That Was Then, This Is Now

I've been looking at a lot of older films lately.  Older as in 60's and 70's.  Movies like The Graduate, Deliverance, Midnight Express, Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid, Altered States, Bonnie & Clyde.  What I've discovered is that once upon a time in this great industry of ours story was key and dialogue was plentiful.  Story, I love.  Dialogue?  Well, it has to be extremely well written, acted, directed for me to be blown away by it.  I like beats and long silences that bring out emotion or visual stimulation in film.  I'm finding, though, that the 60's and 70's didn't have a whole lot of that.  Movies from that era had ridiculous amounts of conversation for a good 2 hours that really made the actor or actress a focal point that seems to be missing in recent movies.

Let's take the movie 'Network' for example.  Charles saw it a couple weeks ago and wouldn't stop raving about it.  I'd seen it years ago so had a foggy memory of what it was like.  'Network' was streaming on Netflix so I figured I should take advantage of that before it went away.  And I'm really glad I did.  What a fantastic piece of work!  Brilliant acting and one very prophetic and daring screenplay. 

Network was 121 minutes of conversation.  When there wasn't conversation there was narration.  I think the only time there was a beat or pause was during the breakup speech from William Holden to Faye Dunaway.  There were 3 profound and unforgettable speeches in this movie and so much hidden meaning blatantly discussed in front of what is considered now to be an impressionable and sensitive film audience.  Subjects such as media exploitation, creating story for ratings rather than reporting the truth, sensationalism, corporatism, communism, and fascism were all covered in this movie quite well.  The live footage of a militant guerrilla group (who would today be labeled terrorist) sets Faye Dunaway's character, Diana Christensen, on a wild ride as she, the heartless TV programmer who'll stop at nothing to be number 1, comes up with the idea to exploit the leftist groups and individuals by putting them on TV.  Her pitch to them is to offer up an audience of millions who will hear their radical message.

They buy.  Peter Finch's character, the nutty Howard Beale, buys into it.  Laureen Hobbs, (" I'm Laureen Hobbs, a badass commie nigger.") played by Marlene Warfield, buys into it and buys into it hard as she yells her head off at one point realizing that all of the money supposed to go to her guerrilla group is being spread out to different network interests in the form of profit percentages.  That speech is one of my three faves.  As negotiations are being worked out Laureen Hobbs blows her stack saying not at all what one would expect from such a militant.

140.  INT. THE FARMHOUSE - LIVING ROOM



                            STEIN

                      (a nervous man, to the new

                       arrivals, now entering)

                Where the hell have you been?



                            MIGGS

                      (embracing the

                       GREAT KHAN)

                Ahmed, sweet, that dodo you sent

                for a driver couldn't find this

                fucking place.



      There is a genial exchange of helloes and waves between

      the phalanxes of AGENTS --



                            STEIN

                Let's get on with this before

                they raid this place, and we all

                wind up in the joint.



                            ED

                      (to FREDDIE now

                       pulling up a crate)

                We're on Schedule A, page seven,

                small c small i --



                            MIGGS

                      (whisking through her

                       copy of the contract)

                Have we settled that sub-licensing

                thing? We want a clear definition

                here.  Gross proceeds should consist

                of all funds the sublicensee receives

                not merely the net amount remitted

                after payment to sublicensee or

                distributor.



                            STEIN

                We're not sitting still for over-

                head charges as a cost prior to

                distribution.



                            LAUREEN

                      (whose nerves have

                       worn thin, explodes:)

                Don't fuck with my distribution

                costs!  I'm getting a lousy two-

                fifteen per segment, and I 'm already

                deficiting twenty-five grand a week

                with Metro.  I'm paying William

                Morris ten percent off the top!

                      (indicates the

                       GREAT KHAN)

                -- And I'm giving this turkey ten

                thou a segment and another five for

                this fruitcake --

                      (meaning MARY ANN GIFFORD)

                And, Helen, don't start no shit

                with me about a piece again!

                I'm paying Metro twenty percent of

                all foreign and Canadian distribution,

                and that's after recoupment!  The

                Communist Party's not going to see

                a nickel out of this goddam show

                until we go into syndication!



                            MIGGS

                Come on, Laureen, you've got the

                party in there for seventy-five

                hundred a week production expenses.



