All language subtitles for American Rebel_Eng

Our story begins in Moscow.

I had been invited to the Moscow
International Film Festival to present a film.

I was walking to the Red Square
with my interpreter

when we saw a man beeing mobbed by
hundreds of people for his autograph.

"Oh, my God!" said my interpreter,
"It's Dean Read!"

I said: "Who's Dean Read?"

"Who's Dean Read?" exclaimed Oleg,
"I can't believe you 've never heard of him!"

"Why, he is the most famous
American in the whole world!"

AMERICAN REBEL
The Dean Reed Story

Nicaragua 1984

Chili, 1970

Moscow, 1985

Chili, 1983

Berlin, 1973

UN refugees camp, 1981

"Blood brothers"

"Kit and Co."

"Singer"

"From the life of one idler"

"Sing Cowboy Sing"

Berlin circus, 1984

Siberia, 1979

"Sing Cowboy Sing"

"Thunder and lightening"

The Peace cinema, Moscow

I am very, very happy

to be here in Moscow again at the festival.

This is the first comedy that
I�ve tried to make in my life.

Because I believe that laughing, to laugh
is also very, very important.

"Sing Cowboy Sing" has been showing

in the GDR for four months

and already 700000 people have seen it.

That's a fantastic success

for a country as small as the GDR.

Siberia, Soviet TV

Once I was playing around with my radio

and suddenly I tuned in a Russian
version of the Voice of America.

And that was a sort of a program of request.

And the announcer said:

Here we've got a letter from Nikolay X
from Makhachkala.

And he asks us to play the last recording of
an American singer, whose name is Dean Read.

Dear listeners, there is no American
singer, whose name is Dean Reed.

We don't know such a name,
he does not exist.

That's why, dear Nikolay X., we shall play
for you the last rcording of "The Doors".

Czechoslovakia, 1980

"Love your brother"

Well, I'm an Illinois farmer (Las Vegas, Nevada)

I grew upon a hog and corn farm (Cyril Reed, "Dad")

Nine out of ten of us are conservatives.

But I'm a conservative, and he is
an admitted socialist.

He has offered to pay half of my fare,
if I wanted to come over.

But I am not interested in
the unknowth countries over there.

Soviet TV, Russia

I had Dean's picture imprinted on this Lowes shirt,
(Honlulu, Hawaii, 1982) Lowes T-shirt.

Can�t see it now because now it�s all faded

but anyways it was a good looking picture of Dean, right?
(Ruth Anna Brown, "Mom")

And underneath it says:
"Dean Reed's Mom!"

And so I can see myself going into
customs in East Berlin, you know,

and flipping over my coat and saying:
"Here I am!", you know, sort of thing.

Of course, it went over like,
as I said, a lead ballon, right?

It just� or deflated balloon, it's simply

didn�t go over at all. The Germans didn't see
anything funny about it,

they did not understand what I was doing.

And when Dean met me,
he was really furious with me.

He didn't laugh either.
I still think it's a cute joke.

Anyway I'll never do that again.

Nicaragua, 1984

After we�ve got married, my husband was a school
teacher, as you might know, Cyril was a teacher.

And we moved to a farm on the outskirts of Denver.

And Dean� So Dean was born in Lakewood,
Colorado at this small chicken farm, that we owned.

And we had a very, very small house.

Because chickens needed larger chicken houses, right?
But we only needed a little tiny house.

But he was a charming child and sweet,
with this big smile

and� he was in Boy Scouts

and a 4-H club, where he had a pigeon project

and then of course he went to military school
and learned to ride.

And he took first prize
at the stock show in jumping.

Yeh, two horses of his own that he trained.
He became a track star,

his another win is a mile but also other races.

I can remember so well, that poor little boy,

he was only twelve or thirteen years old
scared to death

in a great big auditorium, Phipps� auditorium

and I think they named it after
senator Phipps from Colorado.

He was a little guy, he was called
Slim Reed in the early stages.

And he got upon that stage playing his guitar,
you know, he was scared to death.

Oh, I remember it, I think we
got it for his Christmas.

Was it Christmas one year when we bought him a guitar?

And he just simply took off. From now on
he did a lot of volunteer things too

like singing for the CoANA or singing for the hospital
at the Grand Junction, for the veteran�s hospital.

And he was always doing things for people
as far as his voice and guitar could help.

When we first began research for this film project

the earliest mention of Dean Reed in US periodicals
was a 1956 �Newsweek� article.

At the age of 17 Dean made a 25 cents bet with
Wild Willy Smith

if he could outrace the mule for 110 miles.

47 hous later Dean Reed collapsed at the finish line.

I had gone to luncheon and someone had a newspaper

and there of course was Dean's picture
about him racing this mule

a hundred and ten miles and winning a quater.
I still have the quater. Did I show you the quater

I still have that he won at this race?

Grandpa was very worried about it,
because a 110 miles is a long way to run.

