Sometimes we get press releases here at Film Threat that are just so nuts, we have to share them with you. It seems that Roger Ebert took at shot at a Christian movie web site called Child Care Action Project (CAP). He described the site as “…the most insulting movie site on the Web. After checking them out ourselves, we would agree. These guys just don’t seem to like any movie at all. Rev. Louis P. Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition fired back with his own press release describing Ebert as an “Ex-Porn Film Screenwriter.” The only thing we’re upset about is that Ebert stopped writing his “porn” screenplays. (These movies are hardly porn, more like lighthearted sex “romps.”) Here’s the release we received from the reverend for your reading pleasure:
Ex-Porn Film Screenwriter Roger Ebert Pans Christian Movie Review Site ^ Washington, DC – In a recent newspaper column Q&A, film reviewer Roger Ebert responded to a question from a filmgoer who was deeply offended by movie reviews produced by the Child Care Action Project (CAP), a Texas-based ministry headed by Thomas A. Carder. The filmgoer said that CAP is “…the most insulting movie site on the Web. Their lust for demeaning a film solely on its content (violence, sex, profanity) is annoying.” Ebert agreed. He noted that “At www.capalert.com, few films seem innocent” and recommended another movie review site that offers “sane advice” about movies. Ebert apparently considers it “insane” for a Christian movie review site to consider profanity, explicit sex, and anti-Biblical messages in its analysis of films. ^ CAP provides what may be the most thorough analysis of films available on the Internet. Carder carefully analyzes each film to give parents a detailed overview of objectionable content. Parents can then make up their own minds about what films their children may see. Carder’s site can help parents pinpoint films that may seem innocent on the surface, but that contain messages or images that violate the Christian beliefs of those parents. ^ It is not surprising that Roger Ebert would be immune from concerns over explicit sex, violence, anti-Christian messages, or profanity in movies. Ebert was a screenwriter in the 1970s for Russ Meyer, one of the pioneers of mainstream pornographic films. ^ Ebert wrote the screenplay for Meyer’s “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls,” a sexually explicit film that ends with a bloody Charles Manson-like massacre. He also penned “Vixens,” “Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens,” and “Up.” Writing under a pseudonym for “Up,” Ebert created a pornographic film that featured a violent double rape scene that was apparently too disturbing even for Meyer’s hard-core followers. ^ Given Ebert’s love of pornography and violence, it would seem far more appropriate for concerned parents to consult the Child Care Action Project for movie reviews, than to depend upon Ebert for allegedly “sane” reviews of today’s films. Ebert has obviously been desensitized to the point where he cannot clearly distinguish between right and wrong or good and evil. It is disheartening to think that so many filmgoers depend upon his advice for what they will see. Fortunately, CAP and Ted Baehr’s www.movieguide.org web site offer other movie review options for parents.
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