This is one of the finest movies I have ever seen. But there is a context for all of this as there is for anything. I hate forties and fifties and most sixties movies made in the US of A.  You know why? Because the censorship made our movies look no more truthful about real life in the world than Stalinist cinema. One big frickin lie after another. Oh there were exceptions for sure. And by sixty eight, Henry Fonda's son got together with a pal and changed US cinema forever.

During that period we as citizens were to assume there was no religion but Christianity. There were no Negroes or there certainly were not any angry or disappointed Negroes and there were no gay people at all and there were no class warfare issues.....

But there were exceptions to all of this. I mean Dr. Strangelove may be one of the best comedies ever, ever written or performed.  On the other hand, The Manchurian Candidate which really was pulled from action because of the Kennedy Assassination was not that good. As a matter of fact, the remake was much better and we did not have to suffer through Sinatra pretending he could act with fake sweat and a lot of tobacco.  But I digress.

There was a fifties movie starring someone you would think was one of the worst actors of the twentieth century because of TV work. His Mayberry and Matlock represent some of the worst acting I have ever witnessed. Even as a kid I knew I was watching garbage.  

A Face in the Crowd; starring Andy Griffith as Larry 'Lonesome' Rhodes is one of the best films ever made in this country and we did not even need an English actor to take the curtain down and reveal the economic oligarchy that ruled this country.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ4nqphP21k

I leave this link because if there is anything comparable in 1957 to a Viagra Commercial, somebody tell me. Forty years before the fact. And there he is, Andy Griffith creating his own Viagra commercial. Ahahahahah. And there they all were, middle aged repub white men with limp dicks, jumping all over it. Could have been a scene at a PGA tournament without Tiger Woods.

Griffith is a nobody; that is Lonesome Rhodes is nothing but a red necked asshole carrying a guitar who has never taken responsibility for anything in his entire life. And quite by accident he is thrust into far more than fifteen minutes of fame by strange coincidences and such. He ends up on a radio show where his outlandish antics raise the antes of the commercial airways; ratings go through the roof simply because of Rhodes appeal to middle aged women who like to bake pies.

I think Q, on more than one occasion has underlined how pie (rather than cake) is the democratic ideal. Anyway, Rhodes gets immediately introduced on the telly and he is a hit. And he is a fraud. And he believes in nothing. And feigns a love for America. And he pretends there is some justice in the world. And so on and so on. A wonderful flick.

So what is the point of today's rant? Some asshole put two and two together and tied Lonesome Rhodes to Glenn Beck. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jesse-kornbluth/the-glenn-beck-movie-was_b_296097.html

BEFORE I DID.

Damn that makes me mad:

Success, as Woody Allen observed, only makes you more of what you already are.

If you don't believe that, just consider the case of Larry "Lonesome" Rhodes, the main character in A Face in the Crowd.

When we first see him, he's a drifter doing short time in an Arkansas jail. He's cheerful, handsome, and, in a good ole boy way, mildly charismatic -- he's Andy Griffith, in his first movie role.

Marcia Jeffries (Patricia Neal) shows up. She's got a radio show called "A Face in the Crowd." Its premise: Everyone has talent. And here's Larry Rhodes, strumming his old "Mama Git-tar." Of course this Sarah Lawrence graduate is going to switch on her tape recorder while he sings an original song called "Free Man in the Morning.  (Jesse Kornbluth)

Lonesome Rhodes: This whole country's just like my flock of sheep!
Marcia Jeffries: Sheep?
Lonesome Rhodes: Crackers, hillbillies, hausfraus, shut-ins, pea-pickers -- everybody that's got to jump when somebody else blows the whistle. They don't know it yet, but they're all gonna be 'Fighters for Fuller'. They're mine! I own 'em! They think like I do. Only they're even more stupid than I am, so I gotta think for 'em. Marcia, you just wait and see. I'm gonna be the power behind the president -- and you'll be the power behind me!

