Saturday, August 24, 2013

Theater Won't Show 'The Butler' Because of Jane Fonda

The owner refuses to play the film due to her opposition to the Vietnam War, which he trained pilots for.
A central Kentucky theater owner who trained pilots during the Vietnam War is refusing to show the nation's top movie, Lee Daniels' The Butler, because one of the stars is Jane Fonda, who was an outspoken opponent of the conflict.

"Making eye contact with adults while dressed as a clown is risky."
Doug Coupland

99 comments:

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I suck at this this.

I can't even schedule a post.

chickelit said...

She'll never live that down and should stop trying.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
chickelit said...

I think she did give up trying to apologize, but her fan boys and girls just wouldn't even begin to.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Jane Fonda wasn't just opposed to the Vietnam War, she went and all out and gave aid and comfort to the other side and got our men killed.

I agree with the Theater Owner.
But I'm sure the media will label it racist.

I myself will do a happy dance when that horrid leftwing wicked witch drops dead.

I hear the movie is good despite the horrific installment of Jane Fonda.
I also hear the movie is typical Hollywood revisionist history as it takes several swipes and Ronald Reagan.

chickelit said...

It's akin to the suspicion that there are still people in Madison who feel that the Sterling Hall bombing was justified, man.

chickelit said...

Photo taken at a local VFW last year: link. It's hard to see, but that's Jane's head on the sticker in the men's urinal.

Trooper York said...

The fact of the matter is that the Hollywood Mo's love to stick a finger in the eye of conservatives. So they get worst possible person to play Nancy Reagan.

It would be the same thing as getting Moms Mabley to play Michelle Obama.

YoungHegelian said...

If this guy wants to not show a movie in his theaters, that's his business.

As for the producers & director of "The Butler" casting Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan --- Puh-Leeeze! The only reason they did it was to piss in the face of conservatives, and they full well know that. Maybe they thought the controversy would generate buzz for the film. Maybe, and I tend to give this more weight after Hollywood released thirteen money-losing anti-Iraq war films, they just wanted to piss in some peoples' faces so bad they'd gladly lose money to do it.

chickelit said...

Isn't this movie grossing a lot though? People love laughing at conservatives.

Trooper York said...

No it is a Blaxploitation movie. Sort of like a Tyler Perry Medea movie only with caricatures of old white men Presidents instead of a dude in a dress.

You see Jack Kennedy didn't understand anything about civil rights until the magic Negro butler taught him about it.

It is part of the dumbing down racism where black people are condescended to as though they were morons.

sakredkow said...

I can't blame a movie theater owner for making his own choices. Didn't he train pilots in Nam?

But the AARP - those people need to lift the boycott. Jane has a lot to offer older Americans.

YoungHegelian said...

@Pollo,

Isn't this movie grossing a lot though?

Yes, but they didn't know that when they did the casting & shot the film.

I'm talking intentions here, not ultimate financial reality of the movie marketplace.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I heard a review on the radio the other day from a guy who works for Breitbart. He liked the film overall- Said Forest Whitaker and Oprah do a great job... but he was bothered by the small part of the film that stereotypically bashed, blamed and contorted the reality of Reagan. Nothing new. Hollywood leftists live for ______ fill in the blank Reagan hate-fantasy.

deborah said...

Good point, Trooper. Besides, there's enough physical similarity to make it work on that level

Trooper York said...

Next up an epic about ancient Rome
where Oprah can play Cleopatra and
Kurt Hummel from Glee can play Mark Anthony. She is going to teach him how to make pizza.

(since black people invented it and all)

AllenS said...

I used to have one of these on my farm pickup truck:

You can use the Amazon portal

rhhardin said...

I'd cast Fonda as a German AA gunner at the end of the war, just to stir the causes.

Frivolity doesn't have to be serious all the time.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The older generation will never forgive Jane Fonda. And I'm fine with that.

Good on the AARP for once.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Say what you want about Oprah, but surprisingly she can act. I loved her in The Color Purple.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I'd cast Jane ad Eva Braun.

chickelit said...

phx said...Jane has a lot to offer older Americans.

Such as?

