White Horse Inn "In his book on director Martin Scorsese, the late film critic Roger Ebert described the ominous context in which he previewed The Last Temptation of Christ (1988). Prior to its release, he was invited to a private screening and watched the film alone. "This was not a perk," he writes. "It was a security measure." Ebert was led to a townhouse where the director was living under a shadow of death threats. The TV evangelists of the time had thundered with denunciation and outrage. One church leader, Campus Crusade for Christ founder Bill Bright, offered to cover the costs of the studio investment if he could obtain all the film negatives. He vowed to destroy them.
"The graphic content of the film was understandably upsetting to religious audiences, but the level of reaction that it provoked was astonishing. During the film's release, a French fundamentalist group launched Molotov cocktails inside the Parisian Saint Michel Theater and injured thirteen people. Organized protests and boycotts in the United States caused major theater chains to refuse screenings. Some cities sought wholesale bans, many succeeding. The following year, Blockbuster Video caved to pressure and declined to rent the video in stores. The charge was blasphemy, and Scorsese's film was a tipping point in the "culture wars." It would become a key target in Michael Medved's influential book Hollywood vs. America (1992).
" . . . For many Christians, the box office remains a battle to be fought and won."
