I have been traveling all week…. or has it been all year? Anyway, I sure hope I remembered to set the TiVO to record Kathy Griffin’s new show on Bravo, “My Life on the D-List.”

Lucky for me… and all of you…. The Malcontent checked it out, and actually has a link so you can view the entire show! Wooo hoooo!
Of course I haven’t had time to watch it that way either. *pouting*
-Bruce (GayPatriot) – gaypatriot2004@aol.com

According to Charles Cross’ new biography of Jimi Hendrix, Room Full of Mirrors, that legendary rock star “pretended he was gay” in order to be discharged from the Army’s 101st Airborne Division. Seems his ruse was a little more successful than that of M*A*S*H‘s Corporal Max Klinger (Jamie Farr).

This seemed worthy to bring to your attention. But I don’t have any witty observations about it. I’ll leave that up to y’all. (Practicing my lingo for the move to North Carolina)
Oliver Stone Offends Gays – Cinematical

Gay activists are up in arms over reports that director Oliver Stone has removed scenes in the DVD version of Alexander in which the title character appears to have a homosexual relationship. “You cannot associate homosexuality with the military in this country,” Stone told today’s (Monday) New York Post. “Audiences want their war films straight. From the day we opened, we did not do business in the South.” But Damon Rome of GLAAD, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, told the newspaper, “For someone known as a fearless, uncompromising filmmaker, Stone has really compromised his own artistic integrity.”

-Bruce (GayPatriot) – gaypatriot2004@aol.com

What do you do if you were a child of the ’60s or ’70s and your life-long ambition was to be a “Pip”?

-Bruce (GayPatriot) – gaypatriot2004@aol.com

PatriotPartner came upon this very interesting column in yesterday’s LA Times.
Box Office Blues Stem from Blue-State Bigotry – LA Times
First off, I have to note with amusement that the LA Times headline writer screwed up the Red versus Blue pairing up. Even though I grew up in a sea of blue (the 1984 Reagan landslide map), since Clinton the MSM has “assigned” ‘Red’ to Republicans. Is the LA Times reversing the trend??

Hollywood’s box office has hit the skids, and the entertainment media are in overdrive trying to explain why. The most obvious explanation for box office malaise is consistently overlooked: Hollywood’s ruling liberal elites keep going out of their way to offend half their audience.
Constant gibes about Republicans, Christians, conservatives and the military litter today’s movies and award show presentations like so many pieces of trash on theater floors.
Did we need to hear from “War of the Worlds” screenwriter David Koepp that the aliens in his movie are stand-ins for the U.S military ? and the innocent Americans they attack are stand-ins for Iraqi civilians? Or that Americans are guilty of post-9/11 anti-Muslim “paranoia”? (A question to Koepp: Were we “paranoid” after Pearl Harbor too?)

Interestingly, in my review of War of the Worlds (link here), after viewing the movie I couldn’t help come to the conclusion that the aliens were in fact representing hidden terror cells in the USA.
Many pundits also felt the “anti-Bush” bias noted in the pre-Star Wars, Episode III hype was not borne out after viewing that film either.
But I think this column has a point… Hollywood has long been out of touch with conservatives.
-Bruce (GayPatriot) – gaypatriot2004@aol.com

Two months ago, I blogged on how the “stupid” comedy, Ruthless People changed my life. Today, in appreciation of funny flicks such as that one, I ask you to chime in with your favorite “stupid” comedy. Films such as Airplane! or The Naked Gun where you barely have time to breathe because you’re laughing so much.

“They refuse to accept, because of their political ideology, that [President Bush] has actually done more than any American president for Africa. . . . But it’s empirically so.”
—Bob Geldof frontman for the Boomtown Rats & organizer of Live 8.
Here’s one entertainer who has put his compassion ahead of politics. A man who sees things as they are. Way to go, Bob! And to think that I listened to his band back when I was a young ‘un. I may have be onto something.
Hat tip: Captain Ed who has more.

As Batman Begins does gangbuster business this weekend at the box office, several of my friends (whom I trust for movie advice) rave about the flick. Thinking of the Caped Crusader (whose TV show your humble blogger enjoyed as a lad), I recalled Tim Burton‘s 1989 Batman flick and Jack Nicholson‘s whimsically maniacal portrayal of the Joker. In my mind, Nicholson’s Joker has always been one of the best movie villains of all time.
So, today’s open thread, which character, in your mind, is the best movie villain (or movie villains) of all time?
UPDATE: Just got in from the latest Batman flick. While Tim Burton’s had a better villain, this one has a better Batman. I’ve liked Christian Bale since I first saw him in Kenneth Branagh‘s Henry V. He seems to have found his niche in the movie which should become his first blockbuster.

