George Lucas: 'Red Tails' Almost Didn't Get Made Because of Hollywood Racism

COMMENTARY | George Lucas, best known for the "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" movies is releasing a film, "Red Tails," about a group of real-life heroes, the Tuskegee Airmen, African American fighter pilots who flew in World War II.

As Lucas tells it, however, the movie almost did not get made, according to Newsbusters. The reason may surprise some people, considering the liberal image that Hollywood likes to convey. It seems that the people who greenlight and fund films balked at the fact that "Red Tails" has an all-black cast, with white actors only fulfilling minor roles.

It probably did not help that Lucas described the movie as "very patriotic, very jingoistic, very old-fashioned, corny," according to Newsbusters. Those are four things Hollywood does not find acceptable in a modern film, even if it is about World War II.

It seems strange, though, that a film about heroes who had to fight racial discrimination in order to be allowed to fight Nazis would get very much resistance in Tinseltown. That ought to be like catnip considering how the film industry likes to boast of its liberal credentials.

Very likely the studios hearing Lucas' pitch thought that the movie, because of the ethnicity of its cast, thought it would not have wide appeal. It is not that they were racists, perish the thought. They think that the film-going public are racist and will not see a movie about black men shooting down Nazis.

Speaking for myself and I think for the vast majority of movie fans, I find that idea a load of bunk. I like watching movies about people shooting bad guys, Nazis, Islamic terrorists, or domestic criminals. There is nothing quite as satisfying as seeing a miscreant put down on screen. The race, gender, religion, or even sexual orientation of the person doing the shooting does not enter into it.

But, the Hollywood folks who denied Lucas funding for his movie, there aren't any characters in "Red Tails" for white folks to identify with. That reminds me of a film review of "Hunt for Red October" - the identify of the author escapes me - who claimed that there were no characters in it for women to indentify with. Of course there were plenty of characters for women to admire-Sean Connery and a pre-flabby Alec Baldwin among them.

One suspects that there will be plenty of characters in "Red Tails" for everyone to admire.

Sources: Red Tails, Yahoo Movies

George Lucas: Hollywood Wouldn't Back My Film About Tuskegee Airmen Due to All Black Cast, Noel Sheppard, Newsbusters, Jan 11, 2011