And I called him about this all, if he'd been
to the hospital or something.

But no, there he was singing that night, with
his bristled feet. Show must go on type of thing.

I think there are only two things,
that I�ve kept with me

for the 20 years since I left America.

One is this guitar, Martin guitar,
which I took with me when I left.

Which I� It has been in jungles with me
in Brazil and Bangladesh.

And this buckle. They are only two things that
I kept for 20 years since I left America.

They just traveled throughout
the world with me day by day.

They know my life better than any of my�

better than my children or better than
my father and mother or my wife.

They were there to all of my experiences.

I began at 12 to play the guitar.

I think probably the only reason
one begins to play the guitar at 12

is to impress girls at that time.

I was a very shy boy,

I would think maybe
an insecure boy to a point.

I did not have that good
a relationship with my father.

Where� I was a rebel of the three.

I was the only one at the school

who the whole time had
a radio on the hillbilly music.

And at that time hillbilly
music was not popular.

So when did you start performing?

I became a performer at the University

because my older brother Dale was
already studying at the University

and my father did not have enough money

to pay the tuition for both of us.

And he just had living expences
for the apartment and AD.

And so the only possibility so
that I can go to the University

was to take my guitar and every
evening to go into the restaurants

and to sing for the tips,
at that time, nobody paid me,

I sang for the tips which the people
gave to me at each table.

And during the summers I sang
at the dude ranches and the Estes Park

in order to pay my way
through the University.

A meteorologist, was studing for two years
Meteorology at Colorado University.

And then he quited them and went for Hollywood.

He bought a Chevrolet Impala convertible and he
probably owned one or two of the tires on it.

And he started to Hollywood and on the way up there
he picked up a hitchhiker

and that hitchhiker was
an old �has been entertainer�.

And he took him over to Capitol Records

and Voyle Guilmor was the
big shot there at that time

and Guilmor listened to him

sing his three songs and
signed him up for seven years.

He hanged on and hanged on
and hanged on, he got a few TV,

'Bachelor Father� and so on.

How about everybody coming over to my house.

I�ve got the new Dean Reed album and it�s
a real gasser! That�s for me! Lets go.

Quiet please. Students' parents,
before the majorette contest starts

I am happy and thrilled to anounce

that one of our most distinguished
celebres is with us tonight.

And he�ll sing his latest recording �Twirly Twirly�.
Let�s have a nice welcome back for Dean Reed!

Hollywood was a very bad time.

Hollywood was a time of fear.
Hollywood was a time of exploitation.

Hollywood is a prostitution camp.

Hollywood is a place where very few
people I think are able to keep their integrity.

Of course, there are many people
who have their integrity

in Hollywood and these are the people I respect, who
were able to keep this integrity.

It was a time that was not expecially that happy.

The best part of the Hollyood of course was finding
the best friend of my life Mr. Paton Price.

And here's because of Paton
I didn't lose my integrity

in Hollywood, because of him
I was not only remained

with my integrity, I became a better human being

during this time in Hollywood
because of Paton only.

And he was astonished by this new
world (Los Angeles California, 1981)

that he�d been catapulted into,

and perhaps the quality of the people

that he had found, that he found not
to be the usual Hollywood hard, hustling,

commercial type of people

but youngsters that were really interested and dedicated

to film. Because I was teaching the film aesthetics
and the film principles

and the film techniques.

The basic thing I think that impressed Dean

and which he has kept, the instrument that
you use in performing is what you stand up in.

And the quality of that instrument

is a quality of your life,

is a quality of your performing,

your quality as an artist. (El Cantor)

I think, that this is being truthful to one�s own self.

Not pretending to be as they do so much in the theater

but actual being what one is,

what one stands at the moment

and listens and talks,

his own person.

No affectations, no sense
of performing at all. One just is.

Paton taught us all in the school first of all
that you could not do anything of worth

as an artist unless you
were a human being with worth.

He taught us that each one of us had to search
for art truth

and once we found it to defend it
no matter what the consequences.

And he always said: �Your truth
will not be ours, will not be mine

but your truth is important and you must defend it

no matter what the consequences.

I worked with him on this film. I really
heckled him on this film �Sing Cowboy Sing�.

Here, he�s gotta then make a speech and say:

�I owe everyting to Paton Price.

He�s here, my beloved friend,

everything. And I get right
behind him in the camera

and I give him a piece of advice
he totally rejected.

I don�t think he took one piece of
advice I gave him to the whole film.

Now since the film
has been very successful,

then you will perhaps understand the
quality of my American advice.

I first met Dean when
(North Hollywood, Califormia, 1984)

we joined Warner Brothers and we went
to there in 1960. (Phil Everly "Friend")

So I�ve known Dean�s almost 25 years,
he headed towards 25 years and

he was in the acting class that was run by a man
named Paton Price who� he is a kind of a mentor,

real close friend of both of us. And we spent a
lot of time during 1960-61, right in that period.

