Posted on 01/23/2021 6:24:34 PM PST by Borges
Walter Bernstein, who was blacklisted by Hollywood in the 1950s but returned to writing on many films, including the Oscar-nominated script for The Front, has died at 101.
Bernstein died Friday night, according to WGA West president Howard Rodman, who reported it on Twitter.
Bernstein’s credits included the films Fail-Safe (1964), Semi-Tough (1977), Yanks (1979) and The Front, (1976), the latter which starring Woody Allen as Howard Prince, who was hired by three blacklisted TV writers to become the face of their work. It was a ruse Bernstein knew well, having employed the tactic himself when he was blacklisted.
The Brooklyn, NY-born Bernstein joined the Communist Party while attending Dartmouth College, then served in the US Army during World War II.
(Excerpt) Read more at deadline.com ...
A commie.
Welcome to hell Walter, here’s your accordion.
Translation: Communist who wished to destroy America.
When I was a kid in the 70’s they taught us that it was crazy to worry about communists and McCarthyism had been paranoia and there was no Communist threat.
But it turns out there were communists all over the place and now they’ve even taken over.
If Fail Safe is the one where Henry Fonda nukes NYC to make the Russians happy, then I recall how stupid I thought it was to do that back then. Today I’m not so sure.
That was a bad thing, right?
Prayers for his soul.
Ping.
Bernstein was a hardcore Communist Party member by his own admission and he was a nasty bastard too. There is a chapter/interview with him in “Tender Comrades: A Backstory of the Hollywood Blacklist” by Patrick McGilligan and Paul Buhle, Trotskyite historian, St. Martin’s Press, 1997.
Though the book is written by reds in a friendly approach to the Reds/usually unapologetic ex reds, the authors did get some quotes and history that showed the CPers were hardcore, pro-Soviet ideological enemies of capitalism and a non-Communist America.
Other sources on the “blacklist” and Hollywood include:
Alan Ryskind - “Hollywood Reds”, about his father and others fights against the Commies in the Screen Writers Guild.
Victor Navasky - Coverup for the Communist Party’s attempts to takeover Hollywood, “Naming Names”.
Robert Vaughn (the actor) - “Only Victims”, a liberal’s criticism of the investigations of Communism in Hollywood and the black list. Great bibliography/source notes which are worth the price of the book alone. I talked to him about the book and came to view him as a liberal, not a communist sympathizer. Worth having along with the others.
Also, see the House Committee on Un-American Activities series of hearings on communism and Hollywood in their hearings from about 1947-57. Lots of interesting information in them as well as grandstanding by all sides.
Amen. Never heard of the turd, nor his films. Good riddance.
In 1979 I was in one of the Eastern European Communist countries when I saw “The Front” on TV. It was a bit surreal. Obviously the Communists running the station were delighted to have an American movie to show in which the Communists were the good guys.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.