Hillsdale College, Hillsdale, Michigan 49242 December 1989 Volume 18, No. 12

''Hollywood vs. Religion'' Michael Medved, co-host, Sneak Previews

Editor's Preview: In this edited transcript unbearably boring two-hour-and-forty­ of his remarks at Hillsdale's Center for Con­ minute extravaganza that proved consid­ structive Alternatives' March 1989 program, erably less interesting than the controversy "Popular Entertainment and Its Impact on surrounding it. Society," film critic Michael Medved dis­ From Hollywood, most of the noise in cusses how and why Hollywood is overtly that debate involved smug and solemn pro­ hostile to religion. nouncements in defense of Mr. Scorsese's y job involves watching as many First Amendment rights-inconsistently as six movies every week. This coupled with condemnation of those who Mmay strike strangers as an all but chose to exercise their First Amendment ideal occupation, but that is only because rights by protesting the film . For several they forget that I have little choice as to weeks, on the airwaves and in private con­ which films I am required to review. As versations, you couldn't escape the defenses a critic, I'm compelled to sample almost and denunciations of this particular every new product which Hollywood offers picture-provided, in most cases, by people up to the waiting world. At times, I feel who had never seen the movie. that I deserve hazardous duty pay. Unfortunately, I did see the movie-in Just recently, I had to endure an extra­ its nearly insufferable entirety-at an early, ordinarily offensive fl.lm called Parents. It's pre-release screening, and I can assure you been promoted as a light-hearted comedy phosphorescent, glow-in-the-dark con­ that the experience is about as satisfying about a typical middle class family in the doms. I'm not kidding- this was the and uplifting as two hours and forty 1950's, but it is actually a graphic, horri­ artistic highlight of a multi-million dollar minutes in the dentist's chair. The pre­ fyingly detailed, and very stylish illm about major studio project. It's no wonder that vailing tedium is relieved only by great suburban cannibalism. Mary Beth Hurt and my job sometimes gives rise to the feeling bouts of gore that seem to splatter the Randy Quaid play a friendly neighborhood that I'm actually working as a glorified screen at irregular intervals. The fl.lm opens couple who steal bodies from a local sewer inspector. with a sequence that shows Jesus himself morgue, grind them into meat loaf, and There are rare occasions, however, when engaged in crucifying someone else. As the then force-feed this hamburger surprise to a new movie comes along and , against all victim's feet are nailed to the cross, blood their terrified little boy. The meat grinder odds, offers a chance to address some spurts out and covers Jesus ' face. sequences alone would be enough to give serious issues. Like all other critics, I'm The members of what you would have nightmares to any sane viewer. eternally grateful for these fleeting to call "the supporting cast" fare no better. I have also recently suffered through moments-even if the film that inspires In this picture, Mary Magdelene was Blake Edwards ' latest offering, Skin Deep. them happens to be a pretentious and sadly covered from head to toe with tattoos­ This has become a controversial picture muddled mess. resembling no one so much as that char­ even before its release, and the producers acter Groucho Marx used to sing about , have actually encouraged that controversy The Last Temptation Lydia the Tattooed Lady. And she wasn't by promising potential moviegoers "The of the Critics the only one- you 'd think that director Most Outrageous Scene of the Decade.'' Scorsese had discovered in his research Now, just what is this scene? It's a ten his was the case with Martin about ancient Judea that there were tattoo minute sequence about two men fighting Scorsese's overwrought epic, The parlors on every comer catering exclusively in a hotel room while wearing colorful, TLast Temptation of Christ-an to females. In reality, however, it was against Jewish and Biblical law to decorate defend it. I remember a conversation with contemporary filmmakers. Agnes of God yourself with even a single, small tattoo. one of my colleagues who had prepared offers us the elevating image of young nun Meanwhile, the actor who played Judas what I considered an unaccountably Meg Tilly murdering her own baby and Iscariot, Harvey Keitel , provided us with generous review. He explained himself with attempting to flush the tiny body down the what must rank as one of the most out­ surprising candor. "If I was too rough on toilet of her convent room . The Runner rageously miscalculated performances of the film ;' he said, "then people would Stumbles presents Dick Van Dyke as yet recent years-delivering all his lines with associate me with Jerry Falwell'' -and that another priest involved in an affair with his Bronx accent fmnly intact, and wearing was an association he could not accept. a nun, while many more films, including an orange fright wig which made him look True Confessions, Mass Appeal and The like a Biblical Bozo. The Gospel Mission, use some of the best actors in the The Last Temptation of Christ was, by According to Hollywood business to play well-intentioned idealists any honest and objective standards, an who are overwhelmed by the pervasive artistic disaster-a bitter embarrassment he movie industry 's resounding cynicism and hypocrisy of the church for a genuinely gifted director. endorsement of The Last Temptation hierarchy. Yet many of my colleagues in what Tof Christ is only the latest and per­ Protestant pastors suffer the same rough passes for ''the critical community'' hailed haps the most grotesque illustration