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Subdeacon Joe

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Interesting interview

 

Lucas told Stewart he’s been working on the film for 23 years. Although paying for it himself, he went to the studios to create the prints, ads, and be responsible for distribution.

 

“I showed it to all of them and they said, ‘No. We don’t know how to market a movie like this.'”

 

When Stewart asked why, Lucas first responded, “Because it’s not green enough. They only release green movies.”

 

The filmmaker clarified, “It's because it's an all black movie. There's no major white roles in it at all. It’s one of the first all black action pictures ever made.”

 

Lucas continued, “It’s a reasonably expensive movie. Normally black movies, say Tyler Perry movies or something, you know, they’re very low-budget, and, even they won’t release his movies. It goes to the lower, not major distributors. And they do well, but they do a certain amount of money, and they know what that is, and this costs more than those movies make. And they don’t believe there’s any foreign market for it. That’s 60 percent of their profit.”

 

Sadder still was how Hollywood balked given the message Lucas was trying to convey.

 

“I wanted to make it inspirational for teenaged boys. I wanted to show that they have heroes, they’re real American heroes, they’re patriots that helped to make the country what it is today. And it’s not Glory where you have a lot of white officers running these guys into cannon fodder. It’s like a real, they were real heroes.”

 

And Hollywood said, "No."

 

 

 

Very interesting.

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I think perhaps he missed the point in Glory though. :unsure:

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The soldiers in the 54th Mass were volunteers. They didn't have to serve. They were as heroic as the Tuskeegee Airmen imho. They knew that capture by the confederates meant death as did their white officers. Their officers charged with them, rather than send the black troops in as cannon fodder. Glory was pretty accurate in showing the prejudice that existed in the Union, and the obstacles the men had to overcome, and the courageous spirit they displayed. Col Stroud was a hero as well who died with his troops. I have read the regimental history of the 54th. Perhaps Lucas should. I'm not sure why he took a cheap shot at an excellent movie.

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The soldiers in the 54th Mass were volunteers. They didn't have to serve. They were as heroic as the Tuskeegee Airmen imho. They knew that capture by the confederates meant death as did their white officers. Their officers charged with them, rather than send the black troops in as cannon fodder. Glory was pretty accurate in showing the prejudice that existed in the Union, and the obstacles the men had to overcome, and the courageous spirit they displayed. Col Stroud was a hero as well who died with his troops. I have read the regimental history of the 54th. Perhaps Lucas should. I'm not sure why he took a cheap shot at an excellent movie.

 

Ah! Got it. It did an excellent job showing the prejudice of the day, and the prevailing social attitudes. I've read some of the comments about blacks found in the letters and diaries of Union soldiers. The bigotry in some of them is astounding, at least by todays standards, and the emerging egalitarian sensibilities of the day. But, I don't think it was really a cheap shot. "Glory" was as much about Stroud, the white guy, as it was about the USCT he led. Lucas seemed to want to show, for want of a better term, a black perspective and make it about the blacks who flew. In a way, a bit naive, since they didn't exist in a vacuum, but kind of understandable.

 

Lordy, this got me to thinking about a story one of the Tuskegee Airmen told of a white pilot who put down at their airfield and spent a December night in his cockpit rather than go into a barracks with them.

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Ah! Got it. It did an excellent job showing the prejudice of the day, and the prevailing social attitudes. I've read some of the comments about blacks found in the letters and diaries of Union soldiers. The bigotry in some of them is astounding, at least by todays standards, and the emerging egalitarian sensibilities of the day. But, I don't think it was really a cheap shot. "Glory" was as much about Stroud, the white guy, as it was about the USCT he led. Lucas seemed to want to show, for want of a better term, a black perspective and make it about the blacks who flew. In a way, a bit naive, since they didn't exist in a vacuum, but kind of understandable.

 

Lordy, this got me to thinking about a story one of the Tuskegee Airmen told of a white pilot who put down at their airfield and spent a December night in his cockpit rather than go into a barracks with them.

 

It would be quite difficult to tell the story of the 54th without Stroud. I thought Glory showed an excellent black perspective from Morgan Freeman's character to Denzel Washington's. I don't think the fact that the officers were white diminishes that.

He may be correct in his opinion that movies like Glory would not have been made without white stars. Regardless of the liberal stranglehold on the film industry, the green does dominate.

 

And when I first learned that Glory was being filmed with Matthew Broderick as Col Stroud I said,"You've got to me kidding me!"

I didn't think he had it in him. ;)

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It would be quite difficult to tell the story of the 54th without Stroud. I thought Glory showed an excellent black perspective from Morgan Freeman's character to Denzel Washington's. I don't think the fact that the officers were white diminishes that.

