Right Turns: Unconventional Lessons from a Controversial Life
- Book Review,
by Michael Medved
From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com
In his new autobiography, Michael Medved tells many stories about his transformation from liberal Democratic activist to conservative Republican media star, but none so unwittingly revealing as this one -- which combines fat jokes, self-promotion and divine intervention.Here's the story: In writing The Hollywood Hall of Shame: The Most Expensive Flops in Movie History (1984), he and his brother and co-author, Harry Medved, deliberately included a section making fun of Elizabeth Taylor for her size as well as for the bad movies she had made. This was done in hopes of appealing to Joan Rivers, then the "permanent substitute host" for Johnny Carson on NBC's "The Tonight Show" and pursuing what Medved calls " a nasty and hilarious vendetta" against "the once svelte and sexy superstar." Sure enough, he was invited on the show -- but on the second night of Passover, when religious obligations made it impossible for him to appear. He explained this to Bob Dolce, the show's "legendary guest coordinator," who invited him to do the show five nights later. Again Medved had to explain that traditional Jewish observance would not allow it. Dolce was a bit annoyed; some Jewish members of his staff had never heard of this later holiday, and Medved explained that, although many less observant Jews did not keep them, the two holy days at the end of Passover were as important as the two at the beginning."Bob sounded so dubious when he hung up the phone that I assumed I had obliterated, forever, any possibility of a Tonight Show appearance," writes Medved. "Considering the horrific martyrdom (death, dismemberment, dispossession) my ancestors experienced for the sake of their faith, this small sacrifice seemed utterly insignificant, but it still left me feeling sour." But -- hallelujah! -- legendary Bob called back with a third invitation, to which "after a quick glance at the calendar I shouted my grateful acceptance." His appearance was a success, and the next day he received a telephone call from John Davies of WTTW, the PBS affiliate in Chicago, to offer him a tryout on the station's movie-review show, "Sneak Previews." The rest, as they say, is history. Medved went on to do 12 years on the show with his co-host, Jeffrey Lyons, thereby receiving the kind of national media exposure that led to his fame and fortune -- not only as a TV star but as a bestselling author and, today, a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host who works out of beautiful Seattle and has what can only be described -- by himself, at any rate -- as a perfect marriage and family. Through it all, he has "tried to avoid the solemn self-importance of so many of my fellow movie critics," he writes, mentioning no names. It must have been particularly hard for him to stay humble when, six years after he began with "Sneak Previews," John Davies told him that the only time he had watched "The Tonight Show" that whole year was that post-Passover night that Medved had been on. Coincidence? He doesn't think so. The mute example of those murdered, dismembered and dispossessed forebears does nothing to deter him from enjoying a "sense of an ordained destination" about his life's path, or from using the word "providential" to describe making fat jokes on "The Tonight Show" at Elizabeth Taylor's expense. All of this contains more than a hint of parody, particularly in view of what I take to be the deliberate echo of the providential Calvinist narratives that, from the Puritan fathers to Cotton Mather to the American Revolution itself, were so central a part of America's founding. There may also be another allusion to these stories in the organization of the book, which is laid out as a series of 35 moral, political and prudential "lessons" rather than mere chapters. Providence seems to have lowered its sights a bit since the old nation-building days if it's now busying itself about getting better gigs for movie critics. Of course, as a movie critic myself, I may simply be envious because the Almighty has never arranged for me to have a TV show. Still, if doubtful about his style, I found myself in agreement with much of the substance of what Medved writes. I admire his fervent patriotism and respect for the faith of others, and I share his disgust with the way religion and morality are often portrayed in the movies -- though I cannot join in the Jewish Medved's unlikely enthusiasm for Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ." Medved's is an indispensable voice in America's national dialogue on politics and popular culture. But for his next "lesson," or his next book, I wish that he would learn the virtues of understatement, irony and a becoming sense of proportion about that culture and his own place in it. Reviewed by James Bowman Copyright 2005, The Washington Post Co. All Rights Reserved.
