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David Poland and his fight for awareness on THE THIN RED LINE!!!
Remember David Poland? He's that guy a while back that challenged my credibility over ARMAGEDDON and whether or not I was a good or bad thing in the world. Well recently here, he and I have been writing back and forth a little bit and today... well today he sent me an advance copy of his column that appears at RoughCut.Com. Ordinarily I wouldn't be printing up his journalistic opinions without having seen this movie, but I've been being turned down from seeing an advance screening of the film, while it seems that folks on both coasts are seeing the film. Tis ok, Hallenbeck will be seeing it today, so if there are problems with the film, we'll know soon enough. But in the meanwhile... Well... It seems that a fellow Austinite TERRENCE MALICK may be getting the ol boat in the buttocks. What follows is a travesty. To hold a 'official BEST OF 1998' film contest and to have over 50 percent of your voters not see (AT ALL) what many consider to be... flat out the best film of the year... Well, to me, it just feels like the GOLDEN GLOBES aren't worth a golden hued slab of shit. But, I haven't seen the film... I can't say one way or the other, so I leave that to my good friend at RoughCut... David Poland....
The Hot Button
Box Office Extra
by David Poland
December 18, 1998
TARNISHED GLOBES
I truly thought that the fight to get a fair hearing for The Thin Red Line
in the world of the critics awards and on to the Golden Globes and Academy
Awards was over. A number of L.A. critics have headed back to the theater to
revisit the film before printing their reviews, the NY Film Critics Circle
gave the film awards for directing and cinematography and the Men of Thumbs
both have their appendages pointing north. A complete shut out at The Golden
Globes had me shaking my head though. Five nomination slots for Best Drama.
Five nomination slots for Best Dramatic Actor. Six slots for Best Supporting
Actor Drama. Plus director, cinematographer, adapted screenplay and score.
Nothing. Nada. Okay, so life sucks. I can live with a decision I disagree
with.
But here is the real story, first broken by Jeff Wells of Mr. Showbiz. More
than 88 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association vote for the
Golden Globes. Only 43 of them saw The Thin Red Line. Less than 50 percent.
In other words, had 50 percent of the voters who saw the movie voted for it
for Best Picture, it wouldn’t have made the cut.
Are you angry yet?
Terrence Malick, after 20 years away form this insane business, had to
deliver his film three weeks before he had to have it ready for the
theaters. Why? One reason only. To try and snag critics awards and Golden
Globe nominations. This film, unlike Saving Private Ryan (a dammed good film
in it’s own right), doesn’t have Steven Spielberg’s imprimatur and
mega-stars Tom Hanks and Matt Damon riding shotgun. It needs support from
the critics and the awards. And it at least deserved a fair shot. It got
less that 50 percent attendance from the once joke-of-a-award award show
that now is considered critical to Oscar hopes.
Doesn’t it seem to you that a December 25 deadline to open and a December 3
or 4 unofficial but-you’d-better-do-it-or-you -are-out-of-the-running
deadline that is now the rule are a conflict? Aren’t all these awards
supposed to be celebrating film? Hasn’t it instead become a competition of
"who’s first" that has nothing to do with the films, but a whole lot to do
with building prestige for each award giving organization?
How has this happened? Well, the studios do have to take some blame. They
enjoy the hype and have bent to it. I f they really were determined to push
the process back, they probably could make some real inroads in that
direction. But those of you who vote in each of these groups have to take
some heat as well. Little doubt, the jokes about The Thin Red Line coming
out of the December 7 screening caused a "don’t bother seeing it" buzz
amongst the Hollywood Foreign Press members who weren’t there. The infection
spread.
Critics have had to see well over 35 possible Oscar contenders in the last
month, films that will make up the vast majority of award contenders. Wouldn
’t a couple of more weeks before a vote add some much needed perspective? Is
there any real reason to be voting in the first week of December other than
to get the P.R. value of being pre-Golden Globes? And why would The Golden
Globes need to be voted on this early? One reason and one reason only.
Money. This award show has become a cash cow for the networks and has taken
on an air of legitimacy for that reason only. Early announcements mean early
domination of the "awards game" and plenty of free publicity for the show.
Unlike the absurd process for nominating documentaries that has embarrassed
the Academy for years, members of the press can turn the tide on this. They
are the bodies politic of these groups. They can say that being right is
better than being first. And they can keep groups like the Hollywood Foreign
Press Association from running roughshod over films like The Thin Red Line
with impunity (and I’m sure it’s not alone) by filling out their awards
stories with the truth behind the nominations. Sometimes shorthand
interpretation of the news is fine. But in this case, there is more than
another teen scream flick at stake. Real artists making real effort are
being bent, folded and mutilated in the process. Audiences are taking all of
this more seriously than ever. Now if only the organizations who have
created this responsibility for themselves took it nearly as seriously, we
could all just be debating choices instead of process.
