Free Republic

Larry McMurtry died this past week, in the small town where he was born and spent almost all his life - Archer City, Texas, where his greatest film was partly shot. He was principally a novelist, but Hollywood came a-callin' early, turning his very first book into an effective vehicle for Paul Newman, Hud (1963). It wasn't long before McMurtry was being asked to do his own adaptations of his novels, and by the time of the telly version of Lonesome Dove he was a bona fide famous screenwriter. His blockbuster was Terms of Endearment (1983), which Kathy Shaidle wrote...

Larry McMurtry, a prolific writer who wrote mostly about the American West and who won a Pulitzer Prize for the sweeping novel "Lonesome Dove," died Thursday, according to a family spokesperson. He was 84. Amanda Lundberg confirmed the writer's death to NBC News on Friday. McMurtry died of heart failure at his home in Texas surrounded by his loved ones. Over half a century, McMurtry wrote almost 50 books, including novels, screenplays, essay collections and memoirs that were predominantly set in the West. Several of his early works became feature films, including Oscar winners "The Last Picture Show" and "Terms...

For its sixth political town hall of 2017, CNN will host Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Wednesday, Mar. 1 at 9 p.m. ET. The McCain-Graham event is scheduled for the day after President Trump’s first address to a joint session of Congress. CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash will moderate it before a live studio audience at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. "McCain, Senate Armed Services Chair, and Graham, Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism, will discuss key issues facing the country including America’s place on the world stage, U.S. Russian policy,...

If a group of Ukrainian lawmakers succeeds in its mission, television shows and movies like “Brokeback Mountain” that sympathetically portray gay men and lesbians will be banned. So will gay pride parades.The recently introduced bill, supported by the president’s representative in Parliament, would impose prison terms of up to five years and unspecified fines for spreading the “propaganda of homosexuality,” which the measure defines as positive depictions of gays in public. ..Although homosexuality was decriminalized in Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, and Russia after the fall of communism, animosity toward gay people remains high in both countries. St. Petersburg, which...

Italy's state television censored Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain when it aired the Oscar-winning movie by cutting scenes of gay sex. Gay rights activists protested that RAI TV would never have dropped similar scenes had they involved a heterosexual couple, and politicians called for the incident to be discussed in parliament. RAI said it had aired the cut version by mistake. Brokeback Mountain is a cowboy romance about two ranch-hand buddies who start an affair when they meet on the fictional mountain in the 1960s. The 2005 movie won three Oscars, including the best director award for Lee, as well as...

The author of Brokeback Mountain, which was turned into an Oscar-winning film starring the late Heath Ledger, has complained that the tale is now a “source of constant irritation” in her life. Annie Proulx, 73, has been pestered with “pornish” letters sent by fans of the book about two cowboys and their illicit homosexual passions in America’s conservative Midwest. When the story was published in 1999, it was praised for its delicate handling of homophobia. However, some critics felt Miss Proulx could have gone further in describing the love shared between the two main characters. She told The Wall Street...

The hatred from supposedly compassionate and open-minded Hollywoodans is something to behold, isn't it? After all, just imagine despising a radio talk show host so much that you would suggest, on national television, that he should die of a drug overdose. Alas, such was the case Friday evening when HBO's Bill Maher actually asked guest P.J. O'Rourke, who was talking about Rush Limbaugh's use of the prescription drug OxyContin (video available here courtesy our friend Ms Underestimated): Why couldn't have he croaked from it instead of Heath Ledger? Honestly, can you imagine? MSNBC's David Shuster was suspended on Friday for...

SOURCES involved in the investigation into Aussie actor Heath Ledger's death say he might have died from natural causes, according to US website TMZ. The site has revealed that sources, who it says are "intimately involved" in the death case, say the level of toxicity (caused by medication) in Ledger's blood was low enough that it may not have caused his death. The revelation sheds new light on the actor's death which, so far, has been the subject of much speculation.

BALTIMORE, December 5, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Controversial advertisements suggested to the nation's top 50 Catholic diocesan papers advertising the upcoming movie "The Golden Compass" have been pulled.  A letter from Advertising Media Plus (AMP) to the papers last week suggested the ads. The ads were based on a positive review of the film by the Office for Film and Broadcasting of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.  LifeSiteNews.com tracked down those in charge of AMP and found surprisingly that it was ultimately the Archdiocese of Baltimore's Cathedral Foundation, which publishes the English weekly version of the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano....

NEW YORK (AP) - The NBA has spoken with the Los Angeles Lakers about a sexual reference coach Phil Jackson made in a comment following Tuesday night's game in San Antonio. The Spurs made 13 3-pointers in their 107-92 victory, and Jackson was asked if too much penetration was leading to open outside shooters. "We call this a 'Brokeback Mountain' game, because there's so much penetration and kickouts," Jackson said. "It was one of those games." The 2005 film, which won three Oscars, depicts two cowboys who conceal their homosexual affair. "The remarks are in poor taste, and the Lakers...

