{"id":2341,"date":"2006-03-16T10:17:00","date_gmt":"2006-03-16T10:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2006\/03\/does-dr-ted-baehr-read-this-blog\/"},"modified":"2006-03-16T10:17:00","modified_gmt":"2006-03-16T10:17:00","slug":"does-dr-ted-baehr-read-this-blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2006\/03\/does-dr-ted-baehr-read-this-blog.html","title":{"rendered":"Does “Dr.” Ted Baehr read this blog?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

A colleague pointed me to \u201cDr.\u201d Ted Baehr\u2019s latest column<\/a> for WorldNetDaily.com today, with a note saying that Baehr reads this blog \u2014 \u201cAND IT MAKES HIM REALLY ANGRY!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Naturally, I had to check it out for myself \u2014 but I was disappointed to see that my name does not appear anywhere on the page. And even though I am<\/i> \u201ca reviewer for a well-known Christian magazine\u201d, I cannot be absolutely certain that Baehr is responding to my earlier post<\/a> on The Last Temptation of Christ<\/i>, because he says this reviewer \u201calleged that the movie was made for around $5 million\u201d, whereas I clearly said it was made for about $6 million.<\/p>\n

Other little oddities that suggest to me that Baehr either was not responding to me at all, or was simply muddled in his thinking and missing the point entirely (the reader may decide for himself or herself which of these two options is the more likely):<\/p>\n

Baehr says this reviewer didn\u2019t bother \u201cchecking [his] facts\u201d, but my earlier post actually included links to Amazon.com pages from two different books, one of which<\/a> gives the film\u2019s budget as \u201csix million\u201d (page 180 in the 2nd edition), the other of which<\/a> gives it as \u201c$6.8 million\u201d (page 14) and says the total cost to the studio was \u201ccloser to $10 million\u201d (page 32) as opposed to the $15 million alleged by conservative protestors at that time. So, I not only checked<\/i> my facts, I footnoted<\/i> \u2019em. (BTW, one small caveat: If you don\u2019t have hard copies of those books, you will have to be a registered user of Amazon.com to read those links, and you will probably have to re-do the word-search in those books.)<\/p>\n

And if Baehr is<\/i> responding to my earlier post, then he completely ignores the key point I made (and which I originally gleaned from Baehr\u2019s fellow conservative Michael Medved), which is that The Last Temptation<\/i> was part of a three-picture deal, and Universal Studios planned to make its real<\/i> profits off of the other<\/i> two movies that Martin Scorsese would direct for them. The Last Temptation<\/i> was just the low-budget dream project they agreed to finance for a pittance, in return for Scorsese\u2019s work on those other two films.<\/p>\n

Baehr also claims that, \u201cat the time it was released by Universal Studios, the president of distribution said it was produced and distributed for over $50 million, including the extra security and excessive advertising that the studio invested in the movie, hoping that they would make a tremendous amount of money on the film.\u201d But there is no evidence of this in the books on this subject that I have read, and Baehr neglects to provide his own set of footnotes, or even a name for this Universal executive.<\/p>\n

In the absence of a documented quote (as opposed to anonymous hearsay), my hunch is that Baehr remembers the erroneous $15 million figure claimed by his fellow conservatives at the time, and his memory has morphed it from fifteen<\/i> million to fifty<\/i> million.<\/p>\n

A few more quick responses to bits of his column. He writes:<\/p>\n

So, this reviewer got his facts wrong, but, for his benefit, let\u2019s assume that it was made for $5 million. To earn money at that amount, it would\u2019ve had to make $12.5 million, and it only made $8.3 million.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The film made only $8.3 million in North American theatres, yes. However, as one of those books explains, the film also made another $4 million overseas, and there was even more revenue afterwards when the film came out on video.<\/p>\n

Since he has neither the facts nor law to bolster his liberal opinion, he will have to resort to slander and malice.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cNeither the facts nor law\u201d? What does that<\/i> mean? And since when is honest reporting of financial matters a \u201cliberal opinion\u201d? Who is it, \u201cDr.\u201d Ted Baehr, who is resorting to \u201cslander and malice<\/a>\u201d here?<\/p>\n

Of course, his allegations hold no water because he was not there at the time \u201cThe Last Temptation Of Christ\u201d was produced. He misrepresents the history of the production and misrepresents the players involved. Even if he had common \u201ccents,\u201d one would have to challenge his argument with the age-old question: Were you there when they crucified my Lord?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ha! In point of fact, I believe the first item of mine that was ever printed in BC Christian News<\/i> \u2014 the newspaper for which I now write a column that has won multiple awards<\/a> \u2014 was a letter to the editor that I wrote at the tender age of 17, when The Last Temptation of Christ<\/i> first came out. I followed that controversy fairly closely, and made a point of seeing the film for myself because I knew that it was the only way I could honestly take part in the discussion around it. And thus, a film critic was born.<\/p>\n

So, yeah, I would say \u201cI was there\u201d, in some sense. For me, this movie is not just film history; it\u2019s part of my personal biography.<\/p>\n

Now, obviously, I was not rubbing shoulders with the Hollywood elite at that time. And I have almost certainly forgotten some of the details that I read about at that time. But if anyone from Universal openly said that this film cost the studio $50 million, then it shouldn\u2019t be too hard to produce that quote.<\/p>\n

How about it, \u201cDr.\u201d Baehr? Produce the documented quote, and I will defer to the knowledge and experience of the person at Universal who provided it. I might even share it with the authors of the books that I cited in my earlier blog post.<\/p>\n

But if you cannot produce it, you\u2019re just full of hot air. Again.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A colleague pointed me to \u201cDr.\u201d Ted Baehr\u2019s latest column for WorldNetDaily.com today, with a note saying that Baehr reads this blog \u2014 \u201cAND IT MAKES HIM REALLY ANGRY!\u201d Naturally, I had to check it out for myself \u2014 but I was disappointed to see that my name does not appear anywhere on the page. 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