DISNEY/MIRAMAX SET TO RELEASE FILM DEPICTING AMERICA MILITARY AS DRUG DEALERS, CRIMINALS

DRUDGE REPORT ^ | JULY 13, 2003 17:09:28 ET | Drudge

[Gritty]

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX SUN JULY 13, 2003 17:09:28 ET XXXXX

DISNEY/MIRAMAX SET TO RELEASE FILM DEPICTING AMERICA MILITARY AS DRUG DEALERS, CRIMINALS; TIMING SEEN FUELING IRAQ WAR CONTROVERSY


"Here in the UK no one gets upset, but over there, where the President is fighting these military campaigns in the name of democracy, the first casualty seems to be freedom of speech, the cornerstone of any democracy."                                 - BUFFALO SOLDIERS Director Gregor Jordan

The WALT DISNEY CO. is set for maximum controversy when it releases a "warts-and-all" portrait of U.S. Army life with the fuss-film BUFFALO SOLDIERS.

As American men and women put their lives on the line in Iraq and other locations throughout the world, DISNEY and its subsidiary MIRAMAX have set a July 25 opening for the story of enlisted man running a profitable drugs and stolen goods business out of an Army base!

[A promo snap for the film -- "Steal all that you can steal," a riff on the US Army's own pseudo-empowering "Be all that you can be" slogan, while below actor Joaquin Phoenix stands before an American flag -- comes as TIME magazine alleged in a cover story that American troops looted and vandalized the Baghdad airport after it was secured.]

The film's director Gregor Jordan describes SOLDIERS as a robust satire illustrating the corruption, drug use and violence that goes on in US Army bases.

At the film's open, a painted US flag is on the ground and is stepped on by marching soldiers.

The film features an excessive amount of profanity by senior officers, suggestive sex [oral sex in bed, sex in a car, sex in a swimming pool], theft of government property, and rampant drug use by soldiers.

Actor Phoenix explains, "I don't know why anyone would be offended. It wasn't a movie that was intended to offend. And if we don't show things as they really happen, then what's that about? Censorship!"

The movie studio has been receiving complaints from military insiders, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

One letter written by a retired Army Colonel, representing the Ninth & Tenth [Horse] Cavalry Association, the group of real "Buffalo Soldiers," warns of the film's racial overtones.

"Scenes show MP's, who are black, committing acts of violence and engaging in corruption," writes Col. Franklin J. Henderson. "These scenes, intentionally or unintentionally, provide a bad image of black soldiers and degrade the sterling service of the real 'Buffalo Soldiers' who were mostly black men."

Director Jordan was so concerned by the mood of the country during the most recent military activity in Iraq that he asked for the movie's release to be delayed from springtime.

"I thought, This is not the time to be putting this movie out. If we leave it a couple of months, the war'll be over and off all the front pages. Then we'll go."

"READY AND FORWARD"

Developing...

[Gritty]

I can't believe this hasn't been posted already!

[Support Free Republic]

A Recall AND a Fundraiser? I'm toast.

Let's get this over with FAST. Please contribute!

[CCCV]

a painted US flag is on the ground and is stepped on by marching soldiers. I don't know about everyone else but while I was in, if this had happened someone would have gotten hurt. Maybe things have changed since 1982-if so we are really in trouble.

[PeterPrinciple]

"At the film's open, a painted US flag is on the ground and is stepped on by marching soldiers.................but we didn't intend to offend anyone....."

Why can't they say what they mean?

[IYAS9YAS]

Okay, first of all, this is a comedy, right? Before everyone starts salivating at this...we have Stripes, Sgt. Bilko (the early t.v. series and the movie), Down Periscope...all the other movies that poke fun at the military. Let's not get all agog over this. There have always been military comedies.

[Cinnamon Girl]

We discussed on the Drudge thread last week that Disney, on top of everything else, is doing a disservice to the real Buffalo Soldiers with their movie title.

[CCCV]

And if we don't show things as they really happen, then what's that about? Censorship! Really happen?? I got you Censorship - right here in my wallet. My money, where it's going to stay with reguard to Disney

[boxerblues]

Let's not get all agog over this. There have always been military comedies.

Hollywood many moons ago used to produce movies that put the military in a very good light. Sure dont see many of those coming out lately.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Wow! A movie portraying the military as crimainals and druggies - THAT'S never happened before... I'm shocked. Shocked, I say.

[IYAS9YAS]

True, and I missed the line about the flag being marched on. So I take some of my "Let's not get all agog" statement back.

Other than that, I think that it will probably flop anyway.

[Tax-chick]

doing a disservice to the real Buffalo Soldiers

That's what caught my attention. I'd seen the movie title mentioned, and figured it was based on the outstanding book of the same title, about the 9th Cavalry. I guess I'll just have to rent "Rough Riders."

