As cameras rolled and snapped, Pazitto and the other designated anointed pealed off from the cluster in unison and calmly walked over to the reporters. Somehow, knowingly or not, the Spirit-filled spokesmen traversed the fault line of basic ignorance of the movie and gave a 60-second presentation that focused more on generalized blasphemy and disintegration of the family unit than on the panned plot.
With eyes fixed on the noisy throng in the background, the press accepted the flat-line doctrine, concentrating more on the Kodak moment. The story was aired at the end of the evening news, showing brief clips of the chanting, sign-waving crowd mixed with 5-10-second bites of Pazitto.
The next morning, a small article appeared on the front page of the City-State section with a photo featuring none other than Bro. Deakon. There was poor Deakon in the foreground, caught mid-cheer, revealing many of his few bad teeth. His sign with the outrageous counter charge formed a backdrop for his head. For several weeks after the coverage, George Deakon carried himself with humility born of blessing, unworthy of the honor his service to God had yielded.
Deakon, nor I, realized at the time the exquisite irony of the entire event. The movie's true theme, I found out years later, was the rampant foolishness of the masses of asses known as mankind while God and his son Jesus played the straight men.
In one memorable scene a small group of people at the very back of the crowd listening to the real Jesus give the Sermon on the Mount strained to hear the sacred words.
"What did he say?"
"He said, "Blessed are the cheese-makers."
"What's so bloody special about cheese-makers?"
And lo the game of gossip was begun and verily it continues to this day. The fall guy, a hapless bloke named Brian, to his dismay was confused with the real Christ everywhere he went. He ran the gauntlet of the mistaken while Jesus went about doing what good that He could given the maddening crowd of typical human clowns.
Come to find out there was not one reference in the entire movie about homosexuality, in Jesus, Brian or any other of the movie's characters.
So, on that fateful day in 1979, while the World O' Gospel faithful took their stand against deception and misrepresentation, God saw, slapped His forehead, and handed the keys to His car to the cheese-makers.