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OT: Review of HBO's "Paterno".....

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pitt-girl

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DiehardPanther said:
Will Franco and his cardboard cutout be making an appearance?
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Anyone ever watch the Showtime series "Billions"? This guy would be the perfect Franco.
tenor.png
 
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A Penn State alumni group — Penn Staters for Responsible Stewardship, or PS4RS, which claims a membership of more than 50,000 nationwide — released a statement Wednesday criticizing HBO Films and Levinson for ignoring "the factual cornerstones, in favor of a lazy piece of fiction intended for nothing more than ratings."

PS4RS spokeswoman Maribeth Roman Schmidt said the group tried unsuccessfully to meet with HBO president Len Amato prior to the filming of "Paterno" to share its concerns

"In making 'Paterno,' Levinson copped out on the truth with a fabricated 'fall from grace' tale about the late Joe Paterno, arguably the least relevant figure — but, unfortunately, the biggest box office draw — in the entire case," Schmidt said in the statement.
 
TIGER-PAUL said:
A Penn State alumni group — Penn Staters for Responsible Stewardship, or PS4RS, which claims a membership of more than 50,000 nationwide — released a statement Wednesday criticizing HBO Films and Levinson for ignoring "the factual cornerstones, in favor of a lazy piece of fiction intended for nothing more than ratings."

PS4RS spokeswoman Maribeth Roman Schmidt said the group tried unsuccessfully to meet with HBO president Len Amato prior to the filming of "Paterno" to share its concerns

"In making 'Paterno,' Levinson copped out on the truth with a fabricated 'fall from grace' tale about the late Joe Paterno, arguably the least relevant figure — but, unfortunately, the biggest box office draw — in the entire case," Schmidt said in the statement.
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They should just be happy they left out his "accident" at O$U years before. Filmaker Hound would have opened with that. You know to set the tone of who Joe really was .
 
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TIGER-PAUL said:
A Penn State alumni group — Penn Staters for Responsible Stewardship, or PS4RS, which claims a membership of more than 50,000 nationwide — released a statement Wednesday criticizing HBO Films and Levinson for ignoring "the factual cornerstones, in favor of a lazy piece of fiction intended for nothing more than ratings."

PS4RS spokeswoman Maribeth Roman Schmidt said the group tried unsuccessfully to meet with HBO president Len Amato prior to the filming of "Paterno" to share its concerns

"In making 'Paterno,' Levinson copped out on the truth with a fabricated 'fall from grace' tale about the late Joe Paterno, arguably the least relevant figure — but, unfortunately, the biggest box office draw — in the entire case," Schmidt said in the statement.
Click to expand...

I always hear from these groups about "the facts" and "the truth", what facts or truths are there that they know and no one else does?

Jerry Sandusky actually coached at Penn, not Penn State? Is that one of the "truths"?
Jerry Sandusky had more than once previously been accused or found in an inappropriate relationship with a child?
Joe Paterno didn't run everything at PSU?
Joe Paterno didn't determine his own employment status?
Jerry Sandusky after these allegations still didn't bring kids around and on road trips?
Jerry Sandusky wasn't a guest of Graham Spanier in his box for JoePa's 409th win, AFTER all of this was out, and a week before he was indicted?
The Grand Jury Report didn't detail much of this which brought the charges and was more conclusive with the Freeh Report?
All of the victims were lying?

What? What?? WHAT????
 
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Rockyhound said:
Funny you should mention that. One comment section. I think it was Pennlive, a nitwit suggested a crowdfund to sue HBO.
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Yeah good luck with that Joebots.... 1st amendment still exists...at least until trump tries to dismantle that...
 
recruitsreadtheseboards said:
I always hear from these groups about "the facts" and "the truth", what facts or truths are there that they know and no one else does?

Jerry Sandusky actually coached at Penn, not Penn State? Is that one of the "truths"?
Jerry Sandusky had more than once previously been accused or found in an inappropriate relationship with a child?
Joe Paterno didn't run everything at PSU?
Joe Paterno didn't determine his own employment status?
Jerry Sandusky after these allegations still didn't bring kids around and on road trips?
Jerry Sandusky wasn't a guest of Graham Spanier in his box for JoePa's 409th win, AFTER all of this was out, and a week before he was indicted?
The Grand Jury Report didn't detail much of this which brought the charges and was more conclusive with the Freeh Report?
All of the victims were lying?

What? What?? WHAT????
Click to expand...

Yes they have all the "facts"...

Their "facts" are whatever doesn't further embarrass Pedophile State...
 
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Actually now after watching the show, I think they are right. PSU is right. No one is guilty. Joe, Jerry, I think the victims and Big Red conspired to make this whole thing up to make them look bad and get a money grab.
 
