Somewhere on film, there may be a more heart- pounding, gut-wrenching 30 minutes than the soldier's- eye view of the Normandy invasion that opens "Saving Private Ryan."
There may be. But I swear I've never seen it, and I'm highly doubtful it's ever been shot.
"Saving Private Ryan" burst into theaters six years ago, grabbed five Academy Awards and proved once and for all that, no, war isn't heck. That barely begins to describe it. War is something infinitely more raw and personal and vicious than that. With handheld cameras and a brilliant editor's eye, Steven Spielberg put war on the screen like war really is.
And this is the thanks he gets.
The movie, which stars Tom Hanks in the best role of his career, was shown last night on the ABC television network, same as it was shown on the evening of Veterans' Day in 2001 and 2002. Well, not exactly the same. This time, more than 20 local ABC affiliates, cowed by the post-Bono, post-Janet Jackson, post-Howard Stern FCC, refused to broadcast one of the greatest war movies ever made.
New Yorkers saw it on the network-owned WABC. But viewers in Dallas, Atlanta, Phoenix, Orlando and a bunch of other American cities got to fill their evenings with socially uplifting fare like "The Apprentice" (NBC) and "Survivor: Vanuatu - Islands of Fire" (CBS). Instead of experiencing this gripping film about courage, loss and humanity, they were snickering at some pushy moron getting fired by Donald Trump or watching some dimwit being dismissed from the tribe.
This is protecting us from ... what?
The local ABC stations, which are owned by big companies that include Cox Television, Citadel Communications, the Belo Corp., Hearst-Argyle and E.W. Scripps, tried to explain.
Too violent, they said. Too vulgar. Too gosh-darn much trouble to risk the high-priced wrath of the fundamentalist culture warriors the Bush administration has left in control of the Federal Communications Commission. This is the agency, after all, that just fined CBS $550,000 for that millisecond "wardrobe malfunction" at the Super Bowl.
Who knows how chairman Michael Powell might react to some Army private in a movie using a curse word? The local affiliates didn't budge even when the network offered to cover any fines.
ABC certainly gave the affiliates ample cover.
The movie ran last night with 11 advisories, one at every commercial break. The film was introduced by Sen. John McCain, a Vietnam veteran and prisoner of war. He was joined by Harold Baumgarten, whose story of being a 19-year-old grunt at Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, was Spielberg's inspiration for the film.
War-movie endorsements don't get any stronger than these.
Which is only right.
This is an acclaimed historical drama with great performances and realistic dialogue. It's about as far as you can get from a swearing contest or a porno film. But none of that seems to matter to the weak-kneed station owners or the regulatory mullahs in Washington.
They appear convinced that America's most sacred values were shaken to the core by a momentary flash of female breast at a football halftime show. Now they want their war movies without bullets, blood or vulgarity.
"Well, goll-lee!" as Gomer Pyle liked to say. That makes no sense at all!
"Saving Private Ryan" is just the kind of movie we should want people to watch. It's a great human story set in a crucial time. The folks at home might even learn a little history by the time the credits roll.
Unreal man... Pretty Soon, the new Evangelical FCC will have the power to shut down whatever THEY think is unfit for viewing... No matter that the Veterans shown, fought for The Bill of Rights...
The FCC, a Goverment Agency, got directly involved in this, making it an issue...by scaring Broacasters into Silence on the Movie, because of a few swear words?
The stations themselves made the decision not to run it, not the FCC. They may have been afraid that viewer complaints would prompt the FCC to start fining them, or maybe not.
I suspect some of this has to do with the Super Bowl. Some of them may have thought: All right, FCC. You want to be hard guys we'll comply. But this programming won't run either.
Sorry, but the FCC ISa Government Agency, and they DENIED Permission to show the film in Atlanta...after being ASKED specifically, and many OTHER places but in writing there, and through FEAR in most other places...as their (the stations in question) own press releases from yesterday NAMED THEM... the FCC
My Mistake, you are right LUV... The FCC only intimidatedthose stations, they didn't specifically deny them... That was ABC itself.
But my premise stands... The FCC IS behind the fear.
"As in the past, this broadcast will contain appropriate and clear advisories and parental guidelines, and, as customary, we will provide advance screenings for ABC affiliates and advertisers," the network said in a statement".
And the afiliates COULDÂ have just posted the above.
He has no record after 20 years in the Senate, he pissed off the Vietnam vets, he's almost as wooden as Algore, and he came off phony. Also, as I've said elsewhere, Bill Clinton is one hell of a hard act to follow. Clinton's even phonier, but he comes off as sincere and caring. And he's very charming.