From AudioFile
Michael Medved grins a wholesome grin through his self-righteous litany on his own political and cultural activism. In a response to the lessons of his own life, his positions include a newfound belief in the nobleness of police after his stereo is stolen, a faith-based anti-abortion stance inspired by his wife's miscarriages, and a stand against divorce after his own divorce. Through it all, Medved stalwartly marches on, an Orthodox Jewish soldier. Proudly pandering his ethos through his weekly movie review program on PBS, Medved has an epiphany as Rush Limbaugh's substitute host and launches his own rabidly right-wing radio show. Labeling those who disagree with his religiously fundamental politicking as "stubbornly insistent" on their own views, Medved's audiobook is the pure propaganda of a man on a mission. D.J.B. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
Review
“Right Turns tells the hugely entertaining, ultimately inspiring story of one leftist from the ’60s who finally discovered—and liberated—his inner conservative. In the process, Michael Medved demonstrates why our side of the political divide has both better answers and more fun. His book is insightful, funny, powerful, and important.” —Rush Limbaugh
“Michael Medved provides an important and distinctive perspective on popular culture—fierce, fearless, funny, and formidable.” —Mel Gibson
“How does one go from liberal activist to conservative cultural critic? This accounting of Michael Medved’s journey is eloquent, informative, challenging, moving, and downright fascinating. I learned a lot . . . you will too!” —Dr. Laura Schlessinger
“Michael Medved is a gifted communicator and an incisive cultural critic. His political and religious autobiography, Right Turns, is more than the communication of an idea or the analysis of our culture, however. It is an educational, entertaining, and deeply enlightening journey to intellectual maturity and reason.” —William J. Bennett
“Michael Medved is the liberals’ worst nightmare—he knows their arguments, outlook, and eccentricities, having lived as one of them in his reckless youth. Unlike most Americans, Michael sat at their dinner tables and heard them speak honestly—since they didn’t realize he’d rat them out someday. Having the goods on liberals allows him to destroy their arguments. Michael’s own right turns have helped many Americans discover Right thinking, and this powerful, gripping book should win many more converts.” —Ann Coulter
From the Inside Flap
Nationally syndicated talk-radio host and noted film critic Michael Medved has taken an extraordinary journey from liberal activist to outspoken conservative. Along the way he has earned millions of admirers—and more than his share of enemies—by advancing controversial, often counterintuitive arguments, including:
• Liberals love losing because it makes them feel virtuous
• America isn’t normal—it’s bizarrely blessed
• Hollywood has lost touch with America—and punishes people who point that out
• Conservatives are both happier and nicer than liberals
• Talk radio is a source of hope, not hatred
• Business isn’t exploitative—it’s heroic
• There is no such thing as “planned parenthood”
• A more Christian America is good for the Jews
• Do-it-yourself conservatism provides the only cure for save-the-world liberalism
In the candid, electrifying Right Turns, Medved chronicles the adventures that taught him these and many other lessons—the startling events that propelled him from Vietnam protest leader to optimistic promoter of American patriotism, from secularism to religion, from adventurous single guy to doting husband and father. In the process he skewers leftist orthodoxy, revealing why the Right is right and why his former colleagues on the Left remain hopelessly wrong on every cultural, political, and social issue.
Medved enters today’s ideological fray armed with experience as, among many other things, a campaign aide for radical Democrats, a minority recruiter for police departments, a Hollywood screenwriter, a Bobby Kennedy volunteer, a teacher at religious schools, a world-champion hitchhiker, an expert on bad movies, and a veteran TV host on PBS and a British network—who declines to own a TV himself.
Medved relishes the contradictions behind the high-profile controversies in which he’s played a leading role—as a prominent movie reviewer who attacked the film industry in a bestselling book, as an observant Jew whose radio show is a favorite with evangelical Christians, as a writer once designated the “Bard of the Baby Boomers” who now expresses contempt for his generation’s arrogant indulgence, and as a fearless battler who has sought advice from both Rush Limbaugh and Hillary Clinton and has given advice to both Mel Gibson and Barbra Streisand.
Right Turns displays the slashing argument and disarming wit that have made Medved’s radio program America’s number one show on politics and pop culture.
About the Author
Michael Medved’s daily three-hour radio program, The Michael Medved Show, reaches more than two million listeners coast to coast. He is the author of nine other books, including the bestsellers Hollywood vs. America and What Really Happened to the Class of ’65?, and is a member of USA Today’s board of contributors. For more than a decade he cohosted Sneak Previews, PBS’s weekly movie review show. An honors graduate of Yale, Medved lives with his family in the Seattle area.
Buy from Amazon
Compare Prices
|
|
Home