Just returned from the Hollywood Congress of Republicans dinner and had a great time. I sat next to the wise and witty columnist Bridget Johnson and got the chance to hobnob with my pal and fellow blogger Dirty Harry (who blogs at Jackson’s Junction), finally meeting his lovely wife. Actress Cheryl Felicia Rhoads spoke to the crowd and shared anecdotes of growing up Republican and coming out (as a Republican) in Hollywood.
Aware that many Republicans in the entertainment industry are afraid to come out because they fear it might jeopardize their careers in a business dominated by liberal Democrats, she said, “Just be who you are because that’s what you have to bring to the table.” Sound advice for a Republican in a “blue” area as it is for a gay person in straight society.
Her words struck a chord with me. Until just about a year ago, I had pretty much kept quiet about my politics since moving here in 1999. And yet, since I have come out as a Republican, I have felt more alive than I did in those years when I was in the political closet. More opportunities have opened up for me. A Republican screenwriter has become a fan of my work. When I wrote to some blogger back east, he invited me onto this blog where I have found a few more fans. Thanks, readers!!
So, I have learned from personal experience how right Cheryl is. By being true to myself, by being open about my love for movies and mythology as well as my interest in politics and commitment to conservative principles, I have realized that I do indeed having something to bring to the table, something that I had once hesitated to reveal as it set me apart from so many others in this town. Perhaps it is because I am so “set apart” that I have something unique to say.
-Dan (AKA GayPatriotWest): GayPatriotWest@aol.com

Today, as I was thinking of Walter Huston‘s laugh at the end of his son John‘s movie, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, the laugh which makes the movie and secured the elder Huston’s Oscar, I realized that that laugh is, in my opinion, the best movie laugh — at least in the flics I’ve seen. So, today’s open thread, what in your opinion is the best on-screen laugh?
UPDATE: Since Bridget, in her comment to this post, referenced a laugh from Sex and the City, I encourage others to suggest laughs from TV shows as well.

It is perhaps appropriate that on the day when the U.S. Senate apologizes for failing to pass laws banning lynching that a jury in Santa Maria, California acquitted Michael Jackson of all charges in his child-molestation trial. From 1882 to 1968, 4,723 people, including 3,446 blacks were murdered by angry mobs. Nearly all were innocent of the charges leveled against them. Not one had the opportunity to defend himself against those charges. Not one faced a jury of his peers.
Today, a jury of Michael Jackson’s peers, citizens of the area near his ranch, voted to acquit this black man of charges not entirely dissimilar from those leveled against many of the black men lynched by their Southern peers. Michael Jackson had been accused of molesting white boys. Those men had been accused of raping white women.
The coincidence of these two events shows how much has changed in America since the Civil Rights’ movement of the 1960s. Michael Jackson received the fair trial that was denied many black Americans up until the time that Jackson, as a singer for the Jackson Five, first gained national attention. I believe the Santa Maria jury got it right. The one person I know in LA who has met Michael Jackson is convinced of the pop singer’s innocence (while acknowledging his strangeness).
It just doesn’t strike me that someone whose own talents and success deprived him of a childhood would himself deprive other children of theirs. To be sure, Michael Jackson often acted inappropriately, but the jury did not believe that evidence presented against him showed that he had molested the boys making the accusations.
[Read more…]

Just got in from seeing Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have great chemistry. Because I could believe that they were a loving couple facing the difficulties of married life (in their unusual situation), I enjoyed the flick even though the plot was so unbelievable.
Including Mr. & Mrs. Smith, I saw quite a diverse array of movies this weekend, starting with one of my favorite flicks of the 1980s–Matthew Robbins‘ Dragonslayer with Peter MacNicol (later to gain fame on Ally McBeal) doing a great job as the sorceror’s apprentice who must find a way to slay the dread beast. Ralph Richardson is (as always) brilliant as the sorceror while we see Ian McDiarmid in his last film role before going over to the dark side.
And I watched the entertainingly atrocious Plan 9 From Outer Space. After buying this best of bad movies, I had to see if it was as bad as I had heard. It was worse. The writing was dreadful. (Imdb helpfully provides a list of some of the worst lines of the flick here.) The acting was terrible. I don’t think there was much direction. Some of the sets were laughable. The interior of alien mother ship looked like it had been designed for a high school play. And yet I don’t think I laughed so hard watching a movie about space ships since I last saw Galaxy Quest.
If the purpose of movies are to entertain, then Plan 9 certainly does the trick. I even find it amusing that Imdb classifies the flick as a horror movie. Because the only thing scary about this film is that some people once took it seriously.