Gay rodeo shows South Florida how West was fun By Elizabeth Baier South Florida Sun-Sentinel April 15, 2007 Davie -- They wore Wrangler jeans and Stetson hats. Some sported decorative belt buckles to boast of former rodeo triumphs. But at Saturday's Sunshine Stampede, some of the spectators and participants also waved a symbol not typically associated with rodeos -- the rainbow flag. What's a gay rodeo without a little color? Thousands of people converged on the Bergeron Rodeo Grounds for the state's second gay rodeo, hosted by the Florida Gay Rodeo Association. The Florida group is one of the newest...

HELENA, Mont. (AP) _ Gay rights advocates, whose efforts to enact a law that would outlaw discrimination against gays and lesbians failed two years ago, are reviving the issue. Sen. Christine Kaufmann, an openly gay Helena Democrat, is sponsoring a bill that would add ''gender identity or expression'' and ''sexual orientation'' as categories under the laws prohibiting discrimination. The laws currently cover race, religion, gender and other areas. Kaufmann said her proposal makes good on promises of equality laid out in the state and U.S. constitutions. She compared the measure to the civil rights movement. ''When we as a society...

Heath Ledger burst into tears after paparazzi attacked him with water pistols at the Australian premiere of Brokeback Mountain in Sydney earlier this year, according to his father. The actor's relationship with the Australian press soured during filming for new movie Candy, and the paparazzi decided to have the last word at the January premiere of his Oscar-nominated film. Ledger's father Kim tells the Sydney Daily Telegraph newspaper his heart was broken when his son called just hours after the run-in, saying he wanted to sell his waterfront home in Sydney and move to the US permanently. He says, "Heath...

ADF attorneys plan to appeal “extremely poor” ruling from 9th Circuit in Poway “T-shirt” case Thursday, April 20, 2006, 4:45 PM (MST) ADF Media Relations | 480-444-0020 “The majority implied that Brokeback Mountain is in, and the Bible is out," said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Kevin Theriot. School administrator to student: "Leave your faith in the car" PASADENA, Calif. — Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund say they plan to appeal today’s ruling by two judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit who upheld a high school’s decision to prohibit a student from expressing his views...

NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) - A Bahamian government board's decision to ban the movie "Brokeback Mountain" has prompted charges of discrimination and censorship in the island chain. Gay rights groups and others have called on the Plays and Films Control Board to reverse its decision prohibiting theaters from showing the award-winning movie about a troubled love affair between two cowboys. "You have a group of people who are telling grown men and women what they can and cannot watch," said Philip Burrows, a theater director in the island chain. "I cannot understand denying people the right to make their own choices."...

Actor claims producers defrauded him (Mar. 23) -- Randy Quaid has filed a lawsuit claiming he was done in by producers of 'Brokeback Mountain.' TMZ obtained a copy of the lawsuit, filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, claiming producers falsely represented the movie to him as \"a low-budget, art house film, with no prospect of making any money.\" Qauid claims the representations were a ruse from the beginning. 'Brokeback' has grossed around $160 million. Quaid's suit claims that in 2004, he met with director Ang Lee, who offered him the role of Joe Aguirre. The suit alleges that Lee...

TORONTO, Ontario, March 15, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Quebec film celebrating homosexuality swept the Canadian Genie awards on Monday night. C.R.A.Z.Y. is a film about a young gay man growing up with four brothers in a large Catholic family. The story is set in suburban Quebec during the 60’s. Following the trend set by the gay cowboy movie Brokeback Mountain, C.R.A.Z.Y. was nominated for 12 awards and won ten of them. The film won for best picture, best director and leading actor.The film’s director, Jean-Marc Vallee, describes the story as “a mystical fable about a modern-day Christ-like figure.” Presumably, he...

In 1981, as a member of a traveling theater ensemble, I won an Oscar-night betting pool by correctly guessing more Academy Award winners than my fellow actors. The secret of my success: I knew that the winners were determined as much by Hollywood politics as on the merits. Back then, of course, "Hollywood politics" meant who was liked or disliked by his peers, who was the "sentimental favorite," who was "due" for an award, etc. Increasingly, however, the "politics" driving the Oscars -- and Hollywood itself -- is politics pure and simple. I write a few weeks before this year's...

I don't want to see "Brokeback Mountain." Normally that would mean nothing. There are hundreds of movies I haven't wanted to see and nobody cares, which is how it ought to be. But we do not live in normal times. According to the ultra-sophisticated movie critics who double as social engineers, I'm supposed to be consumed with guilt about being a homophobe. I guess I'm in good company, or at least much more liberal company. Hollywood is about as welcoming as it gets for what we are required to call "alternative" lifestyles. You can be homosexual, bisexual, transsexual, transgender or...