rights act of 1957 and he deserves a lot of credit johnson, for selma. and andrew young has said exactly what i m saying. gill robertson, douglas brinkley, thank you both. wolf blitzer is here with a preview of the situation room. today you re examining north korea s military threats and you have the state department s spokeswoman there. marie harf is joining us. a lot going on involving the aftermath of the sony pictures hacking. the u.s. responding sanctions, other steps as well. this is a very, very tense korean peninsula. 30,000 american troops right along the dmz. we re watching it closely. and we ll talk about what s going on in iraq. u.s. troops not combat troops, but there are u.s. troops. they could potentially be in combat given what isis is up to. we ll get into that with her as well.
doug, what do you think the practical effect is when those who make historical films get some details wrong for the sake of drama? what s the big deal? well, really, all the movies do that. there s inaccuracies and compression in any movie claiming to be about history. but someone like in the film saving private ryan and others this movie could have used somebody looking at the script a little bit more. i love selma. i think it s a brilliant film. and the atmospherics are great. but when you boil down to that king/johnson part of the film, it s a distortion and not a helpful one. what is the truth as opposed to what the film captures douglas? the truth is on the johnson tapes where lyndon johnson is talking to martin luther king. we can hear it and you can play it on your show. and he s urging king to do a selma, that we need it and even saying that civil rights act is
not going to be my biggest achievement, the voting rights act. i think there s a tension that could have been built between king and johnson. but the movie makes johnson seem like george wallace lite instead of someone who was an integral player in the selma drama. but i don t think people should not see the film for that. it s a marvelous film. and it s just a portrayal of johnson that s very awkward. you can t blame lyndon johnson s followers and people that worked in the white house to saying that wasn t lyndon johnson on civil rights. it would only be human for them to protest a little bit. i ve heard some supporters of the film say that critics and historians are missing the point. this is what selma looked like and felt like from the ground level, not from the corridors of power. is that what you think? absolutely. absolutely. this film is unfortunately as relevant today in examining critical issues that impact