On the other hand, there could be a serious film made about some of the issues with crime and drug use in the military, but obviously that would be too much work.

[boxerblues]

Think about it...if it werent for John Wayne & Hollywood we would of lost every war in the last 2 centuries.

Seriously though when was the last time Hollwood put out anything worth putting out good money to go see

[Lysander]

I got a great plot!

It could star a a military guy selling drugs in LA and weapons in Iran to get money to fund terrorists in Central America. A real funny scene would be the President of the United States sleeping through the cabinet meeting when approval is sought. The CIA director could mysteriously die before he could testify about it. What a hoot this could be. The military guy could go on to be a star news reportor on Fox and have a huge following of fans. It has a ring to it.

[A Simple Soldier]

"We Were Soldiers"
"Blackhawk Down"
"Saving Private Ryan"

all three reinforced the core military values of duty, honor, country, valor, and fidelity.

"Three Kings" was a notoriously anti-GHW Bush movie, but it did have some very accurate depictions of troops.

I wouldn't get all worked up about this.

FWIW, instructors at West Point use excerpted scenes frm "Stripes" for various courses on leadership and military history (The Army of the 70s). They even showed us an excerpt from "Platoon" in Florida phase of Ranger School to emphasize a point about perimeter security in a patrol base.

[50sDad]

Beats the hell out of a President getting done by an intern and using the military to Wag the Dog and get himself off the front pages. Let's compare:

REGAN: Brought Communism to its knees.

CLINTON: Forced Monica to her knees.

I guess I know who will be remembered in the long term of American history.

[vaudine]

Yes, there have been military farces--Andy Griffith in Onionhead, TV series Gomer Pyle, etc. However, Buffalo Soldiers (BS for short) sounds like it portrays a really criminal element as rampant in the military. I'll wait and see--the reviews, not the movie. My "won't look,won't pay"list of H'wood is too long.

I always loved "Mash" because of the sophisticated humor, and characters like Radar and Clinger--even hard, but good-hearted Hotlips. However, even at first viewing, I thought some of their dialogue about the army and the US was a little over the top. Recently, watching reruns with morning coffee, I've taken time to really access them. There is a lot of portrayal of the US as war-mongering and the army as bloody-minded idiots who just want to kill. Given the recent statements about Iraq by Mike Ferrell (BJ) it just points to the fact that Hollywood since WWII has gone over almost completely to US hating commie,homosexual-sympathisers. Frank Burns I always hated as unbelievable;Klinger was a great fictional character. Now I realize Frank was "Mash's" version of the left's typical conservative image-idiotic, bumbling, and completely superfluous. So BS is nothing new.

vaudine

[aBootes]

The WALT DISNEY CO. is set for maximum controversy when it releases a "warts-and-all" portrait of U.S. Army life with the fuss-film BUFFALO SOLDIERS.

The use of "Buffalo Soldiers" as the title is uncharacteristically un-PC for Hollywood. I find it hard to believe that it was picked at random, either. So it will be interesting to see how it plays out.

[tellw]

What kind of fool named the film "Buffalo Soldiers"?? I only know of the Buffalo Soldiers from the Bob Marley song (which by the way lifts its chorus from the TV Show The Banana Splits!). My point is, obviously the black soldiers in the 9th and 10th cavalry are having their name sulllied by this movie. You would think SOMEONE in Disney (the VP of Diversity??) would have waved the red flag on this idea as it was coming through production.

[Arius]

There you go again... telling the truth.

[ao98]

The movie is based on 1993 anti-military novel that was a big hit with the liberal elite. Here's what the liberals at the Sundance film festival think of this movie:

Gregor Jordan (Two Hands) returns to Sundance with Buffalo Soldiers, a high-pitched romp that teeters between drama and farce, delivering a welcome antidote to the onslaught of recent glorifications of all things military.

It is 1989 on an American base in Germany, just before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Special fourth class soldier Elwood (Joaquin Phoenix) and his gang of GI accomplices are heavy into a regular regime of pilfering supplies, haggling on the local black market and keeping a thriving drug business by cooking up drugs right under the base commander's (Ed Harris) nose. When they accidentally stumble onto two truckloads of highly sophisticated weaponry worth millions, the opportunity is too good to pass up. The only fly in the ointment is the new top sergeant (Scott Glenn), who takes one look at the flashy Rolex a soldier sports and decides to kick butt. Elwood, in return, takes one look at the sergeant's hot daughter and decides to fight back.

Jordan has crafted a brilliant piece of subversion with clever, robust characterizations that are nailed by the distinguished cast. Phoenix and Glenn are wildly entertaining as adversaries, but it is Harris who turns in an amazing performance that epitomizes military ineptitude and career torpor.