altman drove his actors and his vision in ways that nearly cost him his job. The director also deserves credit for effortlessly blending comedy and a serious message without ever diminishing or appearing to exploit the horrors of war. Altman flew over 50 bombing missions during WWII and you can sense the care he took in how the operating room scenes and wounded were portrayed.

“MASH” mocks a number of institutions I hold dear, and yet never stoops to insult. There’s never a moment where you feel the story is manipulating events in order to make a bigger point. Instead, it’s more like the camera is just looking around, finding the absurd, and recording it. The splendid result is that for two hours you feel like you’re hanging out with buddies, drinking too much, talking shit, eyeing the girls, and best of all, laughing at yourself.

And aren’t those are the best times of all?

Here’s the Top 25 countdown thus far.

The word legend feels too small. And we’re not alone in that thinking…

Movie icon Robert Duvall will celebrate his 80th birthday in style on Wednesday by stamping his mark on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The Godfather star will place his hands and feet in cement outside the historic Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, where famous pals like James Caan and Andy Garcia are expected to honour him.

The honour caps a six week period of accolades for the veteran, who is among the favourites to land a Best Actor Oscar nomination later this month for his role as a grumpy hermit in Get Low.

Augustus McRae, Tom Hagen, Gen. Robert E. Lee, Josef Stalin, Lt. Col. “Bull” Meechum, Euliss “Sonny” Dewey, Mac Sledge, Frank Hackett, Macklin, THX, Maj. Frank Burns, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore, and Ned Pepper….

The word legacy also feels too small. Great actor. Great American.

Why it’s a left-wing film

Though based on a true story, what you have here is Hollywood once again cherry picking the true stories they choose to tell in order to reaffirm a political agenda. In this case you have a sleazy ambulance chaser emerging as selfless hero in the fight against big, arrogant corporate attorneys and uncaring multi-national corporations. And if that’s not bad enough…

In the end, after our intrepid personal injury lawyers are unable to beat the big bad corporate America wolf with anything more than a face-saving settlement, in comes the ultimate left-wing hero to save the day. Enter, bum, bum, bummmm… BIG GOVERNMENT! Yes, whatever would we do without the benevolent Environmental Protection Agency.

Again, “A Civil Action” is based on a true story and by all accounts, unlike the bogus “Erin Brockovich”  suit, the facts of this case stand true. So my argument is not with the movie itself or this specific case. By all accounts this was a real tragedy, where due to toxic poisoning in the groundwater, a lot of people got sick and died, including children.

My argument is, however, with Hollywood’s relentlessly out-of-context, choosing of only these kinds of stories to build up the drip-drip-drip effect necessary to craft an unfair and dishonest narrative that always portrays corporate America as homicidal maniacs. As an example of how out of whack Hollywood’s lack of context is, I know of no American corporation responsible for as many deaths as the EPA’s politically motivated decision to ban DDT in 1972.

Where’s the movie about that?

That’s a rhetorical question. And here are some more…

Where are the David and Goliath films about the man who built his business up from nothing only to have it destroyed by a feeding frenzy of greedy trial lawyers bankrupting him with frivolous environmental and discrimination lawsuits? Where are the movies about the family businesses destroyed by bullying unions and an overbearing federal government led by predator attorneys, soulless bureaucrats, and self-righteous Marxists disguised as environmentalists?

People love David and Goliath stories and if the stories are based on real events, all the better. At least that’s Hollywood’s rationale for the never-ending treadmill of films making corporate America out to look serial killers in search of profit. What Hollywood willfully ignores, naturally, is that there are other underdog stories out there to be told, stories to remind us that when you’re a small to mid-size business owner, one of the good guys creating jobs and helping others to realize the American dream, the EPA, Greenpeace, and the IRS are frequently the ruthless Goliaths to your David. 

Why it’s a great film

Though far from a box office hit and not even widely praised by critics upon its 1998 Christmas Day release, in my seemingly lone opinion, “A Civil Action” is one of the last great left-wing narrative films to come out of Hollywood. Over the years I’ve expected its reputation to grow, but I still seem to be the film’s sole champion, writing and talking about the under-appreciated gem whenever the opportunity arises.

