"It has come to my attention, through a wide variety of pre-assumptions, that the artistic and literary integrity of Mr. J.D. Salinger can be upheld solely through the act of not exhibiting a cinematic adaptation of his novel, "The Catcher in the Rye" (1951 Little, Brown and Company). To respect the many wishes of both himself and his estate, public exhibition of the fifty-five second teaser-trailer of my film will no longer be accessible.

Although much truth has been spoken of in defense of Mr. Salinger's work, others' words have proven to merely be modest declarations and irrational diktats. In their emphasis on protection and purification of a piece of literature, on purging the public mind of what, in their judgment, is an adaptation which they are "totally against," it recalls the words of another arbiter of public morals and national taste, who said: 'Works of art which cannot be understood and need a set of instructions to justify their existence, and which find their way to neurotics receptive to such harmful rubbish, will no longer reach the public. Let us have no illusions: we have set out to rid the nation and our people of all those influences threatening its existence and character.' In this day in age, those voicing their ill-tastes may feel better equipped to make such fine distinctions - though I do not envy them their task. But what they are doing is, in essence, the same.

Although production of "The Catcher in the Rye" will continue, and will be privately exhibited for reasons except profit but, rather, for making a film out of more than just my own routine interest, I have made the personal agreement to pull all forms of audio/video material regarding the film from the internet. I do this not only to respect the integrity Mr. Salinger's wishes but, subsequently, in response to the many myths and preposterous statements which have been stated about me and my films. I wish to not be besieged by public hypothesis.

High standards of moral behavior can only be achieved by the example of right-thinking people and society as a whole, and cannot be maintained by the coercive effect of the law, or that of certain internet message boards.

Please, let me correct myself

By no means whatseover are my arguments intended singularly for this message board, or any message board for that matter. I will make a quote from a certain individual who has, ideed, prevoked my defense: "The truth is that Ricky doesn't write his own work. I knew Ricky and I know what kind of a person he is, he doesn't care about respect or friendship, he makes films about he what he wants when he wants."

Besides the individual who stated this comment, amongst having stated other off-color remarks, I have great respect for the all filmmakers who contribute and are apart of this website. I can do nothing at this point but give my appologizes if I offended any individual on this site or outside of this site, and this not only includes Mr. Salinger.

The comments from the previously-quoted individual seem to have done their duty. I can not dispell, once again, these "myths," but I can appologize if my words were misleading. The trailer released for "The Catcher in the Rye" was removed due to subsequent reaction by those who felt it's exhbition an injustice to Mr. Salinger's wishes. I thank them for clarifying the need to not disrupt this desire, and preserve Salinger's literary merit.


- Ricky D'Ambrose

quote:

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or that of certain internet message boards

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hey, ur the one that first posted the link to ur trailer tot his site, all of 5 minutes after u signed up to it (and 2 minutes later u made another post declaring it "Ricky D'Ambrose's THE CATCHER IN THE RYE"). what do u expect for us to open our arms to ur 'genius god-like' ability to make films of other ppls work? if ur looking for acceptance and praise, i think ur a sad filmmaker. especially when u knock off the site and users of it who have actually taken the time to see it (me being one of them) and then given our honest opinions on what we felt it was and think about it as ur project. maybe if u cant handle an negative opinion u shouldnt ask for one.

There are enough topics about this.