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LOS ANGELES TIMES MONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1997 F3 Counterpunch A Straight Arrow Gets Thrown a Curve man who had, in fact, convicted Lucky Luciano and many of his colleagues was on the take was as preposterous as it was offensive. ffi if i 1 i mugged. What to do? I prevail on my father to view the film (he's not a regular movie-goer). He sends a letter to MGM Chairman and CEO Frank Mancuso, asking MGM to set the record straight Mancuso's lawyers wrote back: "The film was a work of fiction, and it was presented as such to the public. MGM has not violated any legally cognizable rights of either your father or your family." "I egally cognizable rights" Lreally says it all: We in Hollywood have no responsibilities to society unless and until we might get sued.

We can rewrite history at will, knowing that what we're saying is false and will be believed, so long as we don't offend anyone's "legally cognizable rights." Back to the telecopy department. I explain to the two employees that the movie's depiction of my grandfather is false, that he never took a bribe By THOMAS E. DEWEY I knew it had gotten serious when I noticed two employees in our firm's telecopy department staring at me as I filled out a cover sheet. They exchanged conspiratorial whispers: "Is it the same?" "Is it his father?" They'd seen the movie. The movie in question is called "Hoodlum." Released a few weeks ago by MGMUA, it features Laurence Fishburne, Andy Garcia and Tim Roth and recounts, at excruciating length, the fight for control of the numbers racket in Harlem in the 1930s.

As critics noted, it is a thoroughly mediocre movie needlessly violent, uneven and occasionally silly. Under ordinary circumstances, Thomas E. L. Dewey is an attorney in New York City. This article was written originally for the Washington Post.

his country estate in 1940 with his and Thomas the author's father. The Challenge and Triumph of HMgMMMHH By CAROL FLINT and THOMAS SCHLAMME As the writer -producer and the director of the Sept. 25 "live episode" of "ER," we object to Times TV critic Howard Rosenberg's brief review of what for us was a memorable, creative experience That the Hype-odermic Has Worn Off So Calendar, Sept. 27). Certainly, Rosenberg is not obliged to like or respect our work.

But on two counts, we must correct his false impressions. A majority of Rosenberg's comments were about what he perceived to be a cynical ratings ploy. In Rosenberg's rationale for a live "ER," greedy network executives, plotting a ratings coup, played a key role. That's not true. The two of us have separately worked on plenty of television projects where less-than-artistic urges for higher ratings pushed what should have been creative decisions.

In this case, that never happened. "ER" is at the top of the ratings heap. From the beginning, we felt "Hoodlum" probably would not even have rated a rental. But these were not ordinary circumstances, as I found out the weekend before the movie was released. My mother had read a squib in one of the papers to the effect that "Hoodlum" featured my grandfather, Thomas E.

Dewey, the former governor of New York and two-time Republican presidential nominee (yes, he ran against Harry Truman in that famously close race), who began his public career as a crime-busting prosecutor in the 1930s. And, so the paper said, it portrayed him as a crook, regularly taking bribes from Lucky Luciano and other criminals. Shock and consternation. As anyone who knew him will tell you, there was never a straighter guy than Thomas E. Dewey he and Eliot Ness were probably the only two Americans who actually didn't drink during Prohibition.

The idea that a man like that a we had nothing to gain (in the way of numbers), and everything to lose. But the actors and producers and crew members of "ER" didn't want to rest on their creative laurels. In our fourth year, we wanted to whip away the security blanket of success and take a huge, challenge. We were grateful throughout Flint the process that our studio and network partners attempted to keep us grounded and voiced their honest concerns, while at the same time allowing us to follow our impulses. The entire four-month process of writing and rehearsing the episode, "Ambush," was so unbelievably infused with high hopes and hard work, and so devoid of cynicism, that Rosenberg's review will stand alone in that category, when we remember working on this project.

pense of perpetuating myths and cliches about our community. JOSE ARROYO Los Angeles Jane' Draws Unfriendly Fir I liked Jerry O'Brien's hilarious Counterpunch piece in SEALs Training? Get Real," Sept. 1) and I trust that you get all the superheated reaction you expect: strident assurance that a woman could do the training, equally strong support for O'Brien's prehistoric sexism. But there's something else that I believe should be noted about "G.I. Jane." If the depiction of the SEAL training program is anywhere near accurate (which given the evocative lighting, sound effects, stirring martial scoring and so on of good solid movie-making I grant is unlikely), the picture is the best advertisement for a taxpayer's line-item veto.

What could be more wasteful of our tax dollars than the excesses of that bully-boy Hlll.iil.ill I III it.i. ill But, maybe, we thought, it wasn't that bad. Perhaps it was just a short scene, easily overlooked or forgotten. Wrong. From one of the earliest scenes in the Dewey movie, where Luciano (Garcia) visits Dutch Schultz (Roth) to collect his portion of the "Dewey payment," to one of the final scenes, where Dewey (William Atherton) is shown gleefully accepting yet another bribe, the movie completely and mercilessly trashes the man.

