Memo to Hollywood: There's Money Sitting On the Table

That the SEALs solved the pirate problem with three shots/three kills last weekend was no surprise; what was should have been really interesting to those of you in the Industry was the American public’s reaction. The public was thrilled. The good guys won, the bad guys lost – decisively. There is a lesson there for you.

Here’s another lesson. During an unpopular war, a popular star risked everything to bring a bestselling book to the screen about American fighting men battling a cruel and vicious enemy. In 1968, you might think an unabashedly pro-war movie where the Americans were the heroes and the enemy the villains would have been soundly rejected, and it was – by the liberal elite.

Roger Ebert, who never saw a film trashing the American fighting man he didn’t praise, still lists John Wayne’s “The Green Berets” as one of his most hated films forty years later. But the public welcomed it, a film that could tell good from evil, and turned it into a hit. It even spawned a hit song. Where is the next war movie that outrages Roger Ebert while lining audiences up around the block?

This is not just about doing the right thing – as a lawyer who has worked with Industry people, I would get farther talking particle physics to my terrier than right and wrong to an agent. It’s about the one thing everyone in the Industry understands – money.

There is good money sitting on the table waiting to be picked up by the filmmaker who dares to buck the Hollywood tide and make a film about the War on Terror that shows the struggle for what it is, a struggle of good versus evil with clear heroes – us – and clear villains – al Qaeda, the Taliban and all the rest of that sordid crew of thugs. Americans understand this instinctively. They will embrace films that do as well.

Simplistic? No. See, the American public – the ones you want to buy tickets to your movies – understands that our enemies are evil. The public also understands that our service members are on the side of good. And they have thoroughly rejected every film that could not face up to this very basic truth. That’s why Redacted, Lions for Lambs, In the Valley of Elah and all the rest gather dust in the Blockbuster remainder bin.

So, Americans just want smiley-face propaganda? You Hollywood types need to get out of the 310 area code more often. HBO’s “Taking Chance,” a movie that portrayed the true costs of the war in a respectful and emotionally raw way was a big hit. “Generation Kill,” with all its many faults, also found an audience, though it might have been bigger without the endless scenes of characters bickering and whining. But nearly eight years after the War began, there has been no non-documentary film that unabashedly celebrates our fighting men and women even as it depicted their experiences in combat.

It is not as if there are no stories to tell. Five Americans have earned the Medal of Honor in combat during the War – two of them Navy SEALs. Dozens have earned the Distinguished Service Cross, the Navy Cross, or the Silver Star. Thousands have earned the Purple Heart. Many veterans have penned their memoirs. And those are just the real-life stories.

There once was a time before all movie material had to come from old TV shows, videogames or comic books – excuse me, “graphic novels.” As odd as it may seem, once there were films with original stories set against the backdrop of historical events. You might have heard of them – films with titles like like The Dirty Dozen, Guns of Navarone and Casablanca. Apparently, they met with some small success.

As Tom Tapp recently reported here on Big Hollywood, at least one studio is giving it a try. Judging from its killer trailer, The Hurt Locker might just break through. But it is not exactly a traditional war movie. It’s about explosive ordinance demolition specialists, folks so nuts that when one of my lieutenants told me he was going to try out to be one I almost ordered him a psyche eval. The question of whether a straight ahead modern war movie can succeed remains.

As with so much in life, John Wayne provides the answer. In his 1968 review, Roger Ebert slammed The Green Berets as “old-fashioned.” I bet the Duke was crying all the way to the bank. The fact is that John Wayne understood that the American public wanted and deserved a movie that showed them the essential truth of a conflict the media at best ignored, a movie not afraid to take a side – our side. They still do, as our national celebration of the rescue of Captain Richard Phillips demonstrates. The question for Hollywood is this: Why are you leaving money on the table?