Posted on 10/10/2005 6:42:23 AM PDT by Dutchgirl
I have to admit to being a Geena Davis fan. From "Earth Girls are Easy", to "Tootsie" and now "Commander in Chief." I am one of the folks pushing the ratings of this show to winning it's time slot.
But it isn't her acting that is winning me over. It is Donald Sutherland's. His portrayal of a rabid conservative hack is more over the top than Michael Keaton in "Beetlejuice." His manipulations, chicanery and quest for power look like more fun than a human being should be allowed to have! He is the liberals view of what a conservative is, and he is totally committed to his part, chewing up the scenery in situations that exist only to show how delightfully EVIL Republicans are.
In short, "Commander in Chief" is "Reefer Madness" for conservatives.
(Hillary's Thought Balloon: "I know he is such a pig, but I guess I can try and live with it.")
Sadly, that means that when Alexander Haig infamously said "I'm in charge here" after Hinkley shot President Reagan, Jim "Eyebrows" Wright was actually the acting president until GHW Bush was able to step in and take charge. (Fortunately he didn't have time to screw anything up.)
Do you think the Sutherland character is having an affair with his Chief of Staff..the tall good looking blond who wears thye very shorts skirts in the show, and shows a lot of leg when sitting down?<P.
FYI..today's NY POST TV section reports that the show's creato and producer, Rod Lurie, was FIRED over the weekend..kicked off the program...
Donald Sutherland was in a documentary called "F*** The Army" alongside Hanoi Jane.
I say F*** "this" guy. He's a lousy traitor and an outright propagandista.
Reefer Madness was an attempt by exploitation filmmakers to make films that flaunted violations of the Hayes Code but were still "acceptable" to local film censors.
The filmmakers behind Reefer Madness weren't drug prohibitionits. They were after quick cash selling "shocking" film tickets, roadshowing from town to town.
These films included far more sinning, nudity, violence, etc. than Hollywood could offer after 1934. Often they were "Adults Only" and with some of the "sex" films, they even had segregated audiences (all male or all female).
From what I've seen of the show (only a few episodes), the left still practices the same tactics today.
On IMDB, the left slams that show but conservatives who have reviewed it loved it. It was based in truth. The author wrote an autobiography (I think it was also adapted into a film as well as this series).
"I Led 3 Lives" (1953) [TV-Series 1953-1956]
As a child I had no reason to disbelieve the show's portrayals of subversive Communist activities in the United States. Later I read Herbert Philbrick's book that served as the source of the name and background for the series, and it too had the ring of truth.Yet as other comments here about this show reveal, the idea that America was the target of conspiracy and espionage is derided as paranoid. The investigations of the House Un-American Activities Committee are described as a witch hunt, on the implicit premise that since there are no witches, there must not have been Communists either. We still hear laments for the Hollywood writers, directors, etc., who found it difficult to find work after being blacklisted for refusing to admit to their membership in the Communist Party.
Well, folks, the cat is out of the bag. As if the world was not already full of enough evidence of the evil of Communism, the fall of the Soviet Union led to the opening of the KGB archives in Moscow to researchers, and guess what... At the direction of the Soviet Union, there were Communist agents and sympathizers in the US Army, the Manhattan Project, the State Department, many labor unions, and other strategic targets. The archives show that the Communist Party USA received millions of dollars each year from the Soviet Union for purposes of undermining America, with Hollywood being specifically targeted for infiltration.
In that atmosphere I think it is remarkable that "I Led Three Lives" ever got produced. I whole-heartedly hope that this show does get re-released. However much it may have been dramatized, "I Led Three Lives" shows how America was in fact endangered by its enemies, foreign and domestic.
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This was a good series while it lasted. It pretty much showed what was gong on during this period in our history and the efforts to keep it in check. The left doesn't like the series because it shined a light on communist activities in the U.S. We don't track "commies" anymore because the cold war is over and they lost. Today people can be openly against the U.S. without any fear. They are in academia, the media,Hollywood, the judiciary and at all levels of local and national politics. Their still is, however, resentment among many that there is no longer a U.S.S.R. It would be great to have an updated series like this today. McCarthy was a little over-zealous in his time, but not far off the mark.
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