JMS: Have you seen this documentary?
Ben Varkentine
I saw the documentary "Blacklist: Hollywood On Trial," this afternoon on AMC.
Since I know of your interest in this topic, I wondered if you'd seen it.
I thought it was pretty good; though the newspaper blurb that alerted me to it
said Jeff Corey was one of those interviewed, and I didn't see him. Perhaps I
was looking away at the wrong moment. If you havent seen it (and for anyone
else), it's supposed to be shown again tonight at 10:45 pm Pacific time.
Nice balance between those who were blacklisted and those who informed, letting
both sides speak for themselves without being openly condemmed (though
personally, I thought the body language of the informers spoke volumes)
Ben Varkentine
Read my film & music criticism in PopMatters; http://popmatters.com/
& my theater column in Seattle Liberal Arts Review; http://slar.org/
Quote to follow.
LK
wrote:
>JMS-
>
>I saw the documentary "Blacklist: Hollywood On Trial," this afternoon on AMC.
>Since I know of your interest in this topic, I wondered if you'd seen it.
>I thought it was pretty good; though the newspaper blurb that alerted me to it
>said Jeff Corey was one of those interviewed, and I didn't see him. Perhaps I
>was looking away at the wrong moment. If you havent seen it (and for anyone
>else), it's supposed to be shown again tonight at 10:45 pm Pacific time.
>
>Nice balance between those who were blacklisted and those who informed, letting
>both sides speak for themselves without being openly condemmed (though
>personally, I thought the body language of the informers spoke volumes)
IRC Elia Kazan (sp) was one of the informers and recently recieved a
lifetime acheivement award which jms boycotted. --What brings me to
this is I half-read a "How to Write" book by Sol Stein in which Stein
goes on and on able how he helped Kazan write a couple best selling
books. And I kept thinking how he could write so glowingly of helping
the scum-bag and think that helping the man "re-shape" himself from
film director to author was such a proud time. And wondering if Kazan
somehow saved Stein by not testifying against him or something. --Not
nice thoughts, I know.
BTW, Stein spends most of the half I read of his 1999 "self-help"
book going on and on about writers he's helped and how he's help
without providing much help to the reader. _Common Mistakes of
Writers and How to Avoid Them_, indeed.
If you get the chance rent "The Front" a drama movie by Woody Allen
about a hack writer who fronts for blacklisted writers in the 1950's.
The subplot with Zero Mostel's character is very effecting. Plus in
the credits it lists all the people who worked on Allen's film who
were blacklisted themselves, including Mostel.
LK
Jms at B5
jms
(jms...@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com
(all message content (c) 2000 by
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c/Capt Joe Biles
defending Oswald's lone guilt routinely defends McCarthy and Kazan to
anyone who will listen. It's a crying shame.
Gharlane of Eddore
>On 7 Jun 2000 07:15:43 -0600, benva...@aol.com (Ben Varkentine) wrote:
>
> JMS-
>
> I saw the documentary "Blacklist: Hollywood On Trial," this afternoon
> on AMC.
> Since I know of your interest in this topic, I wondered if you'd seen it.
> I thought it was pretty good; though the newspaper blurb that alerted me
> to it said Jeff Corey was one of those interviewed, and I didn't see him.
> Perhaps I was looking away at the wrong moment. If you havent seen it
> (and for anyone else), it's supposed to be shown again tonight at 10:45 pm
> Pacific time.
>
> Nice balance between those who were blacklisted and those who informed,
> letting both sides speak for themselves without being openly condemmed
> (though personally, I thought the body language of the informers spoke
> volumes)
>
In <ss5tjskfcvnt8s9tv...@4ax.com>
LK <founta...@yahoo.com> writes:
>
> IRC Elia Kazan (sp) was one of the informers and recently recieved a
> lifetime acheivement award which jms boycotted. --What brings me to
> this is I half-read a "How to Write" book by Sol Stein in which Stein
> goes on and on able how he helped Kazan write a couple best selling
> books. And I kept thinking how he could write so glowingly of helping
> the scum-bag and think that helping the man "re-shape" himself from
> film director to author was such a proud time. And wondering if Kazan
> somehow saved Stein by not testifying against him or something. --Not
> nice thoughts, I know.
>
A great many of Kazan's achievements were managed operating in a
personnel vacuum created by the industry absence of folks who might
otherwise have gotten the assignments that allowed him to do some
of his major work. Nothing like letting a runaway government take
out your business competitors for you.
>
....<deletia>
>
> If you get the chance rent "The Front" a drama movie by Woody Allen
> about a hack writer who fronts for blacklisted writers in the 1950's.
> The subplot with Zero Mostel's character is very effecting. Plus in
> the credits it lists all the people who worked on Allen's film who
> were blacklisted themselves, including Mostel.
>
Great movie.
Zero Mostel was one of the greats; three Tony awards. I got to see
him do "Pseudolus" in "A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM"
in the original Broadway production. Great job.
You may have missed the point that, in the movie, Zero Mostel's character
is named "Hecky Brown."
Consider the existence of a comedian and entertainer of that era, one
Sheldon Greenfield, who used the stage name "Shecky Greene," and you'll
see that Allen & Co. may have been referencing someone else, too.
( He's still working; he was in a "MAD ABOUT YOU" a couple years back,
and IMDB says he's got a gig in a new series, "HOLLYWOOD OFF-RAMP."
Funny guy; did some great comedy albums and nightclub schticks in
between his acting gigs, which are also respectable work. )
Joseph DeMartino
a hack writer who fronts for blacklisted writers in the 1950's. The
subplot with Zero Mostel's character is very effecting. Plus in the credits
it lists all the people who worked on Allen's film who were blacklisted
themselves, including Mostel.
Slight correction: "The Front" is NOT a movie "by Woody Allen." Allen
didn't write it or direct it, he was an actor hired to work on it, just like
Zero Mostel. The film was written by Walter Bernstein and directed by
Martin Ritt. Both were blacklisted, as were actors Herschel Bernardi and
Zero Mostel, as already noted. "Hecky Green's" suicide was based on a real
event, so in playing the role Mostel represented not only himself and Shecky
Green, but at least one other specific victim of the blacklist.
Bernstein wrote the screenplays for the (original) "Fail Safe" and
"Something's Got to Give" as well as doing some uncredited work on "The
Magnificent Seven." Ritt directed a raft of films from "The Long Hot
Summer" in 1958, through "Hud", "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" and "The
Great White Hope" in the '60s to more recent fare like "Norma Rae" and
"Murphy's Romance."
Bernstein was "fortunate" as a writer, in that he *could* have someone else
turn in his work and collect at least a little money for it. A director
could not have someone "front" for him. Both Bernstein and Ritt both
thought that Allen would be perfect for the "writer" character, but were
somewhat surprised when he agreed to do it. It was the first (and last)
time since "Take the Money and Run" that he had agreed to appear as an actor
in someone *else's* movie. He found the subject matter worthwhile and the
script, a bitter comedy rather than a thundering anti-blacklist tract,
appealing.
Regards,
Joe
LK
<Joseph-D...@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
RATS!!! I used to know most of that, too. And I was impressed that
Allen would work for someone else.
It's good to recommend things because people then come back and remind
you of what you've forgotten. Thank you.
LK