                            LAUREEN

                I'm not giving this pseudo in-

                surrectionary sectarian a piece

                of my show!  I'm not giving him

                script approval!  And I sure as

                shit ain't cutting him in on my

                distribution charges I



                            MARY ANN GIFFORD

                         (screaming in from

                         the back)

                Fuggin fascist! Have you seen the

                movies we took at the San Marino

                jail break-out demonstrating the

                rising up of a seminal prisoner-

                class infrastructure!



                            LAUREEN

                You can blow the seminal prisoner-

                class infrastructure out your ass!

                I'm not knocking down my goddam

                distribution charges!



      The GREAT KHAN decides to offer an opinion by SHOOTING

      his PISTOL off into the air. This gives everybody

      something to consider, especially WILLIE STEIN who

      almost has a heart attack.



                            THE GREAT KHAN

                Man, give her the fucking over-

                head clause.

Then, of course, there is the infamous speech by Peter Finch...

And finally, the daring and frightening honesty that pours forth from the mouth of Jensen...

      He leads HOWARD down the steps to the floor level,

      himself ascends again to the small stage and the podium.

      HOWARD sits in one of the 200 odd seats.  JENSEN pushes

      a button, and the enormous drapes slowly fall, slicing

      away layers of light until the vast room is utterly

      dark.  Then, the little pinspots at each of the desks,

      including the one behind which HOWARD is seated, pop on,

      creating a miniature Milky Way effect.  A shaft of white

      LIGHT shoots out from the rear of the room, spotting

      JENSEN on the podium, a sun of its own little galaxy.

      Behind him, the shadowed white of the lecture screen.

      JENSEN suddenly wheels to his audience of one and roars

      out:



                            JENSEN

                You have meddled with the primal

                forces of nature, Mr. Beale, and I

                won't have it, is that clear?!  You

                think you have merely stopped a

                business deal -- that is not the

                case!  The Arabs have taken billions

                of dollars out of this country, and

                now they must put it back.  It is

                ebb and flow, tidal gravity, it is

                ecological balance!  You are an old

                man who thinks in terms of nations

                and peoples.  There are no nations!

                There are no peoples!  There are no

                Russians.  There are no Arabs!

                There are no third worlds!  There is

                no West!  There is only one holistic

                system of systems, one vast and

                immane, interwoven, interacting,

                multi-variate, multi-national

                dominion of dollars! petro-dollars,

                electro-dollars, multi-dollars!,

                Reichmarks, rubles, rin, pounds and

                shekels!  It is the international

                system of currency that determines

                the totality of life on this planet!

                That is the natural order of things

                today!  That is the atomic,

                subatomic and galactic structure of

                things today!  And you have meddled

                with the primal forces of nature,

                and you will atone!  Am I getting

                through to you, Mr. Beale?

                      (pause)

                You get up on your little twenty-

                one inch screen, and howl about

                America and democracy.  There is no

                America.  There is no democracy.

                There is only IBM and ITT and A T

                and T and Dupont, Dow, Union Carbide

                and Exxon.  Those are the nations of

                the world today.  What do you think

                the Russians talk about in their

                councils of state -- Karl Marx?

                They pull out their linear

                programming charts, statistical

                decision theories and minimax

                solutions and compute the price-cost

                probabilities of their transactions

                and investments just like we do.  We

                no longer live in a world of nations

                and ideologies, Mr. Beale.  The

                world is a college of corporations,

                inexorably deter- mined by the

                immutable by-laws of business.  The

                world is a business, Mr. Beale!  It

                has been since man crawled out of

                the slime, and our children, Mr.

                Beale, will live to see that perfect

                world in which there is no war and

                famine, oppression and brutality --

                one vast and ecumenical holding

                company, for whom all men will work

                to serve a common profit, in which

                all men will hold a share of stock,

                all necessities provided, all

                anxieties tranquilized, all boredom

                amused.  And I have chosen you to

                preach this evangel, Mr. Beale.



                            HOWARD

                      (humble whisper)

                Why me?



                            JENSEN

                Because you're on television, dummy.

                Sixty million people watch you

                every night of the week, Monday

                through Friday.

