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Critics of 'Durham' duo off base (EBERT ALERT)
Chicago Sun-Times ^
| April 20, 2003
| ROGER EBERT
Posted on 04/20/2003 9:29:37 AM PDT by Chi-townChief
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To: Chi-townChief
Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins are ferocious enemies of Free Speech. They were leaders in the successful shut down of the Dr. Laura TV program, as well as this little excerpt gem from the archives.
The Gulag Glitterati
The spectacle of Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins. Source: NRO Weekend, Thanksgiving 2000 By Andrew Stuttaford
Poor, poor Elizabeth Hurley. ... Gulag glitterati Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, may not be so gentle. The English actress, they say, has done them wrong, and she must be punished. Severely. Her offense dates back to July when she shot a commercial for Estee Lauder. Hurley claims that she was unaware that such filming would be treated as crossing a picket line by her union, SAG, the Screen Actors Guild. Indeed, being based in the U.K., she just "did not know" that the union was on strike.
Whatever the explanation, SAGtivist Susan Sarandon was outraged. As for Tim Robbins, her long-time partner, well, he seems to have been channeling Stalin's prosecutor, the late, and much-missed, Andrei Vyshinsky. "We are bringing Hurley to trial," he foamed, "She will not get away with it." Note that "we." As Mr. Robbins, a prominent supporter of the strike, well knows, his comments are likely to resonate with those union officials responsible for deciding the former fembot's fate. The consequences of a "guilty" verdict could be serious. The equally influential Ms. Sarandon has supported calls for a lifetime ban on "scab" actors. If the case goes against Ms. Hurley she may never work in Hollywood again.
This is not a problem that is likely to face her tormentors. The spectacle of two successful stars threatening to destroy the career of a fellow actor, would, you might think, at least raise a flicker of concern or a murmur of protest, but it has not. No one is even asking what it is about Ms Hurley that has so enraged Mr. Robbins. After all, she is not the highest profile performer to have crossed the picket lines. ... Criticizing Elizabeth Hurley, a foreigner, was one thing. Telling the popular athletes, people of Color after all, where they could or could not work, might have been altogether more awkward.
Awkward questions are not something that Robbins and Sarandon have often had to face. This is despite a history of political activism that has lasted decades and in Robbins's case, even stretches as far back as a "progressive" childhood during which a tiny Tim would occasionally perform on stage with his father, a Greenwich Village folk singer. Susan Sarandon began more conventionally (arrested in Vietnam War protests, worked in a Nicaraguan hospital during the Sandinista dictatorship and so on), but she has now developed a red repertoire equal to that of the great left-wing divas of Hollywood's past. ...
But that has not stopped our heroine, supported more often than not by Tim Robbins. The couple's causes are many, misguided, and multiplying. It is not difficult to find some recent examples. If Sarandon and Robbins prevail, Hurley is not going to "get away with it," but cop-killer Mumia just might. They are hard on Giuliani, and soft on Saddam (they opposed the Gulf War in 1990, and they oppose the Iraq trade embargo now).
However, the Iraqi chamber of commerce should not expect too much business from an America run by these silver-screen dunces: both actors are, of course, anti-free trade and pro-Nader.
There's more. Ms. Sarandon is against sugar, white flour, and dairy products for her kids and against you having a gun to defend yours. Private Ryan, she feels, was a bad thing ("basically tells you if you want to be a guy you now have to kill at point-blank range"), and Dr. Laura is worse. On immigration policy, however, matters are a little confused. Robbins and Sarandon campaigned for the admission to the U.S. of refugees (HIV positive Haitians) from one Caribbean hellhole, while supporting the return of Elian Gonzalez to another.
21
posted on
04/20/2003 12:08:20 PM PDT
by
friendly
To: nunya bidness
Bump. Might get a kick from my letter to the editors, post #15.
22
posted on
04/20/2003 1:35:38 PM PDT
by
Coyote
(the opposite of RIGHT is NOT left....it's WRONG!)
To: Chi-townChief
Here is my email to ebert:
Mr. Ebert:
Referencing your Q&A session whereby a gentleman asked the question "Haven't actors learned from the McCarthy era that actors, writers (i.e., people who have the public's attention) don't have the same rights as citizens and are still subject to blacklisting, or don't they care?"
Your answer is as follows: "Celebrities who speak out politically are made into targets as a way of discouraging dissent. I have not heard a single thing Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins, the stars of "Bull Durham," have said about the war, but I have heard countless attacks on them for saying it. When you attack the messenger instead of the message, you are essentially saying, "Since you disagree with me, shut up." This is profoundly anti-American."
First of all, celebrities like Robbins, Sarandon, Streisand, Baldwin, and others need the public more than the public needs them. Secondly, these celebrities, on an average, are not intellectuals nor formally educated. The only reason these people have celebrity status is because of the amount of dollars paid to see them perform. Lest you forget, there are many talented actors waiting in the wings to replace these "celebrities" at any given time.
Celebrities when speaking in public on issues of a political nature have a greater responsibility than the average Jane or John Q. Public on the street. What they say when given a platform carries more influence, and these celebrities have various medium available to them than does the average citizen.
These celebrities are never denied the opportunity to speak their mind in whatever medium they can access. However, whenever the general populace disagrees with these celebrities, as a unified voice, the public will turn these celebrities off. That's not against the Constitution whatever you may think. The celebrities' civil liberties are still in tact. They are are never told to "shut up", but we, the people, we the Americans, will turn them off instead. That's the best message that the people can send to these celebrities whose Marxist ideas are not wanted nor desired.