of the treatment at the hands of Hollywood as it as a masterpiece. One of America's best overt and pervasive hostility to religion and their Catholic brothers and sisters. In the known movie reviewers even annointed it religious values that has taken root in last two years alone, independent feature "The Greatest Film of 1988." The Academy Hollywood. films like Pass the Ammo, Salvation and of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences went To maintain a sense of perspective, it Riders of the Storm have savagely satirized so far as to nominate Mr. Scorsese for an is important to remember that this is a greedy and greasy evangelists lusting after Academy Award as best director of the year. relatively recent development in movie sex and money. To me, nothing so forcefully reveals the history. In the past, the major studios Even when religion isn't the primary clouded lens through which Hollywood churned out biblical blockbusters like The focus of a film , religious figures frequently views the world as the utterly undeserved Ten Commandments, Samson and Delilah , turn up as convenient heavies. In Light of praise which this film received. The Robe and Ben Hur, specifically designed Day, a 1987 stinker written and directed I would argue that the response to The to appeal to religious sensibilities. These by Last Temptation screenwriter Paul Last Temptation represents the film sandstorm-and-sandals epics may not stand Schrader, the family minister is a pious, industry 's "Circle the Wagons" mentality today as examples of deathless works of pompous fraud who impregnates the hero's at its most hysterical and paranoid. Since art , but they did earn millions at the box teenaged sister and then takes no respon­ religious figures across the country were office and even won a measure of critical sibility for the child. Malone gives us a attacking the picture, the members of the acclaim . chance to watch Burt Reynolds battling a Hollywood community felt called upon to In years past, Hollywood also turned out Christian para-military cult in the Pacific popular and sympathetic portrayals of con­ Northwest. In Crimes of Passion, Tony About the Author temporary clergymen . Bing Crosby, Pat Perkins is a crazed, sweating skid row O'Brien and Spencer Tracy played earthy, preacher attempting to murder prostitute Michael Medved is well known to millions compassionate priests who gave hope to Kathleen Thrner in the most sickening and of Americans as the co-host of the weekly underprivileged kids or comforted GI's on sadistic manner imaginable. Even last sum­ PBS television program , Sneak Previews. After the battlefield. Nearly all men of the cloth graduating from Yale University in 1969, he mer 's horror remake The Blob offers some worked for several years as a speechwriter who appeared on screen would be kindly oblique commentary on organized religion , and political consultant. In 1976 he co­ and concerned, if not downright heroic. when the bespectacled small-town pastor authored What Really Happened to the Class In the last ten to fifteen years mains­ (Del Close) turns out to be a secret drunk. of '65? which became a bestseller and the tream moviemakers have swung to the The last scene in the movie shows his basis for a weekly series on NBC. His other other extreme. If someone turns up in a crazed sermon threatening the end of the works include The Shadow Presidents (New film today wearing a Roman collar or world as he fiendishly contrives to bring York Times Books, 1979), Hospital: The Hid­ bearing the title "Reverend," you can be the title monster back to earth . den Lives of a Medical Center Staff (Simon & fairly sure that he will be either crazy or Poltergeist II is an extreme example of Schuster, 1983), and, with his brother Harry corrupt-or probably both . the way that mainstream moviemakers Medved, four volumes on the film industry, The 1982 film Monsignor offers an most notably The Golden 'Jl.Jrkey Awards (G.P have turned traditional thinking on its especially obnoxious case in point. That head. The villain of the piece is a hymn­ Putnam , 1980) and The Hollywood Hall of distinguished thespian Christopher Reeve Shame (Perigee Books, 1983). Mr. Medved has singing preacher from beyond the grave also been a frequent guest on The Tonight plays a cardinal-after his success with who leads a band of demonic Bible-belters Show, Oprah Winfrey, David Letterman, ABC Superman he apparently craved another in attempting to drag a hip suburban family Nightline, The Today Show, Good Morning role where he could wear a cape. This par­ down to hell. The only force that can stop America, and many others. He lives in ticular prince of the Church not only these crazed Christians is an heroic California, with his wife and daughters where seduces an idealistic nun, but also invests American Indian medicine man-who he is an active volunteer for a wide variety Vatican money in a series of hideously cor­ mobilizes the positive power of an ancient of Jewish causes. He is president and co­ rupt business deals involving the mafia and pagan religion. founder of Pacific Jewish Center in Venice, the CIA . In explaining the hostility to our Judea­ which has won national attention for its suc­ As the world's most visible religious Christian heritage that characterizes so cessful efforts at attracting unaffiliated young institution, the Roman Catholic Church has Jews to a traditional Jewish lifestyle. many of these films , industry insiders become a particularly popular target for firmly deny any deep-seated anti-religious bias. They insist that moviemakers are murder case in Australia. Streep plays the Paul Verhoeven of Robocop fame-that is merely responding to the beliefs and pre­ wife of a Seventh Day Adventist minister rumored to be even