Yesterday, I once again bought a movie from the super bargain rack at Best Buy. This time, I bought a flick which I consider to be one of the best “bad movies” of all time–Tim Burton‘s 1996 “classic” Mars Attacks.
I also picked up Ed Wood‘s 1959 flick, Plan 9 From Outer Space, on the cheap. The very box of this DVD tells us that this “cinematic masterpiece” is “regarded as one of the worst movies ever made! Plan 9 is so bad it’s good.”
So, that leads me to today’s open thread. What, in your opinion, are the very best “bad movies,” those poorly made (or deliberately poorly written) movies that are nonetheless extremely entertaining?

Via normblog, I just learned that a truly great actress, Anne Bancroft, has died. While best remembered for her role as Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate, she won an Oscar for The Miracle Worker.
Her achievement in The Graduate is all the more remarkable as she was only six years older than her costar Dustin Hoffman who played the younger man whom she seduces. In addition to her film work, she was also an accomplished stage actor and won two Emmy Awards for her television work. She is survived by her husband Mel Brooks. The entertainment industry has lost one of its most talented actresses, but we are all grateful for the body of work she left behind.

It often seems that the best movies we discover are not those whose trailers entice us or which the media hypes, but those we hear about from our friends and colleagues. I can’t recall seeing an ad or trailer for Crash. The first I heard of it was when, a few weeks ago, one friend told me it was the only movie she had seen recently. Since then, I keep running into people who tell me how amazing this movie is. When I went to buy a ticket on Sunday night, it was sold out at the Grove. The following morning, I saw an article in the LA Times. The sub-headline noted that the flick had “become the movie to see and discuss.”
Not wanting to know about the movie before I saw it, I set the article aside and prepared to arrive nearly an hour early to buy a ticket to see a screening that night at the Arclight. It was of the rare times when I went to see a movie about which I knew nothing–only that a lot of people had enjoyed it.
While I smiled in recognizing the truth in Don Cheadle‘s opening monologue that people in LA are so afraid to touch that we often come together only by crashing into one another, the movie began to lose me. People didn’t seem to be dealing with each another as individuals, but as representatives of their race. I have rarely — even in LA — see racial attitudes so directly expressed. I could understand why one women in Texas walked out “an hour before the film’s ending.” According to the LA Times, Angela Clemons of Tyler, Texas said the film “seemed to pit every race against the other races.” Yet, even after watching about half the movie, she couldn’t “get the dang movie out of [her] head.” Nor can I.
WARNING TO THOSE WHO HAVE NOT SEEN THE FILM, I GIVE AWAY SOME DETAILS ABOUT THE FILM’S ENDING BELOW
[Read more…]

After seeing the powerful movie Downfall on Hitler’s last days, I read my friend Rick Sincere‘s combined review of that film and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. I recommend both movies and the review.
UPDATE: While I think Dirty Harry’s review of Revenge of the Sith is a little harsh, it’s a fun read. And he makes some good points, especially when he notes that Han Solo is “sorely missing in this saga.”

Monday night, I saw the movie Crash and can’t stop thinking about it. I have scribbled some notes for a post on the flick, but want that post to be more than a hurried reflection. I will try to get to that Thursday or Friday. Anyway, I’m posting now to encourage you to see the film. This is one of those movies that not only entertains, not only makes us think, but also reminds us what really matters. And like two very different movies I also enjoyed (“LA Story” and “What’s Cooking“) provides insight into LA, my adopted hometown. But, Crash is far more thought-provoking than either of those two excellent films.

I just learned via Roger Simon that Ismail Merchant, whom Roger describes as “one of the great producers of our time,” has died. Once again, Roger’s right. Merchant was truly a gifted filmmaker, having produced numerous excellent films including A Room with a View, Howard’s End, The Remains of the Day and, of particular interest to readers of this blog, Maurice.
While Merchant has justly earned many accolades for his work, including four Academy Award nominations, I want to highlight that last-mentioned film, one of the few movies which is actually better than the book upon which it is based. Together with his directing partner, James Ivory, Merchant took E.M. Forster‘s second-rate gay novel and turned it into a first-rate film. The movie touchingly tells the story of a young man (James Whilby‘s Maurice Hall) coming to terms with his sexuality through his feelings for his college friend (the ever-fetching Hugh Grant as Clive Durham).
Maurice ranks as one of (if not the) most sensitive gay films and was produced at a time before gay cinema was in vogue. It took courage to produce such a film at that time, one of the first gay-themed filmed produced by a major production company. A pioneering achievement.
You can read more about Merchant’s many accomplishments on the Merchant Ivory web-page as well as here, here and here. I think a better tribute would be to watch his movies, to appreciate their quality, particularly as they highlight the tension between love and social convention, how they show, through the stories Merchant and Ivory so brilliantly adapted to the screen, why it is better to choose love.
Thank you, Ismail Merchant, for your many high-quality films. And this blogger offers a special word of thanks for the tenderness with which you portrayed gay love in Maurice and how you gave this film, of particular interest to men like me, a universal theme — and one consistent with that of your great body of work. That love is a greater good than social convention. Thank you, Ismail Merchant. May many filmmakers be inspired by your achievements. And may many audiences continue to delight in your work.
-Dan (AKA GayPatriotWest): GayPatriotWest@aol.com