Dean was exceptionally good at acting

he was in progressive class, I was really bad,
but Dean was quite good at it.

And I didnt know Dean sang so well until

he.. till I heard his records, you know at that time.
He's a good singer, a good actor,

so the performer is well rounded
and quite kidder.

He�s also a gymnast and I am sure
that everybody knows that.

The last time I performed with him

in East Berlin Dean could still walk
on his hands, I couldn�t believe it.

(Dean Read, age 45)

He�s his own manager,
he always has been

He had charge of his own destiny

and I've been absolutely amazed.

Dean has done very, very well.

He has worked at it, he has known
where to put the emphasis,

standing out in the cold
of East Germany with me

freezing to death by his side,
autographing hundreds of pictures.

And I�d say: �Hey, I�ll see you in fire�, you know.
He wanted to do it, because he knew that

that picture meant something
to those children

and no one else could give them.

He was a famous person.

He could go anywhere in the world.

He could live in any country in the world.

and he chose them, he chose socialism.

Over the Iron Curtain countries

his popularity is really unbelievable.

I mean, when I �d stay at Dean�s house
a couple of times, like over the weekends

if we were not working or if I was not
in a hotel, I just go and stay with him.

And in the mornings it�d be 15-20 girls

with flowers waiting for Dean to come out
and he gets mobbed after the show.

And I 've never been with him in a place that
everybody in the entire place didnt know him.

Over there it�s just phenomenal.

GDR TV

Obviously, the American people do
not know what's this is like here,

what the people are like
(Moscow 1981) in this country.

And the greatest thing would be if we
could bring all 240 million Americans

and bring them here. Nothing's
new with Soviet people,

nothing�s new with society, it�s the
society that also has its mistakes.

The people are very very responsive,

very knowledgeable about what they listen to
in East Berlin where I played in.

Also played in� we had a television
show at the Karl-Marx Stadt.

And it was really nice,

the audience was wonderful.
As we all know worldwide people get on

and music is the most common language

and if the whole world were musicians
there would not be any wars.

I think if Dean were working in the United States,
with success, with the same kind of success,

that his compensation would be a thousand times,
maybe ten thousand times more

than what he earns in East Germany.

But I don�t know if money would�ve been enough
of a motivation for Dean to have done that, you know.

I am acquiesced just really very early
and involved in what he believs in,

as we all are, but it just doesn�t
pay as well as in capitalist system.

And sorry his popularity wasn�t in this
country, but he tried.

Dean's records on a Capitol label,

a couple that did pretty well, the one that hit

in South America

did pretty well. It was playing
and playing and playing.

Well, don�t you know
that�s been a popularity.

South America was a great surprise.

We arrived, we went on an airplane,
got on an airplane

and flew down to Santiago.

And at that time in the United States I was
relatively unknown.

This song �The Search� was original hit

in some parts of Texas and Arizona
and Colorado but nothing more.

It was a first record. The third
record �Our Summer Romance�

I had done on TV with Dick Clark

and I had made a tour over America.
But it wasn�t international at all.

Were always in the top 20 list and number 1
in certain parts of America again.

All of a sudden I got on a plane and
when I got off the plane in Santiago,

there were hundreds of thousands of people
waiting for me at the airport.

With the motorcades with police
going into the city,

with the whole Plaza
at the presidential palace screaming for me.

Of course it�s a great shock for
a young boy from Colorado.

Dean never tried to make it here. He had a choice.

He can't be at two places at once.
He can�t be making a career

in South America and Italy and the Soviet Union

and Czechoslovakia and East Germany
and be here at the same time.

I heard it all over Europe:
�Why didn�t he ever make it here?�,

You know how much time
he spent in America

since he left for South America,
I mean in the United States?

I don�t know, maybe less than a year, maybe even
six month and that was visiting us. You see?

I have absolutely no doubt that if he�d
stayed here to make a commercial carier,

he would be as famous here as
he is now in the socialist bloc.

He went to South America,
he was a normal American boy

and he'd been to college two years
and he went to South America,

there he saw where 10 to 15%
of the people were very wealthy.

And the great majority of them were
at the low end of the totem pole

and there he began to get these
not comunistic but socialistic.

And there is a difference.
Don't ask me what it is.

But he can take 10 or 15 minutes
and he'll tell you the difference,

he did that to me once,
but I forgot most of it.

And South America
was the most important,

and South America changed my life,
because of course there

one can see the great differences of justice
and injustice, of poverty and welth.

They are so clear to see for anybody

that you must take a stand.
Sometimes I'd like to say, well,

that there are three types
of people in South America.

There are blind people who
do not want to see the truth,

there are capitalists and
there are revolutionaries.

And I was neither a capitalist, nor I was
blind and then I became a revolutionary.

Because in South America you have to take
a stand, you're either for the status quo,

which means for the 20% who have
all of the wealth, all of the power.

