Memorial Day Movies

[Weatherman2020]

here at the 15:10 mark is the funny scene:

From the ya that’ll happen files. Forget being dragged in like that, who’d drag an enemy soldier into your own tank?

I laughed very much at that scene......
a dumbass Japanese would, I guess

Must be why they lost the war - dragged too many US Marines into their tanks.

 

[Flopper]

It figures no Patton

.

I've got it along with most of the others stored on my DVR. I watch them often. It's my way of escaping all the endless advertising crap they air these days. I've got all of the great ones and then some.

I have a bunch on DVD
Patton--good but not great
None But the Brave--small unit from the Japanese and US side --non-believable though
Dirty Dozen--fun
Kelly's Heroes = great one for the comedy.etc--my favorite line from Don Rickles '''what's in it for me??'''
Bridge On the River Kwai--7 Academy Awards--great
Von Ryan's Express--good action/train action
Guns of Navarone...very good ..I like Gregory Peck/Anthony Quinn and David Niven who was in the commandos WW2 !

I thought Patton Von Ryan's Express and Guns of Navarone were good movies, very entertaining.

Another good movie, you don't hear much about is Das Boot. It's a German film made in 1981 and later made into a miniseries about German U-boat U-96 and its crew, as they set out on a hazardous patrol in the Battle of the Atlantic. It depicts both the excitement of battle and the tedium of the fruitless hunt, and shows the men serving aboard U-boats as ordinary individuals with a desire to do their best for their comrades and their country. The English subtitled version which is the directors cut and is much better than the English dubbed version. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 100% rating.

.....I've never seen Das Boot...I take it most of the movie takes place inside the U-Boat?---those types of movies are good where it takes acting/dialogue/etc to keep the audience entertained and not just action

I don't know of any other movie that has depicted life on U-boats during WWII as well as this movie. When we think of subs we usually picture the big nuclear subs but these U-boats are really tiny. When they leave port supplies such as food and water are piled in isle because there is no place to store them. Type II U-boat are comprised of 25 officers and seamen but often leave port with as few as 20 men. It's a good movie.

Speaking of good submarine movies, "Enemy Below" is one the best. Rotten Tomatoes gives it 88%. This is the story of the battle between an American destroyer escort and a German U-boat. The movie stars Robert Mitchum and Curt Jurgens as the American and German commanding officers. Although the story begins as a cat and mouse game, it becomes a story of the 2 captains and their growing respect for each other. Enough said, here's the complete movie. After you start it click on the sentence, "Watch this movie on Youtube".

 

[blastoff]

It figures no Patton

.

Nor Gettysburg, Longest Day, Tora Tora....

The Longest Day, Battleground, and several other excellent war films will be shown around June 5th and 6th.

Not a Longest Day fan as I’m not a fan of big ensemble casts where everyone in Hollyweird including B-listers like friggin’ Fabian gets a part.

 

[Flopper]

It figures no Patton

.

Nor Gettysburg, Longest Day, Tora Tora....

The Longest Day, Battleground, and several other excellent war films will be shown around June 5th and 6th.

Not a Longest Day fan as I’m not a fan of big ensemble casts where everyone in Hollyweird including B-listers like friggin’ Fabian gets a part.

I usually don't like ensemble casts movies because they rely on star power too much. The Longest day is an exception. First because it is a very big story made up of a lot of smaller stories. Second, it was a very well made movie. In addition to the academy award for best picture if won many other award such as best cinematography, best special effects, and best film editing.

There were also the rather ironic, quicky events in the movies such as the use of a clicker as a signal and the closing of bolt, which never happened, Red Buttons hanging off a church steeple as a battle takes place beneath him, John Wayne breaking his leg and being carried through the woods, the German officer telling the lookout that their could not possibly be five thousand allied ships in the Channel as the lookout starred out at them. And lines such as, " We are going to lose the war because the glorious Fuhrer has taken a sleeping pill...",

My only complaint about the movie is the length, however it was the longest day for many millions of people.

 

[Weatherman2020]

Met Alex Kershaw today, inspiration for Saving Private Ryan. Good man.

 

[Flopper]

Met Alex Kershaw today, inspiration for Saving Private Ryan. Good man.

Also a good movie.

I watched the 10 episodes of "The Pacific". I found it interesting. I wonder how factual it is. I know battle scenes are rarely factual because the director has to compress time and space and for dramatic effect must create a connection between the audience and the characters.

 

[Weatherman2020]

Met Alex Kershaw today, inspiration for Saving Private Ryan. Good man.

Also a good movie.

