clint wins just because i hate spike lee's attitude. that guy bitches about everything.

I'll take Dirty Harry over a crybaby New Yorker any day of the week.

Eastwood is was and always will be Hollywood royality. For some like Spike Lee to even speak out against him is a joke. So lets all " Do The Right Thing " and just boycott him and Black Ball his ass.
Little 4 eyed fidget cry baby whiner.
Maybe Clint should make a movie about the blacks during the time of W W 2. And He can call it K P.

The rulebook clearly says, "the opponent who first tells the other opponent to shut his or her face, wins, unless immediately countered with a So's Your Mom or similar retort. However, it is held to be a zero sum game until another barb is thrown. A That's Not What Your Mom Said Last Night will result in an immediate disqualification." Look it up.

until a white guy makes a movie about all black people (how many white people are in tyler perry's stupid movies???) it will never be enough. It's funny how most people watch a movie for the entertainment… not to count how many black people are in it.

How dare Clint Eastwood give even *more* screen time to a Native American actor and tell yet *another* story about a Native American. Those Injuns are taking over Hollywood! All we see are red actors and movies about the plight of the Navajo. They're over-exposed.

He really needs to focus on making his movies better and not bitch about Clint.

Squint Eastwood scores a knockdown early in this session, when he points out that there were no African-Americans in the famous flag-raising scene. Then Spikey puts up a pathetic fight by implying Squint is racist ("That was [Eastwood’s] version: the negro soldier did not exist").
Spikey got creamed in this debate. He really oughta at least TRY to think of people as people, not walking representations of their skin tone or racial heritage.

"In the white corner, Eastwood, who says Lee is, and always has been, an insatiable crybaby."

And the white corner wins.

"until a white guy makes a movie about all black people it will never be enough." But then the complaints will be that white people shouldn't be telling black people's stories. As Eastwood pointed out, Lee complained about Bird. Spike Lee would never get his face or name in the news if he didn't bitch and complain about everything.

ak: "But then the complaints will be that white people shouldn’t be telling black people’s stories."
BINGO! At least, that will be the complaint from the likes of Spike Lee.
I like Spike Lee's movies. I just wish he would broaden his mind a little.

It seems Clint isn't a big fan of no-win situations. I wonder if Spike will now retort by pointing out that most of the Mexicans in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly were Italians.

Suck. . . with all this race baiting going on, where's a non-crazy Dave Chapelle when you need him?

If Clint Eastwood were a black man, would Lee then speak out against him? I doubt it. I find it interesting that black people accuse white people of pretending that racism "doesn't exist" and yet, if black people didn't keep bring up the race card it probably wouldn't (same with asians, native and even whites etc etc). We should all just stop giving a F@$#. In my perspective (and it may not be right), its often the person calling "racism" that is actually a racist himself.

I don't know, Spike might be on to something. Are you telling me there wasn't ONE black Japanese solider on Iwo Jima? That seems a littler far fetched.

Letters from Iwo Jima was filmed in Japanese, I'm sure if Clint wanted to, he could have cast any number of the great Black Japanese actors. He could have got Yamamoto Washington, or Darnell Nakamura, hell, Ray-Ray Takahashi would have been a perfect choice.

Keeblerkahn- clint never said ther were no "black japanese soldier(s) on Iwo Jima". he simply stated in the Flags of our Fathers picture, there were no black soldiers photographed, not that they were not present at all.

scratch the last comment. i just confused myself.
sorry!

"I like Spike Lee’s movies. I just wish he would broaden his mind a little."

I like several movies of his, too. Or at least I did when I saw them. But in interviews, etc., he usually sounds like such an idiot that it's put me off his movies. He's one of those Hollywood people where you think, how can someone be so clever and so childish at the same time?

Anyway, I think he's in the middle of making his own WWII movie about black soldiers, so he's probably just trying to generate controversy for publicity.

@ugh (I second the emotion implicit in your username, btw) — Racism exists because blacks (and other minorities…and some whites!) keep daring to mention it? Thanks for the heads up. I'll send the word out and we should have this country's racism issues cleared up in no time.

Anyway. My perspective? Clint Eastwood loses in a close race. He didn't brush up on what he was actually being criticized for before he responded with how "guys like that need to shut their faces." Spike Lee wasn't suggesting that he should have traded out one of the men who placed the flag at Iwo Jima with a black actor. He seems to be saying that, since there were a number of black soldiers (around 900) at the battle of Iwo Jima, maybe the battle scenes should have reflected that. Eastwood was quite clearly a stickler for historical accuracy when it came to casting the main characters. How about battle itself? I'm not accusing Eastwood of being some crazy racist (neither is Spike Lee, actually); he frequently has diverse casts. And I might not like Spike Lee's approach… But it's a fact that there were black soldiers at Iwo Jima, and it also seems to be a fact that you wouldn't know that if you watched Flags of our Fathers — and many other movies about Iwo Jima. Spike Leeisn't the first one to notice it or criticize Clint Eastwood for it.

did i really just read, to paraphrase, "racism wouldn't exist if the victims of racism would stop playing the race card."

ugh, are you kidding me?

you are.

ok, good.

lisa, commie.

