Hollywood, the land of wussies.
But wait!
Have these rednecks even been to a Hollywood movie lately? I ask because, in order to see "The Big Sick," I had to sit through six or seven trailers for upcoming films - movies ostensibly starring reputable actors but whose real recurring star is the .357 Magnum or whatever gun of choice is preferred by wuss filmmakers these days. One trailer after another featured phallic guns of all sizes, loudly neutralizing undesirables.
The movies seemed designed to appeal to gun-rights advocates, not ninny liberals, and the transparent product placement of guns in every film gives the weird impression that each could have been produced by ... the NRA.
amazing, true and totally ironic!
ReplyDeleteGood job, Joe! There's a collection of Pauline Kael reviews titled "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang." Whatever happened to the Kiss, Kiss???
ReplyDeleteHere's the real hypocrisy. With the notable exception of Al Franken, every single "Hollywood elitist" who enters politics does so as a Republican: George Murphy, Sonny Bono, Clint Eastwood, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Fred Thompson, Fred Grandy, Shirley Temple, John Gavin, John Lodge and of course the two Presidents literally worshipped by the right: Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump. Makes ya think, eh?
ReplyDeleteRight, Mike. So much for liberal Hollywood. An aside: My wife is crazy about William Powell and asked me to do some research on him. I came back with the bad news - he was a rabid Republican, very vocal apparently. Not so surprising, however, I reassured her. I've a hunch most actors of that generation were conservative.
ReplyDeleteJoe,
ReplyDeleteI might be in error here; but I think that James Stewart, who went to WASHINGTON, was JOHN DOE (in another life), and learned how WONDERFUL A LIFE IS, was a staunch Republican. He must have really been acting up a storm in Frank Capra's very liberal-minded films.
No, Marvin, you are not in error. Stewart was an outspoken Republican and reportedly turned down the role of Proctor Jarman in Robert Redford's "The Candidate" because he thought it made conservatives look bad. Don Porter ultimately played the role, under Michael Ritchie's direction, of course. And, yes, Stewart put on a very convincing liberal act in his Capra films. Roz Russell, too. Her Auntie Mame may have been the definitive liberal but, off-screen, she was a conservative, very good friends with Mamie Eisenhower. -J
ReplyDeleteWell, Capra himself was a life-long conservative and even snooped for Hoover during the McCarthy era. His famed "liberalism" came from his very progressive writers: Robert Riskin, admitted Socialist Jo Swerling, and of course the eventually-blacklisted Sidney Buchman.
ReplyDeleteAs for William Powell: Republicans in the old days were indeed generally far more courtly than the neo-fascists of today. There were exceptions, of course--John Wayne, Ward Bond, Adolphe Menjou, et al--but for the most part they were men and women of dignity and honor.
Interesting Capra info, Mike. Who knew? I agree about the old Republican actors of yesteryear.
ReplyDeleteIn his excellent Capra biography, "The Catastrophe of Success," Joseph McBride goes into this in some detail. If you haven't read it, it's a must.
ReplyDeleteHaven't, Mike. But will do.
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