Today’s New York Observer has a profile of conservative Hollywood conservative gadfly Andrew Breitbart, wherein the reporter mostly transcribes Breitbart talking, and talking, and talking, to rather stupefying effect. I daresay that even those highly sympathetic to his politics might think, “Damn, I hope he was drunk.”
Among his other eccentricities, Breitbart’s got a weird Maggie Gyllenhall thing. First he avers that he wouldn’t give Gyllenhaal a tumble even if she threw herself at him. At least that’s what I think he’s saying.
“…I’m telling you if I were single, I’m so cynical and I’m like the typical guy, if any of them were just lying there like the Maggie Gyllenhaals of the world, I wouldn’t. I’m like, ‘No!’ It would almost disgust me, because they couldn’t be more uninteresting if they tried.”
Later, bemoaning the lack of conservative values in film (again, or something—his analysis practically borders on Marxist) he sputters, “A movie could have a direct message with Maggie Gyllenhaal and the Gyllenhaal triumvirate of hate that says that America is horrible, and yet that message is overwhelmed by the proliferation of excess on the screen.”
“The Gyllenhall triumverate of hate.” I love that. The third component of said triumverate, I’m guessing, would be Maggie and brother Jake’s mom, Naomi Foner, who, not to pick nits, the movie would not be “with,” as Foner’s a screenwriter. Now a really clever conservative would cite the first second film she scripted, Running on Empty, and observe that it could, without fear of contradiction, be retitled The Bill Ayers Story. But Breitbart’s not a really clever conservative. Or maybe he was drunk. My advice is, lay off that DVD of Sherry Baby and call me in the morning. Actually, scratch the second part.
I, er, wow. This is why I avoid overt political analysis, unless the movie practically demands it. I feel bad for conservative film fans: I thought all of us LIBERALS got the moon bats!
I honestly have no idea how to respond to that.
Brietbart, it should be noted, is the only person who ever made me feel bad for David Ehrenstein after Brietbart badgered him in an interview for something a left leaning website said that Eherenstein hadn’t even heard about.
I will say this: the bullying, hateful rhetoric he uses to describe his “enemies” and his complaints about how “His” side can agree to disagree and get along… I can’t… I just can’t.
I just want conservatives to leave me alone.
Not drunk – just an asshole. Smarting over the fact that the kewl kids don’t like him anymore.
This guy should have done real well at the Republican convention. Like the rest of his fellow Movement Conservatives, all he has is seething Nixonian resentment.
Bizarre. Why Maggie? Is she some sort of activist without my knowing about it? I always thought she was just a pretty actress, moderately talented, who slouches a lot. And this guy is talking about her like a cyberstalker. I don’t get it, but if I were Maggie (esp. after reading the comments, yeesh) I think I’d get a restraining order.
“Now a really clever conservative would cite the first film she scripted, Running on Empty, and observe that it could, without fear of contradiction, be retitled The Bill Ayers Story.”
Good point. I really enjoy that film but if analyzed politically, it’s a pretty whitewashed retelling of the Weather Underground story. Though Judd Hirsch doesn’t come off nearly as arrogant as Ayers.
Found this at a French site:
http://palamedesreview.site.voila.fr/bildunginhollywood.html
I had dinner with Bernadine Dorn in Harvard Square in 2004 (long story) and she mentioned seeing Running On Empty in a theater, on first release, and being both flattered and vaugely annoyed. I think she said she even phoned some of the other old Weatherman and discussed the movie with them. Strange to imagine the Weather Underground seeing Running On Empty, but they did.
She got a ride to Cambridge night from Bester Cramm of the Vietnam Veterans Against The War, and my first thought upon hearing that was that it’s a shame Bobby Seale could’nt have been in the car too. Hoover and Agnew must have been spinning in their graves.…
Somebody should cast Maggie Gyllenhall as Bernadine Dorn, and have Naomi Foner write it, and then give Bernadine Dorn tickets to the preimere.
