Some on the right have tried to make arguing for the freedom of Roman Polanski into a left wing cause rather than something espoused by a few filmmakers and entertainment figures a bit blinded by Polanski’s brilliance as a filmmaker. If Polanski really is the next Sacco & Vanzetti, Leonard Peltier or Mumia, why is this piece of verse of blunt-spoken verse by Calvin Trillin running in the country’s best known left-of-center publication? (H/t The Auteur’s Daily.)
Believe me, lefties are as angry at Polanski’s crime as righties and the poem’s attitudes are common across the political board. I actually like these verses quite a bit, and largely agree with them, though I’d vehemently quibble over one of Trillin’s word choices. However, I’ve already quibbled myself silly in various comments sections.
Instead, for no particular reason, I present an indescribable moment of Polanski, the actor, with a magnificent friend lip-synching a standard by Noël Coward — as suggested by Will Harris’s fine new piece on Monty Python solo projects.
Insert joke inspired by “The King and I” here —
