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Life & Times Transcript
06/20/06 Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times -- Wartime movies are a Hollywood staple, but do filmmakers go too far to win over the military? David Robb>> Most Americans have no idea that the contents of the films and television shows that they're watching are being influenced by military censors, that the military or the government is telling filmmakers what to say and what not to say. I think most people would be, and should be, shocked by this. Val Zavala>> And then, car critic, Dan Neil, takes an old classic for a spin. These stories and more next on tonight's Life and Times. Announcer>> Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Val Zavala>> Making war movies. To do them right, Hollywood producers and studios need the help and cooperation of the United States military, including access to aircraft and ships, but that cooperation comes at a price. Military officials insist on seeing scripts ahead of time. Is it censorship? Saul Gonzalez has the story. [Film Clip] Saul Gonzalez>> From the big screen battlefield epics of the 1940s like John Wayne's "Sands of Iwo Jima" -- [Film Clip] Saul Gonzalez>> -- to today's special effects-filled blockbusters at the local Cineplex, it's no secret that Hollywood has long loved telling stories about war and warriors. But what's not well-known is the role the real-life American military often plays in helping to create and craft its depiction in films and television shows. The Pentagon's partnership with Hollywood starts at this West Los Angeles office tower where every branch of the military keeps a liaison office to the entertainment industry. So are these examples of all the films that you've worked with? Robert Anderson>> These are some of the films we've worked with. Saul Gonzalez>> Robert Anderson, a retired naval officer, is the Navy's top man in Hollywood. Like his counterparts in the other branches of the military, Anderson's mission is to be a kind of talent agent for his service. Robert Anderson>> Our mission here is to get the Navy onto the big screen and the little screen every chance we get with every production that wants to use us. I'll be blatant about it. We're trying to get the Navy out there in some manner that shows our people and our equipment and what they do for the country and how they function as a service. Saul Gonzalez>> And what do Hollywood studios want in return for giving the military screen time? Kathy Canham Ross>> Usually it's equipment. Usually they're looking for toys. They're looking for things to spice up their production. Saul Gonzalez>> Kathy Canham Ross directs the Army's public affairs office in Los Angeles. She says, when it comes to giving access to and filming the latest in military hardware, no Hollywood prop house compares to the Pentagon. Kathy Canham Ross>> For them, we're just a provider. We're a supplier like everybody else and Hollywood wants the real thing. If they can get the real thing, they want the real thing. Saul Gonzalez>> And the real thing does not end with hardware. Filmmakers often need military personnel for technical consultation and even to do some onscreen stunts. [Film Clip] Saul Gonzalez>> That was the case in the filming of "Black Hawk Down" shot on location in Morocco. Its production used over one hundred active duty Army personnel, including elite Army Rangers. Of course, the military's helping hand to Hollywood does raise some serious questions and concerns, namely is there a point where Uncle Sam's assistance on a film or television project turns show business into government propaganda? David Robb>> The problem comes in with who has the creative control over the product? Is it the filmmaker or is it the military? Saul Gonzalez>> Entertainment industry journalist, David Robb, is the author of "Operation Hollywood", a book that critically examines the relationship between the Department of Defense and film and television companies. Robb's most concerned about the military's policy of script review and its power to demand changes in stories in return for cooperation. David Robb>> Most Americans have no idea that the contents of the films and televisions shows that they're watching are being influenced by military censors, that the military or the government is telling filmmakers what to say and what not to say. I think most people would be, and should be, shocked by this. Saul Gonzalez>> Anderson, who reviews between thirty to fifty scripts a year, acknowledges that if Hollywood studios want the Navy's help, they have to pay attention to what the Navy wants to see. Robert Anderson>> If you want full cooperation from the Navy, we have a considerable amount of power because it's our ships, it's our cooperation -- Saul Gonzalez>> -- it's your stuff. Robert Anderson>> Until the script is in a form that we can approve, then we don't -- the