Eastwood Film: The Ballad of Richard Jewell

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by unclefred, Aug 2, 2019.

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  1. unclefred

    unclefred Coastie with the Moastie Thread Starter

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    Oregon Coast
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  3. unclefred

    unclefred Coastie with the Moastie Thread Starter

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    Perhaps overzealous investigators as well, but
    the media made the story and blew it up everywhere. I remember distinctly how they spun it, as if they assumed guilt. I'm sure Eastwood will do a great job of telling the story. It's very relevant these days.

    Richard Jewell Case Study
     
    Last edited: Aug 2, 2019
  4. konut

    konut Prodigious Member. Thank you.

    Location:
    Whatcom County, WA
    Now if Eastwood can get Dylan to write and perform an actual ballad, with Kyle Eastwood on bass, then he might have something!
     
  5. maclen

    maclen Senior Member

    I've been driving by Centennial Olympic park for a few days and wondering what event was taking place. Tents and a big stage. Found out they shot that scene last night. The news said don't be alarmed if you hear bombs going off.

    I'm all in on this movie. I do blame the media if not for all of it for stoking the flame. I remember it well. Poor Richard. a hero to a mad bomber in a matter of days. That guy really was a hero.
     
  6. PhilBorder

    PhilBorder Senior Member

    Location:
    Sheboygan, WI
    Trailer has arrived and seems to exceed expectations. Kudos to Clint for trying to tell what actually happened instead of a 'narrative'.
     
  7. captouch

    captouch Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bay Area, CA
    That looks really good - great cast!
     
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  8. Brian Mc

    Brian Mc Member

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    Denver, CO
    Looking good.

    The media always presumes guilt, never waiting for the conviction. Must sell those ads.
     
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  9. Chris DeVoe

    Chris DeVoe RIP Vickie Mapes Williams (aka Equipoise)

    It reminds me of the 2018 film Trial By Fire, which was seen by nobody.



    An innocent man was put to death based on junk science and a Governor eager to be seen as "tough on crime".
     
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  10. DK Vinyl

    DK Vinyl Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Sweetwater, TN
    Looks Amazing! I could have been a victim that night. Steel Pulse was supposed to play that evening but somehow Black Uhuru played instead, they were Great! I cant remember who came on after them but thats when me and my friends split. 20 mins later, Boom. Well, during the show me and my friends were up front to the left and further left of the stage was an exit and a margarita stand with my kinda budget. In between us and that margarita stand was the A/V tower that backpack was placed at the foot of. I walked right pasted it 4 or 5 times. I was 21 and the show started late, so I had a few trips to the stand. Got lucky.... Anyway, ATL media crucified Jewell I remember the whole time they never had any kind of evidence. He just fit the profile... Guess a hero was supposed to be more handsome. Hope he is a millionaire now. Dunno, wait for the movie. This might just be Eastwoods best. Besides the westerns and honky tonks. hits home for me. Right Turn Clyde!!!
     
  11. GreenDrazi

    GreenDrazi Truth is beauty

    Location:
    Atlanta, GA
    I appreciate the reference. But I think there are important differences in the two actual cases. The Richard Jewell “case” was an instance of “conviction by the media” based on no real evidence. Just very thin profiling - “Jewell, a cop wannabe, staged a bombing to be a hero.” IIRC, it was this case and a few other high profile wrongly “convicted by the media” cases around that time that forced the media and law enforcement to change how they release information and handle suspects in the media.

    I would guess that Eastwood's interest in the case has to do with a simple man that performed a heroic act and how media, or for relevance, social media, can wrongfully vilify them.

    Living in Atlanta and enjoying the games and events at the time, as well as Eastwood's involvement, this film has high interest for me.
     
  12. Chris DeVoe

    Chris DeVoe RIP Vickie Mapes Williams (aka Equipoise)

    What I'm saying is that this film fits a certain political point of view - that of a corrupt and biased media. For all of the wrong he was done, Richard Jewell lived out his life, and Cameron Todd Willingham was executed by the state.

    Trial by Fire

    I think the film should be considered together because both men were accused based on flimsy evidence - although one was actually sentenced to death on that flimsy evidence.

