The American Film Company

COMMENTS

• 
  04/01/2010 at 1:11pm

  robin

  (According to wiki) Dred Scott was born in about 1799, the trial was in 1857, he died in 1858, making him about 58 during the Supreme Court trial. But he was also involved in a Missouri state trial trying to get his freedom (he had lived and worked in several free states with his owner, Dr. John Emerson, a doctor in the US Army.) He lost the 1847 trial, but a new trial was granted to him in 1850, which he won, giving him and his family their freedom. His previous owner's wife (John had died) challenged the decision, and 2 years later prevailed, and Dred and his family were again enslaved. The Scotts again sued in Federal court, lost and appealed to the Supreme Court, and lost again in 1857.
  
  But proving that real history is often more interesting than fiction, his story took an unexpected turn. His owner (the wife of his late owner) married a man named Chafee, an abolitionist who was elected to congress. He was apparently unaware (how????) that she owned the most famous slave in the United States until shortly before the Supreme Court decision (how's that for communication in a marriage?)
  
  After the decision, he 'encouraged' her to give the Scotts to their previous owner (who the Emersons had bought him from), who granted him his freedom. He died a year later.
  
  So, an actor would need to be 40 - 60, or able to play that range. Denzel Washington or Forrest Whitaker?

  from The Best American History Movies NEVER Made
• 
  04/01/2010 at 10:33am

  TAFC_Staff

  Hey surf4fun101, you can read more about the identity of "Deep Throat" in this exclusive Vanity Fair interview with the man who finally admitted the truth, W. Mark Felt.

  http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2005/07/deepthroat200507

  from All the President's Men
• 
  03/31/2010 at 4:25pm

  surf4fun101

  This film is such a great modern Western!!! A truly enthralling film.

  from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
• 
  03/31/2010 at 4:21pm

  surf4fun101

  I cannot believe that "Deep Throat" was unknown for over 30 years!!!! It was such a scandal and I find it horribly fascinating that one man was able to go unidentified for so long when the whole nation was watching this plot unravel.

  from All the President's Men
• 
  03/31/2010 at 4:17pm

  surf4fun101

  The opening speech in Patton is very moving. I can understand why this film was chosen for preservation by the Library of Congress in the United States National Film Registry. It is amazing that one man was able to accomplish so much and become such a hero in his life.

  from Patton