Hollwood "inspired US attacks," says Robert Altman

[Kit_Taylor]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/entertainment/film/newsid_1604000/1604151.stm

Deary me...

[nick69]

"Violent blockbusters "taught them how to do it" and Hollywood must now stop showing mass destruction in movies, he said."

Does that mean if I watch star wars I can learn the force and become a jedi like my father?

What a ****!!!

[sampath]

Well I suppose someone had to blame the movies eventually(someone always does) but I'm a little annoyed that someone had to be a moviemaker himself. :rolleyes:

[Michael Brooke]

Well, to be fair to Altman, at least he's consistent - he's been railing against Hollywood's championing of the moronic and exploitative for most of his career now (most obviously in <I>The Player</I>, which was virtually a petition on that very subject!).

[jonathan.e]

Originally posted by Michael Brooke
moronic and exploitative


Good review of Prêt a porter :D

[Michael Mackenzie]

So we're expected to believe that Bin Laden was inspired by watching "An Executive Decision", "Air Force One" and their ilk?

As serious as the events are, I have to say I'm quite amused by that preposterous statement by Altman.

[Damfino]

Perhaps Altman is planning a career in politics.

[TODGE]

Poppycock

[George vader]

NO WAY!

He watched "Passenger 57":D

[Spaceranger2001]

I thought the people in Talibanland were not allowed to watch anything foreign.

Altman's films apart from M*A*S*H are all pants, he's only complaining so he can get more work and we'll have to watch them

[Lenny Nero]

Originally posted by Spaceranger2001
I thought the people in Talibanland were not allowed to watch anything foreign.

Altman's films apart from M*A*S*H are all pants, he's only complaining so he can get more work and we'll have to watch them

No way! What about Cookie's Fortune, Shortcuts, and Dr. T and the Women!?
Well, he does make character dramas, not action movies, so maybe we'll see more of great films like that.

[richpoyle]

Robert Altman inspired P T Anderson to make "Magnolia" - and movies don't come much worse than that.

[Lenny Nero]

I'm glad he did, another most excellent film! Music and stories all happening at the same time, shown in pieces, all very real and down to earth.

[CraigKORE]

Personally, I do not think that Hollywood can hold any blame for what happened on 11th Sep. But taking a look at the other side of the coin, a lot of people that seen the planes going into the WTC's, said that it looked like something out of a movie, or it's the kind of thing that you only see in a movie.

Is there a direct link though? I dont reckon we will ever find that answer out.

[Kit_Taylor]

Originally posted by richpoyle
Robert Altman inspired P T Anderson to make "Magnolia" - and movies don't come much worse than that.

Testify!

:)

[new]

Im not agreeing with Altman here, but I have read all the Tom Clancy books (Jack Ryan, John Clark, etc), & there is some simulartys to his plots as to what has/is going on.

In dept of honur (I think it was this one), a piolt decide to crash his 747 into the American Congress, in revenge for how he feals the US has treated his country.

In the follow up book a midle east country, sees America being weak & unstable after this, decides to use a disease to attack the country.

If this isnt bad enough for America in his latest book China launch a misslie at them:eek:

[cluderi]

Veteran film director Robert Altman has blamed Hollywood for "inspiring" the recent attacks on the US.
"Nobody would have thought to commit an atrocity like that unless they'd seen it in a movie," said Altman, who also directed MASH and The Player.

Violent blockbusters "taught them how to do it" and Hollywood must now stop showing mass destruction in movies, he said.


:(
Its amazing how some people will use such tragic events to flap their mouth and get themselves on television a bit more.

I read in the latest PC Zone that within hours of the tragic events in the US more than one sleezy journalist was on the phone to them asking them if it was possible to fly into the WTC on Flight Sim and could they do it and take pictures so they could run a story claiming that flight sim could have inspired them.

Its such a co-incidence that he's preparing to release a film and I'm sure his very public statements against action films and for emotional storylines has nothing to do with this new film.

Maybe there's a chance to get back to... grown-up films - anything that uses humour and dramatic values to deal with human emotions and gets down to what people are to people," he said.

Pathetic.

[jonathan.e]

Originally posted by richpoyle
Robert Altman inspired P T Anderson to make "Magnolia" - and movies don't come much worse than that.


Word.

[Mike]

<b>Altman's films apart from M*A*S*H are all pants, he's only complaining so he can get more work and we'll have to watch them
</b>

I'm reluctant to argue with someone whose critical vocabulary extends no further than a horribly overused slang expression, but would you care to explain what's wrong with "The Long Goodbye", "McCabe and Mrs Miller", "Thieves Like Us", "Nashville", "Three Women", "Come Back To The Five And Dime Jimmy Dean", "Secret Honour, "Vincent And Theo", "Short Cuts", and "The Player".

I accept that his recent career has been a little disappointing, but he's still one of the most interesting and original directors of recent history.

[GK]

In his book 'Easy Riders, Raging Bulls', Peter Biskind paints a picture of Altman that so overwhelmingly casts him as a mad, wilful, violent, boozing, disrespectful tyrant that I'm sure the only reason Altman hasn't tried to kill Biskind is that this picture amuses, rather than offends, him.

The Hollywood of this period would have been notably less interesting without his contribution. If the upcoming Gosford Park (http://us.imdb.com/Title?0280707) is as interesting as its cast is mouth-watering, we'll be truly blessed.