Maybe the suckers can't grasp his contempt for them -- millions of people like a Strong Man, no matter how stupid he is -- but they do grasp another trait that's standard equipment on guys like Lonesome. That's right, women. In quantity. So Lonesome passes over Marcia to marry a high school cheerleader (Lee Remick, in her film debut). No bets on how long he'll be faithful to her....

I mean there it is, Glenn the prick Beck. Oh he has been caught in his ruse as demagogue. I mean I have seen tapes of old Glenn getting vicks put under his eyes so that he could feign tears while discussing his love of country. It is a waste of time and effort to cite the lies perpetrated by this fuck over the last few years.

But there was a comeuppance of sorts for this demagogue. Something even Rush has not experienced.

I mean rush wanted to be Keith Olbermann and he wished to be high lighted on ESPN   and he had a dream about being a sportscaster. When that did not work rush said fuck you I will just buy an interest in a sports team. Hahahahahahahahahaha. Sports teams tend to employ a number of minority champions. Hahahahaha. Let me suggest that the loss of that attempt, by a billionaire to purchase his dream, has got to hurt a thousand times more than his recent heart attack.  But again, I digress.

Dipshit Beck, decided he would make a movie. Here is a bit of his advertising/propaganda with regard to that 'film':

Glenn Beck's Live presentation of The Christmas Sweater - A Return To Redemption touched audiences in over 400 movie theatres nationwide. Don't miss your LAST CHANCE to experience his deeply personal tale of love, faith and family on the big screen during the encore presentation on Thursday, December 10th.Glenn will re-introduce The Christmas Sweater by picking up where the story left off by chronicling the life-changing impact The Christmas Sweater's message has had on people all over the country. This is a once in a lifetime event, and a perfect way to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas with your entire family from the comfort of your local movie theatre.

Glenn will tell you about the real life events that inspired him to write The Christmas Sweater, and he'll share stories of the overwhelming response he received about how the tale's message of redemption literally changed people's lives, bringing many back from the brink of collapse and restoring family relationships. Then, Glenn will show a re-mastered and exclusive version of The Christmas Sweater taped live during his 2008 cross-country tour. Afterward, Glenn will introduce you to some of the people who were touched by the story and you'll experience their intimate journey of transformation through the simple gift of redemption.

This incredible Christmas celebration will take place in movie theatres all over the country. Join Glenn for the next evolution of The Christmas Sweater and see for yourself why critics and audiences alike are heralding it as a new American classic.  http://www.glennbeck.com/content/events/

People, we just witnessed the single greatest grossing film of all time hit the charts. AVATAR pulled in one billion dollars in seventeen days. Seventeen days. These are hard times economically for this country. But Avatar did just fine and will continue to do just fine in thousands of theatres for weeks if not months.

Exactly how well did Glenn's film do?

Well it did not do that well.

In New York, Beck sold 17 tickets. In Boston, another 17. And in Washington, D.C., the hotbed of political activism, his tearful film drew only 30, Raw Story has found.

Glenn Beck's new movie The Christmas Sweater - A Return To Redemption -- released for a viewing Thursday night in hundreds of theaters across the country. While it performed better in the south and in rural, more conservative areas, his ability to draw viewers in major US markets was a bust.

"The theater's almost empty," a representative at Regal Cinemas in Manhattan told Raw Story moments before it began.

By the time of its 8:00pm EST airing Thursday, it hardly sold any tickets in the three aforementioned metropolitan cities, cinema staffers told Raw Story.

But Beck's home crowd was less apathetic.

The viewing in Lynnwood, WA -- the closest one to Beck's Mount Vernon hometown -- sold out several hours before the show began. Ten miles south, 70 out of 415 seats had been snagged in Seattle, a better turnout than other cities.

All attendees were charged $20 -- a figure that Beck surely hoped was affordable for the "little guy," who he often claims to stand up for. 

http://rawstory.com/2009/12/glenn-beck-christmas-sweater-movie-flops-big-cities/

Why do I spend my time writing about things like this?

Rollo Tomasi. ha!