Trial & Error

Mark Evanier saw the David Mamet-typed & directed, Al Pacino-starring movie about the murder of Lana Clarkson by Phil Spector (It's not "only in theaters," it's HBO.) & shares some thoughts. Shame on M.E.; he doesn't assume Spector's innocence.

The film is not only an ugly case for Spector’s innocence, it’s a bad case for it. Over and over, we hear that he’s being prosecuted because he’s rich and famous and the proof that happens is … what? Spector wasn’t that famous except maybe in his own mind. A jury could easily be selected of folks who’d never heard of him. There’s no history of suspected murderers being indicted because they were celebrities. There is a long history of police in the Los Angeles area giving preferential treatment to celebrities and they sure waited a long time before indicting a man that everyone knew was probably guilty from the moment the crime was reported. And even if somehow, rich/famous folks are more likely to be prosecuted when suspicious murders happen around them, the “famous” disadvantage gets offset by the “rich” advantage. They can hire legal Dream Teams — the best money can buy.

I’m going to get off this because I doubt many folks reading this who care about this case think Spector was railroaded. I was just kind of amazed — and in a sense, relieved — that even slanting the facts to prove the guy innocent didn’t prove him innocent. And I was amazed that the film was such a waste of time as drama. About all I learned was that Phil Spector does a decent impression of Al Pacino.

Our interest here is in responsibly speculating if it was Mamet's coming out of the reactionary closet that lead him to take Spector's side. Is the conviction of a (certain level of) celebrity of the Caucasian persuasion for using Second Amendment rights to put a woman in her place an indication to Mamet of how the monolithic left is irredeemably evil & so on? Or has Mamet has always been this much of a jerk?

Chicken/egg time: Does entering the world of wing-nuttia bring out the hitherto unsuspected inner jerk, or is jerk-offery a pre-requisite to becoming a reactionary? We'll probably have to slice into a few extremist brains to determine the answer. Where's that scalpel?