more offensive to tra­ judices of the film-going public. According who is falsely accused of murdering her ditional believers. to this argument, they are merely following own baby. The unshakable faith of husband Moviemakers can't stay away from the honorable capitalist practice of giving and wife, and warm support from their religious themes because of their deep­ the customers what they want. close-knit church community, enables them seated desire to be taken seriously; religion There is, however, one gigantic flaw in to survive this nightmare ordeal, which , offers one subject which everyone acknowl­ that line of reasoning: all of the movies the film makes clear, was caused at least edges as fundamentally serious. If writers I've mentioned above-every single one in part by the anti-religious bigotry of many and directors take a swipe at religion in of them-flopped resoundingly at the box of their accusers. one of their films , no matter how clumsy office. Taken together, these pictures lost These six distinguished films stand apart or contrived that attack may be, they can hundreds of millions for the people who as proud exceptions to the movie industry 's feel as if they 've made some sort of im­ made them. Hunger for money can explain pervasive hostility to religious values and portant and courageous statement. Hence almost everything in Hollywood, but it practices. Yet even these sympathetic por­ the makers of The Blob can insist that can't explain why ambitious producers keep trayals fail to show organized faith as rele­ they 've created something more than a launching expensive projects that slam vant in any way to the lives of ordinary slick monster movie about a huge straw­ religion. urban Americans. Each of the films places berry jello that devours a town . By por­ Their mysterious behavior becomes even religion in an exotic context far removed traying a demented and hypocritical more difficult to understand when one from the daily lives of most moviegoers. minister as a key character in that town , takes a brief look at the public reception Chariots of Fire presents England of the they 've also delivered a "significant" for those exceedingly rare films of recent 1920s. Tender Mercies, The Trip to Boun­ message against religious fanaticism . years that have taken a more sympathetic tiful and Places in the Heart all focus on Such messages win applause in Holly­ view of organized faith. tiny, old-fashioned Texas towns. Witness wood, even when they 're hopelessly sim­ Consider, for example, Chariots of Fire, portrays a quaint sect in a pastoral and plistic and one-sided. By sneering at zealots the 1981 Academy Award winner and isolated enclave, while A Cry in the Dark and deriding conventional religious beliefs, worldwide box office smash. Its title is concerns itself with another small, mis­ a filmmaker can win the respect of his taken from a line in the beloved hymn understood sect in a lonely corner of peers, even if his work iS rejected by the "Jerusalem," and one of the film 's two Australia. larger public. heroes is a Scottish missionary so devout In addition to their remote settings, In this context, I will never forget an that he refuses to run in the Olympics if these films share another important point astonishing private conversation con­ it would force him to violate the sabbath. in common: they all won surprisingly large cerning the motivations behind the Like Chariots of Fire, Tender Mercies con­ audiences, especially when compared with notorious 1985 fiasco, King David. This founded the experts with its strong the disastrous commercial performance of Godzilla-sized turkey cost $28 ,000,000 and audience appeal. Robert Duvall won an so many of the most tendentious anti­ attracted less than $3,000 ,000 in ticket Oscar as a washed-up, alcoholic country­ religious films . sales. It featured Richard Gere in the title and-western singer whose life is trans­ role-a bizarre casting choice that led in­ formed by religious faith. In one of the Hollywood's Motives dustry wags to refer to it as An Israelite most artfully underplayed scenes in recent and A Gentleman. Most peculiar of all , the films, he is baptized on screen and most hy hasn't Hollywood gotten the film advanced the radical- and totally convincingly born again. message? The one thing this unsupported- notion that the biblical king Horton Foote, the same great screen­ Windustry is supposed to be able freed himself from his religious "delusions" writer who created Tender Mercies, also to do is to read the bottom line. Why, then , at the end of his life. The concluding wrote The Trip to Bountiful, about a sweet do savvy producers continue to authorize sequence shows a suddenly enlightened and profoundly religious elderly lady who scores of projects that portray religious David violently rejecting God as he smashes wants to revisit her tiny home town in leaders as crazed, conspiratorial charlatans, the scale model of the temple he had Texas once more before she dies. Places in when similar films have failed so conspic­ previously intended to build. the Heart is also set in Texas-with an uously and consistently in the past? A few weeks before the film 's release, astonishing concluding scene that shows It is hard to escape the conclusion that all the characters in the film, including there is a perverse sort of idealism at work several who died earlier in the story, taking here. For many of the most powerful people communion together in a dusty country in the entertainment business, hostility to Audio & Video Tapes church. traditional religion goes so deep and burns of this presentation Witness became one of the top grossing so intensely that they insist on expressing movies of 1985, with Harrison Ford as a that hostility, even at the risk of