Or you will stand on the side of the 80%
who are illiterate, who are hungry,

who somehow wanted better future.

And I felt this fame that I, by destiny,
happened to have in South America

had to be dedicated towards these 80%, who
in one way or another were fighting for the liberation,

who were fighting for better life,
life with dignity.

For I was always saying, there are
two different types of people.

They have the most luxurious night clubs in
South America for the one big class,

where I would sing at 11 o'clock for the dinner
show, then at 3 o'clock for the bootleg show.

Then they would send me
to the football stadiums

where the masses could come and see me. There�s
too many contracdictions all of a sudden.

I did not realize that there was such
poverty in the world and I started changing.

I started working with unions in
South America, working for free.

I would go to the nun owned hospitals
and be in a prison to sing for free.

And surely I was becoming involved.

It was trouble with living in South America.
He would do some of the damnest stunts.

He was in Caracas Venezuela
one time and he intentionally

did something wrong
and they put him in jail.

He wanted to be in jail so he could see
the conditions in the jails of Venezuela.

They let him out the next day,
when they found out who he was.

Flag here, that is hanging on the wall of course
cost me to go to jail in Santijago, Chili.

One week before the elections in 1970 in
Chile before Salvador Allende became president

I got this flag and I went to
the American Consulate in Santiago

and washed it. And said,
that I as a good American

want to wash this flag. The flag is dirty
with the blood of the Vietnamese people,

with the blood of the South Americans, who were
being exploited because of American imperialism.

And I as a good American,
I want to wash it with the great,

with this rich traditons
of the American revolution.

And the police came and
arrested me and took me to jail.

You know, some people would say that your washing
this flag in Santiago was one of the reasons

that Allende was elected, because he won by
such a small margin of the popular vote.

Obviously Allende won because he had the right
politics and he was willing to help his people.

He did win only by less than 1 %. At
that time of course it was in every paper

that I had been arrested because�
everybody said, it was very clear�

That the old government of
Frei was only president

because he was supported by
the American government.

If an American, the Chilians said, if Dean, who is
an American cannot stand in front of his consulate

and wash his flag without Chilian police
coming and putting him in a Chilian jail,

then obviously
we are a colony of America.

Oh boy, was he a big hero in Mexico city.
This just shows, his venturesome courage.

There was a big fire going
on down there.

And there was an old man and he was
screaming and screaming and screaming.

He was gonna be burned.
Dean�s got a blanket,

soaked it in water, went in and
carried the old man out.

And I'm telling you did he
get publicity in Mexico city.

Let me finish my story. And then from
that to where he was singing

in Helsinki, Finland to an
International Peace Conference.

He met some interesting people
there, maybe he told you this,

some representatives from Mongolia were there
and they invited him to come to Mongolia.

Well, I got a letter from him in Moscow.
Next letter I had was from Mongolia.

I've got a picture there of him
with an old Mongolian monk.

In 1965 I was living in Argentina and
the Argentinian Peace Committee invited me

to be part of the Agerntinian delegation
at this World Peace Con� meeting.

And I went representing Argentina at that time.
And Valentina was there at that time also

representing the Soviet Union and
I decided to make an interview with her.

And I took this interview back to Argentina

and put it on my show of course
without informing any of the authorities.

It was a very� Interview talking about her
personal life, talking about life in common.

And the next day after showing it the
political police arrived at my home

and asked me to come to their bureau
in Buenos Aires, where stayed�

it was above the door
the sign saying �Gorsoviet�.

And they wanted to know how much the
Soviets had paid me to make this film,

of course they hadn't paid me
anything, I am sorry to say.

But anyone do know of course why was
I agree with Communist propaganda,

as I was not doing communist propaganda
but I believe that artist and sport

and science are international. Those especially
famous that go across border lines,

especially sciences. And artists and sportsmen
must believe in piece and work together.

And to be in the vanguard of the
fight for piece. And politicians somehow,

they always stay behind us.
Somehow we have to get in.

And after that time they began attacking
my home and painting

the hammer and the sickle on my house. Now it was in �65
nd this campaign developed and developed.

So they had to make a law
saying I put them into danger,

this is security of nation.
I was expelled from Argentina.

Something else that
was very important.

The last evening in Helsinki we had seven
artists who were invited to give a concert.

And during this congress there was
a last congress where the Chinese took part.

And after this meeting there were great
problems and they asked me to sing

to get the people quiet and I began singing
and the Soviets were so impresed with how

I got the people all hold their hands and
we started singing �We Shall Overcome�.

And I sang for about a half hour and the
Soviets invited me to come to Moscow

and so next year I was
on a trip to Moscow,

The entertainers in Russia
used to come out on the stage,

stand there so straight up and down and so dignified and
what not.

Dean came out on the stage with
this eye striking costume on him.

