Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Richard Schickel, in addition to writing film reviews for Time magazine since 1965, is also a film historian and celebrity biographer. He has written film biographies for Cary Grant, James Cagney, and Gary Cooper."

"Wait, what is a film biography?"

Ronald was sitting in a Manhattan cafe, listening to private investigator Frank McPike across from him, talking about the background of the film critic who wrote an extremely bad review. Hearing a new term, film biography, he asked.

"Aren't you from Hollywood? It's probably a biography that doesn't involve the subject's private life, but only writes about the films he has made, for fans rather than fans."

"Oh, please continue." Ronald learned a little more about the background of Schickel, a film critic with a typical Jewish surname. This kind of biography requires authorization from a major film company, but does not require authorization from the person himself or his family. It is clearly a good business for the biographer to make money by publishing a book. The fact that it fell into the hands of this film critic revealed something.

"He is also a university professor and a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship at Yale University. He studies the history of American films and the history of Jews persecuted in Eastern Europe before and after World War II. In addition to Yale, he also teaches courses at the University of Southern California."

"Which film studio is he closely related to?" Ronald asked.

"In fact, he seems to play a more neutral role. On the surface, he treats all movies equally, but in fact, he does not have much preference for most movies. It's just that for some movies related to Jews, he always attacks or praises them."

Frank McPike handed over another folder, which contained Richard Schickel's comments on Jewish-related movies over the years, all collected in it.

Flipping through the pages, Ronald felt that Schickel was not simple.

...

Two days ago, after seeing the negative film review submitted by Richard Schickel, Ronald called Michael Douglas and complained to him that Jews did not abide by the rules and did not keep their promises.

We had agreed to a truce with the old men of the Jewish gang and stop criticizing Ronald's "Dirty Dancing", but this person came out and slandered him. In the end, he also attacked Ronald himself.

Michael Douglas went to his father to inquire about the situation, and then flew to New York in person to apologize to Ronald for the incident.

According to Douglas, this was done by some extremists among the Jews who refused to integrate into the mainstream American society. Real Jews would not participate in such obscene actions that violated their oaths.

Michael Douglas promised that his father would strengthen control in the future, and the main film critics in Hollywood would not attack "Dirty Dancing" beyond "normal evaluation".

"Can you control it? Don't let such film critics appear again, go to our public screenings, and then write something that attacks me personally."

These Jews always say nice things, but do something else. When the time comes, they will say that they are extremists and have nothing to do with us mainstream Jews.

Ronald doesn't want to be fooled again. It's enough to believe such words once.

Douglas also laughed. As the eldest son of the Jewish boss in Hollywood, he certainly knew the game played by his own ethnic group. However, Hollywood is no longer a suitable place to play such games, and ethnic groups are not as clear-cut as before. When it comes to the third generation of immigrants like them, many people do not choose to marry within their ethnic group, and even Jews are no exception.

"I can guarantee that there will be no problems with film critics in the mainstream media, but you have to be careful about Richard Schickel. I have known his name since I was a child. He also has a strong circle in the New York Film Critics Association, such as the New York Post and the Washington Star..."

"Thank you for telling me." Ronald also felt the kindness of Michael Douglas. His list was equivalent to selling those people within the Jewish community who wanted to take this opportunity to make trouble to Ronald.

...

With the list, Ronald found private detective Frank McPike to investigate the background of Schickel and the other film critics on the list given by Douglas.

The detective was very efficient. From the documents, this Schickel was indeed not simple.

From the beginning, he was a fanatical advocate for Jewish values, attacking anti-Semitism in society, and advocating for Jews to enter the American upper class.

He praised the famous Hollywood director and actor Ilya Kazan. The reason was simply because Kazan, as a Greek immigrant, had joked on many occasions that he had a Jewish nose.

When the Huac Committee swept Hollywood in the 1950s, it was an organization that opposed all extreme forces. Schickel cheered for the founder of Huac, Senator Samuel Dickstein.

Who knew that when they really started to snitch and pass everyone in Hollywood, the mainstream senators, who were mainly of Anglo-Saxon descent, replaced Samuel Dickstein with Senator Martin Dice from Texas to be in charge of Huac.

This Texas cowboy Martin Dice, in addition to his fanatical opposition to the infiltration of the Sewell League, was also a fanatical anti-Semite. In the years when the Huac Committee in Hollywood was in power, not only were a large number of practitioners who sympathized with Sewell blacklisted, but also many Jews were swept away.

Michael Douglas' father Kirk was almost included in the list of unpatriotic people and banned from filming. Fortunately, he had the full support of the Jewish gangs behind him, and he joined forces with many wealthy businessmen with Jewish backgrounds to pay, which saved the only Jewish male star in Hollywood.