commerical are available fugitive Philadelphia cop who is sheltered disaster. Audio: $5.00 Video: $25.00 in a secluded Amish community in rural Despite an unprecedented firestorm of (Shipping Included) Pennsylvania. The portrayal of the Amish free publicity, The Last Temptation of Christ and their stubbornly traditional faith is not performed dismally at the box office. Never­ Call 517-439-1524, ext. 318 merely sympathetic-it is idealized. theless, one of the most prestigious pro­ or write: Most recently, A Cry in the Dark won duction companies in Hollywood has CCA Shavano Office yet another Oscar nomination for Meryl already announced plans for a new project Hillsdale College Streep with its dramatization of a famous entitled Christ The Man-to be directed by Hillsdale, Michigan 49242 ., one of the people who created it spoke to West. But those who function within the surprisingly, is coming from outside the me proudly of its fearless integrity. ''We smug, self-enclosed hothouse atmosphere Hollywood community. A number of could have gone the easy way and played of Hollywood seem genuinely unaware of Christian organizations across the country to the Bible belt;' he said, "but we wanted that fact. To them , the national religious are preparing to enter the business of to make a tough , honest film . We don't revival observed by so many social com­ feature film production. They have raised see David as a gung-ho, Praise-the-Lord mentators is a distant phenomenon-a millions of dollars and secured the services kind of guy. We wanted to make him a malign and threatening form of mass of experienced filmmakers in order to create richer, deeper character.'' delusion. Our mighty engines of popular an alternative source of movie enter­ In his mind, in other words, secure culture are hopelessly out of touch with tainment-providing motion pictures that religious faith is incompatible with depth America. reenforce family and spiritual values. of character. This means, of course, that the movie I am not personally connected with any business is also out of touch with a huge of these efforts, but I am greatly encouraged An Industry Out of portion of its potential audience. Statistics by them. It surely is a welcome devel­ Touch With America prove the point. In the 1940s, over 90 opment that instead of merely condemning million Americans-close to two-thirds of the level of Hollywood's current offerings, t's easy for most moviemakers to the country-went to the movies every some religious leaders are now determined assume a patronizing attitude toward week. Today, the number of filmgoers is to create better movies of their own. In the I religiously committed people because less than 20 million per week and, more process, they may win back part of the they know so few of them personally. If importantly, surveys show that close to 40 mass audience for films that the movie most big screen images of religious leaders percent of the American people don't even industry has recently lost. If they do, and tend to resemble Swaggart or Bakker it's go out to a single movie in the course of their projects succeed ~t the box office, then because evangelists on television are the a year. There is surely a significant overlap they have a chance of shaking up the entire only believers who are readily visible to between that half of our population that movie business and undermining its most the members of the film colony. attends church or synagogue every week­ cynical assumptions. In 1982 , a fascinating survey by re­ end, and that substantial portion of poten­ I wish these people well , and hope that searchers from the University of Maryland tial filmgoers who avoid all current films. others-both inside and outside the cur­ analyzed the attitudes and practices of key Make no mistake: it is not just the high rent Hollywood establishment-will come decision makers and creative personnel in ticket prices or the gum on the seats or forward to offer new directions in feature the movie business. Only three percent the easy availability of television that keeps films , particularly in the way that today 's responded that they regularly attended patrons away from the theatres. Tens of movies present religious and spiritual church or synagogue. In the country at millions of Americans have given up on issues. My interest in this struggle is, I will large, by contrast, the same study indicated contemporary movies because they see confess, at least partially selfish . If current that just under fifty percent flock to services their own deepest values so rarely reflected efforts succeed, then in years to come I on a regular basis. - or even respected-on screen . may be spared the experience of more America is, by every measure, the most Attempts are now in the works to feature films about suburban cannibalism openly and actively religious society in the change all that, though the initiative, not and condoms that glow in the dark.

IMPRIMIS (im!pri-mes), taking its name from the Latin term for "in the first place," is the publication of Hillsdale College. Editor, JosephS. McNamara, Managing Editor, Lissa Roche, Assistant, Patricia A. DuBois. The opinions expressed in IMPRIMIS may be, but are not necessarily, the views of Hillsdale College and its External Affairs division. Copyright © 1989. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided a version of the following credit line is used: "Reprinted by permission from IMPRIMIS, the monthly journal of Hillsdale College, featuring presentations at Hillsdale's Center for Constructive Alternatives and at its Shavano Institute for National Leadership." ISSN 0277-&432 . Circulation 300,000 worldwide, established 1972. Complimentary subscriptions available.

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