Ken Berwitz
“Truth” is a movie which tells us that Dan Rather and Mary Mapes had it right in 2004, when they claimed to have found documents proving then-President Bush got preferential treatment while he was in the military.
That is roughly equivalent to a movie titled “Success”, telling us about the Chicago Cubs\’ quest to win a world series over the past century. But I digress.
“Truth”, starring a former big movie star (Robert Redford) and a current one (Cate Blanchett) opened last weekend in a total of 6 theaters nationwide. As you might expect, the theaters were in places where political sentiment would be strongest for the message it is trying to send. It did no better than OK.
This weekend, it was placed in 18 theaters – still, I assume, in places where it might have the most success. This time it did poorly. dropping about 50% off the per-theater gross from last week.
Based on the above, and given my assumption that most people – even if they were willing to believe the movie\’s premise – are not especially interested in finding out whether Rather was right or wrong about George Bush possibly getting better treatment than the guy next to him 30 years before he became President.
Of course I could be wrong. And if I am, who knows? Maybe this will spawn other movies about politicians and their military treatment – like, say, one about:
-Bill Clinton who ducked service but talked about his loathing of the military,-or Bush\’s 2000 opponent, Al Gore, whose “Vietnam service” consisted of a few months as a photographer, with two bodyguards,assigned to him even though he never was anywhere near the front (how\’s that for preferential treatment),-or Bush\’s 2004 opponent, John Kerry, who, significant evidence suggests, concocted stories about his swift boat experiences, so he could accumulate medals.
Nah, I doubt they\’ll do any of that. Those are three “D” Presidents. Not “R” like Bush. So kiss it goodbye.
As for “Truth”? Based on the gross I\’ve seen over these two weeks, I doubt it will ever go to general release.
