Real life, Stephen Colbert once snarked, has a “well-known liberal bias.”
Colbert got it oh, so wrong. Again. In fact, the proof is in Hollywood’s pudding. The industry is unabashedly liberal and yet conservative themes still crop up with regularity beneath the stories in play.
It’s been like this for generations, but it’s even more fascinating to see it of late given the industry’s commitment to hard-left sermonizing.
It’s why we’re sharing 10 more movies with stealth conservative themes. They vary in quality and age, but one element remains true: real world conservatism makes more than a cameo appearance.
The 40-Year-Old-Virgin
It’s one of the funniest R-rated comedies ever made, but liberal director Judd Apatow still inserted some old-fashioned values into the yarn. Steve Carell is the main character, a nebbish who can’t manage a real romance, let alone sexual intimacy.
He finally meets the right woman (Catherine Keener), and they fall in love between bawdy sight gags. Do they rush into the bedroom, eager to update the film’s title? Nope. They wait until their wedding night to consummate their relationship, a discipline celebrated by the film and its key players.
Shane
This 1953 western, one of the genre’s best efforts, hit theaters decades before the current culture wars … or even that ‘80s moment when Alan Alda represented the ultimate male figure.
“Shane” showcased masculinity in all its technicolor glory along with the beauty behind a faithful marriage. Alan Ladd’s Shane rides into town, hoping to escape his gunslinging past. When he learns of homesteaders being harassed, and even killed, by a local cattle baron, he sacrifices his dreams to keep them safe.
Shane stands tall alongside his new friend, Joe Starrett (Van Heflin) despite a strong attraction to Joe’s wife (Jean Arthur). Both parties realize it would be devastating to their loved ones if they acted on their impulses, a nod to keeping a family healthy and intact.
Need more conservative flourishes? Shane instructs young Joey (Brandon de Wilde) about the power, and responsibility, required to use a gun.
Dear Comrades!
This 2020 release got lost in the Oscar season melee. What a shame, since it captures the horrors associated with Soviet-style Communism.
The story starts before the 1962 massacre in the Russian city of Novocherkassk, a government attack which killed up to 80 people for the sin of protesting food price hikes. We follow several government employees who understand the pain felt by the locals but still cling to Mother Russia’s greatness. Or they’re too afraid to think for themselves.
It’s a sobering look at how Communist-style governments control their citizens, something we all should think about as leaders cling to science-free restrictions meant to control our thoughts and actions.
The Lives of Others
This 2006 gem would make the perfect double feature along with “Dear Comrades!” It’s another cautionary tale given the waves of snitching Karens roaming our countryside, eager to tattle on those who don’t do the government’s bidding.
East Germany’s secret police are always watching, listening, eager to pounce on anyone sharing an independent thought. That leaves a talented playwright (Sebastian Koch) under a suspicious cloud as some question his party loyalty.
It’s hard not to re-watch this Best Foreign Language Film Oscar without thinking of our current age of social media punishments for having the wrong opinions, let alone a White House eager to listen to even more of our private missives.
The Death of Stalin
Not every glimpse at repressive regimes is stone-cold serious. This brisk satire looks at the Soviet Leader’s final days, a historical chapter filled with fear, backstabbing and jockeying for power.
Those qualities can be found in most government systems, but they flourish in socialist bodies in near-farcical ways.
“Stalin” is purposefully over the top, and often brilliantly orchestrated. It still showcases a political system dependent on absolute power, cronyism gone wild and a suppression of freedom made possible by its collectivist zeal.
Chappaquiddick
Ted Kennedy’s political career should have ended the moment he walked away from a sinking car and its doomed passenger, campaign strategist Mary Jo Kopechne, on that fateful 1969 day.
We all know that didn’t happen, but this sly 2018 film showcases all the qualities Kennedy should have displayed … but didn’t.
Courage. Sacrifice. Humanity. Humility.
The filmmaker’s sense of restraint is palpable, leaving viewers to sympathize with an overmatched Kennedy, a tragic figure who couldn’t live up to the family’s legacy.
The Hammer
This “Rocky Jr.” tale comes courtesy of Adam Carolla, the common-sense hero whose personal life fueled his screenwriting debut.
Carolla’s character, Jerry Ferro, is a former boxer making a meager living in carpentry. A chance sparring session, and one lucky punch, finds him back in the sport again.
His character endures a series of personal attacks that would fell most woke warriors today. Not Jerry. He doesn’t let his advanced age slow him down, either. Jerry uses failure after failure to fuel his comeback story. He’s no quitter, even though he realizes his second chance at fame will be fleeting, at best.
“The Hammer” didn’t give Carolla a “Rocky” sized franchise. It did show his faith in the American dream could yield a film with a big, beating heart.
Trainwreck
Apatow once again marries hard-R high jinks with deeply conservative themes. This time, it’s woke princess Amy Schumer falling for a decent bloke (Bill Hader) despite her best intentions.
Schumer’s “trainwreck” of a character craves a hedonistic lifestyle free of worries and commitments, and for a while she lives down to that description. Her heart has other ideas, though, after interviewing Hader’s lovable sports doctor.
Team Apatow once again connects happiness to commitment, a theme previously shown in his hilarious 2007 comedy, “Knocked Up.”
Team America: World Police
Social conservatives will squirm through every minute of this marionette raunch fest. They’ll still giggle as the plot turns on Hollywood, Inc. via a major plot twist.
Like most projects from “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, “Team America” smacks all sides around with their signature humor. Still, seeing Hollywood liberals like Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Michael Moore get pounded with disrespectful gags is a conservative’s fever dream.
The Hunt
This horror-thriller is the least engaging of the films gathered here, but it’s still worth noting for two striking reasons. For starters, conservatives got it all wrong when news outlets started sharing the news about the movie’s plot. Many were outraged to see a film featuring liberals hunting conservatives like a distaff version of “The Most Dangerous Game.”
What those critics didn’t realize, beyond the concept’s First Amendment protections, was that the conservatives in this film scenario were the good guys. Audiences, as a result, would be rooting for their survival (except rabid MSNBC watchers).
More importantly, “The Hunt” is the rare Hollywood product eager to mock liberal pieties and progressive souls teeming with hate in their hearts.
“The Hunt” made sure to vilify some conservative characters – ah, dramatic balance! Too bad the story itself starts strong but gets sillier, and less authentic, as it nears its stupefying finish.
The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.