Oscar winner's rousing montage of film clips is just what the president ordered
Duncan Campbell in Los Angeles Tuesday December 18, 2001 The Guardian
It has a cast of thousands of the best known actors in the world and will be seen by millions of cinemagoers this weekend. In the sort of opening that every film producer dreams of, a celebration called The Spirit of America will become the most visible contribution so far by Hollywood to the war effort.
The three-minute film features clips from 110 American movies that its creator, the Oscar-winning director Chuck Workman, feels celebrate the essence of the United States. It begins and ends with scenes from the 1956 western, The Searchers, starring John Wayne.
While the Spirit of America was neither commissioned nor paid for by the White House, it has won the backing of Karl Rove, President George Bush's senior adviser, who has had a series of meetings with leading lights in the entertainment industry to enlist their services in support of the war against terrorism.
Mr Rove has urged the film and television industry to come up with ideas that would boost morale at home and improve the image of the US abroad.
Workman, who has chosen the clips, won an Oscar in 1986 for a short film, Precious Images, about the history of cinema. He said many of the films, such as Erin Brockovich, starring Julia Roberts, feature a "reluctant hero" and that this is symbolic of the US's current role in the war against terrorism.
Workman said yesterday that he wanted the movie to celebrate the US "in all its diversity". This means showing "some sort of defiance", he said, and "not a great interest in power, not a great interest in money. He said the clips he had chosen reflected a diverse view of American life, much of it through film-makers who had originally come to Hollywood as immigrants.
The film contains many of the best-known movies ever made, such as Citizen Kane, High Noon, Some Like It Hot and Singin' in The Rain, as well as some obvious choices such as Pearl Harbour, The Patriot and True Grit.
But it also has films that might seem less in tune with a flag waving patriotism, such as Malcolm X, and Born on the Fourth of July, the story of Ron Kovic, the Vietnam war veteran who became a leading anti-war protester.
Workman said none of the actors whose permission had to be sought for use in the film had turned him down and that many had been very supportive of the idea.
He had chosen some of the classic lines from movies, such as the scene in Network when Howard Beale, played by Peter Finch, says: "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this any more!" The famous line from The Grapes of Wrath is also used: "Wherever there's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there, I'll be everywhere."
But Workman said that his intention was to show as wide a range of films as possible rather than obvious choices. "I wasn't trying to find scenes that would fit. When you add up all the images - from a spunky Mary Pickford to Ben Affleck as a heroic soldier, you feel the changing, enduring and endlessly interesting American character," he said.
He has chosen to bookend his tribute with the John Ford classic, The Searchers, about a Confederate war veteran, played by John Wayne, who pursues the native Americans who have killed his brother and sister-in-law and kidnapped their daughter.
Workman has already made some well-received films: Superstar about the pop artist Andy Warhol, which was shown at the London Film Festival, and The Source, about the beat writer Jack Kerouac. He is a specialist at montages, which are often used during Oscar ceremonies. He had been asked to make the film by the producer Michael R Rhodes. It has been financed to the tune of $100,000 and assisted by individual donors and companies such as Kodak, Dolby and Technicolor, and the various writers, directors and actors unions.
"The idea for the film came about in response to the events of September 11," said Rhodes. "We wanted to find a way to pay tribute to the indomitable American spirit, to find a way for people to feel good again."
Even Nato has a part to play in getting the film shown, although this is the National Association of Theatre Owners, rather than the outfit currently headed by Lord Robertson. The president of Nato, John Fithian, said yesterday: "It's a picture that emphasises the values that most Americans consider important... it's about being an American without resorting to propaganda.
"Americans may look, think and act differently but we all share a common spirit. We may not know every actor or every movie, but we do recognise a common feeling. Chuck's film makes us laugh at ourselves, cheer the underdog, and share someone else's grief or joy."
He said that inclusion of the clip from Born on the Fourth of July was "part of the freedom being celebrated".
The Spirit of America, said Fithian, was a gift from Hollywood to American moviegoers and will be shown for as long as they show enthusiasm for it. There are no plans at present, he said, for showing it outside the United States.