Everything, I mean everything, dialogue in this movie is mind blowing.  Not only are these speeches fantastic but so is the everyday conversation...the producers sitting around having a frank discussion about killing Howard Beale, the confrontation between Schumacher & Hackett, the break up between Diana & Max discussed in terms of 'canceling the show'....Pick any part of this movie and you will find the conversation enthralling.  

Today we have movement, action, effects, cheap jokes, simplistic dialogue, and restrictions on everything (couldn't share the video clips for 2 of the 3 speeches above...that's how tight everything has become!).  Back then they simply told stories and let the viewers formulate their own opinions.   They assumed the audience was smart enough to understand.  They allowed freedom of expression, freedom of thought, freedom to create like we haven't seen in quite a while.  Writers wrote for actors and actresses not for corporations and formulas.  

We may never return to that kind of filmmaking again.  We may never be given that freedom to say what we as storytellers want to say in a film again.  But we will always have those older movies at our disposal to watch and re-watch as many times as we desire and remember that once there was a time when artists could put the business aside and simply be creative. - TKS

A Call To Arms

I try very hard not to mix politics and business. It's the equivalent to the separation of church and state. The two can be an explosive, debilitating cocktail of destruction when they become one. Today, however, I cannot silence the noise I'm about to make here.

PBS, ever becoming more and more a fascinating venue for gorgeous cinematography and entertaining programming, plays one hour of Democracy Now every weekday nite. Sometimes I watch, sometimes I shut my eyes and ears tight to the chaos of the world hoping to preserve a long, calm nite of sleep. Couldn't do it last nite. The persistence of Amy Goodman won. I sat on the edge of my bed listening to her report the student protests at the University of Puerto Rico. Something, I've come to find out, not happening in the mainstream press. 24 days these people have been occupying the university grounds...a campus of 65000 students...protesting the $100 million in budget cuts. They are being starved, their family members trying to get them water being arrested, riot police surrounding them, threatening them. Don't forget, PR is United States territory. This ain't a third world dictatorial situation.

Several recent scenarios flashed before my eyes: Texas changing the context of history books, deleting facts, twisting truths and calling it education; schools in urban Kansas City and other districts going bankrupt; Arizona eliminating ethnic studies; the continuation of the failed No Child Left Behind program, and a presidential candidate vehemently promising to make the education of our nation a top priority. The dumbing down of America by the hands of the trusted. More frightening to me than any missile threat from the east.

And there went any possibility of a peaceful nite's sleep.

Now. I make it a daily event to watch one full hour of quality television every nite. Sometimes my sleep suffers and I go into two hours, sometimes three, if it's all just too good to turn off and my discipline is at a low, but most of the time I keep it at bay. It's my learning tool. It's my daily industry news. It's my replacement for the terrible cinema taking over the theatrical world. It's my hope.

I've devoured the first season of Mad Men recently and found it to be the most overall well written, filmed, designed, and executed show I've ever come across. It's intelligent and daring, edgy, bold, so so entertaining. The characters, the story, the concept, so well developed. The acting and, quite obviously, the directing are fantastic. Camera movements, lighting, art design, dialogue, sound...a Valhalla of moving pictures!

The crazy thing is I initially rejected this show. It was a Christmas present from Nick. I wholly appreciated the thought but questioned him on his decision to offer this show to me as a gift. It was HBO and Showtime I ranted and raved about incessantly. Why this silly new offering from AMC? How could one of the lower channels possibly compete with the genius of pay TV serials?

I had caught up to all those glorious programs a couple months after Christmas and rather than go back and re-watch, definitely not something I'm adverse to, I decided to give the "lesser" series a try. Three episodes later, at 3 am in the morning, I was singing the praises of AMC and thanking Nick for the intro to Mad Men from the bottom of my heart. He had opened up Pandora's box of television shows for me. All 900 channels were now open for my inspection at the first suggestion of greatness hinted at by anyone I considered to have semi good TV taste.

I've now gone through Mad Men, Breaking Bad (my pick-my-jaw-up-off-of-the-floor series), United States of Tara, The Office (UK) & Party Down. I branched out into Showtime with Weeds, Dexter, and Nurse Jackie giving each of them the benefit of the doubt at the behest of the first season's usual discomfort of watching the actors get into character and the not-having-enough-money-yet-for-a-really-good-production obstacles. I looked under the layers, focused on the plot lines, listened to the writing and let it all move me, teach me, and allow me to escape.