Directing only his second film, Steve Zaillian (one of Hollywood’s most respected screenwriters and winner of the Academy Award for his work on “Schindler’s List,” one of the greatest screenplays of all time) wisely gathered together legendary cinematographer Conrad L. Hall and a truly remarkable cast of actors for roles both big and small to put his screenplay (based on Jonathan Harr’s book) in the very best of hands. John Travolta, The Mighty Robert Duvall (who was nominated for his performance), William H. Macy, Tony Shalhoub, John Lithgow, Kathleen Quinlan, James Gandolfini, Oscar-winning director Sydney Pollack, and the great character actor Dan Hedaya are all given memorable moments to shine in the story of Jan Schlichtmann (Travolta), a selfish, self-involved, cold, calculating and successful personal injury attorney whose small firm is eventually run out of business after filing wrongful death lawsuits against two corporate giants responsible for a tragic series of fatal illnesses caused by toxic poisoning.

Critics who would normally be friendly to the film’s agenda might have been put off by what they saw as a fairly formulaic narrative. The story of a mercenary attorney regaining his soul and humanity is certainly nothing new, nor is the leftist trope of the underdog vs. capitalism. But I’ve personally always seen the story as something a little more complicated and richer than that. Those dots certainly do connect, just not in as straight of a line as respectable but unremarkable films like “Class Action.”

Due to a close proximity to the raw emotional anguish felt by clients who have lost children, there’s no doubt Schlichtmann becomes a better human being during his journey through the class action suit that will ruin him financially. What ultimately brings him down, though, is not as simple as a reformed man trying to make his way through the eye of a needle by going all in financially on behalf of his clients. What makes Schlichtmann fascinating is that as his heart softens his pride hardens, and ultimately it’s the pride of misguided idealism that keeps him from accepting settlement offers that in some cases are more than double the amount he’s ultimately forced to accept when he finds himself out of resources.

Travolta’s dynamite in the lead role, a live-wire of contradictions; a man yearning for respect and dignity in a profession where such qualities don’t pay the bills. A greedy man who also wants to do the right thing but — because acceptance feels like a defeat — he’ll still counter-intuitively refuse settlements that would satisfy both of those needs The new Schlichtmann doesn’t want money, he wants the respect that comes with overwhelming victory on behalf of his deserving clients. Zaillian never allows you to crack the code of this character and in the end, in the memorable final scene where Schlichtmann himself is unable to explain what happened to his life, you at least know you’re not alone.

Robert Duvall, as Schlichtmann’s chief nemesis, attorney for the defense Jerome Facher, is also a wonder to behold.

Duvall wraps his ruthless, wily shark in a quirky, sometimes spacey Red Sox fanatic who on first glance comes off as your doddering old grandfather, the one no longer employed as a bookkeeper but can’t end his habit of dressing the part and eating a packed lunch out of his old briefcase in the park every day. Just as good is William H. Macy as the money man playing every conceivable angle to keep the small firm alive as the bills for discovery bury everything he and the partners have worked for.

But not only do you have remarkable performances and a deceptively complicated protagonist filling out what’s arguably a fairly formulaic story, you also have a dozen-plus amazing scenes used in the telling of that story, and these are the moments that really sell the film for me. A majority of the best scenes involve Duvall but watching Sydney Pollack’s passive-aggressive character psychologically destroy Schlichtmann with patronizing kindness during a lawyerly sit-down is just a great piece of cinematic storytelling, especially in the department of screenwriting.

Great movies have a few great scenes. “A Civil Action” is loaded with them.

Finally, I’m a bit of a sucker for stories involving imperfect fools who lay everything on the line in the quest for something noble, be it the love of a woman, a righteous cause, or whatever — especially when they fail. Though I’ve always believed the concept of “quiet desperation” is a bullshit one spread by damaged types who need to believe everyone is as unhappy as they are, we do only have one life and it is meant to be lived. Sometimes you have to risk the money and pride and the threat of humiliation in the knowledge that living with failure is easier than living with regret.

What’s not on the list:

Thelma and Louise (1991): I’m a huge fan of this feminist road trip and have just never agreed that it was either all that political or anti-male. For starters, Harvey Keitel and Michael Madsen both play sympathetic males in large supporting roles and while some (maybe even Calli Khouri’s terrific Oscar-winning script) might try to blame a male-dominated society (I wish) on the misfortune of our two vigilante armed robbers, that’s not really the message you’re left with after the ladies drive off that cliff. Thelma’s stupid choices plus Louise’s psychological issues are the duos real undoing, not buffoonish husbands and boorish truck drivers.