This is why Kirk Douglas later took the lead in hiring the blacklisted Hollywood Seven Gentlemen and asked them to write scripts for him under pseudonyms. He also won the Oscar for Best Screenplay. It was difficult for screenwriters who used pseudonyms to receive the award, so Kirk Douglas received it on their behalf.

The Jews, who failed to gain anything, had to change their ways and no longer pursued the cultural expansion of the Jews, but instead used a more covert means to achieve class crossing.

They began to invade Hollywood's production business and create a positive image of Jews in movies. To some extent, the movies they made also let the Jewish protagonists integrate some orthodox American Puritan values.

Kirk Douglas was the mainstay of Warner Bros. at the time. His character always went to church on Sunday (the Sabbath of orthodox Jews is Friday), celebrated Christmas, and always survived in the end. Those characters who did not integrate into the mainstream American values ​​were shot to death in the end.

And this Richard Schickel is one of those die-hard Jews who refuse to integrate into the mainstream. Whenever there is content in the movie that reflects the shortcomings of Jews, he will jump out and shout "anti-Semitism!"

...

"All kinds of information have proved that there is a group of Jewish film critics who are waiting for the weekend when my movie is released to collectively release very negative reviews of the movie."

After reading all the detective's investigation materials, Ronald made some phone calls and asked his agent, Italian-American Niceta, to get intelligence.

Based on all kinds of information, Ronald is sure that there will be a wave of people to black him when "Dirty Dancing" premieres.

So Ronald called several executives of Daydream and held an internal meeting with his two agents to discuss countermeasures.

"It doesn't really matter. Our movie has a good reputation in the audience preview. Their film reviews can only affect the number of viewers who come to see the movie in the first week. As long as the word of mouth is good, our long-term box office should still be good." Michelle Cannold thought so.

"No, why should we give the first week to our competitors? And before the movie is released, no one knows what the result will be. If the bad reviews in the first week become popular, it is not impossible for us to be in the cinema for a month." General Manager Eddie is tougher. Although he is also Jewish, he is more angry than others when it involves the income of his own company.

"Do we have any means to fight back?" Ronald asked.

"Do you remember Pauline Carr?" Agent Richard came over to interrupt. He is also Jewish, so he is particularly active. He must defeat those bugs in the ethnic group in order to win more trust from Ronald.

"Remember, the film critic of The New Yorker. She also asked me to make a movie that reflects the reality of America." Ronald smiled bitterly. He might not be able to reflect reality, but he was reflected by reality.

"Her prestige and status in the New York film critic circle are comparable to Schickel. Why not ask her to write a counterattack? Moreover, this movie originally uses women as the narrative protagonist. Since they played the anti-Semitism card, we can also play the card of women's movies."

Ronald pondered for a moment. He did not think about asking Pauline Kahl. But on the one hand, he was educated by her last time he went to her house. This movie may not meet her expectations.

On the other hand, Pauline Kahl has entered a semi-retired state. She does not write film reviews in The New Yorker magazine every week. She only comments on movies that she is interested in.

If Ronald crams at the last minute and asks Pauline Kahl to show a special show, he will have to wait for her to write a film review and fill the New Yorker page. He may not be able to catch the upcoming premiere.

"All the resources we can mobilize now are worth a try, Ronald." Another agent, Niceta, is of Italian descent and can speak more easily.

"These Jews have always acted in groups. We must find a way to deal with them. One advantage we have is that according to convention, film reviews must be released after the movie is released. If we can postpone the release of the movie, on the one hand, we can disrupt their rhythm. On the other hand, we can also release the praise of equally important film critics to offset their influence."

Jimmy Rainer, who is responsible for the soundtrack, raised his hand and said, "I don't understand movie marketing and distribution, but I have to remind you. Our record release plan is based on mid-July. In this way, the movie can replace the marketing activities of the record.

But if you want to postpone the release of the movie, the record will inevitably be sold without the movie. In this way, we will have to spend extra money to go to radio stations in various places for public relations and let the DJs there play new songs from our records."

"Can't it be postponed until it is released together with the movie?" Cannold asked next to him. He really didn't want to give up the marketing method of records and movies serving as each other's advertisements.

"This is not a movie release. You just need to get the consent of the cinema. Besides, August is the end of the summer season. If you move the release to that time, the cinema may be happier. The distribution channel of the record is determined one year in advance. Yes, I don’t think it’s possible to postpone it.”