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It strikes me that Malick is someone who doesn't want to get involved with Hollywood in any way shape or form, and I wish him every luck in the world. But I think he's going to struggle. It's like the shopkeeper who writes amazing stories and who has the ability to get them translated onto the big screen once in a blue moon. This kind of magic never happens. With the exception of Malick I don't think anyone has ever been able to do it. The sheer fact that this man can handle a film of this scope and fill it with emotions and beauty, considering he has lived a regular life outside movie for the last twenty years, deserves more than just a little respect, he deserves a standing ovation...
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Not only is Malick worthy of great respect for his talent, but also for being, apparently, an all-around "great guy," and many people have stressed what a joy it is to work for him. A friend of mine has a small part in The Thin Red Line, as do many, many young & talented unknowns. This person told me that the production was a wonderful working environment. Not only was it cool to be in exotic Australia, but that there always a sense of fun mixed with deep pride about the project. According to my friend, even the big stars seemed more approachable, and that they would even "reach out" to their younger co-stars by getting a basketball game together, or poker or whatever. Just a nice, laid-back, rewarding experience made all the more exciting by the sheer presence of Terence Malick, who my friend describes as the "nicest guy I've ever met." After this person returned to New York, Malick called him personally to thank him, let him know he did a good job, inform him on the state of production, and where the actor's performance fit in the overall scope of the film. No doubt Malick did this with all his actors. He seems to have an intense, fatherly love for his pictures, and it shows. No wonder Martin Sheen considers his performance in Badlands the best of his career.
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I can't believe the Golden Globes have become such a well-regarded affair in such a short time. For years, they were the foreign stepchildren of award shows. Well-documented junkets and gifts to members have been the way to get to these deportable ink-stained wretches. Just give them some towels and a martini and you're set up with as many GG's as you want. This is the same organization that awarded Pia Zadora Best Newcomer back in the 80's over a field that was clearly superior, only to admit later they had all been flown to her husband's (and her film's producer's) mansion for a screening and party where they all left with gifts and were treated like royalty. Their fumbling tactics in deciding winners and nominees have been the inspiration for anti-awards criticism from all corners. They're not even fair with their own membership requirements, which they claim are only to be a journalist and of foreign birth, but must be something else for they turn down foreign-born applicants with the best press credentials for reasons unsaid. The GG's were started by a clique of dilettantes who wanted to be near movie stars, period. They still run their game that way, and now Thin Red Line may suffer for it. Morons. They wouldn't know a good film if they tripped over it on their way to the free buffet.
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If you remember, that 1996 film came out like the week before the new year. it got a few GG nominations and a couple of Oscar nods, but it never got the critical praise it really and truly deserved. I think films that come out in December get crushed too often and not only at the box office. I think that the film industry pays TOO MUCH attention to awards!!!
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I don't know about the rest of you, but I've been anticipating this film as eagerly as "Eyes Wide Shut," "Star Wars," David Lynch's "The Straight Story" etc.
Any doubts I had were silenced by the new trailer I saw at Dark Horizons.So do yourself a favor by
giving this film a chance. I also find it strange to see The Golden Globes receiving so much prestiege
now that it's on network television. It's pretty sad. I remember watching it on cable many years ago in a shitty apartment with a six pack of Coca Cola and some Marlboros. I nearly laughed myself into a hysterical fit.I have one thing to say to the Hollywood Foreign Press:
"GET YOUR FUCKIN' ROBE!" ala Frank Booth in "Blue Velvet." -
YEAH, yea, I know that it's a big and hopeless subject, but there's gotta be a way.
I'm tired of watching these great big time award shows that don't show movies (or, MUSIC, for that matter) that DESERVER the credit that they so clearly have earned.
So, how does a normal movie goin' Joe like me (and admitted movie geek) get about to stop these people from running rampant all over these potentially great film classics? I mean, it's almost like the people in the Golden Globe Committee wouldn't know a good movie if it bit them in the ass. //beowulf-GT -
...checking out the movies recommended by other movie-geeks in this and other foras, instead of watching the movies being spoon-fed to us by commercials, big names and oscar-nominations. While this admittedly will not stop piles of stupid profitgreedy poo from emerging, it will ensure that the worthwhile movies reach an interested audience. People who make worthwhile films (or other forms of art)are interested mainly in one thing: getting their point across, and to influence people emotionally, not fame or big bucks....not that they arent ever interested at all in that latter part, the are human beings with bills as you and I.
The above is also known as "identify an artist 101" :-)
GG
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