Why has there never been a good movie about the Spanish Civil War?

[Taverner]

I always thought this subject would make a great movie...since the war was such a tragic one. Franco pretty much broke any international law on the books at the time, and the whole thing has paralells with our current misadministration.

[rockymountaindem]

1. Well, they did make a movie of "For Whom the Bell Tolls"

Although I didn't think the movie was as good as the book because it didn't include all of Jordan's mental/emotional rationalizations. I thought those were the most important part of the story. However, to include them in a movie would require a lot of cheezy voice-overs, so I don't blame them.

I think the reasons there has never been a major movie about the Spanish Civil War are...

1) Nobody in America or Hollywood knows or cares about it.

and...

2) It's very complicated. WWII is pretty clear cut, whereas the SCW was multi-layered and fractious. Even the "good guys" did some very bad things.

That's my analysis.

[kwassa]

2. There has never really been a good one about the American Revolution

either.

That is far more basic to our history.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

8. The Patriot?

Okay, I know Mel Gibson did it, but the fight scenes were awesome, according to the males in my family who watch it regularly and cheer.

[kwassa]

12. Historically it was B.S.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

16. Can you share some examples?

I probably need a history lesson. I really didn't get much of a sense of the historical details. (Maybe because I have my eyes covered most of the time it is on; it is very gory.) The one thing that did make a dent is the concept of farmers having to leave their homes, farms and families for a rather nebulous, uncertain future.

[rockymountaindem]

20. There's a difference between being the enemy and being plain evil

The Patriot blurred that line. The British were shown using Nazi-like tactics against the Americans, which was a gross exaggeration. Sure, the British were sometimes heavy handed, but the whole time I was watching The Patriot I thought they had used a script from a Gestapo movie and put on the wrong costumes. A lot of it was just rediculous that way.

There were other slip-ups, too many and some too obscure to mention, but the very anti-British portrayal is what stuck with me. I haven't seen it in awhile.

Oh, and seriously, one guy with a tomahawk can't kill 20 dudes with guns. Save that for the Kung-Fu flicks, Gibson.

[BigMcLargehuge]

11. The Crossing was excellent

made for A&E and starred Jeff Daniels as George Washington.

[kwassa]

13. never heard of it! Didn't Barry Bostwick also play GW?

[BigMcLargehuge]

14. Dunno about Bostwick

but The Crossing was so good I stayed up 48 hours straight to watch it 4 times in two days. It's all about the pivotal moment when the Revolutionaries have to surprise the Hessians or lose the war. All about crossing the Delaware on Christmas Eve.

It was FANTASTIC.

[kwassa]

17. It was indeed a pivotal moment

My sister and family live near Washington's Crossing, Deleware and I've frozen through four or five re-enactments at Christmas time.

I'll have to check it out.

[AllegroRondo]

18. Johnny Tremain was pretty good

sure, it didnt focus on the war, but overall historically accurate.

[Taverner]

3. True about the compliated part

But perhaps they could focus on one soldier in the Lincoln brigade and his experience, serving as an "everyman."

The SCW was such a tragic moment in world history - all of the seeds for WW2 and the Cold War were put in place by this one event.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. I've seen a couple of Spanish films about the Spanish Civil War at

film festivals, but darned if I can remember the names of any of them.

A search reveals several titles at this URL:

http://www.jr.com/JRSectionView.process?Nao=80&N=21967

[rockymountaindem]

5. That's not a bad plan, but for one thing

The "everyman" would probably be tarred as a pinko-commie Stalinist savage, and really, who wants to watch movies about them?

OTOH, they could depict him coming home to the disdain that the Lincoln Brigade recieved at the hands of the RW, and how he defends himself. Or maybe he really would be a commie Stalinist... who knows?

[Taverner]

6. True...but perhaps an indie film

Thing is, it also casts a dark shadow on our history. Despite being officially neutral in this war, Industrialists contributed plenty to the fascists during this time.

Despite how bad the good guys might have been, the bad guys were a clear and present evil.

[Bridget Burke]

15. I think you hit on one factor.

Anyone sympathetic to the Republican side was probably already blacklisted as Commie, Pinko or Prematurely Anti-Nazi.

Or--making a film that wasn't full of Franco worship would probably put writers, directors & actors on the List.

[ghostsofgiants]

22. You're saying the "good guys" in WWII didn't do some very bad things?

[AngryAmish]

7. What about the Poseidon Adventure?

Does that count?

[raccoon]

9. Maybe because it wasn't a good war.

There were so many movies made about WWII. A good war is so uplifting! :sarcasm:

[Taverner]

10. True no one wants to see the bad guys win like they did in the SCW

[Deep13]

19. oh, dude, it's just too soon for that.

Give people a few more centuries to heal before shoving that in their faces.
:evilgrin:

[ghostsofgiants]

21. While not ABOUT the war, "The Devil's Backbone" is set during the war...

That's a pretty good film.

Read Howard Zinn's "Artists in Times of War". Really short book, a collection of 4 essays by Zinn. In one of them he talks about how when he's studying various event sin history, he always thinks "Why hans't Hollywood made this film?"

http://www.sevenstories.com/Book/index.cfm?GCOI=58322100046150

[Conan_The_Barbarian]

23. Write a screenplay

If you think it has the potential to make a great movie than learn how to write a screenplay and start plugging it to studios. Be an innovator, make it happen, don't wonder why it hasn't happened.