(photo: Glenn Beck, right, in the only uniform he's ever worn,
Puyallup Fair,
1973. credit, Skagit Valley Herald)
Declaring it an “anti-troop movie” by Hollywood elites, Glenn Beck (KTTH m-f, 6-9a said on his radio show Monday he won’t be seeing The Hurt Locker, the Oscar-winning movie that realistically portrays (and lionizes) US Army bomb squad technicians of the Iraq War.
For Beck, service has never been more than the oral kind on program directors past.There are arguments about the movie’s accuracy, and the narrative tension built by its portrayal of an adrenalin-addicted “cowboy” protagonist.
In Newsweek, Rachel Maddow's pal Paul Rieckhoff, head of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said that the film offers "a litany of inaccuracies." The Pentagon stopped cooperating with the production for scenes they didn't like, (telling the NYT that the "filmmakers' interest in drama and excitement exceeded what we felt were reasonable realistic portrayals."
But anti-troop?? Many veterans and military men were in screenings, and have praised the portrayal. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, however, gave it a thumb's ups - his spokesman told the NYT that he regards the movie as "compelling" and "the most authentic" film about the war.
There was no disrespect of soldiers, and the only bad guys were the ones trying to kill them. We couldn’t detect any political content or judgments about the conflict itself. (We, of course, would have appreciated more of that, believing, as do most Americans, that the Iraqi War was one of the most shameful and costly blunders in US history).
Beck, with his remarkably fat head and fascination with the sounds that gush from his ceaselessly flapping (but eminently adorable) lips, wouldn’t know Shinola from an entrenching tool.
Or as longtime reader Mike puts it: "How come no one speaks up about the shit this dork shovels out....dissing a movie he doesn't plan to see and in the process insulting the troops he pretends to admire?"
I think the way Mike puts it: "How come no one speaks up about the shit this dork shovels out....dissing a movie he doesn't plan to see and in the process insulting the troops he pretends to admire?" is the most rational and logic response to someone like this who has no idea what the boy scouts would be like, let alone war. Any self respecting critic should always see the movie/book/production/exhibition rather than protesting to see it - because an ill informed point of view is by far the most dangerous.
Posted by: Briefgold | March 09, 2010 at 03:24 AM
Despite inaccuracies (and what movies about war doesn't have them), I found this movie very entertaining and somewhat refreshing in the way 'Hollywood' portrayed the 'war'. Finally the 'bad guys' were depicted as what they are/were and the American 'spirit' was displayed in a way that pretty much defines the all-American fighting person in times of over-the-top stress.
Let the world see the kind of real fiber they will face should they push the envelope with good 'ol USA! Inaccurate details be damned.
Posted by: Duffman | March 09, 2010 at 06:18 AM
Oh...and I almost forgot: Glenn Beck is a big time non-event, along with Rush and the other 'pseudo-patriotic' non-servers.
Posted by: Duffman | March 09, 2010 at 06:22 AM
military and other folks who are getting all contemptuous about the movie becaust the actors are doing the wrong kind of hoorah yell or wearing too recent type uniforms are making asses out of yourselves .....this is not an inhouse military/Army training film.....it's a general release movie... these inaccuracies are of consequence only to some dork playing for big money on a tv trivia show.... get over it...
Posted by: Tommy008 | March 09, 2010 at 08:20 AM
Beck is getting to be too off the wall to be taken that seriously, unfortunately. He is starting to resemble a counterpoint for the whack jobs on MSLSD. He looks like a grown up version of Ralphie in Christmas Story.
Posted by: KS | March 09, 2010 at 12:20 PM
Whaddya' expect from a guy who thinks that the 1910 dime, art and sculpture in NY are all indoctrinating our kids to communism.
Geez, watching and listening to this arse-wipe is like playing whack-a-mole.
Posted by: Bill | March 09, 2010 at 03:46 PM
Besides, didn't Beck rape and murder a girl back in 1990?
I don't think he did.
I'm just asking the question.
Posted by: Bill | March 09, 2010 at 03:53 PM
Beck should have a chat with one Lt Suits who thinks the movie is very good
Posted by: drool | March 09, 2010 at 07:16 PM
[military and other folks who are getting all contemptuous about the movie becaust the actors are doing the wrong kind of hoorah yell or wearing too recent type uniforms are making asses out of yourselves .....this is not an inhouse military/Army training film.....it's a general release movie... these inaccuracies are of consequence only to some dork playing for big money on a tv trivia show.... get over it...]
Yes...
Posted by: Goldankauf | January 26, 2012 at 07:01 AM