He jumped off the stage, and he�d
be singing while he did this,

he jumped off the stage
and he�d go down

and put his arm around some
little girl and sing her a love song.

At first she was scared to death,
afterward she liked it.

And he do the same thing with some gray haired
woman, he�d put his arms around her.

And he just did it so differently than
what they were accustomed to.

Dean Read was one of the first singers
to bring rock-n-roll to the Eastern Bloc.

Until his performences in the Soviet Union
in the mid 60�s American rock-n-roll

and the country western music of America
was seldom heard in concerts.

Russian girls just adore him
and his style of behavior,

the way he finds the contact
with the audience is really interesting.

And it involves people in the action
that�s happening on the stage.

And he's dedicated to struggle against many evils of our
times and against political oppression as well.

After I got expelled from Argentina I went
to Spain, of course I was not allowed

to work in Spain under
the Franco dictatorship.

When I went to Italy I was asked
to make a film, a western film.

Because at that time the spaghetti-westerns
were very, very popular throughout the world.

And I made these tougher films in
Italy. I starred in eight films in Italy

during the three years that I was there. And
worked for the piece movement in Italy at that time.

At that time of course the war
in Vietnam was going on.

The American agression in Vietnam was taking place,

and I had summoned many demonstartions
against the war in Vietnam in Italy.

One Sunday in Italy for example, when you have
a demonstartion you have to ask permission from the police

and since the progressive forces were very strong in
Italy, most of the time police granted approval.

But one Sunday there was a demonstration
in front of the American Ambassy in Rome,

which they had asked permission
and it was not granted.

And I hadn�t known anything about it
and I had gone into town to Via Veneto

to have a glass of orange juice or something.
And I passed the Embassy right next door.

There was a great amount of police, 3
lines of police cordorning off the US Embassy.

And there were the demonstrators. And so I
stopped my car and for some reason this day

I had my passport with me and I had a tie.
I don�t know why, I never have a tie,

nor do I ever have my passport.
I even got married without the tie.

And I went up to the first line of police and I said:
"Hey, I am with the American Embassy, let me pass.

And they said,"Si, singore, si, singore."

And I went to the second line and said: "Hey,
I am with the American Empbassador, let me pass.
"Si, singore."

To the third line. Right on by. Until I got
to the front door of the American Embassy

and there was an American Embassador and there
was a head of the police, the political police.

And you know that in Italy
because they have an old law,

that he has a tricolori, the three
colors that they tie in a flag.

When he has it on, it means thet he can
arrest for political reasons.

He had it on and they were talking. I came
up (they didn�t even notice me) by their side.

I turned towards the crowd, I then put my fist
and I said: "Compagni! (It's comrades) Viva Ho Chi Minh!

The two were sleuing, almost broke
their necks doing it and said:

"Who is he? Who is he? Dean who?
Arrest him! Arrest him!"

Dean's politics are, you know,
the exact opposite to mine.

I supported Reagan when Reagan ran for president.
And you know, that�s not something Dean would do.

But it�s something I believe in. We� It's interesting
too, one of the main things about Dean

and I is that we differ totally on politics. But we�re
able to be friends, we�ve been good friends.

We�ve lot of fun together too.

Like most of our time isn�t
spent talking about politics,

we just were joking and we just spent
our time laughing and things like that.

I had tried to return to Argentina
4 times from Italy.

This time a group of revolutionaries got me into
Argentina and there I gave a press conference.

They all of course asked me:
"How did you get here?

How did you get here?� And I�d say: �On the wings
of justice that have started to fly over Argentina�.

About two hours later I was arrested and taken
to the main prison of Argentina in Buenos Aires.

A very nice story about
arriving in prison.

Of course when you go to prison, in all, throughout
the world, you have to take your finger prints

and then you have to get your hair cut.
We arrived in the night to prison

and they said: �OK Dean, we�ve gonna
cut your hair. Another prisoner will do it�.

So we went to the jail, to the
great� it�s a large prison

And in Argentina homosexuality
is against the law.

Homosexuals are in prison.
And as they took me through,

on the right side was a great big
cell with about forty homosexuals in it.

I've never seen such makeup in my life, they
have made it from salad � red and blue and green.

And they all recognized me.

In Argentina I've been very famous.

They all said: "Dean Read! Give
him to us! Give him to us!�

I�ve never been so afraid in
my life. And the colonel said:

�You go there, if you are not good, Dean�.
Na ja, they cut my hair and

about ten days after being in jail
one day the police came and said:

"Dean, got anything to wash?
It was the laundry time.

Neither I do wash very much, only
flags, not some other things.

And I said: �Yeah�. And they said: �The
homesexuals like to do it, if you pay something�.

So I completely stripped nude
and I had my winter coat over me.

And the next day I said:
�Hey! (It was getting cold)

Where�s my clothes?� The police came:
�Ah� We�ll get it for you�.