Hollywood has been responding to requests from the White House to boost American morale and improve the country's image abroad in other ways. The stars of the new film Ocean's 11 - a remake of the 1960 Frank Sinatra movie - visited American troops in Turkey last week and a concert tour for US troops in Germany, featuring Jennifer Lopez, Kid Rock and Ja Rule, will be shown on MTV on New Year's Day.
Some film-makers in Los Angeles see the current relationship between Hollywood and the White House as a mutual back-scratching function, with President Bush seeking to win over the normally pro-Democratic entertainment community while Hollywood wins brownie points which it may be able to employ later in its relationship with the government.
The rather trickier task of winning hearts and minds outside the US now awaits. President Bush has appointed Charlotte Beers, the former chairman of ad agencies, J Walter Thompson and Ogilvy and Mather to work on this task. It seems less likely that the image of John Wayne will be recruited for this effort.
Cast of thousands: The list in full
42nd Street 1933
All The President's Men 1976
Amistad 1997
Avalon 1990
Backdraft 1991
The Best Years of our Lives 1946
Big Daddy 1999
Birth of a Nation 1915
The Blues Brothers 1980
Bob Hope clip 1943
Born on the Fourth of July 1989
Boys Town 1938
Bull Durham 1988
Bulworth 1998
The Candidate 1972
Casablanca 1942
The China Syndrome 1979
Citizen Kane 1941
Coming Home 1978
The Contender 2000
Dances With Wolves 1991
The Deer Hunter 1978
The Defiant Ones 1956
Desperately Seeking Susan 1985
The Dirty Dozen 1967
Dirty Harry 1972
Do The Right Thing 1987
Dr Strangelove 1983
Driving Miss Daisy 1989
Easy Rider 1969
Erin Brockovich 2000
Fargo 1996
Fast Times At Ridgemont High 1982
Forrest Gump 1994
>From Here To Eternity 1953
Funny Girl 1968
Gentleman's Agreement 1947
Giant 1956
Glory 1989
Gone With The Wind 1939
Good Morning Vietnam 1987
The Graduate 1967
The Grapes of Wrath 1940
The Great Escape 1963
Guadalcanal Diary 1943
Guess Who's Coming To Dinner 1967
Hair 1979
High Noon 1952
In The Heat Of The Night 1967
The Insider 1999
It's A Wonderful Life 1948
Jailhouse Rock 1957
Joy Luck Club 1993
Knute Rockne: All American 1940
Lilies Of The Field 1963
Little Anne Roonie 1925
Little Miss Marker 1934
Longest Day 1962
M*A*S*H 1970
Malcolm X 1992
The Miracle Worker 1982
Mister Roberts 1955
Modern Times 1936
Mr Deeds Goes To Town 1936
Mr Smith Goes To Washington 1939
Network 1976
Norma Rae 1979
The Nutty Professor 1996
On the Waterfront 1954
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest 1975
The Patriot 1999
Patton 1970
Pearl Harbor 2001
Philadelphia 1993
Pocahontas 1995
Protocol 1984
The Right Stuff 1983
Rocky 1976
Saturday Night Fever 1977
Save The Tiger 1973
Saving Private Ryan 1998
The Searchers 1956
Selena 1997
Sergeant York 1941
Serpico 1973
Shane 1953
Since You Went Away 1944
Singin' In The Rain 1952
Some Like It Hot 1959
Space Jam 1996
Spirit Of St Louis 1957
Stagecoach 1939
Stormy Weather 1943
Tender Mercies 1983
Terms Of Endearment 1983
Three Kings 1999
To Kill A Mockingbird 1962
Tootsie 1982
Top Gun 1988
True Grit 1969
Union Pacific 1939
Wall Street 1987
West Side Story 1981
The Wild One 1954
Woman of the Year 1940
Woodstock 1969
Working Girl 1988
Yankee Doodle Dandy 1942
Young Mr Lincoln 1939
Zelig 1983