Wednesday, February 09, 2005

Hey, I'm red too!

With America at war, Hollywood follows"
"In a reflection of America's conflict in Iraq, a proliferation of TV and film projects is focusing on the U.S. military, the war or both."

My favorite line:

"Not since World War II has Hollywood so embraced an ongoing conflict. It took years for pop culture to tackle the Korean and Vietnam wars, and it took time before the country was ready to be entertained by those politically charged conflicts."

I suppose the author of the article lacks access to google because if he bothered to use it, he would have found these Korean War Movies"

An Annapolis Story
Released: 1956
Director: Don Siegel
Staring: John Derek, Diana Lynn

Battle Circus
Released: 1953
Director: Richard Brooks
Staring: Humphrey Bogart, June Allyson, Keenan Wynn, Robert Keith

Battle Hymn
Released: 1956
Director: Douglas Sirk
Staring: Rock Hudson, Anna Kashfi, Dan Duryea, Don DeFore

The Bridges at Toko-Ri
Released: 1954
Director: Mark Robson
Staring: William Holden, Grace Kelly, Fredric March, Mickey Rooney

Men of the Fighting Lady
Released: 1954
Director: Andrew Marton
Staring: Van Johnson, Frank Lovejoy, Walter Pidgeon, Dewey Martin

Or these movies about Vietnam (some of which were actually made during the period)

The Anderson Platoon (1967)

China Gate (1957)

The Green Berets (1968)

The Lost Command (1966)

I found it funny that the author characterizes 5 TV shows and movies about Iraq as a "proliferation of TV and film projects"

My thought is, more then three years after 911, we have yet to see a film or TV series about Afghanistan and the events surrounding 911(absent Mike Moores "films") and it has taken, 2 years to make a movie about Gulf War II(we are still waiting on a credible movie about Gulf War I). Let us also not forget the plots of move such as collateral damage and the Some of all fears that was changed as to not make Muslims look like the enemy.

I think that the public is less squeamish about film portrayals of the war we are engaged then Hollywood is.