Ten minutes later they came back
with the smile on their faces

"Dean, we've got a small problem to tell you".

And I said: "What�s wrong?
Where�s my clothes?"

And they said: �Dean, homosexuals tore all of your
clothes into little pieces for souvenirs from Dean Reed�.

And I didn�t get any more clothes, till my
attorney brought them to me the next week.

He could see me once a week.

But anyway I stayed at that
time for 21 days in prison.

And so on the 21st day I was taken to
the airport and sent back to Italy.

After returning to Italy Dean starred in the
only East German-West German cooproduction

in history "Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts",
in English "The Life of a Good-For-Nothing".

While it may seem strange to the Germans that
an American was chosen to play the lead role

in this classic German story, but some Americans
may find stranger Dean�s second role in the East Bloc -

�Kit & Co.�, the full rendering of Jack London�s novel
about the gold rush and gambling days in Alaska.

Here the saloon entertainer sings
�Alaska Needs Men� in German,

on a set in Bulgaria with
a socialist film cast.

It was here that he met the woman whom he now
considers the great love of his life, Renata Blume.

Only due to a destiny do I live in the GDR.

If I had not fallen in love,
I would not live in the GDR.

Here all of a sudden by chance I am in love with
somebody who lives in a socialist country.

Here is an opportunity to see what socialism is like
in practice. Not only in the hotel where I always..

I had always stayed in hotels. That was
the socialism that I knew.

But I thought, here was an oppotunity I can learn
German I can see what the socialism is like in practice.

Renate Blume is one of the most
famous actresses in the socialist cinema.

For her starring role as Jenny Marx in the eight
hours film special "The Early Years of Karl Marx"

she was awarded the order of
Lenin for art and literuture.

I am starting to write my own scripts,

I did now three scripts for the last three
films I wrote myself. And I�m going to direct them.

And I believe also that I want
to reach masses of people.

And film words for example or songs
obviously can reach more masses than books.

The majority of people in
the world are still illiterate.

They don�t know how to read,
but they do go to the film houses.

The first script written by Dean Read
was titled �Blood Brothers�.

It is based on the massacre of the
Sand Creek Indian tribe in Colorado.

It was filmed in Bulgaria and became the
Eastern Bloc most commercially successful film of 1985.

I went back in 1978 to the United States
because I made a film �El Cantor� here in the GDR,

which is dedicated to a friend
of mine Victor Hara,

who was a singer in Chile and who
was murdered by the fascists in 1973.

I made a feature film about him and I had been invited
to America by some of the Universities to show this film.

I went to Minnesota to show the film in
the University of Minnesota and Minneapolis .

And when I was in Minneapolis a group
of progressive people came to me and said:

�We are going to have a meeting on Sunday
against the second largest coal company of America

who are building these great power lines across
the land of farmers only to make profit for themselves.

And the farmers are against these
power lines�. And so I was there.

Clyde Bellecourt was there, the leader of AIM. I sang
and gave a speech and twenty of us were arrested.

Nineteen of us stayed in jail and ten of us
were on a hungry strike until our liberty or our death.

And we stayed on our strike for 11 days.
On the twelveth day we were given a trial,

after three days of trial we were
declared not guilty of course.

The point is, �of course� I say because
there� it was only �of course�

because there was an international movement
of solidarity for us from the socialist countries,
especially from the South America.

Thousands of telegrams arrived at the President
Carter at that time, saying �Please release Dean Reed.

How can you arrest a man for singing a song?

There�s a lot of people in the
United States with�

that would have a political attitude maybe
that would be similar to Dean�s

that we are all aware in the United
States But Dean lives his politics.

And I�ve a lot of respect for
a man who lives his principles.

So well and good to have an idea
and live here under this system

but Dean actually lives in
it and really works for it.

In 1962, well, I think was the first time when
I truly fell out of grace with the American government

because at that time I was in Santijago, Chile
and I had read a book by Linus Pauling

against the armament race, against atomic testing,
telling of the dangers of atomic testing.

So I took up personal ads in all the
newspapers with my own money,

asking the people of South America to send letters
to president Kennedy and to president Brezhnev,

asking for the stopping of power atomic testing.

At that time the American government
through the embassies in Peru,

in Santiago Chile tried to stop all my
activities on television, in radio.

And that was the first of the
snowballs, it started rolling.

I asked to see my CIA file but I
don�t believe they gave me all of it.

I think there is a conspiracy of silence
about my life, about what I've done.

Not only do they want to make me to look like a traitor to
the American people. They�d raised this kind of �just hush it up�.

It's because the whole policy of the journalim of the United
States and media is to blacken the eye of the socialist countries.

And there is nothing truthful that I�ve seen in
the American press about the socialist countries.

They may have some facts about it that are
truthful, if a fact can be truth.

But they are not truthful nor
do they intend to be.

I believe that I have more information than an average
American because of the fact that I have both.