THX, you can kiss my ass and take your condescending-smugness and stick it. I fully understand WHY they played the show last year and the year before, and why they have chosen, independently of each other , NOT to show it THIS year, and RIGHT AFTER AN ELECTION won mostly by the Christian RIGHT, and soon after the FCC threw it's weight around, albeit with helter-skelter dicisions on WHOM it would censure.
BUT... those stations, the same ones that would not play that movie because they are afraid to rile the FC...? They are the same ones incessantly playing SOAPS that are full of Sex, Sexual Innuendo, Murderand Wife Swapping, to name but just a few themes. DAILY.
Double Fucking Standard ... By the over 60 stations that peed their pants because of fear of a Government Agency.
[Edited 2 times. Most recently by on Nov 12, 2004 at 08:04am.]
I thought he had "the most liberal record." Now he has no record. Which is it?
"he pissed off the Vietnam vets"
Some of them must have voted for him. The ones he angered were angered by his very presence on the national scene. They got their pound of flesh. Good for them.
"he's almost as wooden as Algore,"
So he doesn't have a future as party clown. So what?
RIGHT AFTER AN ELECTION won mostly by the Christian RIGHT, and soon after the FCC threw it's weight around, albeit with helter-skelter dicisions on WHOM it would censure.
Bill,
The same people at the FCC are there today as were there for the last 2 showings.
So what aspect of the losing Kerry campaign should we be thoughtfully pondering?
rick's response: I think he was a good choice.
That is one of the main reasons the democrats lost. Kerry was a former (and current?) war protester that claimed the military committed regular and authorized war crimes, and he included himself. Furthermore, the dems should have put up such a left winger because too many people could see that the moderate clothes didn't fit. That is not a good candidate.
He didn't go to jail because he wasn't charged. Based on what I know he should have been charged with treason for meeting with the enemy. He shouldn't have been charged with war crimes because it appears he lied about committing such crimes.Â
That's exactly what it was, I agree Rick. It was payback and also to make the FCC look like the bad guy. They've shown the uncut and unedited last year and the year before. NO FINES were levied and the FCC issued NO warnings. It was a political move and nothing else. The FCC wasn't going to fine or threaten them and they knew it. None of the TV stations that did show it last night will be fined or repremanded either. They're (the stations) are making an issue out of a non issue.
 Bill, they didn't interfere or prevent anyone from showing it. They showed it last year and the year before with no problems.
And Bill I agree. We were soldiers is a very good movie. The book is even better as they usually are but it was a good interpretation of the book.
[Edited 2 times. Most recently by on Nov 12, 2004 at 07:25am.]
Bill, That was an affiliate asking ABC to run it and they said no. NOT the federal governmnet. It's not censorship. If it was I'd be all over them, but it's just not. The FCC never fined anyone for the last 2 showings of it nor did they for a 3rd. A private business like ABC made that decision on their own.
One definition is:  "Prevention of disturbing or painful thoughts or feelings from reaching consciousness, except in a disguised form".  Â
American Heritage
Another Is:Â Â Â Â "Deleting parts of publications or correspondence or theatrical performances ".Â
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
One More Is:Â Â Â Â "the right to express information, ideas, and opinions free of government restrictions based on content and subject only to reasonable limitations (as the power of the government to avoid a clear and present danger) esp. as guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution."Â Merriam Websters Dictionary of Law.
I don't really CAREwhat your definition is, since Obviously, you don't have a damn clue about mine, and you cannot respect my opinion, even though there are millions of people who are saying the same thing, and fear MORE of the same thing.... But it is your right to be entranced by the Bliss
you find yourself in, and that is a terririfc thing to be able to have... A mind which doesn't intellectualize much of anything. You are truly not, an "Elite"... of any kind .
"You do a disservice to true censorship."
I certainlyHope So.
[Edited 2 times. Most recently by on Nov 13, 2004 at 04:15am.]
And by the way... Tombstone, Patton, The Godfather, High Noon, High Plains Drifter...and of course, We Were Soldiers ... These are all favorite movies of mine. I love a good violent-movie, if it is reality-based, and those certainly are.
and still a 22 billion dollar increase is not enough for some.
Shit, to some people, that's a decrease.
I think he was a good choice.
So he was supposed to run a campaign where he says "hey everything is great."
Why would people want to vote for a change?
Â
Â
[Edited 2 times. Most recently by on Nov 12, 2004 at 05:56am.]
So he was supposed to run a campaign where he says "hey everything is great."