Lem the artificially intelligent said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Paddy O said...

I suck at this.

I apparently can't even find a bit of focus to post a post.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Is The Butler the New Schindler's List?

sakredkow said...

If it has Oprah in it then it's got to be a "feel good" movie. I hate feel good movies.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Jane has a lot to offer older Americans

Off the top of my head...

The hope of good plastic surgery?

deborah said...

I haven't seen The Color Purple or Schindler's List.

(Paddy, you lazy-bones :)

deborah said...

Oprah was horribly disappointed at the reception of her 'Beloved.' Did anyone see it?

sakredkow said...

I read the book. I had a real hard time with it. I couldn't connect.

deborah said...

Thanks, phx

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Deb - I saw Beloved.

It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't good either. If memory serves, it was fairly depressing. PHX would like it as it was NOT a feel good movie.

A good movie is one you remember. I don't remember much about "Beloved" other than Danny Glover liked to rape anything in sight.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I apparently can't even find a bit of focus to post a post.

You know how there was a Vatican 2?

Is it time for an Emancipation Proclamation 2?

sakredkow said...

Maybe I'm wrong about Oprah and feel good movies. It's more like they're supposed to be "important" movies. That's almost as bad, although I did like The Color Purple.

Maybe I'm just down on the Oh these days.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Maybe that's too much ground to cover.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I've never seen The Color Purple.

I almost didn't see Schindler's List. I finally saw it because the guy I car pooled with to work told me I would like it, and, he was right.

deborah said...

Thanks, April. Yeah, I'm not into depressing movies or I'd watch it. I will watch certain depressing movies, but not that kind.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Deborah - Skip Beloved but do see Schindler's List. Depressing and difficult to watch, but it's well done and will stick with you for the rest of your life.

I still think about that movie.

deborah said...

I know it's a great movie, Lem, but I just don't want to put myself through that. The real thing is more than enough.

William said...

I've read that there are numerous inaccuracies that, in my opinion, rise to the level of agitprop. I'm sure that the butler suffered a few indignities but claiming that his mother was raped and his father was murdered by white men is an awful, ugly lie.

deborah said...

That's what I don't want, April! :)

Trooper York said...

Oprah is into message movies. It is always the same message.

She delights in biting the hands that feeds her.

But now her act is starting to wear thin. That's why she backed down on the handbag thing. She is getting pushback and she doesn't want to risk losing her rice bowl.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Schindler's List made ok to make out during a movie like The Butler.

virgil xenophon said...

I just love the fact that we're all supposed to forgive her because she has "apologized" profusely. Hmmm...if Betty Grable, at the height of the war, had made anti-war, pro-Japanese statements and flown to Japan and posed with Japanese anti-craft gunners, does ANYONE think she would have EVER been "forgiven?"

But of course, Vietnam was an "evil" racist, neo-colonial "imperial war" so it's all different.....right..

Btw, her pics and statements weren't the half of it. Did you know that when Fonda was allowed to meet our POWS, one of them, thinking she was still at heart a loyal American, managed to slip into her hand a piece of paper with the names of all the POWS and those Killed in captivity in hopes she would get it to the proper authorities? Instead she walked directly over to her N. Viet escorts and gave them the secreted paper.

The man who gave it to Fonda was subsequently tortured almost to death for his efforts.

As the saying goes; "God may forgive her, but I won't."

sakredkow said...

Not everyone should see Schindler's List probably. Some people are very sensitive to this stuff.

I read about a high incidence of suicide among readers of "camp" literature. Terence des Pres wrote about that.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Virgil - Amen

Jane Fonda is pure evil.

sakredkow said...

I don't think anyone's "supposed" to forgive Jane Fonda. I chose to. For one thing I deeply believe in the beneficence of forgiveness.

But I certainly don't care if some poor movie theater owner will go to his grave cursing her name on his dying lips. At this point, what difference does it make? Where someone stands on Jane Fonda is really low on my list of evaluating people.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Deborah - I had to psych myself up to see it. I felt exactly the same - why watch such horrors?
I cannot explain - it's just a movie I think everyone should see. There is hope and compassion, and you will remember that.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Schindler's List

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Jane Fonda's actions were not just hurt feelings. Her words and actions got people tortured and killed.
Why would anyone with a heart forgive her?

