AlFansome Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 Came across this today: http://lasteaglescout.com/ It should provide some fodder for the forum.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadenP Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 Al Interesting piece of nonsense, after watching the trailer I hardly think it will be a major blockbuster. Obviously made by someone with issues about scouting, but somehow the BSA will survive I am sure. That camp scene was pretty funny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oak Tree Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 Actually, from what I saw, the author seemed to have issues with the political correctness of society. The Scout was just a victim of this who was fighting back. The uniforms looked pretty real. Think this was made with the permission of the BSA? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJCubScouter Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 Hmmm, First of all, I'd like to know how "The Scout" thinks he's going to make Eagle when it looks like he's at least 17 and he's only Second Class. Second of all, if I am correct on my uniforming history, he is wearing a shirt from the 70's, and possibly earlier. His rank badge has the color background from the 1970's, I'm not sure when that went "out". I guess he just likes wearing an old shirt and badge, because his friend has a "current" (well, almost current) shirt. Third of all, the political motivations behind this film are pretty obvious, and funny. The Congressman who is trying to shut down Scouting is even named "Marx." And Oak Tree, since you invoked the same phrase as the film-maker to describe the evil that the film-maker is warning against -- "political correctness" -- could you explain what exactly that phrase means in this context? Also, I think this film is about more than just the Boy Scouts. Notice that the kids in school are pledging allegiance to the President, rather than the flag, and that "one nation, under God" has been changed to "one nation, for equality." I may be off base here, but I don't think it's a coincidence that the film is coming out under the current administration, not the previous one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skeptic Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 Why in heaven's name would anyone put such foolishness on the net? While the attacks on Scouting are real, this film, based on the flyer, is absurd. Either the maker is not really cognizant of the Scouting program, or has been seriously misinformed. The main character is wearing a circa 1973 shirt (has a Jambo patch) with a 2nd class badge; so getting to Eagle would be pretty hard given his age. The innuendos towards the current president and the ridiculous charges from the far right regarding his supposed glorification in schools, the completely illogical camp scenes at the start, and the mixing of Cub uniforms with various Scout types are all ludicrous. They indicate it is supposed to be a "dramedy"; I guess that means a comedy and drama mixed. But, again, based on the trailer and other info on the site, it is absolute stupidity, and only has the possibility of becoming a laughing stock on "U-Tube". It certainly will do little to actually help in the Scouting defense in today's society. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldGreyEagle Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 Unless there has been an incident I am unfamiliar with, there has never been a fatality associated with a Boy Scout Shooting Range and my Shooting Sports Director persona was a bit shaken when they shot that kid in the center of the rifle range. No one saw him comming? They couldnt do an absolute accidental death? ::shaking:: Then the only person to stand up is "the last Boy Scout", no Glenn Becks, Rush Limboughs, Sean Hannities or even Mark Levines to say nothing about Mike Savages? its scary to think anyone thinks this will help scouts or even portrays anything remotely real, I could see it in a double feature in a few years to be shown after "Rocky Horror Picture Show" Lips Lips Lips Lips Lips Lips Lips Lips Lips Lips Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oak Tree Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 Yeah, NJCubScouter, I probably could have chosen a different more accurate phrase, but I was using the term "political correctness" in the way that the right wing tends to use it as shorthand for a whole bunch of things. In this case, I'm thinking it was meaning "let's not offend or hurt anyone", and since the BSA holds some positions that might offend people, and does activities that might get people hurt, we should shut them down. Mentioning God in the Pledge of Allegiance might offend people, so it's PC to remove that from the pledge. At one point they say "Others found what you were doing to be offensive." Putting up a flag is apparently offensive, so you're not supposed to do that. But the film is certainly attacking other things that aren't really what would normally seem to be "political correctness" insofar as the surface definition would lead you to categorize that way (although some people now seem to mean "socialism, big government, environmentalism, and Democrats" when they use the term.) The trailer also appeared to attack the idea of putting all your hopes on one person ("worship" of the President), government censorship / thought control in schools, loss of justice (sounds like they replaced "justice" with "support" in the pledge?), other trappings of a rising dictatorship ("Citizen's Task Force"), probably gun control, etc. They mention shutting down the camp due to "loss of sponsors" (a reference to United Way). The Border Patrol also appears to be anti-Arabic - I'm not sure what to make of that. They are definitely using real uniforms, and I agree, the hero likes to wear the old style uniform. Makes him more cool in the film, and also makes him stand out (the opposite of one of the goals of