Before he was shot Wallace was evil
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — George Wallace
micaofboca-1 — 16 years ago(April 19, 2009 03:28 PM)
Wallace inflamed bigots across the south and north during the sixties with his hateful speeches and racist rhetoric. After he was shot he changed miraculously, and put away that despicable philosophy. Unfortunately it took such a painful event to weaken his vitriol and christianize his heart in a very good way. In the end he had changed and was metamorphosed into a gracious humanist and underwent a moral improvement that is to be praised. I only wish that it didn't take the lesson he had to undergo as well as my wish that more despicable bigots would undergo the same reverses before becoming so old they're impotent and effete.
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t_smitts — 16 years ago(November 08, 2009 12:19 AM)
Some, like him and Senator Robert Byrd eventually renounced such racist attitudes, which is commendable. Others such as Jesse Helms never expressed an ounce of regret, but simply toned it down once it was no longer politically helpful.
Having seen the film, I'm sorry we didn't see more of the "new" Wallace in the movie. Wallace apologized in Dr. King's church and that's it. The rest is just mentioned in captions at the end. Too bad. -
shootr2 — 15 years ago(July 23, 2010 12:00 PM)
You are completely wrong. Wallace was ALWAYS in favor of civil rights for blacks, that's a big reason why he lost the first run for Gov. in '58 against John Patterson (being endorsed by the NAACP didn't help him gain the white vote, either). Wallace became a hard-liner on segregation out of political expedience, not philosophy. If you watch the film carefully, at various times in a few scenes, you'll see the difference between the the political animal and the real man. Frankenheimer and Sinese did a fantastic job with this accurate portrait.
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WarpedRecord — 15 years ago(August 29, 2010 11:30 AM)
I think Frankenheimer and Sinese did a terrific job here (I have to stop short of fantastic), and this film does an excellent job in separating the man's personal views from his political persona. But the question must be raised: Does that fact that Wallace exploited race to further his political career somehow excuse him? Is it better to be an honest racist or a deceitful politician?
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shootr2 — 15 years ago(August 29, 2010 02:07 PM)
That's politics in a nutshell. If you believe that to achieve A, B and C for the majority of your constituents, and you must appear to some to be X, Y and Z to get elected, what exactly is the alternative?
I'm unsure of the grammatical accuracy of that above sentencedon't hold it against the intent. -
WarpedRecord — 15 years ago(August 29, 2010 03:07 PM)
This is true, for better or worse, or at least it was true in Wallace's era. I'd like to think we've gotten beyond pandering to the extreme to obtain votes, unless the extreme is what you truly believe (in which case you're not pandering, just speaking). The conflict comes when the views you claimed were yours prove to be unpopular, and you must reconcile those differences. I'm not sure Wallace ever did in his lifetime, at least in the public's eye.
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joyfarrah — 13 years ago(April 14, 2012 02:40 AM)
I agree. I think that Wallace was conflicted and took up the more extreme racist attitude out of expediency rahter than conviction. I honesty dont know if it is better to be an honest racist than someone who does soemthing that they know to be bad, becuase they hope to gain power to do some good. Both can change.. an "honest" racist, who problaby didn't know any better, and was brought up in a racist environment, mgiht come to realise that he was wrong and change and I think that Wallace, esp when he was injured, had time to reflect that his policies were NOT what he truly believed in and had NOT done good for anyone, but had done evil by inspiring more racial violence.so I think that his repentance was genuine and that he did truly become a better person
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fanaticita — 9 years ago(October 24, 2016 12:59 PM)
Good analysis! I saw this film for the first time last night, and really liked it. Sinese did a great job portraying a complicated character over a number of years. The back and forth scenes were a little distracting, but I really can't complain.