production doesn't go forward until that. So basically, we have what we call show-stopper issues, things that we just really cannot get over, that they really have to deal with. Then there's a lot of things that -- Saul Gonzalez>> -- that they have to change. Robert Anderson>> That they have to change -- Saul Gonzalez>> -- or the Navy will walk away. Robert Anderson>> Or we'll walk away, exactly. Saul Gonzalez>> In the film, "Windtalkers" set during World War II, the Department of Defense got filmmakers to cut a scene depicting an American Marine taking gold teeth from the mouths of dead Japanese soldiers. >> "All you got to do is say go. My boys will get those Red bastards." Saul Gonzalez>> In the movie, "Thirteen Days" about the Cuban missile crisis, the Pentagon had concerns about the portrayal of General Curtis LeMay, a real historical figure. Although during the crisis, LeMay wanted to attack Cuba, the Pentagon asked for his character in the film to be toned down and made less warlike. >> "It's our responsibility to take out those missiles and return stability to the strategic situation." David Robb>> The military does not want to see that in a movie. They do not want to see the military being portrayed as dangerous to world peace. Saul Gonzalez>> However, the makers of "Thirteen Days" declined to make requested changes and went ahead without military support. But Robb says, on some projects, Department of Defense's assistance is so important that film and television producers can't say no to the Pentagon. David Robb>> More often than not, they cave in. By far because the cost saving can be so great and sometimes studios will tell the producers "if you don't get military assistance, we won't greenlight this project". Saul Gonzalez>> The military people who assist Hollywood reject charges that they're censors. They say they're only trying to get film and television to show the people, duties and value of the armed forces accurately. Kathy Canham Ross>> We want to see people coming out of it and going, "I never knew that about the Army before. I never knew they did that." Robert Anderson>> Do we try to be big brother of it? We don't. We really don't. We just point out things that are inaccurate. I've had scripts where a four-star admiral is actually in charge of a drug ring, you know, a drug smuggling ring. That's not going to happen (laughter). Nobody's going to make four stars in the military and be engaged in criminal activity like that. It's just too much of, you know, a plot convenience. Saul Gonzalez>> Well, would you have an admiral who helps to cover up a war crime? That's in the realm of possibility. Robert Anderson>> Certainly that could happen. Saul Gonzalez>> Would you support that? Robert Anderson>> Again, it depends on how the system plays out. You know, if in the end, the guy is held accountable for that, absolutely we'd support it, absolutely. But if it's like, you know, the guy is a fictional character and he thumbs his nose at the world and the Navy and says, "Ha-ha, I did this and I got away with it", we probably wouldn't support that. Saul Gonzalez>> Supporters and critics of the Pentagon's work in Hollywood do agree on one thing. It's how being featured in movies and on television shows can be a powerful and cost-effective recruitment tool. [Film Clip] Saul Gonzalez>> That's especially true if it's a cool and youth-friendly portrayal of the military like 1986's "Top Gun". David Robb>> Recruiting is the number one reason the military does this. They want to show positive images so the young people will join up. Kathy Canham Ross>> They did a study several years. It was called the Youth Attitude Tracking Survey. They did it twice and both times they found that young men of recruiting age cited movies and television as the primary source of their impressions about the military, so it's very important. As I say, it's an opportunity for them to see what the possibilities are and to see what being a soldier would be like. Jim Lehrer>> "Insurgent attacks in Iraq claimed at least twenty-four more lives today." Saul Gonzalez>> In real life, war is, of course, hell. However, as long as it remains an inspiration for movies and television shows, Hollywood and the Pentagon will likely continue their long onscreen partnership. For Life and Times, I'm Saul Gonzalez. Announcer>> Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, plus transcripts and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most interesting features. Just go to kcet.org, scroll down the page and click on "Life and Times". Val Zavala>> Okay, we've heard it a hundred times. In southern California, the car rules. But everything automotive comes out more interesting when writer, Dan Neil, gets hold of it. Neil is the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist at the Los Angeles Times. Vicki Curry met Dan Neil who got behind the wheel of a luxury car circa 1886. Vicki