Robert J. Avrech

is the most morally confused film out of Hollywood ever. It erases the difference between mass murderer and victim. It’s the first attempt to justify genocide–based on illiteracy. There will be more to come. I guarantee it. In short: Kate

One word: guh-ross.

I’m waiting for Anita Page…

Thank G-d Waltz didn’t win. Down go Israel’s left.

I just sighed. Deeply. Karen kicked me again. I’m black and blue.

I know this is dumb, but how about a shout-out to the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan–from somebody, anybody.

Muslim terrorists are now a preferred victim group in Hollywood. I’m dead serious. On a project two years ago studio xxecs asked me to change Islamic terrorists to Christian terrorists. Can’t make this stuff up.

Bernard Herrmann is rotating in his grave.

This show is longer than shul on Yom Kippur.

Note: Links to previous chapters are found at the end of this post. EXT. PRISON – DAY The Screenwriter, alternately known to the inmates as Mr. Hollywood, Mr. Screenplay Writer and Mr. Clueless, sits with Eden, an attractive prisoner who

I must have missed a few subtle literary points in college when I was taking a Charles Dickens seminar. I missed the spot where Fagin, in Oliver Twist, is wearing a gigoondo yarmulke. Also, blasting right by yours truly–alas, never

Alma Rubens, Early Studio Portrait Many persons who have followed my career on the screen and stage mistake me for a Jewess. This belief perhaps was strengthened when I married Ricardo Cortez, my third husband, the only one I ever

Note: Links to previous chapters are found at the end of this post. Establishing Shot: Gleaming barbed wire. Prison walls. Behind the walls, a vast yard teeming with hundreds of female prisoners. Our view narrows to a small SHACK at

Note: Links to the previous chapters are found at the bottom of this post. In which we meet Eden, a pleasant and amiable mother, lover of classical American literature with a special affection for Jane Austen. Our fine lady is

I’ve had the pleasure of working with some of the best directors in Hollywood. On location and in the studio it’s always fascinating to collaborate with gifted directors and then sit back and watch as the actors breathe life into

To read Part I of this series, please click here. In Which We Meet Cindy the C.O., Who, In Spite of Her Status As a Guard In This Most Maximum of Female Prisons, Reminds Your Faithful Screenwriter/Correspondent/Memoirist of One Memorable

This is the second of a two-part commentary. You can read Part One here. We continue exploring Alistair Horne’s, Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962. All the time, bearing in mind that the movie, The Battle of Algiers, conveniently eliminates

A few years ago, I was up in Toronto, on location for Within These Walls, a film the Academy Award winning actress Ellen Burstyn, acting as producer and star, asked me to write. Ellen, one of the great Hollywood actresses–past

Fade In: Intertitle: Movies Are a Moral Landscape The Battle of Algiers, (1965) directed by Gillo Pontecorvo, a perennial favorite on college campuses, is hailed as a modern classic. Certainly the skillful use of black & white cinema verite is

Here’s my list to of the ten best movies I screened in 2008. I have to admit that I did not see one contemporary release that comes close to the quality and passion of these older films. And keep in