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DruidTM said:
Yeah good luck with that Joebots.... 1st amendment still exists...at least until trump tries to dismantle that...
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That lawsuit could be a goldmine for HBO. They would have to defend what they presented was the truth. Would they get discovery and subpoena power to get access to such evidence in order to defend themselves? If so that would give them material for a follow-up movie.
 
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TIGER-PAUL said:
A Penn State alumni group — Penn Staters for Responsible Stewardship, or PS4RS, which claims a membership of more than 50,000 nationwide — released a statement Wednesday criticizing HBO Films and Levinson for ignoring "the factual cornerstones, in favor of a lazy piece of fiction intended for nothing more than ratings."

PS4RS spokeswoman Maribeth Roman Schmidt said the group tried unsuccessfully to meet with HBO president Len Amato prior to the filming of "Paterno" to share its concerns

"In making 'Paterno,' Levinson copped out on the truth with a fabricated 'fall from grace' tale about the late Joe Paterno, arguably the least relevant figure — but, unfortunately, the biggest box office draw — in the entire case," Schmidt said in the statement.
Click to expand...
I was far less relevant. Can’t argue that.
 
The things I took away from the movie (which is also centered in the reality of what happened):

1) Sandusky is an evil person who was found guilty on 40-some counts tied to child sex abuse.
2) That Paterno may not have known everything with Sandusky, but only because he was always focused on the football program and football program exclusively. Some might call that turning a blind eye, others might argue it was just ignoring things that were not his focus. Its not the only example of this that leads me to believe this is the case, given some of the stories people at PSU during the 2000s will tell you about police incidents involving players that vanished into thin air.
3) The movie really highlights the irrational PSU fanbase and their response following the Sandusky/PSU scandal. If anything, the PSU fanbase made the Sandusky scandal all about Paterno and the football program, focused on protecting those things at the cost of all others. You look at some of the video in the movie from the post-Paterno riots and that was not movie re-enactment but rather real video from what happened in State College. Many PSU fans still hold true to that concept today and the Sandusky scandal has been completely washed from the vernacular in State College.
4) A lot of people knew about Sandusky at PSU, but they really did more to backstop themselves and keep things quiet than yelling to the rooftops and immediately taking action against Sandusky for decades. Some possibly did the bare minimum of what at the time was required by law, but that threshold legally is not the same as what should be expected of good people.
 
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Pittengineer
Agree with your summary, BUT Paterno never turned a “blind eye”! He knew and deliberately chose to do nothing. When one considers that Paterno knew of Sandusky’s 1998 incident ( Curley testified to this fact) and deliberately chose to cooperate with the co-conspirators in making the 2001 incident go away.
By the way, people tend to overlook the 1998 incident, BUT this incident is the key and blueprint for 2001 incident) to whole thing. They had Sandusky dead to rights ( he even confessed and stated his desire to kill himself) and then they found an unlicensed psychologist to replace the licensed psychologist who diagnosed Sandusky as a pedophile. Many still think the DA’s suspicious death shortly after is related to the 1998 cover up. Curley kept Paterno continuously updated on Sandusky’s perversions ( undoubtedly PAterno desire to make the matter go away was commuicated to law enforcement). The story that Jo Pa’s all encompassing focus on football is the reason he never was aware of Sandusky’s pedophilia is another disingenuous effort to cover for Paterno. Paterno KNEW as early as 1998 and there is much evidence that he knew in mid-1980’s and probably knew by 1970’s. There never was a Grand Experiment or Success withHonor!
B/T/W Recall that 1998 and 2001 incidents occurred before the explosion of the internet and social media as news sources. The Sandusky cover up was simply what PSU did the during Jo Pa’s entire tenure. PSU and Jo Pa used to brag about the low level of police incidents involving PSU players. Ever wonder why? The 2001 incident showed how PSU kept the police out of football related matters ( the University police force was never even involved in the 2001 incident). Never again will PSU be able to clothe the psu football program in glory and hide the hideous crimes that Jo Pa helped bury,
 
