Hollywood-Hero – Commentary on Harrison Ford – August 30, 2003

 

Well, there they go again.  Harrison Ford is the latest Hollywood star to attack the Bush Administration and the Iraq war on foreign soil.  In Madrid to promote his latest release “Hollywood Homicide,” he uttered the following:

          ''I'm very disturbed about the direction American foreign policy is going,'' said Ford, with U.S. post-war casualties having exceeded those during the actual conflict.

          ''I think something needs to be done to help alleviate the conditions which have created a disenfranchised and angry faction in the Middle East.''

          ''I don't think military intervention is the correct solution.  I regret what we as a country have done so far,'' said Ford. 

 

          On gun control:  ''I'm very troubled by the proliferation of arms, at the fact so many people in the United States carry guns.  It obviously contributes greatly to the crime problems we have.  I'm sure gun laws should be strengthened in the     United States.  I just don't know the correct mechanism.''

 

This of course, from an actor who has starred in many films with a gun in his hand.  Hollywood-Hero mentioned in an op-ed earlier this year in reference to Martin Sheen and his role as a fictional president on West Wing, how irritating it is that these people make fortunes acting in movies, portraying characters that are antithetical to their own belief systems.  They seem to have no compunction to collect a big fat paycheck portraying a character whose political views are far from their own.  Then they take the money and run to the nearest protest, or nearest microphone, or in Martin Sheen’s case the nearest jail cell, as he seems to relish being arrested, and bash this country.

 

And now Harrison Ford weighs in with his take on foreign policy and military intervention (see Air Force One, Patriot Games) and gun control (see Star Wars, Indiana Jones, etc.).  He makes his fortune portraying characters that he obviously finds terribly distasteful.  I think we should start a movement in this country to help these actors cleanse themselves of their collective guilt. 

 

Let’s start a drive to have them donate all their ill-gotten gains to their favorite political cause.  How about MoveOn.org (the voice for the anti-war Left) or GunFree.org (dedicated to progressive gun laws since 1974).

 

As we mentioned the other day, Senator Diane Feinstein blamed Arnold Schwarzenegger’s films for the violence on L.A. streets.  A memo was just leaked from Mrs. Gray Davis with the same talking points.  We pointed out the hypocrisy inherent in these statements considering the support both Governor Gray Davis and Senator Diane Feinstein has garnered from the Hollywood community.

 

It’s insulting to the movie going public, the people we hastened to remind, who pay these peoples’ salaries by going to their films, that they consistently bite the hand that feeds them with their ridiculous comments on serious public policy issues which with they have little to no knowledge or understanding.

 

Yes, we’ve all agreed everyone is entitled to their 1^st Amendment rights and they can choose their roles and their perform acts of activism however and whenever they choose.  

 

But seriously folks, this is becoming untenable to the movie going public.  You make your money in many cases espousing views you obviously find dishonorable.  But you find no problem doing so, because “you’re acting.”  Mr. Ford seems to have no problem collecting those million dollar checks portraying a gun toting, terrorist fighting president, or a galaxy pilot fighting the dark side in Star Wars or searching for the challis of Christ in Indiana Jones and killing anyone who gets in his way.

 

Yes, they can make their millions that way but in the real world, where the rest of us live, and the many of us who support a real man, President Bush who has taken the terrorists to task and is keeping us safe from the evil in the world, well, according to the likes of Mr. Ford, the Dixie Chicks, Jessica Lange, Janeane Garafolo, Ed Asner, and Martin Sheen, we’re the ones who are from the dark side.

 

Enough is enough.  These celebrities don’t put their money where their mouth is, and they speak from both sides of their mouth.  We, the movie going public, are beginning to put our money where our hearts are and we’re not buying what they are selling anymore.

 

 

Postscript:  We here at Hollywood-Hero, love the movies.  But what we also love was what Hollywood used to be.  A different Era of the movie industry where there were moral clauses, real men who joined the war efforts either as real life soldiers or by making documentaries for the Pentagon.  There was a responsibility inherent with celebrity.  You were expected to behave reasonably and if you didn’t, there were consequences.  Movie moguls of the time knew where the money came from and respected the public.  Nowadays, the celebrity is the one catered to, not the public whose largess either makes or breaks a movie, song or television show. 

 

It’s time we take back, what is one of the most fun things to do on a Saturday evening, is to take in a great movie or show.  The land of make believe where we lose ourselves in someone else’s life, and forget our problems. 

 

We’re both angry and sad that in so many cases, favorite movies of the past are now tainted by the hypocrisy of those who made them.  Some wonderful pieces of Art, no longer hold the places in our memories that they should.  Shame on you, Mr. Ford, Mr. Sheen, Ms. Sarandon, Mr. Redford, Mr. Asner and so many others.  Shame on you for forgetting what you went to Hollywood for.  Shame on you for taking millions of our dollars in our country and laughing all the way to the bank about the clueless Americans who love their country and their president.

 

Celebrities in this country have run amok.  We have shown them that they can act with impunity.  Say anything, marry or not marry anyone, do drugs, be an alcoholic, commit crimes, whatever and they don’t pay a price.  They can also go on a press junket, disparage their country and its president, go back, and live in their bubble with their sycophants.  They have plenty of staff and flunkies who depend on these stars for their livelihoods, who’ll keep telling them how great they are.  The only message we can send them is with our hard earned cash.  And to not support their projects if they have gone over the line of moral decency and respect for their constituency, the movie going public.  Not a boycott, but freedom of choice, and a choice that we’re mad about having to make.

 

Quote from Hollywood-Hero president, Lisa Sarrach – “As ardent fans of movies and the relief and entertainment they can bring into our lives, it is a sad day but we will rise again by taking back our rights and sending a message to the gluttons in Hollywood, that we’ve had enough.”