Hollywood lobbyist Jack Valenti dies at 85

[BJ_M]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Jack Valenti, Hollywood's emissary to Washington and the man who developed the U.S. movie rating system, died on Thursday at age 85, his longtime spokesman, Warren Cowan, said.

Valenti served as an aide to President Lyndon Johnson before heading the Motion Picture Association of America as the movie industry's No. 1 lobbyist for 38 years. He retired in August 2004.

Valenti, at the time heading a public relations agency working with the White House, was in President John F. Kennedy's motorcade, six cars back from the president's limousine, when Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas in 1963.

He accompanied Johnson back to Washington and can be seen in the historic photograph of Johnson being sworn in as president aboard Air Force One.

Valenti suffered a stroke in March 2007, shortly before he was to begin promoting his memoir, "This Time, This Place: My Life in War, the White House, and Hollywood."

Cowan said he died at his home in Washington, surrounded by his family.

As head of the MPAA, Valenti crusaded for copyright enforcement, coming out strongly in the 1980s when the rise of videocassette recorders made it easy to copy movies. "The VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston Strangler is to the woman home alone," he once testified to Congress.

Continued...

[FulciLives]

Will I miss Jack Valenti?

He was a total ass ... but the kind you love to hate.

So while I'm not sorry he is gone ... I guess I will miss him after all.

I feel like a super villain whose arch nemesis (the super hero) has died and now I'm not sure what to do!

Wait ... Valenti was the super villain and I'm the super hero ... right?

See what the MPAA has done to us all? We are villains for wanting things "our" way.

Go figure.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[NiteLite]

Well, you kind of hate to hear of anyone dying but man, I am glad his sorry arrogant arse is out of my personal viewing habits.
He did or tried to do more harm to the viewer than most anyone I can think of.

Wait ... Valenti was the super villain and I'm the super hero ... right?

See what the MPAA has done to us all? We are villains for wanting things "our" way.

You Got It !!!
NL

[lordsmurf]

This is sort of like hearing a Nazi has died. My condolences to his family, but that's about it.

[dvdguy4]

He'll be missed, just not by me.

[jaxxboss]

Ditto. My condolences to the family, but ......... . Well I shalt not speak disparingly of the ole coot that was a thorn in my side for many a year, Ill just let it go and may that bastar.....hmmm, never mind.

[SLK001]

Poor ol' Jack was just a mouth piece for the industry. Probably, none of his speeches or statements originated with him (although he might have supported them). Don't worry, another "Jack" will soon pop up, carrying on the idiotic tradion of the entire movie industry, with their attitude of "what's mine is mine, and what's yours is mine!"

[rkr1958]

This is sort of like hearing a Nazi has died. My condolences to his family, but that's about it.

Poor analogy.

"He was a medal-winning pilot who flew 51 missions during World War Two."

source

I certainly didn't agree with his views on DRM and DVD encryption; but I'm sad at his passing.

[lordsmurf]

His war record means nothing to me.
He did a lot of damage in his lifetime, as it relates to video.

[rkr1958]

His war record means nothing to me.

You missed my point.

This is sort of like hearing a Nazi has died.

He fought against the Nazis in WWII.

[SingSing]

As head of the MPAA, Valenti crusaded for copyright enforcement, coming out strongly in the 1980s when the rise of videocassette recorders made it easy to copy movies. "The VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston Strangler is to the woman home alone," he once testified to Congress.

Is he impling we like to strangle women while watch it on VCR ?

[TheFamilyMan]

Epithaph:
"A man who never saw the forest for the trees and was always willing to throw out the baby with the bath water".

The movie industry would have "lost" far more money if it decided that making and selling VHS and DVD copies of movies to the public was too risky to do.

My regards to his family.

[lordsmurf]

You missed my point....He fought against the Nazis in WWII.

And it is therefore ironic that he became a movie-industry fascist later in life.

I always have to wonder about the fanatics like him. Did he actually believe all the crap he spewed, or was it just so he could collect a paycheck? Either way, it's detestable. The MPAA was never intended to be a mafia-like body as it is now, and you have this man to thank for it. The RIAA took his lead.

I honestly don't know which is worse: (1) the mysterious bullshit movie ratings system, or (2) the anti-technology stance of the aging MPAA framework.

One article wrote about his charming smile. I always thought of it as a smug grin.

[AlecWest]

Well, here's what Afterdawn says about Valenti's replacement:

http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/9537.cfm

[videopoo]

Oh Come on! The guy worked for the studios. If you want to blame anyone, blame them. As a content owner myself I can sometimes side with the studios perspective - I don't like it when people still my shit either. However, I deal with it and move on and account it as a business loss.

And how is the MPAA like the mafia? The studios have every legal right to stop piracy although some of the ways they did it was just plain stupid. Why would most people give a shit what the MPAA does? Guess what? - they buy movies, take them home and watch them. Believe it or not, most people pay for the content they want to have in thier collections. The only folks the MPAA and the studios seem to piss off are the pirates themselves and the guy who has just got to get the new Casino Royal DVD so he can swap out the subtitles to Kirundi, get rid of those God-awful trailers, change the main menu because it hurts his eyes and then, finally, put the whole movie on Divx.

[dnix71]

Under Glickman, the industry is already moving away from DRM with HD not having region coding.

