Not Your Sweetie

The Maltese Falcon Story score: · Add to my Hotlist
By Robbedvoter [Add to my Buddy List]
Posted to Robbedvoter's weblog on Thu Jun 24th, 2004 at 10:59:27 PM EST

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The Hunting of the President

I have just returned from the Angelika theater thrilled after seing the movie and getting the chance to discuss it with  none other than Joe Conason.
     For those who don't know it, Angelika is an art movie house/coffee house in NYC, where Noho meets Soho.
    I heard Conason on Air America last night saying that he was so thrilled to havr his movie play there that he took a picture of the marquis. I also heard he will come by to talk about the movie (he will again tomorrow after the 7:45 showing), so I went.
   The movie moves fast through less characters than appear in the book - but still conveys the incredible story (it WAS a VAST conspiracy Mr Thomason!)
It has emotional moments - the Susan McDougal interview, funny ones and infuriating ones.
     By the end, when a smiling Clinton picture appears, the audience applauded.
   The ending also tied the events to the present day (they tested themselves, next thing, they stole an election, redistricted Texas, lied us into a war)
   The "where are they now" notes were histerical - and helped difuse the tension of the story ("Paula Jones posed for Penthhouse and was beaten by Tonya Harding" "Susan McDougal wrote a best seller and hopes for a match with  Ken Starr" I won't give them all away...
   Enough said, there were applause at the end.
Joe Conason  asked us if we liked the movie - and since we did, please tell our friends. The questions followed - and there were all great.
     My favorite answer is the one that gave the title of this. Answering a quesrion about Clinton, Conason said: "He is in this story like the Maltese Falcon - ties it all up, but the story is not about him, but about the people who tried to get him.
     He told us he didn't write the script, but all the interviews in the movie were done by Gene Lyons and him.
     They had had trouble getting actual news footage from the networks - for the obvious reasons.
      Asked if Clinton liked the movie, he told us he attended the premiere and just today gave him an interview for Salon and told him he did.
     You'd be surprised to find out who else liked it. Asked about Carlyle buying Loews theatres, he said that  if it's profitable, they'll play it. That one of the distributors for this movie was Fox and he was told that Rupert Murdoch saw it and liked it.
       I finally got a chance to ask my question. I mentioned first the a propos resignation of Ted Olson then I asked if he thinks that the NY Times will ever apologize for Whitewater.
      I mentioned Michiko Kahutani disgusting page one review and the fact that she chastized Clinton for not apologizing for Whitewater (among others).
I told him I wrote them about it and the ombudsman wrote me today that the review will be adressed by Daniel Okrent in the week in review section of the Sunday edition.
       He said he is quite sure NY Times will never apologize for Whitewater. They had quite a few stories for which they had to - Wen Ho lee, Jason Blair, Judith Miller, but this will not be one of them.
      As for ms Kahutani, she couldn't know the truth about Whitewater as she gets her information from....the NY Times.
     He spoke in the end of the possibility of changing the way the media reports. The sales of the books critical of Bush, his and Moore movies - will eventually  send a message of the demand. "They shape opinion, but their opinions can also be shaped - especially since they are so devoid of one"
    Which is why it's important to give this movie good numbers. So - go see it - it's very good!