COLUMNS & FEATURES–Show Biz

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First the Los Angeles Times and now Paramount Pictures.

An Arab-American group that recently got the Times to remove an ad that the group considered anti-Muslin has written the Department of Defense protesting the U.S. government’s role in Paramount’s “Rules of Engagement,” which it condemned as anti-Arab.

The group, called the Council on American-Islamic Relations, also asked that the government reconsider its role in future war films about the Arab world.

“While movie-goers have the right to produce films with bigoted and stereotypical content, I believe it is inappropriate that our government and American taxpayers participate in these productions through use of military equipment, advisors and locations,” CAIR’s Executive Director Nihad Awad wrote to Defense Secretary William S. Cohen.

“Rules of Engagement” has earned more than $45 million at the box office. Several film critics also have criticized the movie for being anti-Arab.

The film, starring Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson, is a drama about the takeover of the U.S. embassy in Yemen by extremists. When attacked, the Marine in charge of the rescue mission returns fire, killing more than 80 Yemeni. At issue is whether or not the civilians were armed and the officer acted properly. To add authenticity, the producers used U.S. military assistance and hardware.

CAIR officials said the Department of Defense is studying the request and will respond shortly. But in an April 20 news conference at the Pentagon, a Defense Department spokesman said the government’s policy is to provide assistance to films that accurately portray the role of the military.

“If a movie showed us condoning discrimination as a policy, we would not support a movie like that because the military does not support discrimination as a policy,” said DOD spokesman Kenneth Bacon.

Paramount, in a statement, denied “Rules of Engagement” is anti-Arab, but merely a film about “the consequences of extremism in all its forms” and “not an indictment of any government, culture or people.”

Documentary filmmaker Aviva Kempner had a dream. It took 13 years to fulfill it, but “The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg” will be opening May 19 at the Nuart Theater. It’s the tale of the great Detroit Tiger slugger who nearly broke Babe Ruth’s home run record in 1938 when he hit 58 homers. It’s also the story of how Greenberg dealt with anti-Semitism, locally and internationally. Every time Greenberg hit a home run, he says in the film, it was a home run “against Hitler.”

“I grew up in Detroit, the daughter of an immigrant Jew,” Kempner said. “Greenberg was the Jewish Jackie Robinson. I had to do a film that showed what he meant to others.”

The film’s budget was $1 million. One of Kempner’s biggest supporters was producer Norman Lear, who in addition to contributing his own money wrote a fund-raising letter for her. Contributors included Mike Ovitz, Lew Wasserman, Mel Brooks, Kirk Douglas and Jeffrey Katzenberg.

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