Bernadine Dorn was a fox back in the day, but not as foxy as Patty Hearst.
It’s fun to reminisce about domestic terrorism.
Oh, and JJ? You know who else was probably spinning in their graves? The policmen and Brink’s guard that Dorn helped murder. Wow, what a great story.
Okay, this will probably take a while.
@Bill—Too-shea, I say, as I can’t do an accent grave in comments. I didn’t, and don’t, like the Weathermen, particularly since when those explosive-ignorant idiots took out that brownstone on Manhattan’s 10th Street, they almost got my aunt Dorothy, who was living next door. (Dorothy is not an actual aunt; it’s one of those Italian-American things where your mother’s best friend and her sisters—Dorothy being one of them—just become your aunts. But never mind.) I don’t dig Ayers or Dohrn (particularly, Dohrn, don’t even get me started) , but they got off the hook, and Ayers did reinvent himself as someone with pull within Chicago’s “progressive” agenda…and I don’t believe that Obama’s getting involved with a project Ayers was involved in makes Obama an heir to the Weather Underground.
Just to be clear.
@Campaspe: Yes, the comments on the Observer piece are a particularly deep bag of ugly. Still, I’d like to say, since I’m here, that some of my nearest and dearest are conservatives, and that I still, perhaps naively, cling to the belief that people of good faith can disagree, I therefore don’t like to paint conservatives with as broad a brush as some of my confreres—holey moley, I almost said “fellow travelers”—do. Although times being what they are, it’s awfully easy to do exactly that, from either side.
I don’t believe in conservative artists and liberal artists. I believe in artists. I hit out at Breitbart because, well, he’s making an ass of himself. I would love to engage with a Hollywood conservative gadfly who had sense and wit. But he ain’t it.
Bill, do you live on the West Coast by any chance?
Glenn, I hope I didn’t give the wrong impression. It’s a point of pride with me that a nice-size portion of my readers, who drop me an email or leave the occasional comment, are conservatives who do not appear particularly bothered by my politics or the fact that many other visitors skew left. They appreciate fine old things, as conservatives should in my view, and so they’re interested in a site about classic movies. I can’t imagine any of them participating in something like the Observer comments pigpile–or if they did, they would sound intelligent and courteous doing it, as Bill does here.
And that’s precisely the problem with Breitbart.
No, no, you didn’t give the wrong impression at all! I was just taking the opportunity, after concurring with you on the Observer comments, to make those particular thoughts known.
No, Glenn, I’m an East-coaster like yourself, except that I’m bit further south than you. Virginia, to be exact.
I asked because if you WERE in Hollywood, you’d fit the bill I described above. Not to overly flatter you or anything.
Thank you, Glenn. Coming from you, I do consider it a high compliment, though I promise to not be overly flattered.
Bernadine’s still pretty foxy.
And yeah, it WAS fun to reminisce about this woman’s unique perspective on the recent past, up to her take on the episode of The Simpsons where Homer’s mother blows up the germ lab and goes underground.
Harvard University had invited her to speak and paid for dinner, so bitch at them.
I never said I condoned any of the violent shit she did, and made a point of telling her that when I met her. Her response was, basically, “I did it, I can’t change the past, I take responsibility for it, and I’m trying to spend the rest of my life as a positive, non-destructive force for good.” I thought that made sense. Frankly, I’d rather hang out with her and the VVAW guys and the ex-Black Panthers and Stonewall rioters. They have the better stories.
So spare me your superior moralistic sniping, okay? I mean, I seriously doubt you would say that about some Iraq veteran who was in Fallujah and who killed a whole LOT of people.
Oh, and Virginia is the south. It’s not the East Coast. I live in Massachusetts. THAT’S the East Coast.
I don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.
Better stories than who?
I think it’s great that you have such a blast hanging out with murderers, after you’ve made sure they know that you think murder is bad.