"There are also program times we have booked on TV stations and other television media. If you want to postpone the release, these will have to be rescheduled. We may not be able to find the program at the right time to coincide with the movie premiere." Canno De also expressed his worries.

"These are all details. The opening weekend and the following five-day working week are our seed audiences. These people serve as our base, and their word-of-mouth will determine the number of viewers in the second week.

If we don't deliberately mess up, we can still bet on the audience's reputation. But if, like Ronald said, someone is going to deliberately release extreme negative reviews and jointly attack "Dirty Dancing" on several media outlets, you can be sure that our seed audience can really sustain us in the theater. By the third week? "

General Manager Eddie, who used to have many cover girls involved in Hollywood productions, was actually more experienced in theatrical distribution than Cannold, who was originally responsible for video distribution.

"The week it was originally scheduled to be released, the latest James Bond movie was released, as well as Orion's 'RoboCop'. I heard that the movie also received very good reviews. If there is a larger scale than expected, Bad reviews..." Niceta whispered in Ronald's ear, he had a lot of internal information about CAA.

"So, Ronald, what do you want to do?"

Everyone's eyes were focused on Ronald.

After being silent for a while, Ronald came to a conclusion. He raised his head and said, "Jimmy, please give me a list of the fees required by DJs at all radio stations who need publicity for the release of the record.

Michelle, you should negotiate with the major TV stations about the possibility of moving the advertisements we place. David Letterman, and Bobbi Wygant's show, I called them personally.

Also, you go contact Pauline Carr for me, Richard. We had a screening just for her.

Niceta, could you help me contact the three protagonists, Patrick Schwytz, Jennifer Gray, and Cynthia Rhodes, and ask them if they can change the schedule of the marketing campaign? "

…

"This is such an old story, Ronald." Pauline Carr criticized Ronald bluntly after watching Ronald's special screening of "Dirty Dancing" for her.

"Good Times" in 1938 and "Morning Star" in 1958, to put it bluntly, this is the tone. In one summer of growing up, everything changed. "

"Pauline, I know, this movie has not yet met your expectations of me... Ahem, but now..." Ronald saw that Pauline Carr didn't seem to be very satisfied with the movie, and insisted on being like the old one. Madam, please ask for a favor.

"But I really like this movie you made. Do you know why?" Pauline Carr pushed up her tortoiseshell glasses.

Looking at Ronald's confused eyes, Pauline smiled, "Because the version you shot is for girls.

Those old movies are often boys' versions. The male protagonist deals with his love with a beautiful woman in a bumpy way. In the end, he always finds himself in rebellion and finally returns to mainstream values. This is a boy's fantasy of coming of age.

But your film, on the contrary, is a girl's dream.

I think little girls will like your movie very much. The handsome guy with small eyes and muscles, the hot dance, the rich and enlightened father, and the idiotic sister are all the best things in their dreams.

Your "Dirty Dancing" may very well mean to girls what "Star Wars" means to boys, fulfilling all their beautiful dreams of growing up. "

"So, are you willing to find other film critics in New York to write good reviews for me?"

Ronald was overjoyed.

"Are there any extreme Jews who are dissatisfied with you? They are always like this. They will shout anti-Semitism at the slightest negative portrayal of the Jews. If the Jews cannot integrate into this new world, they will still hold on to the old concept of having no motherland. , many things are unavoidable. There are always people in my ethnic group who cannot see this clearly.”

Pauline Carr, who is also a descendant of Polish Jewish immigrants, is quite open to negative Jewish plots in movies. As long as she doesn't deliberately portray those Jewish stereotypes, she can completely accept the role creation from an artistic point of view.

"There are some people who want to jointly issue some extremely negative reviews when I premiere." Ronald nodded and admitted.

"Humph, Richard is here again. This movie doesn't even mention that the heroine, baby Hausman, and his family are Jewish. Regardless of any ethnic group, this story is not inferior at all. Why is it like this?

When watching this movie, you shouldn’t look at it from a Jewish perspective, but from the perspective of women’s own liberation.

Your handling of abortion is also very good. Cynthia Rhodes' character is informed of her condition by a doctor, and it's the woman, not the man, who decides whether to keep the child. "

Pauline Carr obviously saw the enthusiasm of the Kennedy era in the 1960s, when women's liberation was just beginning. She also came from that era, and had similar experiences when she was young.

"Don't worry, Ronald, you have my vote on this matter. All the female film critics in New York will stand on your side."

"Thank you so much."

"Also, how is your film for MGM going? I heard rumors in New York that you are moving towards realistic themes. I will watch it in advance when the time comes."

"That movie will be released at the end of the year, of course I will invite you to watch it first."

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