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CNN Live Today
Big Screen Terror; Unlikeliest Hero
Aired April 05, 2006 - 11:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Two aircraft hit the World Trade Center? They just left, and the weather was beautiful.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: We have a plane headed toward the Capitol.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: What the hell is wrong out there?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: May we engage, sir?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: It is a movie ripped from the headlines. That's nothing new, but a movie about the horrific events of September 11th? Some say it's too much too soon. A New York theater has pulled the trailer for the film about the hijacked flight that crashed in Pennsylvania. Here's what some moviegoers are saying about the trailer for United 93.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's too soon to a movie like this. I don't even think the families really even know what happened to flight 93. I don't think everything has been disclosed as to what really took place.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: can would see how some people find it offensive, but that's what it's about, it's about 9/11. So they're going to have to show things about 9/11 in the trailer, obviously.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely not. No thanks. I'll never watch this movie.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Joining us from Los Angeles to talk about the movie is Tom O'Neil. He is with "In-Touch Weekly" and theenvelope.com.
Tom, good to see you.
TOM O'NEIL, "IN-TOUCH WEEKLY": Same here.
KAGAN: You are such a treasure trove of information about the entertainment industry. Let's talk about a movie like this. Do movies like this do well? O'NEIL: Well, the most successful movie ever made, "Titanic," was based on a sensitive national tragedy, but of course that was 75 years after the boat went down.
KAGAN: Exactly.
O'NEIL: In general, we seem to have a protocol of three to five years after sensitive national tragedies take place before we make movies like. It was three years after the fall of Saigon that "The Deer Hunter" came out. It was four years after the space shuttle Challenger tragedy that the first of the TV movies came out.
KAGAN: And there has been a TV movie about this flight.
O'NEIL: Yes, and it was the single most successful program in the history of A&E network when it aired recently. Its Nielsen numbers were through the sky.
KAGAN: So these movies tend to do well commercially. What about in the awards world? Do they do well with awards?
O'NEIL: Yes. I mean, "The Deer Hunter" won best picture. You look back through the years, just three years after "World War II," a movie called "The Best Years of Our Lives," which questioned, you know, servicemen's ability to come home and settle in to normal lives, how they would be accepted among other Americans, which was a very controversial at the time, won best pictures.
I think these movies are very important if they're done well in terms of helping us to sort through these things dramatically in our minds.
KAGAN: So it might be something separate. The movie and making it is one thing. How you market it and where you put the trailers might be a different decision?
O'NEIL: Yes, that's what's really at issue here. At this trailer plays in movie theaters across America, people are screaming too soon, too soon, and they're storming out of the theaters, and justifiably to some extent. There should be a warning before this trailer is shown to moviegoers that it's coming up. Give us 20 or 30 seconds, you know, right after the last comedy trailer plays that we're going to make this abrupt turn and ambush moviegoers. That's the problem here. And it's shocking people in theaters who aren't prepared for it.
KAGAN: And as you said, In some theaters it's getting pulled out.
Tom O'Neil, theenvelope.com, "In Touch Weekly." Tom, great to see you.
O'NEIL: Same here. Thanks.
KAGAN: Thank you. Well, speaking of 9/11, it is a ride to remember so the nation never forgets. We told you about the airline pilot and some of his friends that are biking across the country in honor of the September 11th flight crews. Tom Heidenberger's wife was a flight attendant on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. This group started in Los Angeles. They're about to make it as far as Phoenix. We're going to check in with them tomorrow on the Airline Ride Across America. That's tomorrow on CNN LIVE TODAY. They're honoring a different crew member each day, and we'll meet that crew member's family and find out more about them just ahead. Actually that's going to take place tomorrow.
Well, he is remembered as the unlikeliest hero. Desmond Moss Sr. served in World War II as a conscientious objector, then he went on though to win the nation's highest military honor.
Details from Neal Nadell (ph) of our Chattanooga affiliate WDEF.
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NEAL NADELL (ph), WDEF REPORTER (voice-over): A horse drawn carriage led Desmond Doss' casket past hundreds of onlookers up the pavilion inside Chattanooga National Cometary. Congressman Zach Wamp stood among them to help give the World War II veteran a final tribute.
REP. ZACH WAMP (R), TENNESSEE: An unbelievable selfless man. He put it all on the line for us.
