Free Republic

The first thing that has to be understood about The Americanization of Emily, the 1964 black comedy written by Paddy Chayefsky and directed by Arthur Hiller, is that nearly everyone involved in making it was a veteran. It certainly explains motivation – and not just Chayefsky's compulsive urge to attack establishment tropes – but also the film's failure at the box office, a blow that would sour Chayefsky on Hollywood (and vice versa) for the rest of the decade, until he made his comeback with The Hospital in 1971. Chayefsky had been wounded in Germany, and Hiller had been a...

Paddy Chayefsky and Politics at the Oscars AWESOME!

The other day I ran across a clip from the 1976 film "Network" -- of course, the "Mad As Hell" speech which is a perfect match for the political mood of the country today. But then I remembered there were some other great speeches & scenes, and when I reviewed them again, sure enough -- it right on the money for today! No, I am not saying that a writer in 1976 had some magical powers to predict the future, but yesterday's hyperbola is today's reality. How weird is that? Mad As Hell The MediaThe World is a Corporate Holding...