In these times of Hollywood superstars generally making jackasses of themselves by lecturing the unwashed masses on how to vote, it's easy to forget there actually was an era in which politically involved movie stars were not airheads, but real, live intellectuals. Yes, Jane Fonda could never see the difference between opposing the Vietnam War and extolling the virtues of a communist regime - and on the other end of the spectrum, dear old Duke Wayne could barely contain his admiration of Spiro Agnew, even as he dismissed the Watergate scandal as "a panty raid". Yet, no matter how infuriating Fonda and Wayne's positions were to their political opponents, both were extremely intelligent, well-read people who arrived at their points of view after much soul-searching. If only today's Hollywood elite could say the same. Instead, many arrive at their opinions through signing on to one-sided propaganda sites, many of which dispell absurd conspiracy theories. Other nitwits confuse legitimate criticism of their own government with a clarion call to seek out the company of some of the most repressive dictators on earth and act as their enthusiastic propoganda tools. However, in a fascinating article in this week's Variety, the paper reminds us that forty years ago, the situation was much different. Actors began to emerge as activists during the contentious year of 1968, a time that saw such divisive events as the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr and Bobby Kennedy, the announcement by Lyndon Johnson that he would not seek re-election, the Vietnam War escalating by the day, the riots in Chicago that marred the Democratic convention, the Soviet invasion of Czechosolvakia, race riots that engulfed American's cities and the unlikely emergence of Richard Nixon from his political deathbed to become the next president of the United States. Those of us who lived through that year will never forget it.
During this period, actors and actresses began to speak out and take an active role in political campaigns. Among them: Kirk Douglas, Paul Newman, Tony Randall, The Smothers Brothers (who had their show cancelled rather than tone down their political satire) and Robert Vaughn. In fact, the article correctly points out that Vaughn was the trendsetter, boldly opposing the Vietnam War at a time when no other actor would. The Variety article has Vaughn recalling his movitations and determination to lend his name to a cause he fervently believed in. To read, click here. (Cinema Retro issue #12 will feature an exclusive interview with Vaughn.)- Lee Pfeiffer