Thank you.
To: Chi-townChief
Got my message returned as undeliverable. Is there a problem with the email address
answerman@suntimes.com that makes message undeliverable?
To: Chi-townChief
This is the same guy who gives 4 stars to every Oliver Stone movie there is and gave 2 stars to Oh Brother Where Art Thou.
The above equation makes for ZERO credibility.
To: Chi-townChief
Another fat, puss-filled, moron liberal.
26
posted on
04/20/2003 2:54:14 PM PDT
by
Bullish
To: mewzilla
Not just freedom of speech. Freedom of speech without responsibility. And freedom of assembly without invitation. In other words, they can shove their company down your throat, whether you want it or not. Exactly....and Robbin's whiney rant the other day showed just how nauseatingly arrogant and self absorbed most of these Hollywood flakes really are.
27
posted on
04/20/2003 3:08:22 PM PDT
by
Jorge
To: altura
I e-mailed him a few times and received answers once or twice but nothing for about two years - I think I'm now on his instant delete list.
To: lilylangtree
To: lilylangtree
Got my message returned as undeliverable. Is there a problem with the email address answerman@suntimes.com that makes message undeliverable? Same here. Maybe he shuts down his mail box whenever he thinks he's being Freeped?
Maybe we should redirect his letters to the editor.
30
posted on
04/20/2003 3:28:20 PM PDT
by
Jorge
To: Jorge
Do you have an email address? I'm willing to forward my email to ebert's editor.
To: lilylangtree
To: Chi-townChief
I used the address you listed. Since my email wasn't in the form of a general question but a rebuttal, I doubt he'll even see it or respond to it. Thanks for listing the post.
To: Chi-townChief
Thanks for the address. I emailed the same letter to the editor.
To: Chi-townChief
My email to "The Answer Man":
Why is it that you and your leftist Hollywood elite friends like Tim Robbins insist on your right to free speech while characterizing the counter free speech of others as an "attack"? Have you or Robbins ever actually read the First Amendment? Do you not realize how hypocritically ridiculous you look complaining about other people giving entertainers they don't appreciate a "thumbs down"?
35
posted on
04/20/2003 5:14:19 PM PDT
by
ravinson
To: Coyote
No doubt. I've been passed over for being mouthy for a host of reasons. You're rep does proceed you but I think it's more of a below the line thing. Above the line they used to be immune. If it's true now for them, then it took a long time.
I worked with Ron Shelton (dir. Bull Durham) on Tin Cup. The guy was a great boss. 12 hour days, good caterer, great sense of humor, weekends off (on location), free green fees (golf movie), gag reel dailies on Friday after a kegger and hot food, no attitude from him and the actors knew they couldn't front.
I popped Bull Durham in the other day. I had no problem suspending disbelief. It still makes me laugh.
Check your flags, I hailed you to something I wrote.
To: nunya bidness
Check your flags, I hailed you to something I wrote.
Yes I got that piece on historic warfare and civilian targets. It's very good. I printed it and passed it onto a friend of mine. We're keeping it for a point of historic reference.
Here's one I wrote recently, if you're interested, challenging the Hollywood anti-American mentality. (Got a new pseudonym.)
http://intellectualconservative.com/article2218.html
BTW, Tin Cup sounds like a pretty good picture to have been on. I'm recently divorced and almost out of money. Can't stop the honkey tonk cowboy life long enough to drift on back to Hollywood. I'm going to have to make up my mind soon.
37
posted on
04/20/2003 11:32:45 PM PDT
by
Coyote
(the opposite of RIGHT is NOT left....it's WRONG!)
To: Coyote
Cool. I'll check out the site. I'll have to try and figure out the roots of the nom de plume.
You got divorced after giving up long days with big pay? Sounds familiar. So many guys I know would come back from location only to be told by their wives that they needed to go back to work.
If you've got to bank hours I can understand, and even if you need the money. My old roommate just moved to Palm Springs and is making the commute. But he's doing spots so he's insulated.
I don't miss the suits or the hours but I do miss all the good hammers I used to work with. The stuff we did and got away with could fill a book. And everyone would talk about the day they were going to get out. Right after the house, the ski boat, the RV, etc.
I'm glad I bailed when I did.
Stay in touch or give me a heads up if you're going to fade again.
To: Chi-townChief
E-mail to Roger
RE: Poor Susie and Timmy
Hey Roger;
Why are you speaking up now? Why were you silent all these years while conservative actors and actresses were AFRAID to say they were conservative for FEAR of NOT WORKING?
That is the real BLACKLISTING STORY.
Everyone knows thats true, so your noble words ring hollow.
Americans are excercising OUR freedoms to BUY whatever the heck we want. Be it a ticket to a movie, a CD, or by telling organizations that HIRE actors to ADVERTISE THEIR PRODUCTS that we don't appreciate them hiring people who have such an anti-American stand. We can, and will speak up if we feel a need to.
We felt the need.
We have stood UNITED. We made a difference. Just average Joe Blow Americans. If you don't like that.. you can soon join the ranks of those who deem their opinions of higher value than ours. We are sick of the pious attitudes of Hollywood types. We love this country, far more than we love "make believe". You sir, need a "reality" check.
REDACTED Names
REDACTED CITY
To: Coyote
BUMPING your post #15!!!
I've been talking about this for days. You just added a ton of credit to the real "blacklisting, McCarthism" that is taking place in Hollywood.
You know of it firsthand,..and you said it so well.
Thanks Coyote!! Well said!!
FRegards, Vets
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