Spike Lee has refused to back down from his criticism of Clint Eastwood for not including black soldiers in his two films about the battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. Eastwood had responded that the film was about the men who raised the flag at Mt. Suribachi and that none of them was black. He advised Lee to "shut his face." In an interview with ABCNews.com, Lee said, "First of all, the man is not my father and we're not on a plantation either. ... And a comment like 'a guy like that should shut his face' -- come on Clint, come on. He sounds like an angry old man right there." Meanwhile, Thomas McPhatter, a black Marine sergeant who fought at Iwo Jima has told Britain's Guardian newspaper that he had provided the pipe that was used as the makeshift flagstaff for the flag hoisted by the men seen in the historic Iwo Jima photo.
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