I read �Time� and I read �Newsweek� and
I watch the news program every evening
from the GDR and from West Germany, both of them.

And then I make my own judgement
as to who has the most truth.

There�s nothing, almost nothing is black
and white in this world.

� by far at least seventeen people were killed,
as many as 12 hundred arrested yesterday.

And the question now, Mary Speck reports, is
how many such days of protest
can a military regime survive.

� still worse violence in Santjago since the bloody coupe
that overthrew President Salvadore Allende in 1973.

More than 30 people had died so far in clashes
with police and soldiers in the past four months.

As this news cast was being broadcast in America
in August of 1983 Dean Reed returned to Chile.

It was the first time he had been
in Chile since the military coupe

that overthrew the democratic
government of Salvador Allende.

Dean was warned by the Chilean police that
he was not to do a concert to benefit anyone.

Here in the copper mining town of
Rancagua people brought food donations

for the miners who lost their
jobs because they tried to strike.

That night Dean sang a song
that have been banned

since the military dictatorship
of Pinochet took control

ten years earlier. He sang it for
an old friend of his.

Immediately after this concert the home
where Dean was staying was surrounded
by 60 armed Chilean police.

He was expelled on the
next plane out of Chile.

I call myself a revolutionary artist.
I have a feeling that if I call myself that

I have to also be willing and ready
to do this risk my own life the same way

all those other people, whom I am
inspiring with my songs,

with my films, with my poetry are
risking their lives and their liberty.

And I'd like to try to remain an honest revolurionary
by showing I am ready to do the same.

The government policy of the Zionist
government is the policy of genocide

against the Palestinian people
so I think it was important that

I went there to the Southern Lebanon
to say that I am ready

also to risk my life to defend
the Southern Lebanon.

At that time there was a fear
of invasion of the Zionists.

Later the Zionists invaded. This is
very difficult for my wife Renate,

she can only have it in her fantasy
what is happening to me in Lebanon,

or when I go to Chile or to
Nicaragua or some place south.

And of course she has a great
amount of fear of these trips.

And I am afraid that she
cries a lot when I leave.

This is a very poor country, Nicaragua.

The only crime they have
ever made was five years ago.

They overthrew a very corrupt
dictatorship of the family of Somoza

who ruled the country as their
own private enterprise with the help

of the Unites States government
of course for many, many years.

The people wanted only to have a revolution
so they could eat and have some education.

The CIA has sabotaged the first schools these
young children ever had. They sabotaged the remaining
hospitals that these people for the first time ever had.

I thought that if I came here
as an American I could sing

and talk to them and maybe in some way
I could help inspire them to continue the fight

aginst the forces of the CIA and the monopoly
which were trying to sabotage this revolution.

I don't think that culture is
an enemy to any people.

I don't think that the American culture
is an enemy to the people in socialism.

I don�t believe that Chilian culture is
an enemy to the Nicaraguan people.

I don't believe that the Soviet culture
is an enemy to the American people.

I think that all people should
have the right to see the culture

of other foreign nationalities and countries
and also defend their own culture at the same time.

My residence for 20 years has
been outside the United States.

I remain an American citizen and I would
prefer to remain an American citizen.

I am an American and
product of this society.

I am very proud of my people, I am very proud of the
great traditions, I think, of the American revolution.

What do you mean when you
say you are a revolutionary?

Revolutionary, I believe, first of all that
means that I am ready to risk my life,

to give my life in one way or another,

to make life a little bit better for some
other human beings in this world.

It means I do not believe that you can truly within the
system of capitalism make it into a just system for all.

I do not believe that, through reforms. I believe
that it has to be an inner system of radical change,

a revolutionary change meaning it takes
one leap from a qualitative

to a qualitative to a qualitative step, that
means it would change to a socialist system.

It doesn�t mean it would be by arms, taking
of arms, it does not mean that people will have to die.

Obviously I am a revolutionary because I want to
save people's lives, not because I want to take them.

Some people have to fight for
the liberation as in El Salvador.

Because of the military dictatorship they
have no other means to defend their rights.

And depend the right that they
have to eat, to leave in peace, to work,

they must do it with the force of arms.

But obviously in the United States the conflict
has come about in a completely different way.

They say America is the freest country in the world.

I would answer yes, probably so.
You have the freedom in America to be unemployed

and then you have fear of
not having enough to eat.

Nobody has this fear, there's
no unemployment in socialism.

You can have this special freedom in
the United States as my farther, for example,

who worked his whole life and yet when he writes
in a letter, that he he had his tooth ached for a year

but he hasnt� gone to a dentist
�cause it costs so much money.

That�s unbeliaveble! I tell that to my
friends in the socialist countries they say:

�Come on, you must be exaggerating,
all medical facilities are free of charge�.

There are a lot of different
types of freedom.

So I would say that I feel that
I am in a free society in socialism.

This boy failed it once over there. And he was
in the same hospital that Kosygin goes too.