Curry>> Dan Neil, when the Los Angeles Times asked you to do a feature about automobile culture in southern California, where did you begin? Dan Neil>> I thought that it would be fun to begin at the beginning and it turns out that Mercedes Benz had actually made replicas of the very first actual proper automobile which was the 1886 Benz patent motorcar because they got a patent for it. So they happened to have one in southern California and I borrowed it and I drove it around Pasadena just to sort of get a sense of where the car came from as the sort of stem cells of the automobile and where it has wound up as such a big part of life in southern California. Vicki Curry>> So what did you learn from this trip in the Benz? Dan Neil>> Well, one thing that really became clear is how Benz actually just nailed it. I mean, what we know is the automobile is all there and the fun of the automobile, the freedom of the automobile, the mobility, the sense of mechanically multiplied self-determination, all of that is in the car. You can see how people used to riding horses or horse and buggy transportation would have just been mad about this. Plus, compared to a horse, it's actually quite clean. Vicki Curry>> (Laughter) So then how did you expand on that trip to look at the idea of car culture and its impact on southern California? Dan Neil>> Well, I mean, all you have to do is look out here and see the impact. The car made Los Angeles the city it is. It made this valley habitable in a way that we have this incredible density. In 1886, what was here besides orchards were little threads of habitation that followed the transportation corridors and the automobile made it possible to spread out and fill in what is really five hundred square miles of land all through the valleys of San Fernando and San Gabriel. Los Angeles really is the first great "autotopia". Vicki Curry>> So was Los Angeles really the first city in America to spread out this way and to base itself on car culture? Dan Neil>> The first city in the world. It's really a living experiment whether this is actually a sustainable way to make a city or not. You know, a lot of people are very much in favor of mass transit. Well, mass transit isn't a free lunch either because, wherever mass transit goes, it creates disadvantaged corridors and it also has to do with the density of living. Where home ownership is, individual home ownership, there's personal wealth created. The automobile made that work. Now the issue is whether that can continue, whether that is a sustainable model. Mostly it's been sustainable because of the cost of gasoline and the sort of super-abundance of cheap oil in the past century. As we look forward, knowing that we're going to run out of oil, is this a sustainable model? Is the world that Benz imagined with his invention something that can go forward? You know, can we build an empire of the automobile for a thousand years or is it a kind of temporary euphoria? Vicki Curry>> So Los Angeles was the first city to really spread out like this. But also being in Hollywood, it seems like the whole culture of the car got its birth here. Dan Neil>> Yeah, and there are a lot of reasons for that. There was a lot of nouveau rich population here in the early days of Hollywood. There was also a place where glamour and image was created for the rest of the world and certainly for the rest of the nation, so automakers were naturally drawn to this environment. It's also true that there were many car makers here that, for one reason or another, didn't make it past the post-war years. Because of all this ferment around the automobile, you have all this car culture. You have cruising, you have hot-rodding. Hot-rodding started in the salt deserts outside of Los Angeles. When people were coming back from the war, they had a grasp of aeronautics and aviation technology and they started making top speed cars. Even go-carting was created here in Los Angeles. Oh, and I should say, pimping, rolling, you know, cruising, low-riding, all of that stuff, all the ways that people live with their cars, interact, have that kind of symbiosis with this machine. All of that can be traced to this region of the world. Vicki Curry>> And racing has a strong history here in southern California too? Dan Neil>> Absolutely. A lot of people who live in Los Angeles have no idea how much racing went on here in the county. There used to be something called the Santa Monica Road Race which was this crazy race out on the beach and it would go for miles. People would get killed and it was really fast and it was big deal. Right where the Grove Shopping Center is now at Beverly and Fairfax, there was a huge racetrack, a really cool racetrack, one of the biggest and most exciting and deadly racetracks. In Pomona, drag racing started at Pomona and the headquarters of NHRA are still there. So wherever there are cars, there is car competition. That's