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Hailpitt said:
Pittengineer
Agree with your summary, BUT Paterno never turned a “blind eye”! He knew and deliberately chose to do nothing. When one considers that Paterno knew of Sandusky’s 1998 incident ( Curley testified to this fact) and deliberately chose to cooperate with the co-conspirators in making the 2001 incident go away.
By the way, people tend to overlook the 1998 incident, BUT this incident is the key and blueprint for 2001 incident) to whole thing. They had Sandusky dead to rights ( he even confessed and stated his desire to kill himself) and then they found an unlicensed psychologist to replace the licensed psychologist who diagnosed Sandusky as a pedophile. Many still think the DA’s suspicious death shortly after is related to the 1998 cover up. Curley kept Paterno continuously updated on Sandusky’s perversions ( undoubtedly PAterno desire to make the matter go away was commuicated to law enforcement). The story that Jo Pa’s all encompassing focus on football is the reason he never was aware of Sandusky’s pedophilia is another disingenuous effort to cover for Paterno. Paterno KNEW as early as 1998 and there is much evidence that he knew in mid-1980’s and probably knew by 1970’s. There never was a Grand Experiment or Success withHonor!
B/T/W Recall that 1998 and 2001 incidents occurred before the explosion of the internet and social media as news sources. The Sandusky cover up was simply what PSU did the during Jo Pa’s entire tenure. PSU and Jo Pa used to brag about the low level of police incidents involving PSU players. Ever wonder why? The 2001 incident showed how PSU kept the police out of football related matters ( the University police force was never even involved in the 2001 incident). Never again will PSU be able to clothe the psu football program in glory and hide the hideous crimes that Jo Pa helped bury,
Click to expand...

This is the whacked out, conspiracy theory angle to all of this. Man, the Second Mile closed down and became an afterthought rather quickly, didn't it? I am thinking there could have been some really effed up things going on with some really connected people. I don't think the Gricar disappearance would be linked to protecting football as much as it would be in protecting some really big wigs.
 
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USN_Panther said:
That lawsuit could be a goldmine for HBO. They would have to defend what they presented was the truth. Would they get discovery and subpoena power to get access to such evidence in order to defend themselves? If so that would give them material for a follow-up movie.
Click to expand...
Now, that would be a movie! Interesting characters for a film -- Zeigler, Lubrano, Franco and cardboard cut out -- and none would have to be overplayed for film. Call it the "The Cult of Happy Valley."
 
pittengineer75 said:
The things I took away from the movie (which is also centered in the reality of what happened):

1) Sandusky is an evil person who was found guilty on 40-some counts tied to child sex abuse.
2) That Paterno may not have known everything with Sandusky, but only because he was always focused on the football program and football program exclusively. Some might call that turning a blind eye, others might argue it was just ignoring things that were not his focus. Its not the only example of this that leads me to believe this is the case, given some of the stories people at PSU during the 2000s will tell you about police incidents involving players that vanished into thin air.
3) The movie really highlights the irrational PSU fanbase and their response following the Sandusky/PSU scandal. If anything, the PSU fanbase made the Sandusky scandal all about Paterno and the football program, focused on protecting those things at the cost of all others. You look at some of the video in the movie from the post-Paterno riots and that was not movie re-enactment but rather real video from what happened in State College. Many PSU fans still hold true to that concept today and the Sandusky scandal has been completely washed from the vernacular in State College.
4) A lot of people knew about Sandusky at PSU, but they really did more to backstop themselves and keep things quiet than yelling to the rooftops and immediately taking action against Sandusky for decades. Some possibly did the bare minimum of what at the time was required by law, but that threshold legally is not the same as what should be expected of good people.
Click to expand...
Excellent summary. I have said the same things in conversations with more moderate PSU fans. They railed against the NCAA for making this about football, but it was their own fans that created that singular environment with the rioting over Paterno.

Personally I'd give the production a B-. It didn't flow smoothly for me. If you were someone new to the story, it would have been very confusing IMHO.
 
pittengineer75 said:
The things I took away from the movie (which is also centered in the reality of what happened):

1) Sandusky is an evil person who was found guilty on 40-some counts tied to child sex abuse.
2) That Paterno may not have known everything with Sandusky, but only because he was always focused on the football program and football program exclusively. Some might call that turning a blind eye, others might argue it was just ignoring things that were not his focus. Its not the only example of this that leads me to believe this is the case, given some of the stories people at PSU during the 2000s will tell you about police incidents involving players that vanished into thin air.
3) The movie really highlights the irrational PSU fanbase and their response following the Sandusky/PSU scandal. If anything, the PSU fanbase made the Sandusky scandal all about Paterno and the football program, focused on protecting those things at the cost of all others. You look at some of the video in the movie from the post-Paterno riots and that was not movie re-enactment but rather real video from what happened in State College. Many PSU fans still hold true to that concept today and the Sandusky scandal has been completely washed from the vernacular in State College.
4) A lot of people knew about Sandusky at PSU, but they really did more to backstop themselves
Watching it with my wife we were most disgusted when It was brought up “ what about the little boy who was molested? Is he alright? Nobody checked ? - you waited and didn’t call the police?
The end was!the best - 1978.

Disgrace and shame - but they still don’t and never will get it.
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Las Panteras said:
Love billions as well.

But Damien Lewis?

