Tom Hanks has come a long way since donning a wig – and heels – for the sitcom “Bosom Buddies.”
The actor went on to become a national treasure, anchoring rom-com hits (you know you get weepy during “You’ve Got Mail”) and stoic action epics (“Saving Private Ryan”) alike.
His Oscar winning turn in “Forrest Gump” defies categorization in the very best of ways.
But the 50-something actor hasn’t had a smash hit in a while, at least not one attached to Dan Brown’s wildly popular texts.
And now a pair of foot-in-mouth interviews has alienated segments of the movie going public – the folks who don’t think the U.S. fought Japan during World War II because its citizens were “Different.”
Hanks is currently promoting “The Pacific,” a rousing WWII miniseries on HBO. He told Time Magazine about how he compared wars old and new.
Back in World War II, we viewed the Japanese as ‘yellow, slant-eyed dogs’ that believed in different gods. They were out to kill us because our way of living was different. We, in turn, wanted to annihilate them because they were different. Does that sound familiar, by any chance, to what’s going on today?”
Film fans on the right erupted with outrage, and rightly so. But they acted under the good faith that Hanks hadn’t gone all Sean Penn in the past. He’s been a noble spokesman for the Greatest Generation and an actor who puts his craft first, and politics a distant second.
Suddenly, his fans were reconsidering that stance.
Hanks also went on MSNBC to tout “The Pacific,” ignoring the smarter promotional play – appearing on Fox News.
This isn’t the first time Hanks’ activism has gotten him in trouble. Last year he apologized for comments regarding Mormons and Proposition 8.
Hanks is a great actor. And he’s smart enough, one would think up until recently, to navigate the choppy waters of the promotional wave without drowning potential audience members.
Yet he keeps speaking his mind on delicate matters, chipping away at his universal appeal. He might feel a cathartic buzz from doing just that, but his movie star cred has taken a hit as a result.
Update: ABC News checks in regarding Hanks’ comments and the blowback they generated. But isn’t it sad that the story blames conservatives for being outraged? Shouldn’t every American be aghast at how he mangles the historical record?
Update 2: The Washington Times dresses down the former “Bosom Buddy.”
(Photo: Actor Tom Hanks’ recent comments regarding World War II and the current War on Terror have offended some movie goers.)
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I object, Mr. Toto. I most certainly did not get weepy during “You’ve Got Mail”. “Turner and Hooch” is another matter. Poor dog.
For someone who proclaims an interest in WW II, Hanks seems woefully ignorant of what took place and why. Bataan Death March, anyone?
OK … maybe it’s just me who tears up at the end of “Mail.” Projection? Perhaps …
His comments regarding WWII and today’s wars are both insulting and baffling. Let’s see how ‘The Pacific’ unfolds. But judging from the quotes that I’ve read, its seems we may be in for some more moral relativism. As John Nolte would say, “just wait – wait – wait for the punch in the gut from the Hollywood left.” We’ll see. But I think its coming.
And on Hanks’ comments about FOX News… It kind of reminds me of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’. Mr. Potter (MSM, Hollywood), owns everything in town. But not owning the Bailey Building and Loan (FOX News) is driving him crazy. He HAS to control everything. But that one outlet that people have, one that affords them the comfort of not crawling to Potter, is consuming him. Nothing makes me happier than hearing some celeb moaning about FOX or talk radio. It drives them crazy.
Anyway, my next comments will be comparing Washington to Deep Throat. Just kidding … well, maybe not.
Tom Hanks is correct to a degree. There are countless references to racism in any war. Lets start with WWII. The Japanese were in dire need for oil and manufactured an incident that allowed them to weakly justify landing troops in Korea/Manchuria. As they proceeded South, they came into contact with many of the lesser asian races, who they looked upon as nothing more than mere animals. Committing atrocities on the Koreans and Chinese was nothing more than swatting flies to the Japanese. By the time they reached Nanking, they were at their worst, commiting unthinkable atrocities that included sexual mutilation and using the chinese as floating target practice as they were herded into a freezing lake. Mothers and daughters were raped as the fathers watched. Some Japanese partook in a vampiristic ritual that included drinking the blood of virgin Chinese. Even Nazi advisors could not believe the extent of the torture and mayhem as they tried to harness the Japanese blood lust. You know you are pretty bad if the Nazis tell you how screwed up you are. At this point, many in the US began to look at the Japanese as the sadistic, chauvanistic, race of people they actually were. When the US cut off supplying the Japanese oil and scrap metals, the Japanese “negotiated to the point they undertook the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, firing the first shots of the war and killing Americans. At this point, American looked upon the Japanese with much hatred. When people hate, they often refer to the enemy in the most jingoistic terms with the most vial racial rhetoric. The Japs became little yellow bastards- tiny little rice burners who deserved the death they had coming to them. Very racist rhetoric, but rhetoric non the less. When rhetoric goes overboard, it can result in genocide. Forrest Gump is right when he notices the racial divides then and know. Americans are too sensitive. We are culpable to a degree, but I believe Hank’s words really indict the enemies of America. American racism as applied to the Japs and the Muslims are merely reationary as their racism is grounded in their fundemental beliefs that they deserve to live and we deserve to die.