Trooper York said...

Well the thing is it is not just that she is disliked but that her casting was a direct thumb in the eye to people who respect and care about Nancy Reagan.

How about we come up with some similar insults.

Roman Polanski as Father Flannigan.
James Earl Ray as Jimmy Carter.
Mel Gibson as JFK.
Ben Afleck as Batman.

You see it is totally unnecessary to stick it to so much of your potential audience. There were thousands of actresses who could have taken the part that would not be such a thumb in the eye to conservatives.

sakredkow said...

It's not for me to say whether or not I have a heart I guess.

rcocean said...

VX,

I agree with you. It should be noted that almost all of Hollywood was against the Vietnam war, but only Fonda went and posed with NV AA gunners. She also called the returning POW's "war criminals" IRC.

No blowback from Hollywood, of course. Compare their treatment of Mel Gibson to Polanski. Compare their treatment of Fonda vs. Heston.

virgil xenophon said...

PS: I just luuuve her defenders who excuse her actions by saying they were the result of "youthful naivete." So how come officers and enlisted in the armed forces who were/are the same age as she were/are not ever allowed such misjudgements at the risk of a career-ending move? Rather, we were/are expected to use sound and sober judgement at all times, constantly aware of the heavy responsibilities we bear for both the tax-payer's dollar (don't run the ship aground or crash the plane--usually a career-ending move) and for Americas image in the world and the uniform they wear. NO, no slack for 19 and 24-yr-olds in uniform, junior officers or enlisted alike--but Fonda and her ilk get a pass for their "youthful mistakes" at the same age?

Her defenders can go pound sand...

deborah said...

omg Lem that is Funny.

chickelit said...

phx wrote: I don't think anyone's "supposed" to forgive Jane Fonda. I chose to. For one thing I deeply believe in the beneficence of forgiveness.

It's noble sentiment, phx. What's missing is any evidence that you ever thought there was any wronging to forgive.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

"I don't have the heart"

James Ingram.

Trooper York said...

It is all a matter of perspective.

I mean for Cedarford "Schindler's List" is a feel good movie.

rcocean said...

Put some makeup on Rosanne and you got your Billy Bob Clinton.

And Jimmy "Dye-no-mite" walker IS Obama.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The message should be sent to Hollywood - put that wicked witch in your film and you poison your film.

They knew they had a good story on their hands, and they needed someone to defile Nancy Reagan.

Jane Fonda - a good movie ruined.

deborah said...

April, I'll watch it one day, maybe.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

What's missing is any evidence that you ever thought there was any wronging to forgive.

Oooo

Keep your hands up pollo.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

If anything has Jane Fonda and Oprah Winfrey in it, you couldn't pay me enough to watch it.

What does AARP have to offer that you can't get elsewhere?? They are a liberal leaning organization that works against the best interests of Americans in increased entitlement spending and are mainly interested in selling insurance to unsophisticated seniors. They support giving benefits to illegal aliens. They support the ACA, again...so they can sell insurance.

There is no beneficial intent in AARP. It is all about the money.

deborah said...

"And Jimmy "Dye-no-mite" walker IS Obama."

Too soon.

sakredkow said...

I think we need a remake of Klute.

rcocean said...

Youthful naivete? Fonda was 33 years old in 1970!

virgil xenophon said...

Oh, and here's the ULTIMATE irony: In real life the Butler was a Republican..

edutcher said...

Hanoi Jane has always been two-faced, so good for the owner. Her "exercise" thing was a phony (that "go for the burn" stuff did more harm than good as a lot of doctors and real exercise guys said) as her bod came from the doctor's office and Dow-Corning.

The fact Oprah cast her in that role is one of those give-the-finger-by-placing-my-hand-on-my-cheek things Choom does.

El Pollo Raylan said...

I think she did give up trying to apologize

When did she ever start, or was this one of those Jessuh Jackson-Hymietown "I'm-sorry-I-got-caught-doing-something-any-decent-person-would-find-repulsive" apologies?