Paul Giamatti is the best actor out there today.
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I like Damien Lewis because the three series I seen him in, Band of Brothers, Homeland and Billions, he was the character. It was not like I was watching Damien Lewis play Dick Winters or Brody or Bobby Axelrod, he is them, and I think that is what good actors do.

But yeah, Giamatti is fantastic. And he is fantastic in anything he is in. He is probably the most underrated actor of our generation.

Though my favorite character is Wags.
 
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About Paterno:

It was sad in some respects. My dad is now 82 and I see alot of the same feeble qualities in him that JoePa had in the end. Really sad when the man you knew who was so strong is now a shell of himself. And that was JoePa in the end. He had no business coaching football those last 4-5 years. I loved when we always would hear how "sharp" Joe was and how he knew everything going on, and still had his pulse on things by PSU sycophants, even only months prior to this all coming out, then when it all came out, and we did see a bit more behind the curtain, it was obvious he wasn't still "sharp", and they defended him as not being able to "comprehend" or "know".

It was like protecting Oz. It was the man behind the curtain. . But......when much of this occurred, JoePa was not a feeble Octogenarian, he was the guy who ran everything in Penn State. He was Chancellor, AD and Football Coach one and the same. The movie took some obvious liberties (we obviously don't know what was going through JoePa's mind) and even though it was a bit histrionics, I think the scenes toward the end when it was these cloudy flashbacks, it was all of those times either Joe knew, or Joe suspected, that he did nothing has now come back to blow up in his face. I think that was probably closer to the truth that many want to believe.

A movie is hard to capture the whole picture and impact of an event like this, that is why in many cases they choose one character to focus on, and that was obviously Paterno. To focus on Sandusky would be less interesting, because he was a monster, and really not interesting as an overall story.

The only thing, and I wish some journalist would go back and explore, just how much and what was the Second Mile's scope and linkage to Penn State. Because there, I think would find really sordid details of not just abuse, but likely monetary improprieties. In other words, while many Joebots feel like they are picked on, there were actually lucky that nobody went in this direction. Of course that is way outside this film's scope and had no real place, let alone the time to do that.
 
Hailpitt said:
Pittengineer
Agree with your summary, BUT Paterno never turned a “blind eye”! He knew and deliberately chose to do nothing. When one considers that Paterno knew of Sandusky’s 1998 incident ( Curley testified to this fact) and deliberately chose to cooperate with the co-conspirators in making the 2001 incident go away.
By the way, people tend to overlook the 1998 incident, BUT this incident is the key and blueprint for 2001 incident) to whole thing. They had Sandusky dead to rights ( he even confessed and stated his desire to kill himself) and then they found an unlicensed psychologist to replace the licensed psychologist who diagnosed Sandusky as a pedophile. Many still think the DA’s suspicious death shortly after is related to the 1998 cover up. Curley kept Paterno continuously updated on Sandusky’s perversions ( undoubtedly PAterno desire to make the matter go away was commuicated to law enforcement). The story that Jo Pa’s all encompassing focus on football is the reason he never was aware of Sandusky’s pedophilia is another disingenuous effort to cover for Paterno. Paterno KNEW as early as 1998 and there is much evidence that he knew in mid-1980’s and probably knew by 1970’s. There never was a Grand Experiment or Success withHonor!
B/T/W Recall that 1998 and 2001 incidents occurred before the explosion of the internet and social media as news sources. The Sandusky cover up was simply what PSU did the during Jo Pa’s entire tenure. PSU and Jo Pa used to brag about the low level of police incidents involving PSU players. Ever wonder why? The 2001 incident showed how PSU kept the police out of football related matters ( the University police force was never even involved in the 2001 incident). Never again will PSU be able to clothe the psu football program in glory and hide the hideous crimes that Jo Pa helped bury,
Click to expand...
Looking back on how long the cover-up was in place, the NCAA really deserves harsh scrutiny for their inept handling of the scandal.

We’ll never know how many victims there really were, because many victims have chosen to move-on with their lives and don’t want to relive the experience.
 
recruitsreadtheseboards said:
I like Damien Lewis because the three series I seen him in, Band of Brothers, Homeland and Billions, he was the character. It was not like I was watching Damien Lewis play Dick Winters or Brody or Bobby Axelrod, he is them, and I think that is what good actors do.

But yeah, Giamatti is fantastic. And he is fantastic in anything he is in. He is probably the most underrated actor of our generation.

Though my favorite character is Wags.
Click to expand...

Wags indeed.....

Fantastic character.
 
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sherepower said:
I went to read some of their fans responses on the movie. Needless to say I had to take a shower after reading what most said.

If there was any justice in this world. That program should of gotten the death penalty.
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B b b but They said they would not watch it....

Liars about everything all to protect a fraud they never even met let alone knew..”.Duh Joe I knew”
 
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