This’ll Fry His Bacon

It is remarkable that after four years, anyone would claim that Michael Moore’s film “Roger & Me” was “duly overlooked for an Oscar nomination” because of its commercial success, as Marshall Fine wrote in his interesting story on Moore’s new film “Canadian Bacon” (Nov. 28).

As a member of the documentary committee of the motion picture academy, I can state that “Roger & Me” was not overlooked because it did well at the box office. Moore’s film was not nominated for several reasons, including the fact that a number of committee members felt that the film was dishonest and unfair to its subjects.

This is a valid critical position that many journalists and reviewers took, including Pauline Kael of the New Yorker. It is interesting that this position has prevailed in the courts, in at least one case: Moore, Warner Bros. and Moore’s production company lost to attorney Larry Stecco in September, when a Michigan court found that Stecco was shown in a “false light” by Moore in “Roger & Me.” This judgment, I understand, was upheld on appeal.

The record suggests that Moore plays fast and loose with his “facts.” It is a shame that The Times would continue to print this version of how he was denied an Academy Award nomination.

MITCHELL W. BLOCK Santa Monica