NADELL: He, along with many in attendance, reflected on Doss' life, It's something they all call an incredible story. Doss' Seventh Day Adventist upbringing taught him to live in peace, but Doss still wanted to serve in a time of war.
WAMP: A conscientious cooperator instead of a conscientious objector.
NADELL: Doss refused to carry a gun, and still risked his own life against enemy fire and saved 75 wounded soldiers. Doss won a medal of honor for his effort. It's become a legendary tale among his church.
DR. ED WRIGHT, SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST: He's almost become an icon of an individual who took a stand as an individual, did what was right, served his God and his country in a way that I think has just really captured the imagination of this generation today.
NADELL: Sixty years ago, fellow GIs taunted Doss for his stance. But in later life, those who came to know him came to respect his humility and high faith.
NOBLE VINING, WWII VETERAN: And keeping on with his rescuing people there under gunfire, I don't know how many could have stood that. But he had the faith to do it.
NADELL: We call World War II veterans our "Greatest Generation." Some say Doss will be remembered as one of the finest.
In Chattanooga, Neal Nadell, News 12.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(NEWSBREAK)
KAGAN: Sharing the cash, and they have plenty of it. Lottery winners help the homeless. That story is coming up.
Also, cats, they do what they want, when they want. But maybe with a litter help, you can ditch the pan. We'll show you potty training for your kitties, coming up.
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KAGAN: All right, this baby seal taking -- well, taking some to heart, or maybe just went down after the food in the Delaware River. One thing's for certain, it doesn't belong there. Seals like this one are usually found off the Coast of Nova Scotia.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have your dog down here. And we go, we don't have a god. You know, at that point, we just didn't have a dog anymore. And they go, you don't have a dog named Gidget? And I go, Gidget? Gidget, that was almost five years ago.
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KAGAN: Yes, Gidget comes back. Four years and seven months, to be exact, since Gidget wandered off. It had been so long that when animal control longed the Webbs (ph) said that they'd nearly forgotten their Llasa Apso. Gidget had been dropped off at the shelter. Holly Webb (ph) says it was like seeing a ghost. They have no idea where she's been this whole time. Animal control says they discovered Gidget tied to their front door. She gets to come home.
All right, kitty lovers flush with success, you might say. Like Jinx the cat in the movie "Meet the Fockers," the litter quitter may end your cat litter toting duty forever. The system is designed by an Australian woman. It teaches cats to use the toilet instead of the kitty litter pan. She's already sold 20,000 units. Eight out of ten cats take to it. Don't be surprised -- you might still find a mistake around the house. I'll have to see if they have an adaption for my three-legged cat, Tripod.
On that note, we're going to break. We're going to have an interesting number today. Something is happening today that will never happen again, It has to do with your clock and your calendar. We're back with that in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Remember those eight meat packing workers who won the biggest lottery jackpot in U.S. history? Three of them are now spreading the wealth. They made a surprise visit to a homeless shelter in Lincoln, Nebraska, dropping off a $6,000 check. One of the three men had spent a few nights at the center. That was before he and his pals hit the $365 million jackpot.
If you are a numbers person, take note of this odd moment today. Check this out. You need the calendar and your clock. So this is the fifth day of April. At 1:23 this afternoon, and also earlier this morning, everything lines up like this: 1, 2, 3, and then 4, 5, 06. Get it? The fourth month, the fifth day and the year 2006. Won't happen again for another century.
(MARKET REPORT)
KAGAN: Hey, we have some interesting stories you should stick around for. Did you hear about Garth Brooks' ex-wife?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Kidnapped.
KAGAN: Kidnapped. At gunpoint. A frightening ordeal for the ex-wife of country star Garth Brooks.
MYERS: Kind of like by mistake or something?
KAGAN: I guess. But she knew the guy. Authorities say that Sandy Brooks was kidnapped at gunpoint by a man who worked on her Oklahoma farm. The incident happened when a bonds man came to arrest the worker on an outstanding warrant. Police say he pulled a gun, forced Brooks into a car. She escaped at a convenience store several miles away. The man was later arrested. That's just weird. That's strange.
All right. Question about who is gaining weight and who is not? Listen to this, Chad.
MYERS: Boy, that would be me.
KAGAN: Well, perhaps. The CDC says the obesity rate among women in the U.S. is holding steady, but men and children are getting fatter. Experts say this could signal a turning point in the obesity epidemic. One researcher says it shows that women are leading the way in recognizing the health risks of being overweight.
