As we told you the other day, Spike Lee is upset with Eastwood for not putting black actors in his WWII movies, Flags Of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima. In response to Lee’s racist-tinted accusations against him, Eastwood said that “A guy like him should shut his face.”

Well, Spike Lee started talking some more. ABCNews.com was able to get this response from Lee:

“First of all, the man is not my father and we’re not on a plantation either,” he told ABCNEWS.com. “He’s a great director. He makes his films, I make my films. The thing about it though, I didn’t personally attack him. And a comment like ‘a guy like that should shut his face’ — come on Clint, come on. He sounds like an angry old man right there.”

Lee has a proposal for Eastwood:

“If he wishes, I could assemble African-American men who fought at Iwo Jima and I’d like him to tell these guys that what they did was insignificant and they did not exist,” he said. “I’m not making this up. I know history. I’m a student of history. And I know the history of Hollywood and its omission of the one million African-American men and women who contributed to World War II.”

So Spike Lee put Clint Eastwood in his place, right? He basically said, “hey, you ain’t my daddy or my master so you can’t tell me what to do.” A tad racist, but accurate, I suppose. He also called Clint out for being an angry old man. Of course, I’d be angry too if I had to defend myself against these kinds of “history experts.”

Concerning the black soldiers at Iwo Jima, Eastwood fired back at Lee and told Focus Magazine this (Newsbusters):

“Does he know anything about American history?” Eastwood told Focus when asked about Lee’s criticism. “The U.S. military was segregated til the Korean War, and the blacks in World War Two were totally segregated. The only black battalion on Iwo Jima was a small munitions supply unit that came to the beach.

“The story was about the men who raised the flag and we can’t make them black if they were not there. So tell him: Why don’t you go back and study your history and stop mouthing off!”

Where I once thought Spike Lee was just dredging up controversy to sell his black soldiers in WWII film, Miracle At St. Anna, I now think he’s just a little ignorant.

I’ve always thought he was racist.

Here is the poster for Lee’s film:

It all started at the Cannes film festival where Spike Lee got his panties all in a wad over Clint Eastwood’s portrayal (or non-portrayal) of black people in Eastwood’s highly acclaimed films, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima. Lee had this to say at the time:

“There were many African-Americans who survived that war and who were upset at Clint for not having one [in the films]. That was his version: the negro soldier did not exist. I have a different version.

“Here’s the paradox,” he said. “These African-American men wanted to fight against fascism in the name of democracy. At the same time, they were still second-class citizens.” Although Lee emphasized his respect for Eastwood as a film-maker, he claimed that the director had been told of the African-Americans who fought at Iwo Jima, and had chosen to ignore that “information”.

Lee’s “different version,” which he mentions in the quote, is his film Miracle At St. Anna which chronicles the story of four black American soldiers who are members of the US Army as part of the all-black 92nd “Buffalo Soldier” Division stationed in Tuscany, Italy during World War II. That film is set to hit theaters on October 10.

Well, Eastwood didn’t comment on what Lee said at the time, but he has since given an interview to The Guardian in which he said plenty:

“The story is Flags of Our Fathers, the famous flag-raising picture, and they didn’t do that. If I go ahead and put an African-American actor in there, people’d go: ‘This guy’s lost his mind.’ I mean, it’s not accurate.” Referring to Lee, he added: “A guy like him should shut his face.”

Come on! You gotta love Eastwood! He just told Spike Lee to SHUT HIS FACE! That’s freakin’ awesome! That article mentions that Clint once also said that he would kill Michael Moore if he showed up uninvited to his house.

Eastwood wasn’t done with Lee yet, though. He had plenty more to say:

Defending the racial make-up in his films as historically accurate, Eastwood referred to another of his films, Changeling, which was set in Los Angeles before the city had a large group of African-Americans. “What are you going to do, you going to tell a fuckin’ story about that?” he said. “Make it look like a commercial for an equal opportunity player? I’m not in that game. I’m playing it the way I read it historically, and that’s the way it is. When I do a movie and it’s 90% black, like Bird, then I use 90% black people.

“He was complaining when I did Bird (the 1988 biopic of Charlie Parker). Why would a white guy be doing that? I was the only guy who made it, that’s why. He could have gone ahead and made it. Instead he was making something else.”

Eastwood’s next project, The Human Factor, will be about Nelson Mandela’s attempts to foster national unity in post-apartheid South Africa. Asked if he would remain historically accurate with depictions of the former president, he said: “I’m not going to make Nelson Mandela a white guy.”

In fact, Morgan Freeman, who actually brought Human Factor to Eastwood, will be playing Nelson Mandela in that film. Matt Damon also recently joined the cast.

In fact, there is only one movie that I’d really recommend and that’s only because I’ve HEARD it was decent, not because I’ve seen it at all.

Control (2007 – DVD)

This is a movie based on the true story of Ian Curtis, the singer of Joy Divison who’s personal, professional and romantic troubles lead him to commit suicide at the young age of 23. He was about to embark on a long dreamed about tour in the United States, but instead hung himself from a rope in his apartment.

It stars Sam Riley and Samantha Morton, and has a 8.0 rating on IMDB.com, which is pretty good. (buy)

Blu-Ray Extravaganza

Well, if you love Blu-Ray movies, this is pretty darned good week for releases. In fact, according to Amazon.com, there are 56 total Blu-Ray releases this week alone!

The Dirty Harry Ultimate Collectors Edition – Well, if you love Dirty Harry, this set of all five Dirty Harry films comes on Blu-Ray and complete with all-new special features. (buy)

Cloverfield – If you haven’t seen this viral megahit from earlier this year, Blu-Ray would be the best way to experience it. (buy)

There Will Be Blood – One of the top movies critically from 2007, There Will Be Blood is beautifully filmed with some amazing music. Daniel Day Lewis is superb. (buy)

Patton, The Sand Pebbles – Two of the greatest war movies of all time, now out on Blu. (buy)(buy)

There are a bunch more, including: Face/Off, Signs, The Italian Job, Blades of Glory, Flags of our Fathers, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Tomb Raider, Mission Impossible, Babel, Disturbia and a ton more.

Check them all out on Amazon, buy a few and help pay for our hosting bill *grin*