If the file size and quality of BluRay and HD is high enough, it might be easier to allow low quality ripping. The people who are willing to accept low quality vcd and divx rips are not likely to buy the expensive hardware for high quality playback, anyway. It would be cheaper to just allow it and write it off as "advertising"

The music industry could have saved a lot of trouble doing the same thing. Allow free 96kbs mp3's as promos, sell 128kbs rips cheap-cheap and charge more for 192kbs rips.

[Alan69]

And how is the MPAA like the mafia? The studios have every legal right to stop piracy although some of the ways they did it was just plain stupid. Why would most people give a shit what the MPAA does? Guess what? - they buy movies, take them home and watch them. Believe it or not, most people pay for the content they want to have in thier collections.

With this, you now have to throw away every single VCR tape, DVD, all machines and drives etc etc that you've got. You also have to throw away every one of every person you know by any means necessary, and tell them it's better for them. You have to pay 5x the price for every movie you see too.

You wouldn't HAVE a DVD player. You couldn't go RENT a DVD for $5 or less. With zero competition, the price to go to a movie would be $30 to $50. Everything you just used to justify their reasonableness was FORCED upon them by other far more REASONABLE people, they strongly opposed every single thing you mentioned as a benefit from them. You couldn't afford 1/10th of your collection if it weren't for people who understand what you obviously don't. While of course to a far lesser degree and not as serious a topic, it is very analogous to Nazi's. You're like someone growing up now saying the Nazi's weren't so bad, you just have no idea how bad it'd be if other people hadn't already PROTECTED you from them. You're living in a sheltered world other people created as far as the movie industry goes, you'd hardly have any of what you have now at a reasonable price if other people didn't do the fight for you. And you'd still get mostly crap movies at the $50 price, there'd just be less competition and choices, and a smaller number of people would get more rich off of you..

You now have to donate everything you would have spent to me, for explaining this for you.. Hey you were wanting to donate to the movie industry, so it's no loss.

[Alan69]

Hey PS, I thought the future of TV was Jack Valenti's head living on forever to torture us all with more ideas? Always had a mental picture of him as Richard Nixon on Futurama..

[videopoo]

Never said the MPAA was right.....were in a completley different age then when VCRs came on board - no way you could compare now and then. Please...where did that capatalist spirit go? Look at movie goers now...the prices are out of control and it shows in attendance. The market decides how many movies that want to own not the MPAA. The Studios/MPAA has zero vision in new technology but they do, (just as you and me do as well) have every legal right to protect thier content - even if it means taking the parents of some 16 yr old girl to court. I'd do the same thing if I found one of my titles in someone's collection illegally knowing it would do any good.

And when was the MPAA againts DVDs? Basically I've hated the way the studios/MPAA has treated the public in almost every way, but when it come down to content protection - I tend to lean in thier favor on alot of things. Just like the Nazi anology - unless your a content owner you have no idea how bad it can be.

[thecoalman]

You missed my point....He fought against the Nazis in WWII.

And it is therefore ironic that he became a movie-industry fascist later in life.

I'd have to agree rkr1958, let's keep this in perspective. Anything he has done to hurt/help the music and video industry is a trivial thing when compared to putting your life on the line. For that I would commend anyone.

Basically I've hated the way the studios/MPAA has treated the public in almost every way, but when it come down to content protection - I tend to lean in thier favor on alot of things.

I agree, I don't particualarly like many of the things the RIAA or MPAA has done, attempted etc. Of particualar concern to me is the hobbling of technology to fit their needs. I've said it before, the market wil dictate what they can and cannot do. I think that is one of the reasons you are now seeing the emergence of non-DRM audio files. The people have spoken and they don't want it.

[Conquest10]

The only folks the MPAA and the studios seem to piss off are the pirates themselves and the guy who has just got to get the new Casino Royal DVD so he can swap out the subtitles to Kirundi, get rid of those God-awful trailers, change the main menu because it hurts his eyes and then, finally, put the whole movie on Divx.

How about guys like me that are sick and tired of being treated like a thief for purchasing a DVD at the store?

Look at movie goers now...the prices are out of control and it shows in attendance. The market decides how many movies that want to own not the MPAA.

According to the MPAA, the decline in attendance is solely due to piracy.

[lordsmurf]

And how is the MPAA like the mafia? The studios have every legal right to stop piracy although some of the ways they did it was just plain stupid.

You're the only one mentioning piracy.

I'm referring to movie ratings, the stifling of and interference with technologies, perversion of the DMCA via lobbying, and the entire structure that approves of things like $10 million-per-movie actors.

"Legal" and "right" are sometimes divorced from one another, and here is one of those times.

But since you brought it up ...
Personally, I believe fans should support movies and shows, buy the DVDs to own, or rent them simply to watch. The MPAA wants to make this harder, however, by moving away from media you can own, by jacking up prices every chance possible, and releasing the same crap over and over again while leaving huge backlogs of unreleased materials. So who causes piracy? Is it an aspect of a system they created and continue to press onto society?

[oldandinthe way]

I restrained myself from posting here immediately after his death because my mother taught me not to speak ill of the dead.

Valenti was a nasty man. And suggestions of a mafia-like or fascist attitude preceeded his joining the MPAA. In fact it mght have been one of the reasons they hired him.

Valenti was a close associate and enabler of the only twentieth century president to exceed Richard Nixon in paranoia - LBJ.

[Abbadon]

I heard people like him burn in hell for all eternity.