I watched the 10 episodes of "The Pacific". I found it interesting. I wonder how factual it is. I know battle scenes are rarely factual because the director has to compress time and space and for dramatic effect must create a connection between the audience and the characters.

I was told by a Marine who was there from beginning to end it was good.

 

[Flopper]

Met Alex Kershaw today, inspiration for Saving Private Ryan. Good man.

Also a good movie.

I watched the 10 episodes of "The Pacific". I found it interesting. I wonder how factual it is. I know battle scenes are rarely factual because the director has to compress time and space and for dramatic effect must create a connection between the audience and the characters.

I was told by a Marine who was there from beginning to end it was good.

My dad and my uncle both served during the war. My uncle was in the Marines and made landings on several islands. The way he described it seem to match this film fairly well. I remember one description vividly, days of boredom, terrible heat, weeks of rain, mud, misquotes, spiders, lack of water, long marches through jungle punctuated by moments and hours of terror and confusion.

 

[Mike Dwight]

The Ahns obviously. Not their hippie children in Hawaii. While others learned machineguns, we took naps. I Want a machinegun. pow pow. pow pow. hair product. If All Men Were Created Equal needs to be injected straight in American Religion, then how come the same declaration of independence asked the British to return the slaves? That discussed the status of Born professions, Jefferson davis one said.

 

[blastoff]

It figures no Patton

.

Nor Gettysburg, Longest Day, Tora Tora....

The Longest Day, Battleground, and several other excellent war films will be shown around June 5th and 6th.

Not a Longest Day fan as I’m not a fan of big ensemble casts where everyone in Hollyweird including B-listers like friggin’ Fabian gets a part.

I usually don't like ensemble casts movies because they rely on star power too much. The Longest day is an exception. First because it is a very big story made up of a lot of smaller stories. Second, it was a very well made movie. In addition to the academy award for best picture if won many other award such as best cinematography, best special effects, and best film editing.

There were also the rather ironic, quicky events in the movies such as the use of a clicker as a signal and the closing of bolt, which never happened, Red Buttons hanging off a church steeple as a battle takes place beneath him, John Wayne breaking his leg and being carried through the woods, the German officer telling the lookout that their could not possibly be five thousand allied ships in the Channel as the lookout starred out at them. And lines such as, " We are going to lose the war because the glorious Fuhrer has taken a sleeping pill...",

My only complaint about the movie is the length, however it was the longest day for many millions of people.

Sorry, members of the 101st Airborne Div, and only them, did utilize the clickers as a way of I D-ing one another on D-Day. Originals are on display at the 101st Airborne museum at Ft. Campbell, KY and reproductions are, or were, for sale.

Also, a paratrooper was stuck hanging from the roof of the church at Sainte-Mere-Eglise, as were one or two others much closer to the ground than the guy depicted in the movie. That said, they Hollyweirded the scene up by making Buttons nearly deaf from bell ringing the real guy said never happened, nor was he rescued by John Wayne’s boys. The Germans cut him down, took him prisoner, but he escaped not long thereafter and found his way back to our lines.

Those and other quirky events are right out of Cornelius Ryan’s book that begat the movie form his screenplay adaptation.

 

[Flopper]

In TCM's salute to D-Day, they are showing WWII films on Thursday. This week they are showing two of the better films of this genre.

The Best Years of Our Lives. This film is not about the war but about the difficulties experienced by men returning to civilian life after the war. Although it sounds pretty dull, it's actually pretty entertaining.
The movie follows the lives of 3 Vets. Al is a banker with a comfortable home and a loving family who returns to his job at the bank as loan officer who takes the side of returning vets in a dispute with his boss. Fred, once an unskilled drugstore soda jerk, wants something better, but the tight post-war job market forces him to return to his old job. Homer was a high school football quarterback and became engaged to his next door neighbor, Wilma, before joining the Navy. Homer and his parents now have trouble dealing with his disability. He does not want to burden Wilma with his handicap so he eventually pushes her away, although she still wants to marry him.

The film stars Fredric March, Myrna Loy, and Dana Andrews. The film has a great cast that includes, Harold Russell, disable WWII Vet who plays Homer and songwritter Hoagie Carmichel. It won 7 academy awards including Best Picture.




Pride of the Marines is a 1945 American biographical war film starring John Garfield and Eleanor Parker. It tells the story of U.S. Marine Al Schmid in WWII, his heroic stand against a Japanese attack during the Battle of Guadacanal, in which he was blinded by a grenade, and his subsequent rehabilitation. The film was based on the book by Roger Butterfield. It's a splendid documentation of a dramatic crisis in a hero's life. John Garfield, who was a close friend of Al Schmid, gave a wonderful performance.