Horns and Halos
by Michael Galinsky, Suki Hawley
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DVD details
Actor: Bob Minzensheimer, George W. Bush, Jim Fitzgerald (III), Pamela Colloff, The Rev. BillyDirector: Michael Galinsky, Suki Hawley
Brand: Koch International
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-10-05
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Go-Kart Films
DVD Reviews of Horns and Halos
DVD Review: Vivid, Interesting and very Sad
Summary: 4 Stars
I just watched the DVD of "Horns and Halos". While I was expecting a sort of B version of Michael Moore, and in some senses it is, I found it a lot more moving that Moore, and so real, interesting and sad (it made me cry) that it made me want to get on the Internet to find out more, and write a review recommending it.
This documentary is about a guy who writes a book about George W. Bush, and his relationship with his second publisher. We hear that publishing the book was a nightmare (at the beginning) and of his fears that sometime soon he may never see his daughter again (near the end).
Why did I like it? First of all it seemed very real, fair, and complete. It is clear that this film is taken by a few people with Handycams, but they are talking their Handycams to all the right places, even to interview people that pan the book.
I liked the people in this documentary. Mr. Hicks, the publisher is weird and amusing. He should be on TV or something. Mr. Hatfield seems genuine and really lovable, despite his past. He really seems like a nice guy (sort of Billy Bob Thornton-ish). Apparently some who read his book ("Fortunate Son") say that he was not even that hard on Bush. The interviews with him come across as being shockingly honest, and he as repentant, caring, family man.
In 1988 Mr. Hatfield conspired, and failed to kill a woman, his boss, that it is claimed, was blackmailing someone else. He went to prison for five years. Mr. Hatfield got out of prison, gets married, and makes a living writing books about The X files, and science fiction heroes.
Then, in about 1997, Mr. Hatfield (*why him?!*) was given the job of writing a bio of Bush, with a considerable amount of money up-front. He does a pretty good job. But, *at the insistence of his publisher* (*why?*) Mr. Hatfield includes an afterword where he claims that informants close to Bush told him (*Did they? If so why!?*) that Bush was arrested for his use of cocaine.
The most intriguing part of the film comes in Mr. Hatfield's allegation that he thought that, in retrospect, he was fed the information, because someone knew about his (Mr. Hatfield's) past, with the intention of giving 'the cocaine scoop' (if true) the spin that it did in fact receive. I.e. something along the lines of 'Would-be-Woman-Murderer, Ex-Convict, Science Fiction Writer Claims...".
If this allegation is true, then it is ambitious, malevolent genius at work. How better to spin the cocaine 'scoop' (if true)? And utterly tragic for Mr. Hatfield. But in this documentatry, the real Mr. Hatfield blames himself.
For all I know, the real malevolent genuises may be the democrats (?) that made this documentary, and Mr. Hatfield may have been a slandering "Bush-Basher", but either way, there is genuis at work. Mr. Hatfield comes accross as being an honest, brave, lovable, tragic man.
My sincere condolences to Mr. Hatfield's wife and daughter.
Description of Horns and Halos
This DVD captures the unlikely connection of three men. An ex-con biographer, a janitor turned publisher and U.S. President George W. Bush whose paths to power and popularity become tangled in the controversial book Fortunate Son. Winner "Best Documentary" 2002 New York Underground Film Festival, Winner "Best Documentary" 2002 Chicago Underground Film Festival.Horns and Halos is a fascinating, unexpectedly tragic story about one man's downfall in the brutal world of perception-driven media and politics. In the late 1990s, author James Hatfield wrote Fortunate Son, a biography of then-candidate George W. Bush that alleged, among other things, that the future president used cocaine during the '70s. St. Martin's Press fast-tracked the project, but recalled the book when Hatfield's earlier prison time for murder conspiracy became known. Horns and Halos follows what happened next: Fortunate Son was picked up by tiny Soft Skull Press, run by a passionate, Mohawk-topped young man named Sander Hicks, but the long, uphill battle to restore credibility to the work proves ruinous. The film is notable for access to the anxiety and roller-coaster emotions of Hatfield and Hicks, and there's plenty more despair in deleted scenes offered on this two-DVD set. Special features are especially important and useful here for added context, including raw footage of protests at Bush's inauguration, performances by Hicks and his band White Collar Crime, a profile of the film created by public television's KCET, and much else. --Tom Keogh
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