Tonight, at dinner with some friends, two gifted actors and a talented up and coming director, we noted how difficult it is to make a good comedy that is a powerful drama as well. While there are many great comedies like “RUTHLESS PEOPLE” which make us laugh, there are few flicks like the classic “THE PHILADELPHIA STORY” which stir our more tender — and deeper — emotions as they make us laugh. Indeed, the Greeks, those who “invented” the western concept of drama, staged entertainment, had their three great tragedians (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Eurpides) and their one great comedian (Aristophanes). None of these four greats ever seemed to “mix their genres.”
In addition to the Katharine Hepburn–Cary Grant–Jimmy Stewart classic (i.e., “THE PHILADELPHIA STORY“), we came up with a couple movies which were both dramas and comedies, notably “WHEN HARRY MET SALLY” and “AS GOOD AS IT GETS.” Now, I open it up to you, readers, to suggest other movies which succeed in blending these genres. I am particularly interested in gay movies which move us deeply while making us laugh. Maybe, “TRICK” . . . .
So, comment below or drop me an e-mail and let me know what you come up with. . .
UPDATE: Reader Terry writes in to note that I was incorrect to write that the four great Greek playwrights (whom he calls poets) did not “mix their genres.” Instaed, he points out, “the custom was to submit four plays during the festival, three tragedies and one comedy, all of these poets mixed genres, it’s just that the remnants of their opposite genres are few and limited, hence unread by those who only take the college survey course. Each poet had one day for their presentation, and at the end of the festival one was awarded the prize. Poets were expected to be able to master both tragedy and comedy in order to win the festival’s prize that year.”
UPDATE #2: A friend of mine wrote in to suggest Woody Allen‘s best movie, “ANNIE HALL” as a comedy with meaning. I agree.
UPDATE #3: A successful screenwriter e-mailed me, “I’d say most of the Billy Wilder comedies (esp. SOME LIKE IT HOT, THE APARTMENT) and the Preston Sturges comedies (esp. THE GREAT McGINTY and SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS) as well as the Chaplin silents like THE GREAT DICTATOR, MODERN TIMES and Buster Keaton‘s THE GENERAL just to name a few.” (My friend’s e-mail reminds me of my favorite Chaplin flick: “CITY LIGHTS.”)

Today while browsing in the Super Bargain DVD rack at Target, I saw a stupid comedy which, when it was first released, changed my attitude. You see, at the time, I was living in Europe and looked down on popular culture. If it wasn’t high literature, I then thought, it wasn’t worth reading, it wasn’t worth watching.

Well, the youngest PatriotBrotherWest insisted we see this comedy, “Ruthless People.” Because I was back in the U.S. only for a short while and because my brother’s a great guy, I decided to go with him, fully intending to have a terrible time.

Quite the contrary. Watching the movie, I couldn’t stop laughing. I left the theater feeling better than I had when I first walked in. This “stupid” comedy reminded me how stupid, how narrow-minded, I had been, to assume that only literature (or movies) with some deeper meaning could accomplish something meaningful.

About a decade later, I saw another movie, this one a classic, Preston Sturges‘ “Sullivan’s Travels” where Joel McCrea‘s Sullivan learns a lesson similar to the one I did watching Ruthless People.

So, now, every time someone knocks Hollywood for making schlocky comedies with no redeeming value, I recall that day when a “stupid” comedy reminded me of the power of laughter. Their value, like that of the great vaudeville entertainers in the early part of the last century and so many others in the succeeding years who, on stage and screen, have made us laugh is simply that; they make us laugh. It’s the very reason Jessica married Roger Rabbit. Laughter helps lighten the load, easing the burdens of the day. No wonder that (despite its many flaws) I’ve come to love Hollywood so much.

Today, for just $5.50, I bought “Ruthless People” on DVD to remind myself of the lesson I learned and to watch yet again a movie which helped teach me the meaning of movies so that I can laugh and then laugh again and delight in the power — and meaning — of laughter.

-Dan (AKA GayPatriotWest): GayPatriotWest@aol.com

UPDATE: I’m delighted to note the number of people who share my love for “Ruthless People.” Just tonight (04/18), while celebrating a friend’s birthday, we all agreed that the movie was one of the funniest of the 1980s, with some of the greatest one-liners of the period. And others have e-mailed to tell me how much they loved the flick. All this fun for just $5.50. I love Target!