Jan

20

Red Tails: A movie for black teens, Dean Grose, & all Americans

Filed Under Dean Grose, Decency, Inspiration, The Base 

(1/20/2012, Los Alamitos) Why did it take a Hollywood legend like George Lucas 24 years to make and market his movie about America’s Tuskegee Airmen?

Lucas said part of the problem was America’s studios reluctance to bet on a film where all the good guys are African American and all the bad guys are white.

Sadly, another part was our studio’s reluctance to produce something besides a “music video type of movie” for African American teens.

In an interview with The  New York Times, Lucas described the type or response he got from the studios:

“They say, ‘Now, who are you making this for?’”

“I’m making it for black teenagers.”

“And you’re doing it as a throwback movie? You’re not going to do it as a hip, happening-now, music-video kind of movie?”

“No, that’s not a smart thing to do. There’s not really going to be a lot of swearing in it. There’s probably not going to be a huge amount of blood in it. Nobody’s head’s going to get blown off.”

“And you’re going to be very patriotic—you’re making a black movie that’s patriotic?”

“They have a right to have their history just like anybody else does. And they have a right to have it kind of Hollywood-ized and aggrandized and made corny and wonderful just like anybody else does. Even if that’s not the fashion right now.”

So Lucas ended up footing the $93 million production, marketing and distribution bill himself.

Why?   As Lucas says in the film’s production notes, it was a labor of love to tell the story of America’s all black World War II Tuskegee Airmen:

I thought their story would make a great film.  An inspirational one that shows the incredible things these men went through to patriotically serve with valor and help the world battle back the evils of fascism. It’s an amazing story, and I wanted to memorialize it.

Since we living in a town that, sadly, did not have any self-identified African Americans registered to vote in our last election, you might wonder why I’m highlighting a movie aimed at African American teenagers.

Because, as I said, ultimately, the movie isn’t just about black heroes, it’s based on a true story of black  American military heroes.  Like many Los Alamitos residents, Mr. Gross is an enthusiastic supporter of our country and our military. Red Tails might just give him, and the rest of us, a better perspective on the struggles of our African American countrymen.  A perspective that sometimes seems sadly lacking in our very modestly integrated community.

I hope a lot of us get to see it.   Including our infamous former Mayor and his wife.

Disclaimer: I haven’t seen the movie yet, and am basing much of this post on material contained in a review on  Focus on the Family’s PluggedIn.com website, which also cautioned that, despite Lucas’ claim of minimal violence, the movie has “quite a few vulgarities” and quite a bit of violence, making it well deserving of it’s PG-13 rating.

The trailer (below) seems to say it best.  If it doesn’t make you proud of our military, proud to be an American. . . . well, I’ll be pretty surprised, and might find your comment enlightening.

As always, your thoughts and comments are appreciated, especially if you’ve seen the movie.

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Related posts:

  1. More of Dean Grose’s gross e-mails
  2. “The Help:” A great movie to catch this weekend
  3. Cat Driscoll on Dean Grose, Edgar, Zarkos, & her critics
  4. Dean Grose resigns as Mayor but not from the City Council, effective Monday

Comments

3 Responses to “Red Tails: A movie for black teens, Dean Grose, & all Americans”

  1. JM Ivler on January 21st, 2012 1:47 am

    Not the first movie about them.

    1995 The Tuskegee Airmen
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114745/
    staring Laurence Fishburne, Allen Payne, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Malcolm-Jamal Warner.

    Directed by: Robert Markowitz

    Writing credits:
    Paris Qualles, Trey Ellis and Ron Hutchinson (teleplay)
    Robert Williams and T.S. Cook (story)

    Nominated for 10 Emmy’s and won three. As well as Peabody and Image awards.

    Synopsis

    Based on a true story, The Tuskegee Airmen chronicles the experiences of the first African-American fighter pilots in the U.S. Army Air Corps. Using Hannibal Lee (Laurence Fishburne) as a focal point, the movie follows the airmen from their initial training at Tuskegee, Alabama, through their combat assignments during World War II. Featuring fascinating vintage military planes and exciting air-combat footage, the film also depicts the racism encountered by the pilots. In one example, the airmen are forced to give their seats on a crowded train to German prisoners of war. Even after the airmen complete their training, the military brass is reluctant to trust them in battle. But First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt publicizes their plight by going to Tuskegee and having one of the African-American pilots take her for a plane ride, and shortly thereafter the airmen are assigned a combat role. Eventually they join with other African-American pilots in the 332nd Fighter Group where their skill in protecting bombers from enemy fighters finally earns them the respect they deserve. The screen story was co-authored by Robert Williams, one of the pilots trained at Tuskegee.

  2. Bingo on January 30th, 2012 7:40 pm

    What’s this got to do with fixing Los Al?

  3. JM Ivler on January 30th, 2012 11:22 pm

    about as much as the Sunday Sermon that Dave posts.

    But any chance to remind people that we had the nations #1 racist mayor for two months… [Now he has to compete with the moron Mayor from East Haven CT]

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