As the crowd filed out of the theater, I realized we'd been Our second objection involves Rosenberg's quoting of John Frankenheimer's radio remarks about the history of live television. Yes, Frankenheimer said, in an irascibly quotable way, that early television was done live because they had no choice. But anyone with even a layman's notion of television's first decade would understand Schlamme that Frankenheimer's remarks were not intended to be taken as a history lesson. For close to a decade in the 1950s, and well after the advent of filmed television, a vigorous debate ensued in the arts and entertainment sections of major newspapers and professional journals about the pros and cons of live television. Respected giants of early television criticism such as Jack Gould of the New York Times Gay People? summer camp as described? SAMUEL W.GELFMAN L03 Angeles I am an active member of the Army Reserve and have been for 19 years.

In all my years in the military, in every training and real mission, I have witnessed female soldiers holding their own, reaching and surpassing the standards and, in general, performing in an outstanding manner. For every "women getting breaks" story, I can double-counter with "good ol' boys club giving the men breaks." But that is not the purpose of my letter. Every soldier who serves this nation and wears the uniform deserves our support and gratitude. U.S. soldiers win because they are thinkers, risk-takers and self-leaders.

I have never seen a mission fail because there was not enough muscle power. I have seen missions fail because there was not enough brain power and resources. THERESA FALLON Los Angeles Major, U.S. Army Reserve WEEKEND 1 Thomas E. Dewey takes a stroll at wife, Frances, and sons John, left, and that he put people like Lucky Luciano in jail when he was a prosecutor in New York City.

iVo Has wZatth TIMES 'A r-v Ttn BERG BV sbo will "Eli" erof tele each literature of the period) that economics had more to do with the move away from live production than the quest for quality. Sponsors and producers discovered the cheaper production costs of filmed television and the economic rewards of reruns. Artists jumped on the bandwagon with the promise of residuals. Talk about a heyday for cynics. Assuming Rosenberg was aware of this rich critical legacy, why did he choose to ignore it? On Sept.

25, we did an hour women in combat, we must first deal with the endemic misogyny in our culture that O'Brien so enthusiastically embraces in his article. Personally, the concept of O'Brien having access to producing movies is far more frightening to me than the concept of women having access to the SEALs. Oh, and P.S.: O'Brien might be surprised to know that a lot of us have gotten to where we are without "flitting" nary an eyelash. MELISSA ROSENBERG Beverly Hills Cheek-Turning May Be Necessary Here As a Christian, I am naturally sensitive to any assaults verbal or otherwise on my chosen faith Exhibit Insults Virgin Mary, Counterpunch, Sept. 22).

As a humanist, I am also painfully aware that Christians initiate their share of the bashing. We might remind ourselves that Jesus' admonishing us to "turn the other cheek" is not a call to weakness or subservience but rather a reminder that conciliation requires a first step. EARL EAGER ALBERT Temple City in n-. mm VABrT They look at me, stunned. "How could they do that then?" asks one.

How indeed. oderin ICI at? v'ew century ovs PaTs thJ1 vmavn'easn ami s0ln. Will -IV. hi is- of h. nose?) i drama live on television, and we're proud of it.

If Rosenberg isn't inspired by our efforts, that's his; I prerogative. But if he doesn't take the time to accurately present the history of live television, then we believe readers have the right to ask: Why does his opinion carry any weight at all? i Carol Flint is an executive producer of "ER" and writer of the "Ambush" episode. Thomas Schlamme directed "Ambush." What Robert Gober criticized was the veneration of a veneration based on a belief which, like all beliefs, is not above criticism. Works of art and religious teachings are expressions of ideas. None is more valid than another, and all are protected by the tlS.

Constitution. Father Gregory Coiro condemns "artists, and others, who desecrate sacred images with absolutely no regard for sensibilities of the people they know they will offend." But he also conveniently ignores over a thousand years of history in which Christians not only desecrated the sacred images and insulted the beliefs of others but sent millions to their deaths or into slavery. From the beginning, what Coiro proudly calls the "tradition that has enriched the world for two millenniums" has insulted the beliefs and desecrated the sacred images of millions of its inhabitants. Such enrichment! When it comes to religion-bashing, Christians like to dish it out, but they can't take it. FORREST G.WOOD Bakersfield 'ER' Live wrote eloquently about live television's unique ability to fuse immediacy with technology and provide a media experience that films could never replicate.