No. Just don't act like it's the end of the world.
All he had to say was, "I don't agree with the path the President is taking, and this is what I would do differently" (And actually have a plan).
Instead, he would say things like "The President make a COLOSSAL error in judgement", then fail to say what he would do differently.
[Edited by on Nov 12, 2004 at 06:00am.]
Thanks for keeping me on ignore. Stones = riding around on a boat for a couple of years smok'in dope, as Fold has admitted to.
By "no record" I meant that no meaningful legislation had his name on it. His liberal reputation comes from his votesin the Senate.
What he did in 1970-71 is treason as far as I'm concerned.
As I said, he's a bit of a comedown from the very personable Bill Clinton. Whose advice, by the way, Kerry ignored.
Â
I guess we'll find out if he was right.
I guess we will, and we'll never know what Kerry's super secret plan was.
Maybe he can share it with the President.
Ellis Helican, NEWSDAY
Somewhere on film, there may be a more heart- pounding, gut-wrenching 30 minutes than the soldier's- eye view of the Normandy invasion that opens "Saving Private Ryan."
There may be. But I swear I've never seen it, and I'm highly doubtful it's ever been shot.
"Saving Private Ryan" burst into theaters six years ago, grabbed five Academy Awards and proved once and for all that, no, war isn't heck. That barely begins to describe it. War is something infinitely more raw and personal and vicious than that. With handheld cameras and a brilliant editor's eye, Steven Spielberg put war on the screen like war really is.
And this is the thanks he gets.
The movie, which stars Tom Hanks in the best role of his career, was shown last night on the ABC television network, same as it was shown on the evening of Veterans' Day in 2001 and 2002. Well, not exactly the same. This time, more than 20 local ABC affiliates, cowed by the post-Bono, post-Janet Jackson, post-Howard Stern FCC, refused to broadcast one of the greatest war movies ever made.
New Yorkers saw it on the network-owned WABC. But viewers in Dallas, Atlanta, Phoenix, Orlando and a bunch of other American cities got to fill their evenings with socially uplifting fare like "The Apprentice" (NBC) and "Survivor: Vanuatu - Islands of Fire" (CBS). Instead of experiencing this gripping film about courage, loss and humanity, they were snickering at some pushy moron getting fired by Donald Trump or watching some dimwit being dismissed from the tribe.
This is protecting us from ... what?
The local ABC stations, which are owned by big companies that include Cox Television, Citadel Communications, the Belo Corp., Hearst-Argyle and E.W. Scripps, tried to explain.
Too violent, they said. Too vulgar. Too gosh-darn much trouble to risk the high-priced wrath of the fundamentalist culture warriors the Bush administration has left in control of the Federal Communications Commission. This is the agency, after all, that just fined CBS $550,000 for that millisecond "wardrobe malfunction" at the Super Bowl.
Who knows how chairman Michael Powell might react to some Army private in a movie using a curse word? The local affiliates didn't budge even when the network offered to cover any fines.
ABC certainly gave the affiliates ample cover.
The movie ran last night with 11 advisories, one at every commercial break. The film was introduced by Sen. John McCain, a Vietnam veteran and prisoner of war. He was joined by Harold Baumgarten, whose story of being a 19-year-old grunt at Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, was Spielberg's inspiration for the film.
War-movie endorsements don't get any stronger than these.
Which is only right.
This is an acclaimed historical drama with great performances and realistic dialogue. It's about as far as you can get from a swearing contest or a porno film. But none of that seems to matter to the weak-kneed station owners or the regulatory mullahs in Washington.
They appear convinced that America's most sacred values were shaken to the core by a momentary flash of female breast at a football halftime show. Now they want their war movies without bullets, blood or vulgarity.
"Well, goll-lee!" as Gomer Pyle liked to say. That makes no sense at all!
"Saving Private Ryan" is just the kind of movie we should want people to watch. It's a great human story set in a crucial time. The folks at home might even learn a little history by the time the credits roll.
Unreal man... Pretty Soon, the new Evangelical FCC will have the power to shut down whatever THEY think is unfit for viewing... No matter that the Veterans shown, fought for The Bill of Rights...
Â
AP- Nov. 11
The WSB-TV in Atlanta said it asked ABC for permission to air the film after 10 p.m. but was rejected.
Whereare all the "Protect The Constitution" citizens now...?
WHY do Veterans fight, if not to fight for the 1st Amendment?
Â
Â
[Edited 3 times. Most recently by on Nov 12, 2004 at 06:18am.]
As much as I agree with you Bill that the movie should be shown, there is no censorship here.