For those too young to have seen the original, True Grit, based on the excellent Charles Portis novel tells the story of precocious young Mattie Ross who hires a boozy, tough-minded U.S. marshal to bring in her father‘s killer from 1880s Indian territory, a large chunk of what is now Oklahoma. Her stubborn caveat is that she gets to come along. Indian territory (that’s what they called it – not Native American Territory) was a no man’s land where the Choctaw, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminole settlements sometimes gave uneasy safe haven to American outlaws on the run from Hanging Judge Parker’s U.S. Marshals in neighboring Arkansas.

John Wayne was and is this country’s most popular screen legend, still in the top ten in the Harris Poll every year. Yet he was often an unsung actor, though one who could fill the screen and entertain like few of his profession before or after him. It’s not that the 2010 True Grit is a bad film, it’s not, but it’s not a great film either. The Coen Brothers version just make you realize how much more entertaining the Wayne and Henry Hathaway directed True Grit really still is.  In their effort to give us a more down and dirty version of the Old West, though the Wayne film is hardly sanitized, they’ve made this new version dull and uninspiring. Co-writer and co-director Ethan Coen said that they wanted to do the film from fourteen year old Mattie’s perspective and make it tougher and more violent. In the process they merely aped the original and duplicated most of the best scenes and dialogue, virtually verbatim.

Jeff Bridges was excellent in last years Crazy Heart, which won him an Academy Award. Unfortunately in True Grit he’s just an off-the-reservation parody with little charm or humor. One you can barely understand at that, since his delivery is often so garbled as to be incomprehensible. The performances of most of the other actor’s are solid, just not memorable. That’s the problem with a real remake, your film will be judged against the strongest points of the original.

In the original True Grit John Wayne stands rock solid like a piece of carved granite. Michael Mann’s stunning 1992 remake of several different versions of Last of the Mohicans reinvented that early frontier adventure with incredible style and verve that brought fresh life to a forgotten tale.  There’s nothing fresh in this new version of True Grit, just a little more dirt, blood and debauched alcoholism that proves nothing. There is one new, but very strange scene featuring an odd ball mountain man that almost seems lifted from John Milius’s great script for Jeremiah Johnson, which adds nothing to the film except bewilderment.

—–

The original film not only had John Wayne at his best, a wonderful script (despite the Coen’s claims it was very close to the novel) lush cinematography, great supporting actors and a rousing Elmer Bernstein score. Glenn Campbell’s weak performance as Texas Ranger LeBeouf is the original’s only low point, and frankly the other really good actors make him look at least adequate. In the 1969 film everyone from Strother Martin’s marvelous Colonel Stonehill and Kim Darby, a more than suitable Mattie Ross to Robert Duval’s dangerous Lucky Ned Pepper are memorable with a capital ‘M.” The new True Grit has poor Matt Damon in a silly buckskin coat and goofy looking hat saddled with an affected Texas accent that makes his performance not much better then Glenn Campbell’s.

The Coen film’s outdoors cinematography by Roger Deakins is good, though the indoor scenes are far too darkly lit and sepia toned in a misguided attempt at “realism,” that has become a boring visual stereotype of so many modern Westerns since the 1970s. If the Coen’s wanted realism that satisfies audiences they should have taken another look at the 1994 film Tombstone or the classic 1988 miniseries Lonesome Dove. Yes, the Coen’s Texas and New Mexico locations look more like the real Indian Territory then the Colorado backgrounds in the original film, but so what? The original didn’t look like it was shot in a completely foreign landscape and everything from the fresh and real buildings and interiors (the courtroom scenes were shot in an actual then 80-year-old courthouse) to the colors of the fall aspen trees gives the 1969 film a far more interesting visual look.

Despite the number of credited executive producers including Steven Spielberg, someone should have taken the Coen Brothers aside and told them what a fool’s errand they were on. Remaking True Grit is like remaking Citizen Kane, Casablanca or The Searchers. You can take the storyline and reinvent it with a different locale and altered characters, but you should only remake a film if you have something new to say that will be entertaining and interesting. The new True Grit is neither.  

You’ve probably heard the phrase “Don’t Mess With Texas!’” We’ll, the Coen Brother’s version of True Grit proves a similar very valid point – don’t fool with John Wayne, either.

Although Duvall has received an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards, among other recognitions, I concur with film maker Lionel Chetwynd in saying that Duvall has not been “elevated to the unique place he [deserves to occupy] in American art.”