part of a car culture that really has shaped the city as well. Vicki Curry>> So after doing this research and writing this feature, what's your take on the future of the automobile and its impact here in southern California? Dan Neil>> Well, a lot of people will say, "Oh, you know, the automobile is a doomed invention and it can't work. It's not sustainable." I really can't think of any way that we can go forward in this society with all the equity that's invested in the kind of transportation infrastructure we have without the automobile, without self-mobility. But there is the question of energy and fuel. Interestingly, in 1900, about forty percent of the cars sold in the United States, which I grant wasn't that many cars, were electric. Vicki Curry>> Really? Dan Neil>> Yeah, and electric cars now stand a chance that they haven't had in the past primarily because of the tremendous advancements in battery power. People were talking about fuel cells and we're going to do this and we're going to make ethanol. When you really look at the energy budget, a grid-supplied electricity to onboard batteries really turns out to be the best fuel in terms of energy and emissions and pollution. And what about this region? This region, this state, leads the country in this kind of forward thinking. In fact, because California is so big, as California goes, so goes the world market in terms of emissions, in terms of greenhouse gases. You know, we're leading the way in a lot of it because of the power of the marketplace. So I'm optimistic that we here in southern California will see the best new things first. Vicki Curry>> Dan Neil of the Los Angeles Times, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us. Dan Neil>> Thank you. Val Zavala>> Tomorrow, Dan Neil and other writers will be featured in a special auto section. It's one of several special editions commemorating the one hundred twenty-fifth anniversary of the Los Angeles Times. Announcer>> To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us by mail at this address: Life and Times 4401 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, California 90027 You can also call our viewer comment line (323) 953-5555) or contact us the fast way by e-mail at kcet.org. Val Zavala>> Parents with disabled children know just how heartbreaking it can be to see their child sitting on the sidelines, especially when it comes to sports and recreation. Well, we found a place where sitting on the sidelines is not allowed, no matter what their disability. It's tucked away in the northeast corner of the San Fernando Valley in Lake View Terrace. This is the home of Valley View Vaulters. What's a vaulter? This is a vaulter. [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> But first, some warm-ups. [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> Here you'll find kids and adults of every shape, color, size, ability and disability, kids with Downs Syndrome, autism, spina bifida, cerebral palsy, blindness, paralysis, hyperactivity and even attention deficit disorder. Mobile or immobile, they're all part of the group. Rick Hawthorne>> They're not here to be by themselves. They're here to better themselves and be with everybody else. Val Zavala>> And the man who has to rein in all this energy? Rick Hawthorne. Rick Hawthorne>> "Who did I say next? It was Kelly?" We take everyone. We never ever turn anyone down. Val Zavala>> Take Sammie, an affectionate boy who's been coming to Valley View Vaulters for ten years. Bob Lieberman>> Sammie had viral encephalitis twice. The first time, they had to remove about half of his brain and, the second operation, they removed about another third. Fortunately, he survived, thanks to modern medicine, but it left him disabled with epilepsy. After a few surgeries that failed to give us an uplift, we realized this was just going to be Sam. Sam has a great soul, but has some challenges. The first day, Rick had Sam up on the horse and, the very first day, I had tears in my eyes. I couldn't believe it. Val Zavala>> And there's Yasmina Martinez from Simi Valley. Yasmina Martinez>> My left side, I have cerebral palsy. It's not as bad as other people. When I wasn't over here, I was not using my left side, but now I'm good (laughter). I'm using it now. Rick Hawthorne>> "Straight legs. Sit up top." Val Zavala>> Rick Hawthorne is a natural with these kids. He has the patience of a saint. Maybe that's because he knows what it's like to grow up with a disability. Rick Hawthorne is an amputee. He was only eleven when he lost his left shoulder and arm. Rick Hawthorne>> "You can do it. Come on, come on." Val Zavala>> His wife, Virginia, said it started with an unusual incident in grade school. Virginia Hawthorne>> He never fights. If you knew Rick, he will never get physically angry at anybody, but he did. He was in school, something happened and he hit somebody. He's left-handed and he