I have been reading two books simultaneously on my Kindle while I have been away this weekend. One was "John Wayne: American" by Randy Roberts and "A Fortunate Life" by Robert Vaughn. I was struck by one thing. We have a ton of Robert Vaughn's these days but we don't have a John Wayne.
By a ton of Robert Vaughn's I mean we have a bunch of super liberal actors who follow the liberal line right down the line without any attempt at nuance or logic. Sean Penn. Tim Robbins. George Clooney. Tom Hanks. Alec Baldwin. Deniro. Hoffman. Denzel. The list goes on and on. Each one more liberal than the next. And they premiere movies that toe the liberal line. They don't make any money on the ones that spew that liberal kant so they make a Superhero movie or something where they don't flaunt their opinions so they can make a few bucks.
But where are the guys who have the Duke's views. Mel Gibson had a run for a while, but his demons got the best of him and will never get a pass from the liberal elite. They take every opportunity to hammer him down and make him lose film roles. He is a danger to Hollywood's unanimity. Divergent views are not allowed even though he made many films that racked up tons of dough.
Tom Selleck is a conservative but he was shut down several times until he decided to keep his thoughts to himself. He is old now but he is just about the only guy I could see who could even attempt a run at some of the Dukes roles. I mean I think he would make a believable Captain Nathan Brittles or a possible Tom Dunston. But Ethan Edwards is out of his range. And he is past it now and Bridges has already scored with a remake of "True Grit" so there is not much scope for him to do anything.
There is a huge vacum for a conservative actor to come through and take that market. Clint Eastwood who was somewhat of a conservative icon for a while has become more and more the liberal drone as time has gone on. I can't watch his stuff anymore. So there is no place for me to go.
Just Sayn.
22 comments:
We had Fred Thompson for awhile.
You're going into show business, Troop. Perhaps you can fill the role.
Eastwood has been a consistent libertairian. We libertarians piss of both wings, depending on the issue and which way the politicals winds are blowing. We stay the same..both sides just blow.
Mel Gibson is insane. If you view his rants through the lens of "Dat boy be nutz!" it makes more sense. He truly is demented. Richer than Croesus, but loonier than Canadian money.
This is a huge subject. Why have the traditional conservative heros disappeared? Because the traditional conservative view of things is no longer hip. Doesn't matter that what is hip is horrible. Hip (liberalism) is in the driver's seat and will stay there till it is demonstrated beyond dispute that hip has failed. You know it's failed? I know it's failed? Doesn't matter. A catastrophe (unfortunately) has to happen. Only then will the world realign. And maybe not even then. I've kept this very general because to cite specifics would only upset some people and this isn't the place for that. To end on a positive note, maybe it's better to leave this vail of tears (or is it vale of tears?) before the catastrophe happens. So you'll live without traditional heros. But you'll live!
Gary Sinise is conservative, but Lieutenant Dan is getting old too.
I miss Fred Thompson...
Mel is screwed up. His first wife kept him sort of sane, but then he went off the deep end. His father is a nut job, and the nut did not fall far from the tree.
Too bad, because he has talent as a director.
Leni Riefenstahl had a ton of talent too.
EBL, Great point w/ Sinise!
Poor Mel. He's no Riefenstahl.
Jeff Bridges could do a remake of "Rooster Cogburn" as a follow up. Actually, I think the only sequel he's ever done is Tron which...I dunno what that says about anything.
Liam Neeson's been doing a fine job as an action hero lately.
blake, I had a computer geek friend take me to see Tron back in the 80's when we lived in Chicago. He got pissed because I fell asleep. The only worse flick I've seen is Trouble in Mind.
There is a differance between being an action hero and being a conservative icon.
I mean Bruce Willis is an action hero but not an icon. Neither is Tom Selleck or Gary Sinise.
Jim Caviezel has a shot but he is too one note. Plus he has devolved all the way to a weekly TV series.
The only guy who had the career and the juice was Mel Gibson but he went crazy. Which is what unlimited power and money will do to you.
Gibson is like many artists, he has y'know "issues". But I'll take a loony Hollywood actor who makes his kind of movie over all the over loony Hollywood actors who make the standard Hollywood left-wing shit - year after year.
People are going be watching Passion of the Christ and Braveheart long after Mel's politics and Mel himself are well forgotten.
Does anyone care that Chaplin was a commie who liked to screw young girls?
Hell, people don't even remember Polanski was a child rapist, except in Hollywood.
Where he's a hero.
Anyone who hates, truly hates Jews as much as Gibson does is someone I can only revile. His method of self medication is not working. His demons rule him. He has much in common with Riefenstahl. They can both go to hell.
Well, when Mel gets to Hell he can shake hands with Fonda, Chaplin, Polanski, and 90 percent of Hollywood and all the lawyers.
I don't think he's actually anti-Semitic. I really don't.
He's paranoid. And he's paranoid about a group of people called "The Jews". But at no time does this ever appeared to have affected his actions.
People replay the scripts they heard growing up. They can do it without meaning it at all.
What's more, as hated as he is in Hollywood, compare the stories you hear about Cameron, Baldwin, hell, Andy Dick. Apart from these psychotic breaks, he seems to be a decent guy.
Weird thing to say, I guess, but there's a different in my mind between a crazy person and an asshole.
I think everyone who appears on TV is really an asshole or crazy in some way.
Except for Trooper of course.
I think.
Well, and all those hot chicks.
lol
You don't think Troop is a crazy asshole?
He brags about it!
Well, not an asshole. A dick, though, as needed.
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