So why hasn’t Duvall been elevated to that unique position? Generally, it’s because he’s not your run of the mill Hollywood personality: he makes his home in Virginia instead of Los Angeles or New York City. And specifically, it’s because of his politics.

By his own admission, Duvall “[tends] to be conservative,” which is better that being a leper, but alienates just as many Hollywood elitists nonetheless.

And Duvall isn’t just talking when he says he tends to be conservative. For instance, not only is he open about the fact that he didn’t vote for Obama in 2008, but he laughingly told Mike Huckabee that, “if given the chance, he wouldn’t vote for him again.“ Keep in mind, Duvall not only attended a McCain/Palin rally in Albuquerque during the 2008 election cycle, but also introduced Palin to the crowd there and held a sign reading: “Drill Here! Drill Now!” (I’m sure Robert Redford is pleased as punch about this.)

How many other Hollywood personalities go against the grain to this extent?

Duvall has that which General Stonewall Jackson described as the courage of his convictions: he is true to himself, his country, and the heritage from which he sprung. No wonder Chetwynd said of Duvall, “[he] is authentic to what he thinks, [and] to his background.”

This authenticity is on display when Duvall talks about America. While many others in Hollywood harbor resentment toward our nation for its successes (and its failures), Duvall says: “America is a great country… To me, if this country went down it would be a dark world.”

Whether Hollywood will ever elevate Duvall to the unique place he deserves to hold in film history remains to be seen. Odds are, they won’t do it because of his politics and his patriotism. Fortunately, that hasn’t stopped Duvall from being Duvall.

God bless Robert Duvall.

The film, directed by Jonathan Flora, follows Sinise and his band as they support the troops and first responders around the world including Kuwait and Iraq.  The Lt. Dan Band began playing shows in 2003 and has played close to 200 concerts for America’s heroes and their families.
Films that receive the Crystal Heart are being honored for best meeting Heartland’s mission of “exploring the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life.”  Having seen this uplifting and inspiring film, I can assure you that it does just that. 

“Having long known the high reputation of the Heartland Film Festival and the quality of films it showcases, it is a true honor to be recognized and I tip my hat to Jeffrey Sparks and his staff for all they do,” said Flora, who hails from Ohio, served with the 82nd Airborne and also produced the film along with his wife, Deborah Flora.  “As a veteran and filmmaker working in Hollywood, it is a privilege to be able to support our troops and first responders through our medium.  The spirit of service and commitment to the greater good has always served as an example to me.  At its core, this movie is about remembering those who are willing to lay down their lives for others and those who are left behind.  Gary Sinise is a man who has chosen to remember and to honor.  Gary truly is the Bob Hope of this generation.” 

Lt. Dan Band: For the Common Good is a moving documentary that transcends genres.  

With an amazing soundtrack and special appearances by Academy Award winners Jon Voight and Robert Duvall, as well as Raquel Welch, Connie Stevens, John Ratzenberger and more, this film is one of those rare movies that entertains even as it inspires and has been praised by Hollywood filmmakers Jerry Bruckheimer and Ron Howard, NBA Hall Of Fame Coach Pat Riley, and many more. 

Gary Sinise will be in attendance tonight for the evening screening of the film and I’m confident you Hoosiers will come out and show him a warm welcome. 

I know that Big Hollywood readers will want to get out and support this fantastic documentary.  To check out the trailer, find out more about the movie and to stay tuned about its upcoming release, please visit the official website, LtDanBandMovie.com.

As often as not, you can expect to fork over $20-$40 at the theater expecting to laugh, cry, and be entertained. . .

. . . only to find yourself trapped in a widescreen, 3D, surround sound, stadium-seated liberal indoctrination chamber.

With TV, you can dedicate months and years to becoming a dedicated fan of a series. . .

. . . only to suddenly start getting lectured on what creeps you and your family are by dint of your politics/religion/gender/race/fill-in-the-blank.

Closing in on two years patrolling the mean streets, Big Hollywood already has dozens of posts that document these lies, cheap shots, and propaganda in grim detail. Amidst the cultural carnage conservatives step ever more gingerly, sifting through the rubble for scraps worth investing in.

One way most of us navigate this minefield is by discerning which actors — big, well-known, picture-opening actors — are worth trusting on name alone. No one has a perfect record, but the best gain our confidence by routinely choosing projects that hew to some modicum of quality, decency, and fair play. You may not agree with the underlying message or political slant of their movies, but that’s not the point — it’s completely possible for conservatives to love great liberal movies and vice versa. Rather, these actors convince us over the course of their careers that they aren’t likely to sucker punch their fans, or to embarrass their country, profession, or family by allowing politics and prejudices to tarnish their public reputations and filmed entertainments.