No need to say HBO warranted absolutely no prompting. I've followed everything from Deadwood to the Wire to Carnaval to Flight of the Conchords to Curb Your Enthusiasm, Extras, True Blood, the Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Summer Heights High, Big Love, Bill Maher, Sex In The City, Tell Me You Love Me, In Treatment, John Adams, Def Poetry...!!!! I even delved into the world of HBO Latino and got swallowed up by Alice, Capadocia, and Filhos do Carnaval!

See???? And there's no end to this whirlwind of fantastic. Treme, Ricky Gervais, Hung, and the Pacific loom on the horizon. No kid in a candy store could be happier than I am dancing with the fine work of so many TV artists and executives. And that's something I NEVER ever thought I would say.

I recently decided to give the networks a chance. With everyone raving about Lost and Glee, and me with my new found trust in TV and tolerance of other peoples viewing advice, I did it. And I'm hooked. Glee is a world of funny and talented. It levels me after a high anxiety hour of Lost. And yes, Lost has my heart racing by the end of almost every episode so far. I'm only a few episodes into the first season but, man, I am happily impressed and pleasantly surprised. Oh, ya, it's network television no doubt. All the main characters are good looking and perfect. Dimples and cerulean blues. The leader (so far) is a man. The women a little non existent in the strength of the story line except as victims. The danger perilous but usually overcome by the end of the hour. But it's good, suspenseful stuff. And the dialogue far from normal network cheesy.

As I watched Charlie hanging from a jungle tree last nite, seemingly dead, my heart went into fearful over drive and I had to remind myself it was network TV I was watching. Not cable. Only cable kills the main characters and leaves everything so wonderfully unpredictable. It easily calmed me as I knew Charlie would live to see another production day. But the show's creators threw a curve ball at me that almost had me jumping out of bed whistling and hollering, showering pride on the industry I struggle to survive in. Charlie lay dead. His rescuers given up. Could it be? I wondered. Could it really be? Alas, no. The hero doctor gave it one last go and our victim gasped back to life. Even still, a well done scene. JJ Abrams just moved high up into the ranks of top notch directors for me. I even compared the guy to the untouchable and seemingly impassable Spielberg. If the quality and boldness of what film once was (and what TV has become) existed today would JJ Abrams give Spielberg a run for his money? Would his film work surpass the genius behind Jaws, Close Encounters, and Raiders of the Lost Ark? Sadly, we probably won't find out anytime soon. Not with the junk studios are dumping on the pill popping, food poisoned, and chemically laden masses that we are all a part of.

Which brings me right back to politics. Education is information. Information means making choices. Making choices based on educated thought means quality innovation for an ever growing population. As the American system of education declines further than we've seen it since the birth of this idealistic nation...As public schools and universities run out of money...As doors close on those below the upper middle class line...It's crystal clear obvious there needs to be something else to replace the loss of intelligence we will all be victims to. Now's the time to be patriotic. Now's the time to refresh the tree of liberty. Now's the time to put down the apathy and look through the propaganda. Eisenhower's military-industrial complex is quite possibly upon us for without education there is only war, poverty, tyranny.

Ask yourself what each one of the shows I mentioned in this blog have in common and you should realize that it is intelligence. They are all clever and unpredictable. They are certainly there to create revenue, sell commercials but not in the damaging way it has been since the advent of the TV. Each series draws upon real life. Each series looks at the motivations of real people. Looks at the paths of strife that have been our lot in history. Some series, like the Wire, are written by people who have lived and breathed trauma. Others, like Lost, are fully fictional scenarios that offer explanations to human behavior, governance, and destruction. But they all offer an education of sorts. If our government and our schools are not going to do it then we, as entertainers, creators, artists and producers can. What better way to learn than through entertainment? What more fulfilling career to have than one that supports open minds and free thought? What better payoff than one that lets everyone have a piece of the pie?

And so this is a call to arms. Pick up your weapons. Your pens, your paper, your paints, your guitars, your drums, your microphones, your cameras, your laptops, your editing bays, your persuasive natures, your fast talking abilities, your confidence, your pride, your voices. Pick them up and hold them high. Move swift and be creative. Without the artists & entertainers leading the way social progress stands still. - TKS