MYERS: What do men and children have in common? Pizza and hot dogs. There you go.
KAGAN: They're their two main food groups.
MYERS: Right.
KAGAN: And Chad, thank you.
(MARKET REPORT)
KAGAN: The woman you're about to meet is fighting for her life. And she's been doing that for about a dozen years. She's winning the battle, but investors are losing. They were part of a morbid deal that bet her quick death would mean fast money.
CNN's Deborah Feyerick explains. This is a report that first aired on CNN's "PAUL ZAHN NOW."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): M. Smith lives with a dark secret. She has AIDS, a disease she contracted years ago from an ex-boyfriend.
M. SMITH: It was mind numbing.
FEYERICK: Diagnosed at age 35, she told only her very closest friends, asking us to shield her identity and voice for this story. With little money and even less hope, Smith saw an ad, a company offering to buy life insurance policies from terminally ill people.
(on camera): Why did it make sense to you?
SMITH: It made sense to me at the time because, frankly, people were -- the prognosis was grim. I was supposedly going to have less than two years to live.
FEYERICK (voice-over): It seemed like a good deal. Life Partners would buy Smith's $150,000 policy for $90,000. Then when she died, investors would collect the full value, making $60,000 in profit. An astonishing 66 percent return if Smith died within two years as expected. But something unexpected happened.
Smith, who also had cancer, beat the odds. She did not die on time and that was more than a dozen years ago. In fact, because the company had signed a unique deal agreeing to pay her combined life and health insurance premiums, it has shelled out close to $100,000 keeping her alive.
FEYERICK (on camera): So they knew the terms under which they were buying this policy.
SMITH: Absolutely. Yes, they did. Because that was the only way they could buy it. So they decided to do that, yes.
FEYERICK (voice-over): But investors have grown antsy. Several years ago a stranger, supposedly calling on their behalf, twice reached Smith at home to ask how she was feeling. His message --
SMITH: The investors were unhappy because -- he didn't say because you're not dead yet, but that was the implication.
FEYERICK: Then came the letters from Life Partners, the first one saying, quote, "The investors are no longer willing to support the cost of your health insurance." Another more recent letter demanding Smith pay her own health premiums.
JACOB COHN, LAWYER: They took a risk, they made a deal that had that risk built into it.
FEYERICK: Smith's lawyer Jacob Cohn says, plain and simple, Life Partners is trying to wiggle out of its contract.
(on camera): Let me play devil's advocate for a minute. They're saying, look, we have a right. It was an investment, it was a bad investment. We're done, we're out. We don't want to pay her premiums. Can you understand from a business point of view?
COHN: I understand why people like to make money and people don't like to lose money. To me, this is the moral equivalent of trying to tie her to the railroad tracks.
SMITH: It would have been devastating to me because the medicines are vital.
FEYERICK: Life Partners was created in 1991 when dying of AIDS was essentially a sure bet. But then came the so-called AIDS cocktails, powerful drug combinations that keep disease at bay.
RONDA GOLDFEIN, LAWYER M. SMITH: From the early '90s, people were dying. They would get diagnosed. There wasn't any good treatment and they would die. In the midst of all that sorrow, there's this revolution in AIDS care and people are living longer.
FEYERICK: And that was the problem for Life Partners. This past September, the company said it was not obligated to pay Smith's health insurance premiums, accusing Smith's lawyer of threatening frivolous litigation.
But after a court hearing this winter, the company president did sign an affidavit saying indeed there was a contractual obligation and that they would pay Smith's premiums, which are now up to $29,000 a year.
(on camera): Life Partners has said, fine, we will pay. Why is that not good enough for you?
COHN: They're not to be trusted.
FEYERICK (voice-over): Smith, who is now 50, is suing to force the company to guarantee they'll keep paying or give her a lump sum so she'll have the peace of mind she needs to keep her body healthy.
(on camera): What happens, let's say, if you live to 70? or 80?
SMITH: Great thing. It will be incredible.
FEYERICK (voice-over): Especially when you consider that the man who infected her died 20 years ago. Deborah Feyerick, CNN, Philadelphia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: And you can see Paula Zahn now weeknights 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific. That wraps up this hour. I'm Daryn Kagan. Stay tuned for YOUR WORLD TODAY. I'll see you in 20 minutes with head lines from here in the U.S.
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