When Gould spoke of the audience being "at the cameraman's side," we felt this was an experience we would like to attempt to give our viewers. As Rod Serling described in 1957, when "canned dramas" began to take over television, many of the artists of television's golden age including Paddy Chayefsky, Reginald Rose, Horton Foote and others continued to work in live television in spite of the lure of higher fees in filmed television ventures. They did this in part because, Serling wrote, "in the golden days of live television's ascendancy, its filmed counterparts on the West Coast were pretty much uninspired, formulated, hackneyed assembly-line products that could boast fast production and fast profit but little strain on the creative process." Indeed, an argument could be made (and often was in the Jerry O'Brien's derogatory remark that women "can't even complete Airborne without flitting their eyelashes to get out of hard duty" implies that all women are sexual manipulators who are unwilling to work hard for what they want. If there are some women in training who use their femininity to that end, what does that say about the character of men who respond to this kind of manipulation by giving those women "their little O'Brien fails to recognize that they are equally responsible for everything "falling down a few notches." Lastly, his questioning why "filmmakers can't show something more plausible" is ridiculous. If filmmakers were bound by plausibility, the magic of movie-making would cease to exist.

In the world of make-believe, if Arnold Schwarzenegger can give birth, then Demi Moore can become a SEAL. DEVON RAYMOND Santa Monica What's so disturbing about Jerry O'Brien's vitriolic article is what underlies it. Before we can even begin to examine the issues of REVIEWS Laughing With or at COUNTERPUNCH LETTERS A good example of the theme of coming out in a comedy is the TV show "Ellen." A bad example is the current movie, "In Out" Out Out Unfair," Counter-punch, Sept. 29). In an interview for the Advocate, "In Out" screenwriter Paul Rudnick said he hoped that "Audience sophistication has gotten to the point where you can use coming out as a screwball comedy device." That's a nice thought, but aside from small areas such as West Hollywood, Greenwich Village and other gay ghettos, a more realistic result is that audiences will once again laugh at gay peoplenot with them.

I would not be surprised if this movie becomes a financial hit, like another predecessor filled with gay cliches, "The Birdcage." After all, that seems the only goal with movie producers and directors, including openly gay ones, even if it means making a buck at the ex Pop Bone Thugs-N-Harmony Rumbles 'Round Midnight; Blige Fires It Up Music Subotnick's 'Intimate Immensity' Whets Appetite for the Next Wave is I i) Subotnick teaches and developed the project. Subotnick not only hopes to bring the whole way we might view theater and listen to music into a new realm with this work, but he also puts it in perspective. Though relatively brief, "Intimate Immensity" views the history of modern relation with technology by revisiting Marshall McLuhan and puts our current preoccupation with technology into a global context. The imagery is impossibly intimate and immense. The work opens with humankind's first concept of technology: "In the beginning was the hand" is the first line as a green blob becomes a hand on the central of five video screens.

That leads to Kafka, Indonesian monkey chant and creation myth and the debate about the machine that McLuhan and Lewis Mumford had during the '60s. It concludes with a contemplation of the infinite. Please see MUSIC, Fll reapers while others made shooting motions at the audience the rap dirge made Bone Thugs' focus on death and violence yet another wake-up call to its young followers. But even though the rappers were Jhe headliners, the night belonged to Mary J. Blige, whose set didn't focus on life-and-death matters.

The leggy, blond-tressed singer was upbeat and sounded wonderful as she concentrated on the profane and profound aspects of romantic love. As testimony of how strongly Blige moved the crowd, hundreds of fans sang along unprompted on "I'm Going Down" as the curvaceous vocalist soul-strutted down a flight of stairs amid a spray of fireworks. Several in the audience spontaneously joined in again on "Not Gon' Cry," one of the premier love-gone-wrong songs of the '90s. Blige, who probably means as much to her generation of fans as Aretha Franklin Please see BLIGE, Fll i I By MARKSWED TIMES MUSIC CRITIC For nearly four decades, Morton Subot-nick has pushed the technology envelope in music. With "Intimate Immensity" a 70-minute multimedia work for two vocalists, a Balinese dancer, video and the latest whiz-bang innovations in computer music Subotnick has now attempted to create a new kind of theatrical experience that he calls a "media poem," meant to serve as an interdisciplinary media model for the end of our century and into the next.

This is no small ambition or easy task, as has been evident from the troubled production that has worked its way across the country, from its premiere at the Lincoln Center Festival in New York last summer to its first West Coast performance Saturday night at the Japan America Theatre under the auspjees of CalArts, where By CONNIE JOHNSON SPECIAL TO THE TIMES Bone Thugs-N-Harmony's sound owes as big a debt to jazz as it does to rap. So when the group took the stage at 11:45 p.m. Saturday to close a lengthy bill at the Forum, its rapid-fire, scat style had a galvanizing wake-up effect on the crowd. The newest change in its stage presentation would have to be the inclusion of pelvis-thrusting female dancers, a move that didn't really slick up or Holly wood-ize the proceedings. Rather, it made the Cleveland-based group more energized and performance-oriented.

Its repertoire has grown in size, but "Tha Crossroads" remains the group's most effective number. In a setting in which a gigantic skull was displayed and dancers crisscrossed the stage dressed as grim ALAN J. UU1GN AN Las Angela Times Cyber Angel (I Nyoman Wenten), in Morton Subotnick's "Intimate Immensity." I.