And you’re just a poster boy for moral equivelancy, aren’t you? That Iraq vet from Fallujah you wonder about, well, it would all depend, wouldn’t it? Did he maliciously and deliberately kill innocent people, or did he kill the enemy in battle? If the former, no, I wouldn’t want to speak with him, and I would hope he spends the rest of his life in prison. If the latter, yes, I would like to speak with him, and thank him. And I bet he’d have some damn good stories, as well.
And you don’t know what “coast” means, do you? Or “east”? I know they grow ’em pretty arrogant up in your neck of the woods, but “east” means “east”, no matter how far north, or south, you are, and “coast” means you’re bordering an ocean. Which Virginia does. Especially the “Virginia Beach” part of Virginia.
Oh, and Massachusetts is in the north. I don’t need a meteorologist to tell me which part of the…oh, forget it.
Actually, Bernadine Dohrn never killed anyone, nor did the Weather Underground have an agenda of murder or assassination, though their use of bombs in their early days could have killed people. When three of them blew themselves up, the WU disavowed bombing as a protest/disruption technique.
Make that the Weathermen. They weren’t underground yet.
They had an agenda of violence. Do you think they were so stupid as to think their bombs might not kill anybody? And Dohrn belonged to a terrorist organization whose actions – which she advocated – led to the deaths of innocent people. Why dance around it?
Better stories then the folks who spent ’65 to ’74 voting for Nixon and ignoring Vietnam because they were too busy making a buck.
Oh, and here comes the moral equivalency accusation! What the pro-war right-wing conservatives always pull out whenever you question them. Hey, NEWS FLASH, Virginia Beach! Whether you kill a bank guard in a hold up or a slew of Arabs in Iraq, in the end, YOU’VE KILLED PEOPLE. If they were trying to kill you in combat, you still KILLED PEOPLE. Killing “the enemy in battle” is still KILLING PEOPLE. It’s all MURDER.
So don’t attack me for hanging out with murderers and supporting terrorists while you’re out buying combat marines a drink and slapping them on the back. “Thank him”? For what? Participating in the most criminal activity America has taken part in since the slave trade? For surviving battle with people who would have never been in a position to fight him unless his government illegally, unnescecarily, and deliberatly placed him, meaning the Marines, in harm’s way and forced him to participate in avoidable violence?
And by the way, some of the other people I’ve been fortunate enough to break bread with in Cambridge have included a Colonel in the U.S. Army and some special forces guys, all with multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Who have killed people in combat. But who are’nt proud of it, and would be pretty angry if someone “thanked” them for it. I made no secret with them of my feelings about America’s involvement in Iraq, just like I made it clear to Bernadine I did’nt think blowing up buildings was an acceptable form of protest. And like the former radical, the active duty military were grateful for my honesty, and surprised me by, to greater or lesser degrees, agreeing with me. “We shoulda just stayed in Afghanistan. Iraq’s not worth it.”, one man told me.
If “arrogant” means “not afraid to stand up for myself when attacked out of left field for relating a personal experience” then yeah, guilty as charged.
Oh, and whatever you do, don’t ever, ever again watch any film with cinematography by Haskell Wexler! I mean, him and Emilio De Antonio hung out for months with MURDERERS and TERRORISTS! And then made a movie about them! He’s EVIL! Moral equivalency! All I did was eat seafood with her.
And Marilyn: thanks.
Sorry you don’t like the “moral equivalency” argument, but you should probably stop opening yourself up to it like that.
But anyway…so these military guys you broke bread with respected you for manning up and admitting that you AGREED with them? Wow, you really do have balls, don’t you? Tell me, have you ever broken bread with any active military who disagree with you? Or has Harvard not gotten around to asking them to speak yet? Man, Bernadette Dohrn and anti-war military. You really cover your bases, don’t you?
You’re original comment celebrated the fact that long-dead conservatives (and, presumably, currently living ones, as well) would not be amused by your story of enjoying dinner with a terrorist (excuse me, FORMER terrorist). That was the POINT of your story. The bodies in her wake? Whatever.
