Posted on 05/24/2008 1:26:22 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
BERLIN (Reuters Life!) - Veteran actor and director Clint Eastwood rejected criticism from fellow U.S. director Spike Lee that his films "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters from Iwo Jima" failed to recognize the role of African-American soldiers.
In an interview with Germany's Focus magazine, Eastwood said it was nonsense to suggest he had "erased the role of black GIs from history". He said there were no Afro-Americans in those films because there were no Afro-American soldiers involved.
"Does he know anything about American history?" Eastwood told Focus when asked about Lee's criticism. "The U.S. military was segregated til the Korean War, and the blacks in World War Two were totally segregated. The only black battalion on Iwo Jima was a small munitions supply unit that came to the beach.
"The story was about the men who raised the flag and we can't make them black if they were not there. So tell him: Why don't you go back and study your history and stop mouthing off!"
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Ha! Good for Clint. Its about time somebody told Lee off.
Rhetorical question, I'm sure. Spike knows nothing about anothing other than how to make bad movies and play the race card.
Obviously Clint Eastwood is a racist. < /liberal>
Go Clint.
OK,... now Spike Lee is really in Trouble. He’s attacking the John Wayne.
“Very few Hollywood films deal with black soldiers,” Lee said. “For the most part, if you look at the history of Hollywood cinema they haven’t dealt with anybody other than white Americans. If you think Hollywood and World War Two, you think John Wayne — the great white male that saved the world.”
Popcorn.
Where’s my popcorn?!
HAS ANYONE SEEN MY POPCORN!!!!!!!?
can’t - find - my - POPCORN!!!!!!!?
That would solve a lot of problems if people would do it.
“If you think Hollywood and World War Two, you think John Wayne — the great white male that saved the world.””
oooo...that’s bordering on blasphemy....Dang! Some people hate us having any hero’s don’t they?
Yeah, Lee only knows the American history "he" wants to portray.
Besides the story had nothing to do with race, that's why Lee is such an ignoranamous. In Lee's wrapped mind I guess you have to "recognize" race in every movie.
I’m watching Flags of our fathers tonite
Gotta love Clint Eastwood.
The only black battalion on Iwo Jima was a small munitions supply unit that came to the beach. .................... That shows Clintwood did his research. Ira Hays wasn’t white but he was there as one of the flag raisers, and that is what the whole movie was about. This is not to say there were no blacks, its just that they were there as CSS troops and were not in the offensive operation as being front line troops. They were however involved in sporadic rear enemy remnant action. Those actions had nothing to do with the actual flag raising unless you consider the passing of ammo to the troops at the beach. ??
Even worse,
Do you know how much Spike has given to preserving the history of the 92nd Inf Div http://www.swabuffalosoldiers.org/index.html or any other prominent national Black organization or figure?
Not one moment!
Not one word!
Not one penny!!!
Spike is all mouth and no Moxie.
Memo To Spike Lee:
Click the Pic
Lee remains just another loathsome anti-Semite and America-hater.
So what’s stopping Spike from making his own movie?
That would solve a lot of problems if people would do it.
... Not if it's going to be taught the way I see my younger colleagues teaching it today. In 30 years the flag on Suribachi will have been raised by a black, transgendered, and differently abled lesbian.
I am gonna guess Obama is Spike's boy too. Some of these POS would vote for a pederast if their skin color matched.
Anyone on this thread a historian of Iwo Jima or a Pacific War expert?
In the months preceding the Iwo invasion, the Japanese used at least 10,000 Korean “conscripts” to help dig the cave and tunnel network on the island.
Historically, that seems to be the end of the story.
Anyone here know how the Koreans were treated, or how many Koreans died, or where they went after Iwo, or what ultimately happened to them?
The movie was a weak version of the book................. but adding black troops to it would have been ridiculous, and farcical.
You Got That Right!
Sad to say.
Spike has a movie coming out and needs to gin up some “buzz”. Since Clint is (imho) the finest living actor and film maker in the world I’d think he would shrug this off or have an associate respond. Spike must have hit a nerve so Clint took the bait and shot back regardless that it plays into Spike’s hands.
These are just guesses, mind you, but considering that the Koreans were Jap slaves, I'd answer your questions as follows:
a) very poorly;
b) most of them; and
c) the Japs put uniforms on them and forced them to run at the Americans with empty rifles...
