The American Film Company

COMMENTS

• 
  05/20/2013 at 6:01pm

  childhoodsend50

  Apart from Abraham Lincoln's assassination in 1865, John F. Kennedy's assassination has been the most devastating blow that our country has experienced since that night at Ford's Theater more than a century ago. I wanted to share this YouTube musical/visual presentation reflecting on the lasting effects of that fateful day in Dallas that deeply touched many of our lives forever, including my own. This November 22nd will mark its 50th anniversary. I co-wrote the song "Childhood's End" and assisted in the video production (link is below).
  
  I've been a lyricist/songwriter all my life, having the good fortune of working with a number of talented and gifted artists over the past 30+ years. The songwriting credit I'm most proud of is providing the words for "Shadowland", a song co-written with Graham Nash and Joe Vitale that appeared on Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's first reunion album, "American Dream", certified platinum in 1989.
  
  I was hoping someone might connect with this song and visual production in some way. Unfortunately, these days many young people aren't fully aware of the lasting effect President Kennedy's assassination has had on our country and the world over the past fifty years. As the saying goes, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it". I think it's critical for our future that this moment from our nation's history is never swept under the carpet of the changing times. We owe that much to our children, our children's children and the future generations that are here long after we are gone..
  
  Kind regards,
  
  Rick Ryan

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ssPibCd-1U

  from Lincoln
• 
  04/28/2013 at 1:10am

  Grunt

  Lincoln was probably the greatest picture made in contemporary times, The Conspirator ranks high, and is an accurate portrayal of history. I can't help but to think Redford made the movie to coincide with the trials of captured terrorists just like the movie The Unthinkable was.
  
  I watch Lincoln, April 1865, and the Conspirator in sequence and have a wonderful evening.

  from Lincoln
• 
  03/11/2013 at 3:26pm

  Spirit_Walking

  Social stratification during the voyage of the Titanic...and in this present hour...is as old as the beard of Moses. Example: Make no mistake, the papacy is a boys' club, where Men Only decide; there will be no female pope unless, of course, it's a movie.
  
  The Titantic, right; not enough lifeboats (fact) and who among the upper class would dream of sharing one with someone booked in steerage? Just to keep it real, and you needn't wait for evidence to discern the truth. In real life, it's a matter of human moves. Fact, no blacks or other ethnic minorities were booked aboard the Titanic (if you don't count the Irish considered 1/17 white); certainly those in steerage, who were privileged to travel aboard ship, would have objected to sharing accommodations with Africans, Asians, Arabs, et. al.
  
  James Cameron's screenplay (which didn't win an Oscar because the Academy never bothered to nominate it) is true to the social order, or statification, of the passengers.
  
  As for the "why" this ship had a glass jaw so couldn't take a single blow like that hunk of ice...well, those reasons are manifold and has been worthy of more than one documentary. Suffice it to say, if the ship's captain had been portrayed by Sean Connery, we might have heard a bit more on this.
  
  TITANIC may have succeeded in painting a fair portrait of history, but it's greatest success is reaching the largest audience and lowest common denominator.

  from Titanic
• 
  03/11/2013 at 2:50pm

  Spirit_Walking

  Director John Ford, faced with the truth and the legend, would go with the legend. THE SEARCHERS regarded by many among the better westerns ever made, the truth will out, eventually, given time.
  
  J. Edgar Hoover in 1919 targeted the Pan-African leader Marcus Garvey, in the 1920's suppressed the FBI career advancement of it's first female agent Lenore Houston, inspired the turncoat communist agent Elizabeth Bentley...each having an individual impact upon American history in the early 20th Century. The movie by Clint Eastwood does two things: it proves my personal adage that all movies are myths, because it's impossible for any film to adhere 100% to accuracy. It also validates Ford's idea of legend; that the victor writes history and the media repeats it often.
  
  If our trust in historians is not sacrosanct--yet leave the truth in the hands of the the gods--what do we really know about anything? Are we too lazy or too afraid?
  
  Movies about history, in my opinion, is not to decide what is accurate, rather it's to stimulate our doubts, inspire our questions, and prompt our research.

  from J. Edgar
• 
  03/11/2013 at 2:07pm

  Spirit_Walking

  I am not a fan of baseball (strictly NFL) and absolutely not one for baseball movies (with all due respect to Kevin Costner) ...and yet MONEYBALL grabbed my attention and interest in a way that had little to do with the sport itself.
  
  Brad Pitt's performance galvanizes a story about "taking care of business"; the entrepreneurial algorithms of accomplishing a goal--even one that few understand and/or willing to condone--and winning WITHOUT winning.
  
  A movie with the solemnity and sage like real life; like real life which just seems to happen, something that we all must go back to when we come out of a movie theater--except, here it IS the movie. A wonderful procedural like ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN, THE INSIDER, and other moments in history given that dramatic push...and giving us viewers a moment of pause.

  from Moneyball