I find that repellent. Sorry.
And why should I boycott Haskell Wexler? I’ve read all of your comments, haven’t I?
PS – When you get around to looking up “east” and “coast”, why don’t you take a second to look up “murder”, as well.
Okay, then.
I’m about to duck into a couple of screenings (I know: how novel!) and, although.I am a supporter of vigorous debate, I would appreciate it if the, let’s say, volume of subsequent comments be.dialed down just a bit. Consider it a personal favor. Thanks.
Oops, forgot some stuff: first, I respect the opinions of those military guys you spoke with, JJ. I disagree with them, but I respect them. But I wonder if you called them “murderers”? Or if you pointed out that you thought that what we’re doing in Afghanistan – which you say yourself they support – is murder as well?
Sorry, Glenn, that last one was posted before I saw your request, which I will honor.
Glenn, RUNNING ON EMPTY wasn’t the first film produced from a Naomi Foner script. Her first produced screenplay was VIOLETS ARE BLUE… (1986).
Just to be clear: hash this out all you like. Just, as my mom used to say, lower, please.
Be back tonight with “Burn” review.
I’m rather disappointed that in all of this arguing back and forth, no one has yet spared a word for the Weather Girls. Almost like “It’s Raining Men” never happened to you people.
I love how outraged this guy gets about “the bodies in her wake” but supports the Iraq War. But he’ll just call that moral equivalency.
1. My accquantinces in the military respected me for being honest about my opinions. They did’nt taunt me and verbally assault me and attack and impinge my character, unlike some. I did’nt know they agreed with me when I first met them. It was only after I admitted my opposition to the Iraq War that they SUPRISED me by NOT disagreeing with me. And these individuals are hardly anti-war. Neither am I. We think the Iraq War is totally fucked, to greater and lesser degrees; however, they did’nt all share my opinions that it’s a criminal enterprise. One guy’s main problem was how it’s been conducted, not the morality of the war itself. But opposition to Iraq (or Vietnam) does’nt make one a pacifist opposed to all military action.
2. My original comment did not “celebrate” the idea of Hoover and Agnew being upset by my having dinner with anyone. It was the idea that former Weather Underground radical activist Dorn was driven to Cambridge by a former head of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War. In 1971 Hoover declared the three most dangerous groups in America to be The Weather Underground, the Black Panthers and The Vietnam Veterans Against The War. (The first group having vowed to not deliberatly injure or kill anyone-which still did’nt excuse their use of violence–the Panthers having a doctrine of self-defense, and the VVAW a pacifist organization who consistently voted against violent demonstrations, nevermind violent action.) I made a joke imagining their reaction to these people still hanging out togethor. I imagine if that Swift Boat / Unfit For Command idiot gave Chuck Colson a ride to New Haven, FDR, JFK and Timothy Leary would probably be doing a little grave-spinnin’ too.
3. Your presumption about “currently living conservatives” is completely unfounded by anything I actually wrote and exposes what’s really going on here. You just saw a bunch of things in my post that sent up “liberal – left wing – antiwar – dirty hippie” red flags: “Bernadine Dorn”, “VVAW”, “Harvard Square”, “Hoover and Agnew”. So you decided to cut me down to size with a bunch of snotty pseudo Ann Coulter sarcastic insults and mock moral outrage about how repellent I am. And then follow it up with remarks about how “arrogant” we are up in New England. Did I attack you with comments or inferences about stupid rednecks or red state cracker hicks from down South? NO. Would I descend to using stereotypes or generalizations like that, as you did? NO.
All this because I responded to Glenn’s comments about Bill Ayres and “Running On Empty” with a personal anecdote. You COULD have politely asked me what I meant, and questioned my associating with Dorn, and done it in a respectful and appropriate way.
But NO. You had to be a jerk.
Are you reading me loud and clear down south in Virgina, Bill?
Jeeezus Christ. September 10, 2008.
