Ha, that's funny but that's the kind of thing I like about guys like Mailer, Milius, and Torn. I know what you're saying, Peter, but I think the thing is these guys sort of lay it all out there when they want to say or do something and I think because of that they can go places others might not because they want to shut themselves off to certain aspects of being human or they want to play by some imaginary rules, morals, etc...it might not always be a great place they go but the thing is they dare to try to go there. People look at the behavior of these guys and they say "That's terrible, what a buffoon!" but I've never felt life should be judged by exposing some small moment of a persons life.

I think the thing is Mailer and Milius expose a part of us, a part we may not want to see or acknowledge but it is there and it should be exposed. So yeah, there is stuff about them you may not like but that is part of the point, you are not supposed to like it but they show it to you anyway. You can't write about those things in a polite way and make it mean something and maybe in Mailer's case he tossed all politeness to the wind because he found no use for it in his writing or life.

Here's Sean Penn giving an example of what I mean...yes, he's doing it in a movie but he said before he did this scene that he was going to go all the way with it and to do that he would likely hurt somebody. Eastwood told him to go for it and Penn said he got to where he needed to go when he did it.

You have to admit it's these guys that are willing to "go for it" that can really find a way to get to us.