He had a website recounting his career highs and experiences but didn't mention the politically incorrect masterpiece so dear to our hearts. It's to the industry's shame that Harry's War languishes in obscurity today. They've got no excuse -- look at the cast! Ms Page was already a movie legend when it was made, Ms Grassle had starred for years as Michael Landon's wife on Little House on the Prairie, Ms Jens has guested on Star Trek and starred in many things. Mr. Cook is one of those eccentric character actors you see in every 10th movie of the 50s (notably House on Haunted Hill), Stiers had a regular role in the MASH series.
The film was made in 1981, a decade before all this "terr'ism" nonsense came along. Significantly/sickeningly, its poster motto has evolved from "I declare war on the IRS!" to the wimpish, gutless, spineless, idiotic stuff you see above. Even people who don't know the quotation marks around it are a total fraud should find the wording offensive, because it shows again how anxious gliberals to deflect any accusation of wrongdoing (much less perverse arrogance or criminality!) from the powers that be.
If you'll notice, you virtually never hear mention on TV of the US government committing crimes, outrages, mayhem, libel, fraud, mass murder or whatever, even though this is actually what it does all day long. Oh no. Politicians and federal bureaucrats make MISTAKES, fall prey to ERROR, etc. They may occasionally be reported as fouling up, but they never sin, ever ever ever. This "fail" lingo grows legs -- government doesn't even neglect to fulfill its duty, much less refuse to according to talking heads and anybody they allow themselves to be found interviewing -- there are failings only, implying that everybody from the Oval Office to the DOJ, IRS, BATF and PTA has only the best intentions.
"THE IRS WOULDN'T ADMIT THEY MADE A MISTAKE ON HARRY JOHNSON'S TAXES" -- I forget, this may be what happens in the film, but that spineless summary doesn't begin to describe the actual plot. The IRS was defiant, recalcitrant, intransigent, rude, callous in it, even to the point of in effect manslaughtering an old lady, representative of the few people that ever mount a serious citizen challenge to it.
Note that in the image above, the hardy patriot is still crashing upward through the three-dimensional, architectural-looking I-R-S letters as when the movie was new . The 2005 DVD cover below is much more considerate of the tax rats -- the letters are just kind of crumbing of their own accord, and Harry's just resting his arm on one of them! Believe this is an edition offered by the Mormons, and isn't that just like a church today?
Actor Stiers shocked some people when asked what his favorite role was. Wikipedia: the interviewer was expecting him to say something about his character in M*A*S*H, but instead he paused for a second and said "There was this movie about the IRS and I was the biggest [bleep] in the office...."
What a shame Herrmann was so airheaded he prized his FDR portrayals instead Harry Johnson. A sad commentary on entertainers at large, a lousy reflection on where people's minds are.
Fun quote from a comment added to the Herrmann tribute posted at freedomsphoenix..com: Calling Ron Paul an isolationist is like calling your neighbor a hermit because he doesn't come over and break your window - unknown.
This from the often piercing if pointlessly filthy-mouthed P.J. O'Rourke: “At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child — miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied, demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless. Liberalism is a philosophy of sniveling brats.”
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