PS Allen, I sure did.

Trooper York said...

No way.

Jaleel White is Obama. There is not doubt.

Titus said...

OMG lem that was hiliarous.

Goodbye Jews!

The 50 year anniversary on the march on Washington is all Trayvon, Voting Rights and Democrat Representatives.

Trooper York said...

The Dream is dead.

Died in a hotel room on Friday from doing cocaine.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

If I quip that 'I'd wait until Oprah dies to watch The Color Purple and The Butler so as to find the movies more rewarding'... would the a racist thing to say?

Trooper York said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Titus said...

You know there is tons of groping going on in that march and probably there will likely be a black baby explosion in 9 months.

Pussy Galore and Sharpton are the leaders of the parade.

virgil xenophon said...

Oh, you're exactly right reocean, In the service that's a career Major with a decade's worth of experience under his belt and holding key staff or leadership positions (in the USAF think one of four flight commanders in a fighter Squadron or a Battalion Commander or Deputy Cmdr in charge of 600 men in the Army) But for Fonda's apologists 33 is "youthful."

Titus said...

It's a beautiful day in DC but the NAACP all have black umbrellas?

Is there symbolism in those umbrellas?

Oh my, the coifs on those peeps. Ones hair looked like an ice cream cone and it was dyed orange.

I hope this doesn't sound racist but the smell in those crowds must be horrendous.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Oh, and here's the ULTIMATE irony: In real life the Butler was a Republican...


shhhh - We don't do truth here in America.

sakredkow said...

It's noble sentiment, phx. What's missing is any evidence that you ever thought there was any wronging to forgive.

There's a lot of ways you can do this.
"So phx, did you think Jane Fonda was wrong EVER? Did you think so at the time?"

"So phx, what do you think Jane Fonda did wrong and why do you think it was wrong? What are you forgiving her for?"

Instead, you always come on to me in the rudest, nastiest way possible. You always make these assumptions about me that are completely wrong. What was it last week, oh, yeah, "Sullivan is your hero."

WTF is Sullivan? And then I point your incorrect assumptions out to you, not rudely (until now), and you just disappear and don't acknowledge it, until you come back with more bullshit trolling me.

You once said you were going to tell on me to Althouse because I wasn't arguing in good faith.

On top of just being a childish whineyass, you were just wrong. YOU'RE the guy who doesn't know how to argue in good faith, El Pollo Raylan.

If you want to carry on an argument or discussion with me than address me with a little decency and maturity.

If you just want to troll me then continue doing what you're doing. But don't expect me to participate anymore.

sakredkow said...

Nobody's got to agree with me for fuck's sake. Just be a grown up about it.

chickelit said...

phx said...If you just want to troll me then continue doing what you're doing. But don't expect me to participate anymore.

I'm sorry I pissed you off.

On top of just being a childish whineyass, you were just wrong. YOU'RE the guy who doesn't know how to argue in good faith, El Pollo Raylan.

You once said you were going to tell on me to Althouse because I wasn't arguing in good faith.


I don't see how I would have done or said that, phx. It's not like I have secret communications with them.

WTF is Sullivan? And then I point your incorrect assumptions out to you, not rudely (until now), and you just disappear and don't acknowledge it, until you come back with more bullshit trolling me.

Now you're just being coy. Sullivan is the guy who got away with smearing Sarah Palin and Mitt Romney and still attracts adulation. If you are ashamed of being associated with him, I'll stop.

As for the Jane Fonda stuff, you said she a had a lot to offer Americans. I asked what that was and you didn't answer.

sakredkow said...

Now you're just being coy. Sullivan is the guy who got away with smearing Sarah Palin and Mitt Romney and still attracts adulation.

I don't know ANYthing about that. Fuck you.

sakredkow said...

I don't answer you anymore until you stop trolling and show some courtesy and respect.

sakredkow said...

When you do that then I invite you to hold me to the same standard.

Leland said...

Based on phx response, I think El Pollo got his number correct.

I can forgive Jane Fonda in the sense that if I ever see her, I won't slap her face and demand she be hauled into federal court to face charges of treason, which when you think about it, is exactly what she did to US Troops in Vietnam.

