March 30, 1999

Announcements:  None.

Lecture Notes:

I.  Origins of the Cold War

• The war begin unofficially in 1917 with the Bolshevik's rise to power
• It ended in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall
• Hollywood studios openly supported the New Deal
• They wanted level prosperity to compensate for the Depression
• There was active resistance to anything left of the New Deal
• Reform was necessary, revolution was out of the question

II.  The House Committee on Un-American Activities

• Any leftward sentiment was considered communist
• This committee investigated people in Hollywood with leftward tendencies

III.  Depression Era Comedy: Ninotchka

• Film directed by Ernst Lubich
• Greta Garbo plays a Soviet official
• She is stiff and robotic at first
• Capitalism and the luxuries of consumerism warm her heart
• People were seen as selfish until they experience democracy
• Film suggested there was room for leftward tendencies

IV.  McCarthy and the Hollywood Ten

• Cold War tensions escalated again after WWII
• The U. S. feared the rise of labor unions, which were susceptible to influences of communism
• 24 friendly witnesses were called before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) Ex.  Ronald Reagan, Walt Disney
• 11 unfriendly witnesses were brought unwillingly to the committee
• Many had flirted with the ideas of communism but had gone back
• One witness fled
• The ten left (Hollywood Ten) were labeled communists and denied employment in Hollywood
• Studio personnel got together at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York and formulated the Waldorf Statement
• Developed 3 sanctions:
• The Hollywood ten were suspended without pay
• Employment was denied to people who did not comply with HUAC
• They won't hire communists
• People could clear their names by naming other people as communists
• Blacklisted screenwriters wrote under assumed names

V.  Edward R. Murrow and See It Now

• This was a news journalism show, similar to 60 Minutes
• Edward Murrow had been an American correspondent reporting on the war and then started See It Now
• He undertook a one-man campaign to discredit McCarthy
• He brought McCarthy to censure by the Senate
• He did a report on Senator McCarthy
• It was film footage of all the accusations McCarthy had made against people
• When he needed time to respond, it made him look suspect
• McCarthy also manipulated news deadlines to make himself look better
• In an age where television was sponsored by corporations, Murrow risked the wrath of major sponsors when he did this

VI.  Sci-Fi and Paranoia:  Invasion of the Body Snatchers

• Few films of this type made very much money
• Showed how Hollywood executives were behind the anti-Communist movement
• This is a political film that restages the paranoia felt by Americans
• Human beings were replaced by alien seed pods and would become robots and apprehend any human being
• This shows how people felt communists would infiltrate us all
• The central character was always placed in tight, dark spaces until the end when he breaks free and reports to the authorities about the aliens

MOVIE:  ON THE WATERFRONT

    Terry Malloy yells up to the window of a neighborhood man, Joey, and tells him that he found one of his pigeons, and he will meet him on the roof to return it.  This is just a set-up, though, because once he goes up to the roof, a few members of the Mob push him off.  Terry goes back to a pool hall, where various Mob officials are meeting.  He seems upset, so Johnny, the head of the Mob, reassures him that they have to do what they do in order to make a living.

    A man from the Waterfront Crime Commission comes to the dock looking for Terry because he's the last person to see Joey alive.  Terry won't talk to him, though.  Because the Mob does the hiring on the dock, not everyone that shows up to work is allowed to work.  Anyone who is selected to work is given a token.  Joey's sister, Edie, comes to the dock and asks Terry for his token so her father can work.

    The neighborhood priest, Father Berry, gets all the men together and tells them that they should stand up for themselves.  He asks them who killed Joey, but no one says anything.  There is a D and D policy on the dock:  deaf and dumb, which means they don't rat on each other.  The meeting is broken up when a bunch of men break into the church and start beating everyone up. Terry and Edie sneak out and walk through a park towards her apartment.  She tells him how she's in college in the country to be a teacher.  They remember each other from parochial school.  He walks her home and says he wants to see her again.  Once she gets home, she tells her father that she wants to stay in the city and find out who killed Joey.

    One day, Edie runs into Terry on the roof of Joey's building.  He is taking care of the pigeons that Joey kept in a coop on the roof.  They decide to go out for a beer.  At the bar, he tells her how he ran away from a children's home when he was young.  His philosophy is do it to him before he does it to you.  She starts to get upset about Joey and walks away.  He gets her to dance with him and she feels better.

    Some guys from the crime commission come up to Terry and issue him a subpoena.  Edie starts asking Terry if Johnny had Joey killed and if he was involved.  She says it is no wonder why everyone calls him a bum.

    Johnny meets up with Terry and yells at him for not watching the church because at that meeting, one of the workers, Doogan, confessed to the Father about the Mob's operation on the dock.  Johnny tells Terry he's going back in the "hole" (manual labor on the ships) and he won't get anymore cushy jobs.

    While working on the ship, a load of cargo falls on Doogan "by accident" the day before he is supposed to go to the crime commission.  Terry confesses to the Father that he was the one who set Joey up for the knock-off, only he didn't think they would actually kill him.  He convinces Terry to tell Edie.  When he does, she is so distraught, she won't even talk to him.

    The Mob gets together with Terry's brother, Charlie.  He tells them that Terry is probably just confused between the girl and the priest.  Charlie goes to meet Terry.  He tells him there is a position open on a new pier where he can make a lot of money.  He points a gun at Terry telling him to take the job ( and don't rat on the Mob).  He backs off and they start reminiscing about their days growing up.  Charlie decides to tell Johnny that he never found Terry.

    Terry goes to Edie's apartment but she won't open the door, so he breaks in.  She's yelling at him, but he grabs her and kisses her.  He hears people calling him from outside so he thinks something has happened to Charlie.  Edie runs after him and they almost get run over in an alley.  They find Charlie dead.  Terry wants revenge and goes looking for Johnny.  Father comes in to tell him not to kill Johnny, that he will get revenge in the courtroom.  Terry testifies in court.

    After testifying, he realizes the community has turned against him.  The next day on the dock, everyone gets to work but him.  He goes to confront Johnny and they start fighting.  Johnny practically kills Terry.  The guys on the dock watch what's happening and are horrified.  They say they're not going to  work if Terry can't work.  Terry manages to walk back onto the dock and the men follow him to start their own union.