hellboy76 wrote:Nice write up.
I enjoyed this documentary too. Obviously I don't share his political leanings, and I think his "blacklisting" was as much as that he was off putting and a bit of an asshole, as much as his politics (or the perfect combination of the two). Either way, its ridiculous to think people like Charlie Sheen, a ticking time bomb of insanity continue to get regular work, and there are admitted child rapists (albeit talented ones) who honored by many, yet Milius is shuffled off to wither and die.
hellboy76, I'll preface this by saying that I like and respect you a lot, but after reading your mini-review, I believe you misinterpreted/misunderstood the documentary. In fact, several parts of my review above were intended to dispel misconceptions (Milius being blackballed because he was a supposed "asshole", or the myth about him pointing guns at anyone) I found in your write-up, and which I'm sure other viewers had, too.
I'm especially confused by the "asshole" label. (Not that it's a reason to blackball anyone anyways, as both you and I pointed out above) Everything I have seen and heard about and from Milius indicates that he is the precise opposite of that. He is genial, warm-hearted (did you miss the story of Milius paying back the creator of Deadwood for his son's law school tuition when he didn't have to?), kind, and sticks up for others.
He has also shown an ability to befriend a wide range of people with beliefs diametrically opposite of his own. That's a gift assholes don't have. So why is Milius an "asshole"?
hellboy76 wrote:Sure, he could have simply not been overbearing with his views and avoided a blacklisting, but he stuck to his principles, so you have to admire it, even if you don't agree with it.
How do you believe he was "overbearing"? Most conservative-minded folks in Hollywood hide their political feelings, for (rightful) fear of being blackballed. Milius did not. He expressed his political feelings the same way that 95+% of Hollywood (the liberal portion) express theirs.
But that's not Milius being "overbearing" so much as Hollywood being a sick, repressive institution that seeks conformity, and punishes anyone who dares to think differently.
hellboy76 wrote:He was obviously talented, and all fans of film are short changed when someone with his skill is not allowed to practice it.
Indeed. In fact, looking through Milius's unmade scripts on Wikipedia, many of them sound like potential classics.
I'm especially intrigued by Milius writing "Jeremiah Johnson", even if they only used 60% of his script, as it's based on one of the most incredible historical figures of all time (who I became aware of thanks to the second entry in the Riverworld saga by Philip Jose Farmer), John "Liver-Eating" Johnson.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liver-eating_Johnson
"In 1847, his wife, a member of the Flathead American Indian tribe, was killed by a young Crow brave and his fellow hunters, which prompted Johnson to embark on a vendetta against the tribe.[2] The legend says that he would cut out and eat the liver of each man killed.[2][dubious – discuss] This was an insult to Crow because the Crow believed the liver to be vital if one was to go on to the afterlife.[citation needed] This led to him being known as "Liver-Eating Johnson". The story of how he got his name was written down by a diarist at the time.[citation needed] There were three Johnsons,[citation needed] nicknames were commonplace, and with Johnson's show of eating the liver, he received his name.
One tale ascribed to Johnson[1][2] (while other sources ascribe it to Boone Helm[3]) was of being ambushed by a group of Blackfoot warriors in the dead of winter on a foray to sell whiskey to his Flathead kin, a trip that would have been over five hundred miles (805 kilometers). The Blackfoot planned to sell him to the Crow, his mortal enemies, for a handsome price.[vague] He was stripped to the waist, tied with leather thongs and put in a teepee with only one, very inexperienced guard. Johnson managed to break through the straps, then knocked out his young guard with a kick, took his knife and scalped him, then quickly cut off one of his legs.[dubious – discuss] He made his escape into the woods, surviving by eating the Blackfoot's leg, until he reached the cabin of Del Que, his trapping partner, a journey of about two hundred miles (322 Kilometers)."