    The were also failed by our legal system - Jewell by his naive belief in the goodness of law enforcement, and not insisting upon a lawyer when speaking to the FBI, and Willingham with an incompetent public defender.
     
    Last edited: Oct 5, 2019
  13. GreenDrazi

    GreenDrazi Truth is beauty

    Location:
    Atlanta, GA
    I understand your point, but I see the Willingham case as much more of a trial by the state, whereas the Jewell case was much more of a trial by the media, and a very high profile media “case” due to the Olympics and terrorism.
     
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  14. Chris DeVoe

    Chris DeVoe RIP Vickie Mapes Williams (aka Equipoise)

    If you get a chance, read the article I linked. If I were a better writer, I'd probably create a Medium article comparing and contrasting these two stories. Eastwood, for all his skill as a director, has a political agenda. I'll definitely see this film in the theater, but that will remain in the back of my mind throughout it.
     
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  15. GreenDrazi

    GreenDrazi Truth is beauty

    Location:
    Atlanta, GA
    Which major director today doesn't have a political agenda? :)
     
  16. unclefred

    unclefred Coastie with the Moastie Thread Starter

    Location:
    Oregon Coast
    I'm really looking forward to it. I saw Steel Pulse open for Dred Zeppelin a few years after that, great show.
     
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  17. NaturalD

    NaturalD The King of Pop

    Location:
    Boston, Mass., USA
    "Ballad"? I smell corn.
     
  18. unclefred

    unclefred Coastie with the Moastie Thread Starter

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    Oregon Coast
  19. Paul Saldana

    Paul Saldana jazz vinyl addict

    Location:
    SE USA (TN-GA-FL)
    I was two blocks away, in front of that inflatable Nissan globe. I missed being in the park with the explosion by no more than the same twenty minutes.
     
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  20. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

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  21. AppleCorp3

    AppleCorp3 Forum Resident

    I feel compelled to watch this film. I was watching the Olympics when they cut in to announce the bombing. Let's see, I was 15 at the time. Wow!

    I've got great memories of that games as well but this incident will always be a blemish. I'm glad the true story is coming out.
     
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  22. Chris DeVoe

    Chris DeVoe RIP Vickie Mapes Williams (aka Equipoise)

    One of the journalists I follow on Twitter posted this from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about their reporter and how she's portrayed in the film:

    The Ballad of Kathy Scruggs

    The TLDR is: She was facing jail time rather than reveal her source when she died, other parties had settled with Jewell and the Journal-Constitution never did, based upon his history the FBI had very good reasons to suspect him.
     
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  23. unclefred

    unclefred Coastie with the Moastie Thread Starter

    Location:
    Oregon Coast
    These false media blow ups happen periodically, the 2006 Duke Lacrosse team false accusation comes to mind, but the Jewell case was on a huge stage with much more fallout in my view than most other cases.
     
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  24. SoundAdvice

    SoundAdvice Senior Member

    Location:
    Vancouver
    RJ settlements with NBC News and CNN over false reporting. Clint thinks this will resonate with 2019 viewers.
     
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  25. Chris DeVoe

    Chris DeVoe RIP Vickie Mapes Williams (aka Equipoise)

    From the article I linked:

    “She was talking to the right people. They had the right information,” Salwen said. “Richard Jewell was indeed the lead suspect.”

    As U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia at the time, Alexander was closely involved with the investigation.

    “There’s nothing I would have changed about Richard Jewell being a suspect,” he said.

    Jewell had been arrested for impersonating an officer while on duty as an apartment complex courtesy guard. His tenure as an officer at a small, private college in north Georgia ended after repeated clashes with the administration. He wrecked a patrol car attempting a prank. Tipsters told authorities Jewell seemed to crave attention and was obsessed with the show “Cops.”

    Investigators also drew on an incident with seeming parallels. At the 1984 Summer Games a Los Angeles police officer confessed to planting a device he later “found.”

    She didn't invent this from whole cloth, and there was a precedent for the idea that someone would plant a bomb to be seen as a hero - it had happened at a previous US-based Olympics.
     
    Last edited: Nov 26, 2019
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