He wrote back in blowing terms: �Why Daddy!
It didn�t cost me anything�. In other words,

he was trying to emphasize
the advantages of socialism.

He and I stay off the political phylosophy when
we get together because we are both Reeds.

And we have some definite ideas.
I look back down many times

and wish he�d continued with Meteorology at
Colorado University. He'd of had a nice quiet life maybe.

I now understand why there is no
unemployment in the German Democratic Republic.

It is the largest orchestra
I've ever seen.

It was that time in the GDR when I sang some songs at a
political concert which the government did not agree with,

which certain functionaries of the government did
not agree with. I was not allowed to sing for a week

in the GDR until I had time to make an
appointment with some friends of mine

who are in Politbuero and
then everything was organized and said

"Dean, it's all right, we won�t do
anything against the bureaucratic class

who is afraid of making a mistake and
we won�t to do anyhting against you.

But most of these mistakes,
if there is a cencorship,

it�s usually from little tiny people in the bureaucracy,
in the bureaucratic class of socialism

who want to keep wholly onto their chairs
and not make a mistake,

they better do not do anything. If you go
to the people in the Central Committee,

these people are usually very, very little
and one can do and say what one wants.

Not everybody can go to the Central Committee and that�s
exactly why I go, because I believe that in the same way

that I am fighting to change society in Chile
or et cetera, where I am fighting an enemy,

as long as I am living in socialism
I believe I also have to be honest

and to try to make socialism
a better socialism.

Would you like to return there,
to live there some day?

I think it's a difficult question.
Nobody knows one's future.

Ken, if I asked you are you going to get married once or
twice... or two times more in your life, is that the one�

I don�t know. As you know
I am a marxist, I am a socialist.

It is not that easy to work in the United States when
you have the views which I have and the values which I have.

Here in the GDR of course I work with people who agree
with me, who have the same ideals which I have.

I have no fear here of being shot at, I have no fear
that someone�s gonna throw a bomb into my house.

I have no fear, that when I leave my wife and my child here
at home, that somebody�s gonna come and kidnap them.

These fears I would have in America. I have the
security for my old age, of course, for my children.

One does not know. Perhaps I would go back
if the right conditions were there.

I will not give up my integrity nor my dignity.
I want to be creative and productive.

But then one can be creative and productive
in any country if one has the right circumstances.

What do you think are
Dean�s main strengths?

At first his sticktuitiveness he never gives up.
A lot of courage, a lot of belief in people.

I've never seen him distrust a person or to let a person down
even when I think you should distrust the person, you know.

It�s noway he�s going to do that. His loyalty, his
belief in the world that we will manage a pieceful world.

People say "Dean, are you a protest singer, are you
a pop singer, are you a country singer, are you a rock singer?�

I say: �I am a love singer�. But there are
many different types of love.

There is love for little children whether
they are mine or the childrens of the world.

There�s romantic love for my wife, there�s love
for a walk in the park. There is love for justice, for truth.

And I think that an artist should tell about all
of these aspects of love and I try to do it in my songs.

Many people criticise me for that because
I can�t fit into any category.

I see life is many sided and human beings
have many different types of needs.

I dont� think he�s changing that
he still has no money in his pocket.

He hasn�t any more money in his pocket now than
he had when he was here that first time I met him.

I don't know how he lives but I think
he only gets more royalty of his songs.

I think that they are written in blood and
I think he should be better compensated.

What makes Dean Reed happy?
It's not money, it's not �

Love makes Dean Reed kick. That sounds
corny but it's absolutely true.

And it is not personal love I�m talking about.
It is his involvement, his concern for his fellow men.

What is your religion?
Do you believe in God?

I believe in progress, I believe in piece, I believe
in goodness, the ultimate goodness of mankind.

I believe in cooperation
between nations.

I believe in that ultimate truth will win out.
And I think all of those things also,

I have noticed, that also Cristian
believe in, Muslims believe in,

Buddists believe in, Hindus believe in.
We all agree that a main goal of life

is to make life a better place for men.
To somehow that he has his dignity,

to somehow that he becomes�
he can somehow be encouraged

to develop all of these capabilities that he
has. To become an intergral human being.

And those are my goals. And those goals
I have in common with all religions.

What is bugging me question:
Do you believe in God?

I do not believe in the official God, no.

I am an atheist in that, but of course
Americans have great fear of this word �atheists�.

I don�t think it�s important if one
believes in God. And how can you define it?

Every Christian, he finds it in a different way.
I believe in the priciples that Jesus was talking about.

Jesus was the greatest revolutionary,
one of the greatest of all time.

He was a worker in mind, he was a working
man. He was a man who told us:

"Each of us should fight and give
our help to other human beings,

should give of our love and give of
our recources to other human beings".

That is what a maxists believes in.

There is nothing that
divides marxists and christians,

there is much more
that unites us than divides us.