I remember on September 10th, 2001, I was working in a bookstore and looking forward to the next day, which was my day off. Yeah. It turned out to be real memorable.
And now THIS is what I’m focused on today? Some guy I’ve never met, who still supports the Iraq War, insulting me on Glenn Kenny’s website?
Guys, let’s all worry about something important.
(And I just realized I paraphrased Peck in “Ghostbusters”: “You had your chance to coöperate, Venkman, but no, you thought it was funnier to insult me.” THAT’S a sign of burnout.)
Peace and love. Word out.
If your comment about how un-east coast Virginia is was meant as a simple (but erroneous) geography lesson, then I apologize. But it wasn’t, so I don’t. Yes, Massachusetts, I’m reading you loud and clear.
And who first assumed what about whom, exactly? My original comment to you expressed nothing more than my disdain for your apparent pleasure in having met Bernadette Dorn. Then YOU made assumptions about how I would react to an Iraq war vet. Assumptions you were wrong about. You don’t really know anything about how I feel about the Iraq War. If you must know, I would side with the soldier you met who objected primarily to how it was being conducted. But because I disagree with you so strongly, you decide to compare me with Ann Coulter – because, you know, Coulter speaks for ALL of us.
My objection, all along, was with the blithe way you speak about Dorn and the Weather Underground. Oh, sure, you “object” to what they did, but you loved hanging out with her and hearing her stories. I mean, that’s horseshit. Your “objections” to the deaths they caused (which apparently are too few for you to get too worked up about) come across as disingenuous, to say the least. Why can I jump to that conclusion? Because you think she has the best stories. Because you think she’s foxy. Che looked pretty natty in that uniform, too, didn’t he?
People like you give left-wing terrorists a pass, or twist yourselves into knots trying to explain how morally grey the whole situation was, or make sure everyone knows you don’t approve of their actions, but…oh, their charisma! And she’s still pretty, after all these years!
Yes, JJ, it’s repellent, and transparent, and you’re not fooling me.
Wow. That Sept. 11 reference…you’ve outdone yourself.
Lemme rephrase the September 11th comment:
GET A LIFE!
I enjoyed meeting Bernadine Dorn! She’s a hot cougar! Who cares?!?!?
I’m not fooling you?!? GREAT! YOU CAN ALL SLEEP SAFELY AT NIGHT, FOLKS! BILL IS’NT FOOLED!
Does anybody else realize how ABSURD this is???
I enjoyed meeting Robert McNamara at Harvard too! Between the firebombing of Japan and Vietnam how many bodies did he leave in his wake?!? See what I mean??
Enough. Enough of this partisan, political, divisive bullshit I’ve been listening too since Clinton got elected in ’91.
Can we maybe grow up and move on here?
TRAUTMAN: Forget it, Johnny! It’s over!
RAMBO: NOTHING IS OVER!!!
And…scene.
So, who would win in a fight: David Horowitz or Optimus Prime?
For those playing at home, by the way, the promised “Burn After Reading” notice will not materialize this evening as I mistakenly put in under “Wednesday” in my calender when in fact the screening was Tuesday. Oh, it’s such a perfect day…
@Dan Coyle
Let’s see:
Optimus Prime: transforms into a semi.
David Horowitz: transforms into a hypocrite.
Optimus Prime: Oppressed immigrant.
David Horowitz: Whines about being oppressed.
Optimus Prime: voiced by Peter Cullen.
David Horowitz: used to have Karl Rove’s hand deep up his ass.
Optimus Prime: Noble, honest, straightforward.
David Horowitz: Often confuses truth with things he’s made up.
I’m inclined to say that in a fistfight, Prime would win, but if we’re talking the real world, Horowitz would harass Prime relentlessly and if anyone called him on it, would start crying about how he’s being oppressed and nobody respects his opinion.
Prime vs. Horowitz:
Sarah Palin would shoot them both from a helicopter and declare war on Russia.
PALIN/MEGATRON 2016