DISQUS

JP · 1 year ago

And what's up with there being no Japanese people in Letters from Iwo Jima? It's inexcusable! Eastwood is a racist!

david · 1 year ago

jp are you serious letters from iwo jima has the story from the japanese point of view

Maggie Van Ostrand · 1 year ago

Hopefully, United Artists will soon make The Story of Clint Eastwood, and cast Spike Lee in the title role.

Great piece, RF.

Solomon · 1 year ago

I think you mean to say that in a group of 1,000 men only 9 would be black instead of 1. A
more interesting test might be to see how many people were actually used in the filming
and decide if Eastwood should have had say 2-3 (though your comment about the frontline
issue might cancel out any math).

790 · 1 year ago

This is such BS as far as Lee's racist opinion is concerned, the man is a attention seeking retard.

One of Eastwood's new films is a film about Nelson Mandela...
When asked about this Eastwood said "well I'm not going to cast a white guy to play Mandela....
Get with reality Lee!

Robert Fure · 1 year ago

@Solomon

You're correct on my typo. The actual percentage was .9% and in a group of 1,000, that would be 9 black soldiers. Thanks for catching that and I apologize for my typo. =(

I guess Spike Lee had me riled up just a touch! Or I was trying to type too fast for my own good.

Bill Brasky · 1 year ago

Well done Robert ... you should subimt this article directly to Spike's email or as a retraction to any news medium that printed his comments.

Rich · 1 year ago

Robert and Bil:

I don't follow your math. You said that of the 900, 600 were in transportation jobs, and not on the front lines, that would leave .4% or 4 per 1,000.

I spent 30 years in the military, all of it after President Truman signed the integration bill in 1948. As a result, I served with people of all races, and would not for a minute diminish anyones contribution.

My Father served in the army, starting in 1936, according to him, the majority of black soldiers were indeed relegated to transportation and other jobs not involving the front lines. From talking to him and his brothers, they only saw whites at the front. This discussion came up in response to another movie back in the fifties which only showed blacks assigned to rear eschelon positions. Sidney Potier was in that one.

Bottom line, I believe Mr Eastwood was fairly and accurately representing the troops in the field.

JMoney · 1 year ago

although i havn't seen many of Spike Lee's films, i always thought him to be an intelligent film maker, but this entire story has lowered my opinion of him. To me it smells like a publicity stunt. Attack the most recent WWII movie for having no black people just so you can trumpet your own WWII movie about a group of black soldiers. From my understanding of the plot, the soldiers' story being portrayed in Lee's film is remarkable and should be able to stand on its own. This stupid stunt is going to tarnish his own movie, not help it.

boniface50 · 1 year ago

This is the only way Spike Lee gets any press. He attacks and screams racism. Flags of Our Fathers has been out for about a year and he is just now getting around to this? I guess he wanted to wait until his WWII movie was about to be released. He also criticized Clint for "Bird". Complaining 'why a white man is making a movie about a great jazz musician?'

Rob · 1 year ago

An excellent rebuttal Mr Fure. One small correction if I may. Spike Lee claimed that there was not one black face in 'Flags.' Flatly untrue. Approx 15 mins in there is a scene on a troop ship where the Captain (Neal McDonagh) lectures his men about the imminent invasion of Iwo Jima. The Captain makes reference to an ammo company resupplying the troops & as he says that the camera singles out a group of black marines listening intently. Here's a screenshot of the scene in question;

http://img244.imageshack.us/my.php?image=flagss...

You'll note that the Captain's line is historically correct as that's what black troops were used for & that Eastwood's concern at singling out black faces in a story that is otherwise entirely about the men who raised the flag & what happened to them when they returned home, flatly refutes Spike Lee's disgraceful implication that Eastwood is racist & that 'there was not one black face in either of those movies.' But of course Lee has his own movie to promote which is why he said those things. That he feels free to make factually untrue statements about another filmmakers movie & smear its director with an implication of racism no doubt troubles him not at all. After all, he got what he wanted. Sadly, Spike Lee will probably get away with this just as he has similar behaviour in the past.

Kelly · 1 year ago

Spike Lee detonated his own credibility when he went after Clint Eastwood on this topic. I've never read or heard anything to make me think Mr. Eastwood was a bigot, least of all toward Blacks. Mr. Lee might want to revisit his rant and extend a much deserved mea culpa to Clint.

mcnertny · 1 year ago

Lets do a special on the Iwo black soldiers,the flak will come showing them led by white officers,being used in a primarily work role etc.
Consider the 332nd fighter group,"Tuskg. airmen" ,more publicity then the entire 15th air force has received in history,the other 12 fighter groups not only received token recognition, but included many aces with victories over jets etc,the 332nd had no aces credited until recently by an act of the Air force most consider manipulation as opposed to "deliberately done for racial reasons",
The "never lost a bomber" they escorted saying ,has also been disputed by veterans who flew with the 15th groups as my father,48 missions,B17. Pretty much debunked. While those veterens state they were always happy to see the red tails of the 332 as an escort it was no more then the sight of any other escorting fighter group. Thanks to my father I was well aware of the 332nd and their pilots as a kid in the 50s,college educated,fine pilots and segregated as things were at the time.

Bob N. · 1 year ago

Mr. Eastwood simply made a movie from an extraordinary book written by the son of one of the flag raisers. Having read the book, seen the movie and being a little bit of a WWII buff, there was nothing wrong or dishonest with the movie. The statistics bare out the elements of the movie and the circumstances of where all those combatants were. Perhaps, Mr. Lee's history is revisionist at best, racist at worst and I'm quite certain he didn't read the book.