Often, as famous as they are, we know little about their lives off the screen, as it should be. Largely free from the constant scandal that runs through Tinseltown like a river of raw sewage, their usually leftist personal politics matter little. It’s their class, humility, humanity, and self-deprecating humor — along with their choice of projects in which to display them — that count.

How many such actors are out there, living and working today? People whose name on a marquee or DVD cover not only doesn’t raise your hackles, but palpably makes you relax, secure in the knowledge that — with their name attached — you are unlikely to be ideologically jumped and browbeaten in exchange for giving them some of your precious time and money? Actors that you may not agree with, but whom you nevertheless trust, both with your money and your cinematic hopes and dreams?

Here’s my own highly subjective Top 5, from youngest to oldest:

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Denzel Washington (b. 1954)

Our modern Brando, the guy who can infuse every role with the gravitas of Shakespeare. He’s also, by far, our most versatile A-list thespian, playing military men, slaves, detectives, convicts, lawyers, loving fathers, gangster kingpins, and angels with equal force, panache, and believability. Time and again his performances address hot-button debates without alienating half of his audience with shallow, dehumanizing propaganda. Conservatives, liberals, white, black, young, old, Christian, Muslim — by turns he’s done right by all of them.

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Jeff Bridges (b. 1949)

He could so easily have been the spoiled brat 90210 son of a semi-famous actor, but in project after project he’s refused to sell out to the ego-driven temptations of stardom. An actor who doesn’t put on the pose so many do of never watching his own movies or caring overmuch about them, and a liberal who is laid back and worldly enough to not shove his deeply-felt personal politics down his audience’s collective throat. Bridges has memorably played everything from a hippie slacker to a small-town Texas teenager to an sinister comic book mogul to a sensitive alien to a washed-up country music star to the President of the United States, without me ever thinking that he was acting for only his side of the political aisle at my side’s expense.

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Morgan Freeman (b. 1937)

Dignity is the word that pops into mind. What actor is better at taking lazy parts that in lesser hands almost always end up as crude, politically correct Hollywood stereotypes — pimps, chauffeurs, slaves, and “magic minority wise man” characters among them — and imbuing them with contradictions, surprises, and thus humanity? And how many are then capable of running off to play God, or the President of the United States, or the benevolent head of a large corporation without missing a step? Freeman’s the kind of guy who is capable of being outspoken against the Iraq War even as he plays a key role in The Dark Knight.

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Robert Duvall (b. 1931)

Bob Duvall played the hapless Major Frank Burns in M*A*S*H, the napalm-sniffing, village-incinerating Lt. Col. Kilgore in Apocalypse Now, and the tormented and abusive career marine/father in The Great Santini. So why don’t we condemn him as a habitual slimer of our military as we would with so many others? Because this lifelong Republican, Christian and (like Freeman) veteran isn’t holding them (or through them, us) up for ridicule, he’s playing characters who harbor traits that are heroic and noble as well as outrageous and crude. They’re flawed human beings, not cardboard caricatures or straw men, and that’s what we come to the theater to see.

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Clint Eastwood (b. 1930)

I’ve grown increasingly leery about Eastwood as a director, but I still trust him implicitly as an actor. Over a long and storied career, his roles have represented what, when boiled down, is the only thing we really ask of Hollywood: to let characters on screen that filmmakers disagree with politically do right by their own standards even as the filmmakers criticize them using their own. From role to role Clint’s veered left and he’s veered right, but you never get the feeling that he’s taking cheap shots against anyone — in his next film he’s just as likely to be sympathetically portraying someone on the other side of the political/cultural divide. Directing a few Paul Haggis scripts isn’t yet enough to make me give up on the guy who played The Man With No Name, Dirty Harry Callahan, Josey Wales, Philo Beddoe, Sgt. Highway, Will Munny, and so many others.

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Twenty years ago, there would have been names like Harrison Ford, Kevin Costner, Meryl Streep, Jodie Foster, and many, many others in the running. Alas, to various degrees, based on the projects they’ve chosen combined with the mouthing off they’ve done off-screen, they’ve all lost my trust.

Let me know your own Top 5 in the comments below. Remember, they have to be living, working actors (Sean Connery and Gene Hackman are for all intents and purposes retired).