uniforming, ironically). I like the Second Class badge, although it does make you wonder about the title of the movie. I guess he could be 16.5 and still get Eagle, but I doubt the movie plays out over a year and a half. In fact, by the end of the trailer, when they come to get "the last Eagle Scout", he's still wearing the Second Class badge. Maybe he's just wearing his dad's old uniform. The actor, at any rate, is 21 years old, if I can trust the various web links. According to the web site, "Yes, its a dramedy...And that's OK!" So maybe we shouldn't make too much out of it. The Scouting snippets they showed did strike me as fairly reasonable - not overly cartoonish. Looks like a low budget movie - but could be fun to watch. I'm now really wondering if they got permission from the BSA, or if they are going to get a "cease and desist" letter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJCubScouter Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 As for the shooting range scene, I had pretty much the same thought as OGE. But I'm not quite sure what the point of the shooting was, in the context of the film. Maybe if I watched the trailer again I would pick it up. (Also I had the sound very low since I am at work.) Whatever the point is, I think it can be said that subtlety is not the hallmark of this film. That comment also addresses a lot of what Oak Tree said. Politically, the film is very cartoonish. It reminds me in a way of "Red Dawn", in that there are no grey areas, just good guys and bad guys -- but it goes even further than that because it implies that "the threat is within." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldGreyEagle Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 I thought the context of the death was that it was another thing that the Boy Scouts did wrong. Something on the order of see how bad they are, they shoot people dead when there are far more ways to die at summercamp than at the rifle range, or waterfront actually. But it was something negative to say about the Boy Scouts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalicoPenn Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 Seems to be a film exploring the twisted fantasies of right wing tea partiers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skeptic Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 Another thing from the site with the trailer is that the supposed maker has some connection to an LDS activity related to films or something. That also surprised me, as one would think that overall, anyone associated with them would strive to be a bit more accurate, especially since a couple of the "real more negative things in the news the past few years are from the Utah area scouting community. Something I found a bit amusing in the thing was the microphone lettering; PCHS. Could not help but think an acronym of some sort relating to political correctness, though the HS did not have a meaning to me, other than high school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scoutfish Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 I thought it was funny! Sometimes we have to just step back and laugh at ourselves. Okay, the film wasn't so much about boyscouts but what they stood for. And even in that respect, it'wasn't so much what BSA stands for, but America itself. This was a satire of government in general. Big brother becoming to strong, too powerful. Becoming a socialist state. Not sure if you ever saw The Last Boy Scout. Bruce Willis was in it, He was not a Boy Scout. But he stood up against bad guys and was for right and wrong, even thoughhe had less than God like ways of doing things. There was some "Scarey Movie/Police Academy/Hot Shots/National Lampoon's Vacation " to it too. Just flat out slap stick humor. A little bit of " V for Vendetta " in it too. Basically, this was an ANTI- Too Powerful Government movie, and had a ALL american hero for a hero.... A Boy Scout! An American Ideals Boy Scout! You know...Captain America, Andy Griffith,Norman Rockwell, Pledge of Allegiance, Baseball and Apple pie!(This message has been edited by scoutfish) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadenP Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 But did you guys notice he wasn't only wearing a shirt from over 30 years ago but he was wearing jeans, where are the uniform police when you need them, lol. Anyone out there who really thinks this is in anyway representative of the BSA is a lost cause to start with, it is nothing more than satire, SNL style. It might be good for a laugh and thats about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMT224 Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 My impression after looking at the trailer a couple times is that its a very negative portrayal of Boy Scouts. Why can't someone make an update to "follow Me Boys" that shows a more realistic picture of Scouting? Why always controversial? I thought the Scout Camp was very unrealistic - even if the Scout camp was closing, they would still have Boy Scout tents. The tent scene looked very low budget. And the "first day" talk down by the lake - what a bunch of unhappy campers - quite the opposite you see at the Sunday night opening campfire. And the firing range scene - I'm sorry, but I've never seen a range supervisor that would allow that to happen. Having guys shooting while someone is poking around the target area? No way. It makes the Boy Scouts look bad. It looks like it was made by someone who got a hold of a boy scout uniform and had been to a commercial or YMCA camp, but never an actual Boy Scout camp. But then who knows, it may end up being very positive in the end - if the kid sticks up for his rights and becomes Eagle despite all odds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldGreyEagle Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 All in all it's no Billy Jack Listen children to a story that was written long ago... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now