OH...then what was it?
The FCC, a Goverment Agency, got directly involved in this, making it an issue...by scaring Broacasters into Silence on the Movie,
because of a few swear words?
[Edited by on Nov 12, 2004 at 06:33am.]
The stations themselves made the decision not to run it, not the FCC. They may have been afraid that viewer complaints would prompt the FCC to start fining them, or maybe not.
I suspect some of this has to do with the Super Bowl. Some of them may have thought: All right, FCC. You want to be hard guys we'll comply. But this programming won't run either.
Make excuses for them all you want...T
hey interferred with
and denied the RIGHT of some of the stations in question,Â
to Broadcastthat Movie.
That, is censorship.
Make excuses for them all you want...They interferred with and denied the RIGHT of some of the stations in question, to Broadcast that Movie.
They did not. Get your facts straight.
That, is censorship.
It is not.
I say it is.
I also pointed to a link that showed that they specifially denied a station in Atlanta ANY "Permission" to show it.
What would you call that?
I also pointed to a link that showed that they specifially denied a station in Atlanta ANY "Permission" to show it.
Get your facts straight.
The FCC declined to give permission to any stations because that would be....
Yep, you guessed it.... CENSORSHIP.
::slams head on TV::
[Edited by on Nov 12, 2004 at 07:39am.]
btw: I saw "Private Ryan" was on TV here in the Twin Cities last night.
That is a crock of shit.
Sorry, but the FCC ISa Government Agency, and they DENIED Permission to show the film in Atlanta...after being ASKED specifically, and many OTHER places but in writing there, and through FEAR in most other places...as their (the stations in question) own press releases from yesterday NAMED THEM...
the FCC
?
Â
Read slowly.
The FCC can't give permission.
That in itself would be censorship.
My Mistake, you are right LUV... The FCC only intimidatedthose stations, they didn't specifically deny them... That was ABC itself.
But my premise stands... The FCC IS behind the fear.
"As in the past, this broadcast will contain appropriate and clear advisories and parental guidelines, and, as customary, we will provide advance screenings for ABC affiliates and advertisers," the network said in a statement".
And the afiliates COULDÂ have just posted the above.
[Edited by on Nov 12, 2004 at 07:49am.]
So what aspect of the losing Kerry campaign should we be thoughtfully pondering?
I'd start with the realization that the sky is not falling.
Kerry ran a doom & gloom campaign.
Things are not nearly as bad as the Democrats tried to portray, and people know that.
I think Kerry did that to get the extreme left vote.
In doing so he alienated more voters than he gained.
I guess it boils down to, Americans are much more middle of the road than the Democrats think.
Hey, read this THX...
YOU VOTED FOR THESE PEOPLE...
you better read slowly
...and from now on.
The FCC only intimidated those stations
How the heck did they intimidate them?
You're denying true censorhip it's importance by going on this rant.
But my premise stands... The FCC IS behind the fear.
They didn't do anything. Their lack of action (Not giving permission) created fear?
Hey, read this THX...
YOU VOTED FOR THESE PEOPLE...you better read slowly...and from now on.
I give up.
It's just beyond your abilities to understand.
He has no record after 20 years in the Senate, he pissed off the Vietnam vets, he's almost as wooden as Algore, and he came off phony. Also, as I've said elsewhere, Bill Clinton is one hell of a hard act to follow. Clinton's even phonier, but he comes off as sincere and caring. And he's very charming.
[Edited by on Nov 12, 2004 at 05:57am.]
what's up with the purple writing?
THX, you can kiss my ass and take your condescending-smugness and stick it. I fully understand WHY they played the show last year and the year before, and why they have chosen,
independently of each other
, NOT to show it THIS year, and RIGHT AFTER AN ELECTION won mostly by the Christian RIGHT, and soon after the FCC threw it's weight around, albeit with helter-skelter dicisions on WHOM it would censure.
BUT... those stations, the same ones that would not play that movie because they are afraid to rile the FC...? They are the same ones incessantly playing SOAPS that are full of Sex, Sexual Innuendo, Murderand Wife Swapping, to name but just a few themes. DAILY.
Double Fucking Standard
... By the over 60 stations that peed their pants because of fear of a Government Agency.
[Edited 2 times. Most recently by on Nov 12, 2004 at 08:04am.]
I thought he had "the most liberal record." Now he has no record. Which is it?
"he pissed off the Vietnam vets"
Some of them must have voted for him. The ones he angered were angered by his very presence on the national scene. They got their pound of flesh. Good for them.
