Disney Live-Action Films
Topic: 4/25/06 Rhett Wickham: Beggar at the Feast

#	Author	Message
11	Cinderelluh Thu 4/27/2006 1:10p	How can you not agree with this? It's absurd to deny these actors any kind of acknowledgement for a precious and wonderful movie they helped create. By sweeping this under the rug, what does that say to the world? That Iger is a coward when it comes to criticism? Despite rumors of during a "certain" time this film was made, there is still a cogent approach that would satisfy everyone should this movie be released. It's ashame, these excuses and quite honestly, I've heard worse coming from Disney with supposed subliminal messages in movies however that hasn't detered me one bit from wathing these great animated features. I am so disappointed in Iger.
12	jasmine7 Thu 4/27/2006 2:12p	I do wish SotS would be released. It's a beautiful film that deserves to be seen. I find far more objectional things in Gone With the Wind than in Song of the South (and I do love GWTW, too).
13	ctdsnark Fri 4/28/2006 9:07a	Has anyone noticed,by this point,that no one has responded by saying that "Song Of The South" SHOULDN'T be released?
14	basil fan Sat 4/29/2006 1:30p	Not to change the subject (I'm totally in favor of releasing SOTS), but which of the voice actors were not black? I know who James Baskett was, but Johnny Lee is just a name in the credits to me. Was he white? Guide to Disney's Mickey Mouse Shorts http://www.whatsitsgalore.com/ disney/shorts.html
15	ADMIN Mon 5/1/2006 11:44p	Message removed by an administrator. Click here for the LaughingPlace.com Community Standards.
16	basil fan Tue 5/2/2006 8:44a	Did I cause that? Did I ask an improper question? Scooby-Doo Glitches http://www.whatsitsgalore.com/ glitch/sglitch.html
17	ctdsnark Fri 5/5/2006 10:29a	Just WHAT is Disney afraid of---that the world is going to come to an end if they release this picture?
18	Imagineer This Mon 5/8/2006 12:51a	Iger's words about SOTS: "Uh..and thought that it's quite possible that uh people wouldn't consider it in the context that it was made, and there were some, um, um, .uh.yuh uh depictions that I mentioned, earlier in the film, that I think would be bothersome to a lot of people." "And so owing to the sensitivity uh that exists in..in...in our culture, uh balancing it with a desire to uhm uh..to maybe increase our earnings a bit but never putting that in front of what we thought were our ethics and our integrity we made the decision not to re-release it." "I imagine this is going to continue to come up, but for now we simply don't have plans to bring it back because of the sensitivities that I mentioned. Sorry." Since when in recent memory has Disney made movies that were culturally sensitive, including Touchstone, Miramax etc., and were sensitive to people's feelings?
19	Imagineer This Mon 5/8/2006 1:31a	Review: Bringing Down the House (Toucstone Pictures 2003) BY LARRY CARROLL (Excerpts) "House is an unfunny, lazy, disaster of a movie. It relies on stolen gags for humor, forced relationships for empathy, and (racist) jokes for shock value. The film takes a conceit that would have felt dated thirty years ago (that a black woman's mere presence in Beverly Hills would outrage everyone who came across her) and repeatedly tries to force it into a current context, as if jamming a square peg into a round hole. The timing for the film's release might dupe a few people into plunking down ten bucks - the stars are an Oscar nominee and the man who will be hosting the ceremony in two weeks - but the only awards this clunker will ever take home are some Razzies." "The second big problem is a remarkably unrepentant portrayal of white people as being universally intolerable of anyone else. Neighbor Mrs. Kline (Betty White, who did the same "watch the old lady shock you" act four years ago in Lake Placid) sees a boy with his hair combed and tells him he "looks like a ***", remarks that any minority on her block "better be carrying a leaf blower", and throws around the *word like she gets paid per usage." "When Mrs. Kline isn't in a scene, Mrs. Arness (Joan Plowright, Jane Eyre) picks up the torch. She is the wealthy widow who Peter is trying to attract to his law firm, and by the time she starts singing slave hymns to Charlene, the movie will have even the Klu Klux Klan members in the audience rolling their eyes in disbelief." Imagine Iger saying this in 20 years in 2026. Iger on Bringing Down The House: "We've discussed this a lot. We believe that actually an opportunity from financial perspectives to put "Bringing Down The House" back out on DVD again (after a 20 year hiatus) is not in Disney's immediate future. I screened it fairly recently, because I hadn't seen it in awhile, and I have to tell you after I watched it, even considering the context that it was made, I had some concerns about it because of what it depicted." "And I thought that it's quite possible that people wouldn't consider it in the context that it was made, and there were some, depictions in the film, that I think would be bothersome to a lot of people. "I imagine this is going to continue to come up, but for now we simply don't have plans to bring "Bringing Down The House" back because of the sensitivities that I mentioned. Sorry." Don't believe everything that Iger tells the Disney audience. He is not being honest with us. He or Disney is not being sensitive and ABC showed Bringing Down The House on TV around the same time that he made that phony speech about the phony reasons not to re-release SOTS. Bringing Down The House Review: http://countingdown.com/featur es?feature_id=2951342
20	Next-Action-Hero Sun 8/3/2008 12:26a	I was watching this film on YouTube a few days ago, and I realized I hadn't seen the film since I was 4 years old (I didn't see it during its last theatrical run in 1986). I found a few surprises, ironies, and sad facts in watching the film now. Among the surprises was how little I remembered the live-action segments of the film, but how well I remembered the animated segments, and of course the Zip-a-dee-doo-dah song sequence. That is one song I challenge any parent to not hear their children singing after viewing this movie. Among the ironies was the fact that James Baskett, who played Uncle Remus, was dead for 24 years when I first "met" him in this movie, and Johnny (Bobby Driscoll) was dead at the age of 31 three months after I was born. But I knew about these passings awhile ago. I was saddened to find out that Luana Patten, little Ginny, only lived to be 57 years old and has been gone for the last 12 years. She was born only 4 years before my mother, who is still around and doing fine. The saddest fact about this movie is that the CHILDREN from it are all dead, and all taken too soon at that. It is an injustice to James Baskett that his most famous role and his lasting legacy is hidden from Americans. He was only 2 years older than I am now when he played Uncle Remus, and was dead at the too young age of 44. SONG OF THE SOUTH features not one but two of the first black actors to receive Academy Awards, and thus makes it part of black history. I have never understood why the depiction of blacks in this film is any different than the depiction of blacks in the movie GONE WITH THE WIND, released a mere 7 years before SONG OF THE SOUTH and readily available on a special edition DVD. What Disney is really afraid of is not clear to me, as consumer demand for this film is high, but Disney seems to have an agenda that is not in line with its audience. Finally, the above facts render the final scene in this film in a more somber light, with Uncle Remus catching up to the children and walking into an animated sunset with the children and animal characters. Instead of being a prospect for a bright future for the cast, it is now a farewell from James Baskett, Luana Patten, Bobby Driscoll, and the cast to us. They're all gone now, yet this film of theirs could continue to bring joy to new generations of fans. I wonder what Walt Disney would do?

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