I thought the comic book man was the guy on the Simpsons who always says, "Worst episode...EVER!"
That's actually an
awesome movie. The backstory is just as good -- the movie works on multiple levels.
The movie was made with the backdrop of the Hollywood Blacklist, anti-communist fervor at its McCarthyism peak. Screenwriter Carl Foreman adopted the screenplay from a short story called
The Tin Star, and he also created it as an allegory for the witch hunt rampaging through Hollywood at the time -- where Hollywood actors were coerced to turn over names of people they suspected to be commies.
This wasn't exactly a secret in the public, either -- especially given the reputation of the screenwriter. (Capitol Hill's House Un-American Activities Committee, HUAC, blacklisted Foreman right after the film came out.) And yet Gary Cooper, a top ticket actor at the time, ignored the possible bad political ramifications and stood beside it and Foreman -- despite warnings that his association would get him into hot water with HUAC and the American public. (Ballsy and very courageous for Mr. Cooper, btw.) John Wayne would go on to call this movie, in a 1971 Playboy interview, "the most un-American thing I’ve ever seen in my whole life."
And all those pained scenes you see of Gary Cooper in the fight scenes at the end? In real life, the guy was fighting a bleeding ulcer during filming.