He may be correct in his opinion that movies like Glory would not have been made without white stars. Regardless of the liberal stranglehold on the film industry, the green does dominate.

 

And when I first learned that Glory was being filmed with Matthew Broderick as Col Stroud I said,"You've got to me kidding me!"

I didn't think he had it in him. ;)

 

Yep, the green does dominate. It is, after all, a for profit industry. I don't hold that against the studios at all.

 

It would, indeed, be impossible to tell the story of the 54th Volunteers, or any unit of the USCT, without having white officers, but it seems to me that "Glory" is 60% about Shaw and 40% about roughly 1000 free men of color he led.

 

I wasn't really surprised that Broderick was able to do a good job of it. I had seen a few of his movies and he seemed to be able to put on a role like a skin. Although I think my favorite will always be his part in Ladyhawk. Serious, humorous, loyal and treacherous at the same time. Seemed to have a lot going for him.

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Being a WW2 buff I plan on watching it.One thing came to mind watching the previews was that it looks like a remake of the movie Tuskegee Airman.Another good movie based on fact with some Hollyweird tossed in the mix.The pilots in Tuskegee Airman were flying P51's with red tails.They had one heck of a record that no other fighter group of the war could claim.Never lost a bomber to enemy air action while they were flying cover.

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Being a WW2 buff I plan on watching it.One thing came to mind watching the previews was that it looks like a remake of the movie Tuskegee Airman.Another good movie based on fact with some Hollyweird tossed in the mix.The pilots in Tuskegee Airman were flying P51's with red tails.They had one heck of a record that no other fighter group of the war could claim.Never lost a bomber to enemy air action while they were flying cover.

 

Actually, they did. http://www.tuskegee.edu/sites/www/Uploads/files/About%20US/Airmen/EscortedBombersLosttoEnemyAircraft12.2011.pdf

 

This is not to try to diminish what they did. I think that a true and accurate record of what they did honors them more than an inaccurate myth.

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I'm afraid Lucas is right about the economics of this movie. It is much more expensive than the average movie to make, with much more limited audience.

 

But that being said, I will do my part to make it profitable. I can't wait to go see the movie when it comes out! :FlagAm:

 

I met several of the Tuskegee Airmen at the Gather of Mustangs in 2008. They are worthy of society's deepest regards.

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I don't think Lucas was attempting to take anything away from either Glory or the 54th. In reading the excerpt, I found myself recalling the movie and the ending. There is no doubt the portrayal of the troops was heroic, but for your average, non-history buff movie goer, they are left with the impression that these troops who conquered so much were indeed cannon fodder in the assault of Fort Wagner. The average movie goer would not know that many white units faced the same ending, until it was realized that Wagner wouldn't be taken through direct assault. I remember my own feeling at the end of the movie. I recalled thinking of the waste of good soldiers, due as much to antiquated methods of warfare as anything, but that these men went to certain death nonetheless.

 

The Tuskegee Airmen, on the other hand, are recognized as at least the equals of their counterparts, going through far more to get to fly in combat than their peers, but ultimately flying P-51s and taking heroic risks. They weren't marching heroically toward near certain death, instead they were fighter pilots, defending bombers and taking the attack to the Germans in what has always been seen as the last chivalric warfare. Fighter against fighter, with the best not just surviving, but winning.

 

But, I could be wrong.

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I'm afraid Lucas is right about the economics of this movie. It is much more expensive than the average movie to make, with much more limited audience.

 

But that being said, I will do my part to make it profitable. I can't wait to go see the movie when it comes out! :FlagAm:

 

I met several of the Tuskegee Airmen at the Gather of Mustangs in 2008. They are worthy of society's deepest regards.

 

I met some at both the Gathering of Mustangs and Legends at Rickenbacker ANGB in 2007, and also at the Dayton Air Show that same year.

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Actually, they did. http://www.tuskegee.edu/sites/www/Uploads/files/About%20US/Airmen/EscortedBombersLosttoEnemyAircraft12.2011.pdf

 

This is not to try to diminish what they did. I think that a true and accurate record of what they did honors them more than an inaccurate myth.

 

 

 

Ok..I stand corrected.They still did one heck of a job though.Far better than the know it all's ever thought they would.

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Ok..I stand corrected.They still did one heck of a job though.Far better than the know it all's ever thought they would.

 

Yeah, one hell of a record! Any unit would be more than proud to have done what they did.

 

Just like the 761st "Black Panthers" Tank Battalion. All, or mostly, black unit that ended up under Patton.

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