Basically what I meant by that was this…did Clint Eastwood purposely leave out black soldiers? Probably not. Are the large majority going to watch this movie and think "no black people? Racism!"? Probably not. Had Spike Lee not "played the race card", would Clint Eastwood be "portrayed" as a racist? Probably not. With that reasoning, I think that racism exists in this story because an angry black man wanted to find racism where it didn't exist. I'm not saying there is no such thing as racism. I think victims of racism are justified in their emotions completely. I think once you start drawing on racism to drum up publicity for your movie, you are spitting on the actual victims of racism.

I hate to keep defending Spike Lee, because I do think he's whiny. But, Ugh, I think you just proved his point. The large majority is probably not going to watch this movie and think, "no black people? Racism!" The majority of people probably don't even know black people were there. Why? Because, historically, black soldiers' contributions to America's wars have been underplayed and in some cases not mentioned at all — in history books and in films. Clint Eastwood didn't start this trend, but his move is an example, whether he intentionally didn't cast black extras or not. I don't believe that just because it is a racially-charged subject and because Clint Eastwood is not marching around with a hood on his head and burning crosses in black folks' lawns, we shouldn't be allowed to mention it. Because that would be racist! And race-baiting! And playing the race card! And just being difficult and overly sensitive!

Spike Lee didn't call Clint Eastwood a racist. End of story. He criticized Clint Eastwood for leaving black soldiers out of his movie about Iwo Jima despite the fact that they were there. That's it. Maybe he used the wrong choice of words. Maybe it was the wrong place and the wrong time. But as the article I linked to in my last comment shows, it's not like he made this up. Whether it was to drum up publicity for his movie or to simply explain why he genuinely feels his movie is an important addition to the world of war films, it's still true. People who get so up in arms about how "racially sensitive" Spike Lee is might want to look in the mirror.

I say let's take this to the golf course.

(Clint has some weaknesses here. OH YES he does.

I will caddy for Spike.

Let's talk about Bird NOW, Bitches. Clint is NOT going to see a birdie all day. TRUST.)

Actually I do watch films and wonder why there are so few ethnic minorities in them. If you don't then its probably because thats what you're used to seeing. Black people are under represented in the film industry as are: asians, gays, transvestites, the disablesd, fat people, people with glasses, people who don't live in luxury apartments etc etc. In other news- I would like to draw everyones attention to the Spike Lee film "25th hour" which is possibly one of the worst films ever made. Also-both Lee and Eastwood are coming across as whiny bitches. That is all.

Anyone else think Clint looks hot in that photo?

I too am so dam sick of all these whining black people. In my day if you were a whiner in the work world it didn't take long you were looking for a new jib. Why is it that balck people have more rights than white people.
I say stop acting like a bunch of big babies and get on with your life and work for what you get instead of using your skin color to get what you want instead of not working for it. No one ever gave me nothing for doing nothing about whining but I know I am paying taxes to support those of them that do and don't want to work.
I support Clint Eastwood. In all of the things I know about him and his life he has been a decent,respectful, been liked by all of america and the last person to be attacked like this. One of Hollywoods best. But if your are white then you are game for any black attack.
I am too very very sick of the race card be played to get what you want and murdering people and then playing the race card and lieing to the world.
Why don't we play fair instead of one group being treated better than another group because of what happened hundreds and hundreds of years ago.
I wish I could go through life whining and using the race card to get whatever I want like some unfortunately I have had to fight to get everything in life, no one ever gave me nothing as I did not have affirmative action getting things for me.

Lauren, Spike lee may not have called Eastwood a racist but all you ahve to do is read between the lines and you see it. Funny that black people can call white people or other people racist but no one is allowed to call blacks racists. That is called reversed racism. And I have seen multiple incedents in my life of this sort of thing.
Why does everything in this life have to be about blacks against whites?

Ugh,
Bravo, I agree with you . That is exactly what is going on in this country.
Whites are always being called racists and whites never heard that word until it was spewed by blacks.
Granted there are lots of injustices in life, but everyone experiences unjust things in life no matter what race you are but the only people crying about it is blacks. Take all the people who have suffered because of all the tornados and flood waters in this country perhaps Spike lee should focus his attention on them and help them instead of constantly bitching. Doesn't he have enough money or what?

A white person can never tell a black person to stop crying about racism. Your history will show that. Second blacks deal racism everyday of their lives. I don't care about Eastwood or Lee but until you are a victim of racism keep your damn mouth close.

Hidecogl, wow. You should look your info up before you start talking. Did you know that spike lee made like a 4 hour documentary on hurricane katrina called 'when the levees broke'. It spoke about black injustices so maybe you just weren't interested. But white folks are on it too.