[Valin]

I/I'm/I'd 36 times, me/my 15 times
ME me me it's all about me
No ego problems here.

[MotherSpector]

What about glorifying marijuana and cocaine in film?

[Wolfie]

Sharon Stone had a cigarette in that scene? Funny, I didn't notice.

[mewzilla]

I have a sneaking suspicion that if smoking stops looking cool to kids, or starts looking very dumb, many won't take it up. I don't know anyone who started smoking after he/she was an adult.

[realpatriot71]

This cracks me up. People around here get all indignant when Hollywood puts sex and other illegal drugs into movies, but when someone suggestz that maybe cigarettes are bad in movies too? Katie bar the door 'cause we're pi$$ed now! As we all know cigarettes are GREAT for ya, right after brocolli, on the chart . . . see?

[leadpenny]

We in Hollywood . . . .

Could he be any more elitist?

[Publius6961]

I/I'm/I'd 36 times, me/my 15 times
ME me me it's all about me
No ego problems here.

The one applicable line he forgot:

There is no living thing more righteous than a reformed prostitute.

[weegee]

So Joe gives up smoking and drinking but only rails against the legality of smoking.

Joe writes an assortment of lurid films from Basic Instinct to Showgirls and yet he goes to church on Sunday and thinks that he only needs to recant his stance on tobacco to be a changed man.

Clearly the man is delirious. He should not be the object of scorn, however. Maybe he'll live long enough to understand all of his errors and even make ammends for some of them.

[Batrachian]

"A cigarette in hand onscreen is just a gun aimed at a kid"

I'm going to confess something here: I hate kids. The very sound of their high-pitched, whining, demanding voices is enough to infuriate me. I don't give a rat's rear-end if they smoke, drink, kill each, or anything else, as long as they stay the hell away from me. I'm so sick and tired of having to hear about the children, and worse yet, having to care, that if I have to hear any more about, I'm going to vomit.

They say that the problem with kittens is that they grow up to be cats. It's the opposite with children. We have to endure the useless little SOBs for twenty years (or more) until they become the slightest bit useful.

Let their parents police them. I don't want to hear about it.

[lavaroise]

And what is a AIDS mardi gras gay parade???

[robertpaulsen]

"He's not exactly your average Joe. Eszterhas has made a career--and a fortune--scripting tales of scandalous sex and blue-collar babes."
--- eonline

Not only Basic Instinct, but also Flashdance and Showgirls. And he's going to lecture to us on the dangers of exposing children to smoking.

[Gabz]

I don't think there is anything I despise more than a sanctimonious reformed whatever.

Please save us from these busy-body do-gooders.

[shrinkermd]

American Rhapsodywas a terrifically funny book. It skewered Clinton, the author and men of his generation in respect to their sins and habits. In this book, as I recall, he disussed his drug use as a young person and lectured against it --I believe he had biological and physical consequences of the cocaine at least.

All the criticisms found here have merit, but why not give him a chance to make amends and meet his maker with a changed heart and behavior?

[weegee]

Wonder what Joe thinks of this:

[John O]

Hollywood films have long championed ... gay rights ....
Hollywood films espouse a belief in goodness and redemption.

Serious contradiction in these two sentences.

Of course being from hollyweird this guy probably supports murdering unborn babies and the democrat party too

God Save America (Please)

[Billthedrill]

This is the "it's hurt me so in order to make myself feel better I'm going to get it banned for everyone" syndrome we see in a lot of people in anti-gun campaigns, product safety campaigns, etc, etc...I suppose it's a natural enough reaction, but it kind of makes life a bit hard on those of us who don't think their lives ought to be at the mercy of somebody's feelings.

[dennisw]

Fri Aug 9,10:36 AM ET

Screenwriter Joe Eszterhas, is shown in this September 21, 1995 file photo in Los Angeles. Eszterhas, best known for 1992's "Basic Instinct" script, has throat cancer after a lifetime of smoking, and is urging Hollywood to stop glamorizing cigarette use the way he says he did. (AP Photo/Michael Caulfield, file)