[djjeffhall]

Chiefs70,
Hey there.

Your a step (Or at least a time zone or two.) ahead of me. The first thing I thought when I first heard about this film was, "Who plays Ira Hayes."

The actor is a guy named Victor Joseph who has done a bunch of TV work, but more importantly as far as I'm concerned, starred in a movie called Smoke Signals. A great indie film from 1998 written, produced, directed and starring an all American Indian cast. My favorite line from the movie is a sequence where we overhear the local radio dj call out, "It's a good day to be indigenous."

By the way, I'm forced to have a "Jack Black in the movie High Fidelity" moment and point out that Pete LaFarge wrote the Ballad Of Ira Hayes.

Peter La Farge was an American Indian folk artist who dies young but was a big influence on the folk revival of the early 60's. Never had a hit that he performed and remains pretty obscure. (Just to keep it on a military note, he was a Korean War veteran serving the the U.S. Navy.)

Johnny Cash performed it and had the big hit. Number 3 on the Billboard Country Charts in 1964. (Chiefs, if you decide to come out to L.A. and kick my butt, I'll fully understand. Being in the music industry, I just couldn't keep myself from getting in the last musical word. )

[chiefs70]

Originally Posted by djjeffhall

Chiefs70,
Hey there.

Your a step (Or at least a time zone or two.) ahead of me. The first thing I thought when I first heard about this film was, "Who plays Ira Hayes."

The actor is a guy named Victor Joseph who has done a bunch of TV work, but more importantly as far as I'm concerned, starred in a movie called Smoke Signals. A great indie film from 1998 written, produced, directed and starring an all American Indian cast. My favorite line from the movie is a sequence where we overhear the local radio dj call out, "It's a good day to be indigenous."

By the way, I'm forced to have a "Jack Black in the movie High Fidelity" moment and point out that Pete LaFarge wrote the Ballad Of Ira Hayes.

Peter La Farge was an American Indian folk artist who dies young but was a big influence on the folk revival of the early 60's. Never had a hit that he performed and remains pretty obscure. (Just to keep it on a military note, he was a Korean War veteran serving the the U.S. Navy.)

Johnny Cash performed it and had the big hit. Number 3 on the Billboard Country Charts in 1964. (Chiefs, if you decide to come out to L.A. and kick my butt, I'll fully understand. Being in the music industry, I just couldn't keep myself from getting in the last musical word. )

Haha, djjeffhall - I wouldn't think of it! I actually knew that it was written by Pete LeFarge but I zoned out and typed "written" instead of "recorded" by Johnny Cash. I am a big Johnny Cash fan (we share a birthday) and he is probably the greatest cover tune performer in history since many of his hits were written by others.

Smoke Signals is a very good movie. I believe it was debuted here in Lawrence at the Native American film festival they hold here each year (which is where I viewed it). Not only is Lawrence, KS home to the University of Kansas (Rock Chalk Jayhawk) but it is also home to Haskell Indian Nations University which provides post-secondary education to our Native Peoples. It is a key part of the soul of my great college town.

Okay, I'm done thread jacking my own thread. I just wanted to let you know I'm not going to come looking for you, DJ.

[MoMo]

Dear Chiefs70 et al,

I had a look at the trailer and the movie looks very interesting and appears to be well made. Eastwood is now a fine director and the last Movie I saw with his stamp on it was " Million Dollar Baby" which turned out to be much better than I thought it would be. I found it boyh moving and engaging.

The look of this Movie, and indeed any war movie with seroius intent, is dictated by the look and feel of " Ryan ". Spielberg changed the look and feel of the genre and if anyone views the trailer I'm sure they will agree that there appear to be several shots which are similar in impact to "Ryan".

Certainly, the camera has had the lens stripped of the coatings which usually interact with the film stock to give us a more colourful world ( though not as good or permanent as Technicolor ). This stripping down of the lens coatings induces that effect which seems to give us a starker and almost monochromatic view of the war. An effect which seems truer to the period and more comfortable in context.

Like many of you, I can't wait to see how the 1940s are represented. I hope that the dialogue and characterisation are true to the period or, at least, if this is a modern take on events let not the anachronisms spill and spoil!

MoMo

[tsr2]

It will be interesting to see how Eastwood handles the second film 'Red Sun, Black Sand', showing events from the Japanese perspective.

[STARMAN 352ND]

Speaking of Eastwood does he have a part in this movie as well?
In the past i have seen him in a lot of his own movies.
JP