"he's almost as wooden as Algore,"
So he doesn't have a future as party clown. So what?
RIGHT AFTER AN ELECTION won mostly by the Christian RIGHT, and soon after the FCC threw it's weight around, albeit with helter-skelter dicisions on WHOM it would censure.
Bill,
The same people at the FCC are there today as were there for the last 2 showings.
"Instead, he would say things like "The President make a COLOSSAL error in judgement"
I guess we'll find out if he was right.
On a lighter note. Fold, it's been a year and a day since you said you wanted to kill me. You said it right here.
Well???
un-f Fold
losing torpid=addition to the human race by subtraction
So what aspect of the losing Kerry campaign should we be thoughtfully pondering?
rick's response: I think he was a good choice.
That is one of the main reasons the democrats lost. Kerry was a former (and current?) war protester that claimed the military committed regular and authorized war crimes, and he included himself. Furthermore, the dems should have put up such a left winger because too many people could see that the moderate clothes didn't fit. That is not a good candidate.
[Edited by on Nov 12, 2004 at 08:45am.]
Answer the question you spineless bastard.
He didn't go to jail because he wasn't charged. Based on what I know he should have been charged with treason for meeting with the enemy. He shouldn't have been charged with war crimes because it appears he lied about committing such crimes.Â
[Edited by on Nov 12, 2004 at 08:52am.]
The Rat 11/12/04 6:32am
That's exactly what it was, I agree Rick. It was payback and also to make the FCC look like the bad guy. They've shown the uncut and unedited last year and the year before. NO FINES were levied and the FCC issued NO warnings. It was a political move and nothing else. The FCC wasn't going to fine or threaten them and they knew it. None of the TV stations that did show it last night will be fined or repremanded either. They're (the stations) are making an issue out of a non issue.
 Bill, they didn't interfere or prevent anyone from showing it. They showed it last year and the year before with no problems.
And Bill I agree. We were soldiers is a very good movie. The book is even better as they usually are but it was a good interpretation of the book.
[Edited 2 times. Most recently by on Nov 12, 2004 at 07:25am.]
I know oh rodentious one. I was making a joke you humorless bastard : ) J/K.
I thin the year of the rat has passed never to return.
Bill, That was an affiliate asking ABC to run it and they said no. NOT the federal governmnet. It's not censorship. If it was I'd be all over them, but it's just not. The FCC never fined anyone for the last 2 showings of it nor did they for a 3rd. A private business like ABC made that decision on their own.
'Bill - Fold' 11/12/04 8:02am
Plain and simple, it wasn't censorship.
You do a disservice to true censorship.
That, is YOURopinion.
One definition is:  "Prevention of disturbing or painful thoughts or feelings from reaching consciousness, except in a disguised form".  Â
American Heritage
Another Is:Â Â Â Â "Deleting parts of publications or correspondence or
theatrical performances
".Â
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
One More Is:Â Â Â Â "the right to express information, ideas, and opinions free of government restrictions based on content and subject only to reasonable limitations (as the power of the government to avoid a clear and present danger) esp.
as guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution."Â Merriam Websters Dictionary of Law.
I don't really CAREwhat your definition is, since Obviously, you don't have a damn clue about mine, and you cannot respect my opinion, even though there are millions of people who are saying the same thing, and fear MORE of the same thing.... But it is your right to be entranced by the
Bliss
you find yourself in, and that is a terririfc thing to be able to have... A mind which doesn't intellectualize much of anything. You are truly not, an "Elite"...
of any kind
.
"You do a disservice to true censorship."
I certainlyHope So.
[Edited 2 times. Most recently by on Nov 13, 2004 at 04:15am.]
He loves the role of the victim.
And by the way... Tombstone, Patton, The Godfather, High Noon, High Plains Drifter...and of course,
We Were Soldiers
... These are all favorite movies of mine. I love a good violent-movie, if it is reality-based, and those certainly are.
I mean,
it is reality...???
But I sure like Sam Peckinpawmovies, too.
Take Care, Muskwa.
[Edited by on Nov 14, 2004 at 03:12am.]
The people who started this country did so by defying the laws of their own country.
......defying the laws of their own country.
Right up your alley.
SO I suppose that means Torpid thinks Crabgrass a patriot.
Good for you, I suppose
As usual, you suppose wrong.
why? you brought up that Crabs breaks laws, same as the founding fathers.
it's a perfectly logical conclusion drawn from your idiotic assessment
Perfectly logical for a retard such as yourself.
Why isn't he in jail? Show me the charges, show me the trial and verdict.