Peleliu and Iwo Jima
When the 1st Marine Division, on 15 September 1944, attacked the heavily defended island of Peleliu in the Palau group, the 16th Field Depot supported the assault troops. The field depot included two African-American units, the 11th Marine Depot Company and the 7th Marine Ammunition Company. The 11th Marine Depot Company responded beyond the call of duty and paid the price, 17 wounded, the highest casualty rate of any company of African-American Marines during the entire war. Major General William H. Rupertus, who commanded the 1st Marine Division, sent identical letters of commendation to the commanders of both companies, praising the black Marines for their "whole hearted cooperation and untiring efforts" which "demonstrated in every respect" that they "appreciate the privilege of wearing a Marine uniform and serving with Marines in combat."
Black combat support units also took part in the assault on Iwo Jima, where, as at Peleliu, their presence confounded the policy of segregation. Because of the random intermingling of white and black units, an African-American Marine, carrying a box of supplies, dived into a shell hole occupied by white Marines, one of whom gave him a cigarette before he scrambled out with his load and ran forward. Here, too, black stewards and members of the depot and ammunition companies came to the aid of the wounded. A white Marine, Robert F. Graf, who lay in a tent awaiting evacuation for further medical treatment, remembered that: "Two black Marines . . . ever so gently . . . placed me on a stretcher and carried me outside to a waiting DUKW."
At Iwo Jima, the 8th Marine Ammunition Company and the 33d, 34th, and 36th Marine Depot Companies served as part of the shore party of the V Amphibious Corps. Elements of the ammunition company and the 36th Depot Company landed on D-Day, 19 February 1945, and within three days all the units were ashore, braving Japanese fire as they struggled in the volcanic sand to unload and stockpile ammunition and other supplies, and move the cargo inland. Eleven black enlisted Marines and one of the white officers were wounded, two of the enlisted men fatally.
Great link! What a wonderful story of a group of true patriots.
Lee should get a copy of 1952’s “Red Ball Express” which featured numerous black actors as army drivers and mechanics including a twentyfive year old Sidney Poitier.
But really, this isn’t about anything other than publicity for Lee and his next movie.
Spike Lee sees the world through brown tinted glasses. He has no idea how to perceive objective reality.
I believe they were officially called “stevedores”...
“Dang! Some people hate us having any hero’s don’t they?”
Only if he’s white.
Why aren’t there any Repulican Senator’s willing to speak that plainly to to the dingbats is the left wing?
Oh...I know....lack of material...../sarc.
LOL. Don’t mess with Clint!
If you see his wife on the red carpet, she’s wearing a blonde wig. Dreamin’ Spikee!
I can see it now. I bunch of black hoodlum gangbangers listening to rap music, shooting guns and yelling: "TAKE DAT MOFO!! TAKE DAT MOFO!!! YEA!! MOFO!!!" Hollywood awards him an Oscar for "Best Script".
A scene from "Full Metal Jacket", Kubrick's war epic.
Cuba Gooding Jr. as a Navy Diver in a starring role.
And many many more...
Lee has become tiresome. He needs to go back to making movies about Brooklyn and STFU.
I thought he was referring to Kelly’s Heroes.
“Does he know anything about American history?”
He probably knows what is ebing passed off as “American History” in public school classrooms today.
When (Spike Lee) aka the “poster boy for bigotry” opens his yap, I simply laugh and move on. He’s a joke. Mr. Eastwood doesn’t owe him an explanation or apology. Read your history books, Mr. Lee. That’s the “right thing” to do.
In the years after 1939, the historians calculate, the Korean numbers in Japan swelled to over a million -- their figure is 1,120,000 -- although Tokyo's official government number is only 724,287. The miners' task was to descend into difficult seams to dig coal shipped exclusively for military use......Most workers suffered malnutrition, as they received only a handful of rice a month supplemented by inferior cereals. No meat was provided, for what is a more carnivorous people than the Japanese, who to this day prefer fish
Eastwood Rejects Lee’s Criticism of His WW2 Films...
just wait until b. HUSSEIN is POTUS.....the blacks single handidly will have won the war while the shiftless whites were too busy trying to go after da loose ho’s!!!!
Uh, the top pick is from “Apocalypse Now”
And, for bonus points, name the actor.
One of the finest war movies EVER MADE.
Very sobering.
In short, Mr. Lee, have you really read up on your history?
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