broke his left arm in three places. Val Zavala>> Must have been quite a punch. Virginia Hawthorne>> Quite a punch. He must have been really upset (laughter). But they sent him to the office who in turn sent him to the hospital. They took x-rays. When they took the x-rays, they found cancer in his shoulder the size of a grapefruit and they took it off immediately. Val Zavala>> Then when Rick was in college at Cal Poly, a counselor suggested he try equestrian vaulting. Rick Hawthorne>> And I said, "That's what you want me to try?" Virginia Hawthorne>> And he looked at it and he said -- Rick Hawthorne>> "Thank you, but no thank you." Virginia Hawthorne>> "I want to keep my neck the way it is." Rick Hawthorne>> "I like my neck the way it is." Virginia Hawthorne>> And so he left, and this person would not let that happen. Rick Hawthorne>> They finally talked me into going back and trying it and, after they helped me up the first time and showed me some things, it was a blast. [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> Over the past twenty-five years, Rick has helped more than two thousand young people get the feel of a saddle. Virginia Hawthorne>> That's Anne Marie. She has cerebral palsy. She's been with us twenty years. She's very, very sharp and she doesn't speak, but she speaks volumes. [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> When she first came to Valley View Vaulters, she couldn't even climb stairs, and now? Rick Hawthorne>> She can go up and down stairs without holding anything. When she first started, she couldn't even straighten her arms out and her fingers were like this, and now they're loose and they're straight and she loves being with the other vaulters. Virginia Hawthorne>> She is quite a competitor. She likes to go into competition. She came off the barrel -- it was a barrel competition and she flipped off. Now there are people right there with her, so it was no big thing except to her. She felt she'd failed. She was so upset and she worked three hundred times harder to do a better job next time. Rick Hawthorne>> In fact, one of our coolest sayings is, "I can't actually means I can accomplish next time." [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> Kelly is getting her chance. She was in a terrible car accident when she was nineteen. Now she's wheelchair-bound except for the days she comes here. Virginia Hawthorne>> We might be able to help her get into a walker. We don't do it, but we give her the opportunity to do it and make her body work different ways. Nobody can argue that on a horse is a lot more fun than in an exercise room. Rick Hawthorne>> "Nice and tall." Val Zavala>> Valley View Vaulters is a nonprofit, relying on fundraisers and donations. Six of the eight horses were donated including Babe, a gentle giant who, like so many at this place, went through a transformation. Rick Hawthorne>> Babe came to us. She was kind of troubled. I can't tell you her past, but everything bothered her and she would just run off. I couldn't work with the kids until, of course, we got that taken care of, but she now loves her lessons. She's got a gleam to her eyes that she never had before. Val Zavala>> Katrina has autism. She may look as though she's not paying attention, but not so. Virginia Hawthorne>> She now follows directions. When he tells her to put her leg out, she does her best to do it. Rick Hawthorne>> The idea here is to be able to get these kids to do what you want them to do through just a slight touch. When Katrina first started with this, she was very difficult. She would not even raise an arm, no leg, nothing. So what we want to do is teach them that, when you say something, either touch or voice command, they accomplish that when you say it. Val Zavala>> There are a hundred twenty-five vaulters in the program, some of them good enough to compete. Sammie won a Blue Ribbon in a national competition in Denver. Bob Lieberman>> And the team and the sport have just done wonders for him. Most of all, it really gave him a sense of empowerment. Val Zavala>> Rick is a Bronze Medal winner in vaulting, but it stressed his arm and he had to stop competing four or five years ago. But after several hours of helping the students on the horses, we managed to talk him into climbing on a horse himself. He said it had been a while, but he'd give it a try. [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> And, hey, if you're going to show off, you might as well do it right. [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> If you'd like to find out more about Valley View Vaulters, just go to their website at valleyviewvaulters.com. And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. For everyone at Life and Times, thanks for watching. We'll see you next time. Announcer>> Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Sponsored in part by:  | |
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