Best topic for a Pittsburgh film

[PghUSA]

I have always wondered why Hollywood is so stuck on the less story more blood, or more slapstick type genre when it's role as national storyteller could be a goldmine for it.

Pittsburgh is rich with some made for fame stories:

David Lawrence, from the back cigar-filled power rooms of the national Democratic Party from the 40's to the 60's (he is credited with the JFK/LBJ compromise and choosing Truman as FDRs VP thus arguably the man handpicked three American presidents) to his "Don't call me Boss" political rise and his ability to sit down with the national Republican power broker Mellon family to remake a whole city, is a fantastic story of rags to riches to national power. Pittsburgh was the location for "Hoffa" with Jack Nicholsen and for the James Wood movie Citizen Kohn both set in the 50's so it would be a great fit!

Another subject I have always thought deserved a feature film was Tesla, born at the stroke of midnight during a terrible lightning storm in Serbia (not too far away from Translyvania) imigrating to the U.S. in the 1880's, getting "taken" by Edison for 50k after delivering a dozen patents to GE, coming to work for Westinghouse and basically inventing radio, modern electricity (AC power) among many other gadgets (think Batman's cave or James Bond's "Q"), he was ever the humanitarian declining big money preferring instead the passion of invention. His lightning attractor tower (he claimed it he could harness lighting to provide FREE power to all) was taken down after JP Morgan read the financial background, Morgan after all was interested in profit not free science. Tesla's death was as mysterious as his birth, he died alone in a New York apartment (murdered?) during World War II, almost all of his personal logs and patents were confiscated by the War Department and most lost to history. Some claim that as much as we know of his inventions there is that much more we don't.

Finally Art Rooney Sr., think about a film the whole Steeler nation around the world would clamor to see! The man that legend has winning an NFL franchise after a lucky day at the races, that missed the immaculate reception because he was in an elevator down to consol his "family" the Steeler players, that endured almost 40 years of losing but would never be caught without a smile and a kind word to say about you would make one of the greatest films ever.

Other ideas include the fascinating life of Mary Schenley (Schenley Park fame), the Jonas Salk/polio story, the story of Vietnam wounded vet Rocky Blier being told he could never walk again winning four super bowls for the Steelers and gaining 1,000 yards rushing in 1975, Billy Conn the famous Pittsburgh Kid, also Fritzie Zivic the other boxer, the haunted house on Ridge Avenue in the northside, the story about the bomber crashing into the Monongahela River in the 1950's, some say aliens were on board, some say Howard Hughes was, they still can't find the HUGE bomber in the LITTLE river till this day! The story of the Confederate gold buried in Beaver County and near E. Liverpool Ohio from the raiders that wanted to take Pittsburgh in 1864, The life story of Senator John Heinz and his plane going down in Merion Twp., the battle for the forks of the Ohio with George Washington almost losing his life to the French twice, an army that he would ally with 20 years later against the British, as well as Braddock's field, Ft. Neccessity and Bushy Run, one on Johnny Unitas getting turned down by Pitt, Duquesne and the Steelers and playing on a dump lot in the Strip District/Bloomfield before making it big in the NFL, and finally a film about Andrew Carnegie or Andrew Mellon or even Andy Warhol.

The unique thing about Pittsburgh is the abundance of national and globally significant stories this region has to tell. I am very interested in hearing about anything that is special to you that could make a great feature film.

[Evergrey]

I'd like to see movies just about living in Pittsburgh... like "The Bread, My Sweet"... a movie starring Scott Baio as a biscotti baker.