While I'm big enough not to act like Jane Fonda, it doesn't mean I have to support her "vitamin" habit.

Fr Martin Fox said...

Will someone sue the theater for a violation of human rights and equal protection, etc.?

If the theater owner gave as his/her reason, a religious objection, would that make it OK to rule the theater must play the film?

Seems silly?

A photographer in New Mexico was told by the state supreme court that her being "compelled" to take photos at someone's wedding was the "price" of citizenship.

Showing movies is free speech; creating art--including photographic art--is free speech.

A court calls coerced "free" speech the "price" citizenship.

Because, otherwise...what?

ndspinelli said...

Father, I read about that New Mexico case. Here's a bit of irony. The state of New Mexico DOES NOT HAVE GAY MARRIAGE! But, the court can compel a private business owner to shoot a gay wedding. You can't make this shit up.

ndspinelli said...

How about compelling some liberal photographer to shoot weddings @ the Westboro Baptist Church. That would be front page on the NY Times.

Palladian said...

I don't answer you anymore until you stop trolling and show some courtesy and respect.

So if you meet me
Have some courtesy
Have some sympathy, and some taste
Use all your well-learned politesse
Or I'll lay your soul to waste...

sakredkow said...

Well, actually I don't expect or demand courtesy, respect or taste from anyone. I guess that was my way of dealing with a non-stop troll. Maybe he'll try a more productive tact.

When I stopped demanding or expecting those things for myself, my life changed so much for the better. Learning to depersonalize most of this stuff has been a real blessing, so to speak.

sakredkow said...

Not that I'm prescribing that for anybody. It just works for me.

ken in tx said...

'Beloved' was about abortion or infanticide and racism, or something like that. It did not make much sense and I did not understand it.

Anonymous said...

Based on phx response, I think El Pollo got his number correct.

If we're voting, I'll take phx's side. EPR seems to feel entitled to get personal and snarky in some disagreements. I'm not in favor of that behavior.

Nor am I crazy about litmus tests for whether people have made the proper denunciations of Jane Fonda.

Freeman Hunt said...

Fonda should not have gone over there. That was terrible. The story about the paper, however, looks to be an urban legend.

chickelit said...

Jane Fonda, after having recanted her long ago actions, will utter on her death bed: "eppur si muovono" [yet they move] referring either to her hips or her lips.

XRay said...

I saw "Butler" tonight.

First off, fuck you producer Lee Daniels, for placing your name before the title of the movie. Neither my wife nor I can remember ever seeing such a thing before.

As to the movie, it was okay, good actually, if you're so emotionally inclined.

There was embellishment, of course, that's the state of today. But all in all I feel the film was truthfully reflective of the events it depicted. I say this as someone who grew up in the South of the fifties, whose Father for entertainment would drive around on weekends, with me in the back of the car, looking for the drunk white guys with axe handles pounding the shit out of any black male they happened to find walking on the street. I witnessed it.

Then again, you can say we all know this, why do we need to keep rehashing it. Well, and I'll catch hell for this, maybe the same reason we should never forget the holacaust.

Sorry for my spelling, lack of.

chickelit said...

First off, fuck you producer Lee Daniels, for placing your name before the title of the movie. Neither my wife nor I can remember ever seeing such a thing before.

That just tells me that Lee Daniels considers himself more important than his art. It's hubristic and won't end well.

XRay said...

As for Fonda, I have no disagreement with the opinions expressed above. I would only add that I feel no different about the Congress of that time. All traitors in my mind to the American Ideal.

rcocean said...

Jane Fonda - 11/22/70: "I would think that if you understood what communism was, you would hope, you would pray on your knees that we would someday become communist. The peace proposal of the Viet Cong is the only honorable, just, possible way to achieve peace in Vietnam."

rcocean said...

Again, for the 10,000th time. Tens of Millions of Americans opposed the Vietnam war, and by 1970 probably everyone in Hollywood, outside of John Wayne, was publicly against it.

Only Jane Fonda went to NV and posed with NV AAA gunners and broadcast pro-communist propaganda.