"Pants ?" Jeez ...:rolleyes:

[HenryKrinkle]

Well I thought 'Popeye' was a very powerful and thought provoking film...

...no, actually I'm joking, Mr Altman is PANTS!!! :D

[Sneeka]

i blame the parents..

but then someone always says that, so i thought i'd be first.

[nick69]

"If this isnt bad enough for America in his latest book China launch a misslie at them"

New - which book is this?

Cheers.

[Michael Brooke]

<B>Its such a co-incidence that he's preparing to release a film and I'm sure his very public statements against action films and for emotional storylines has nothing to do with this new film.
</B>

Well, there is a connection, but not in the way you're suggesting - it looks to me as though he's taking advantage of the media spotlight being cast on him thanks to the upcoming release of his new film to give a much higher profile to views that, as I said above, are not remotely new.

Dig out just about <U>any</U> Altman interview going back 35 years and you'll see similar views expressed - the only reason they're getting such attention now is that there's an obvious hook that wasn't there before.

But I absolutely agree with him in principle: it seems to me self-evident that Hollywood's output has become increasingly infantile over the last two decades, to the extent that it's simply impossible to imagine many of the great 1970s classics being made any more. Can you see Columbia funding <I>Taxi Driver</I> today?

[gZa]

Originally posted by Michael Brooke
But I absolutely agree with him in principle: it seems to me self-evident that Hollywood's output has become increasingly infantile over the last two decades, to the extent that it's simply impossible to imagine many of the great 1970s classics being made any more. Can you see Columbia funding <I>Taxi Driver</I> today?

Nope...

However Fox did fund <i>Fight Club</i> :rolleyes:

[Michael Brooke]

<B>However Fox did fund Fight Club </B>

True, but that's very much a rule-proving exception!

(And it flopped at the box office, which didn't help...)

[Lex Luthor]

Originally posted by Spaceranger2001
he's only complaining so he can get more work and we'll have to watch them Precisely. He's just trying to steer Hollywood into making more of 'his kind' of movies. Pants movies that is.

Good luck Bob :p

I do think that most of Hollywood's output is braindead crap but that just happens to be what I think about Altman's movies too!

[HenryKrinkle]

Can you see Columbia funding <I>Taxi Driver</I> today?

...absolutely, as long as Bickles weapon(s) of choice could fire at least 1000 rounds a minute, the body count was well into the hundreds and some extremely evil Arab types were blown away in the final quarter! ;)

...oh, and he would be a 'Gulf vet' instead...they wouldn't want to be reminded of 'nam at the moment.

...oh, and absolutely no tall buildings would be harmed in any way what so ever!!!

[Michael Brooke]

<B>Altman's films apart from M*A*S*H are all pants</B>

"All" implies that you've watched them all, which seems to be dedication well beyond the call of duty if you hate them that much!

<B>, he's only complaining so he can get more work</B>

Again, demonstrably untrue - only Woody Allen is a serious rival in terms of sheer productivity. He's averaged one film a year over the last decade, which is double the rate of most typical directors.

<B> and we'll have to watch them</B>

What, eyelids strapped open <I>Clockwork Orange</I>-style? No-one's forcing you to watch his films, just as no-one forced me to watch <I>The Phantom Menace</I> or indeed <I>Pret-a-Porter</I> - I just chose not to!

[Michael Brooke]

<B>I do think that most of Hollywood's output is braindead crap but that just happens to be what I think about Altman's movies too!</B>

I notice none of the "Altman is pants and makes braindead crap" mob have bothered answering Mike's question above!

Personally, I find it hard to think of a mainstream American director whose output is <U>less</U> brain-dead - he does at least assume his audience has a minimum IQ level, which in itself is a refreshing change from the norm.

[Andy_C]

Personally I don't think Hollywood inspired the terrorists. I think lack of education, poverty and a feeling that the west doesn't care; combined with a long standing hatred over U.S. interventions in the Middle East are all far more relevant motivations to the terrorists than the output of the major Hollywood studios.

However, I do believe Hollywood does have something to answer for. They are responsible for the current U.S. "Lets kick their ass!!!" attitude. The constant desire to see explosions a la every other blockbusting movie results in a lust for visible revenge on the enemy.

There's very little room in multiplexes these days for an intellectual drama about people resolving their differences with words, not bombs.

Many people argue that on screen violence does not inspire off screen violence (me included). But I believe it does have a desensitising aspect. Constantly seeing non consequential violence on screen must have an effect on the viewing public. How many people have said to you that watching the planes go into the WTC seemed unreal? It just looked like another Hollywood movie...

So Hollywood is responsible for some parts of this tragedy, but I don't think in the way Altman is claiming. If their current film output teaches anyone anything, it's that you must meet violence with even more violence.

[new]

Originally posted by nick69
"If this isnt bad enough for America in his latest book China launch a misslie at them"

New - which book is this?

Cheers.

Red Dragon

[RoboCop4]

Originally posted by new
Red Dragon

Don't you mean, 'The Bear and the Dragon'? Unless Tom Clancy has written a book about Jack Ryan tyring to catch the Tooth Fairy... ;)

It's a good point about the plots of his previous books (747 crash in 'Debt of Honour' and the biological warfare attack in 'Executive 0rders'). It would be quite ironic if Tom Clancy's pro-American gung-ho books <u>had</u> been the inspiration for the method of attack on his beloved country.