Most Accurate War Film

[renrich]

My problem with "Saving Private Ryan" is that I find it hard to believe that the men on the beach would be as clustered up as they were in the movie. The small amount of combat film that survived at Omaha beach doesn't seem to reflect that amount of crowding. The movie was spectacular however. The other flaw I see in most war films is that the actors in the films usually look much older than the young men who actually fought the battles. A for instance is "Gettysburg" which I thought was pretty realistic and thoroughly enjoyed(except for the miscreant who played Lee) The actor who played J B Hood had a gray beard. Hood was 28 years old at the time of the battle and I doubt he had a gray beard. In "Ryan" Tom Hanks did not look like the twenty something an infantry captain would have been and none of his squad looked like they were less than 30.

[syscom3]

Renrich, events like that did happen on Omaha.

The troops under heavy fire looked for anything to protect themselves. And the steel beach obstacles were great to hide behind.

[Njaco]

renrich....for instance is "Gettysburg" which I thought was pretty realistic and thoroughly enjoyed(except for the miscreant who played Lee)

Duvall was much better cast in "Gods and Generals"

[Soundbreaker Welch?]

I never thought of Martin Sheen in that term, but I do think Robert Duavall seems more like Lee.

#4 The movie about Vietnam they never made.

What would it be like? Something between "Full Metal Jacket" and "The Green Berets?"

By the way, do some on here despise the attempt by John Wayne to portray Vietnam?

I know it was filmed in the Blue Hills or something.............

In "Ryan" Tom Hanks did not look like the twenty something an infantry captain would have been and none of his squad looked like they were less than 30.

Somehow that comment quirked me.

At least they weren't as bad off as the Greybeard Regiment from Iowa.


IOWA CIVAL WAR GRAYBEARD UNIT

The Graybeard Regiment During the Civil War, one Union regiment, the 37th Iowa Volunteer lnfantry, was largely, and deliberately, composed of old men. It was nicknamed the Graybeard Regiment.

In 1862, the U.S. War Department authorized the formation of the 37th Infantry to show that men past draft age were willing and able to go to war. The Unit of 914 men was assembled that December at Camp Strong near Muscatine, Iowa. The oldest man was 80-year-old Pvt. Curtis King. Six men were in their 70s, including 72-year-old drummer, Nicholas Ramey. Another 136 men were in their 60s. Nearly all of the members of the regiment were over 45.

Required to hike in the mud and sleep in the rain like other soldiers, the Graybeards were spared none of the rigors of army life. They were, however, exempted from combat duty, serving instead as guards of military prisons, railroads, and arsenals in Missouri, Tennessee, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Only three men were killed in action, but 145 died of disease and 364 were discharged because of physical disabilities.

By war's end, more than 1,300 of the sons and grandsons of Graybeard members had enlisted. So the regiment accomplished its major purpose, to serve as a grand propaganda tool for recruiting.

[Njaco]

The Vietnam pic I never see mentioned is "Charlie Mopic". Thought it was pretty good, along with "Boys from Company C" and "Go Tell The Spartans".

[Njaco]

Oh hell, just thought of one but can't remember the name. Starred Gene Hackman as a Colonel or something that was shot down and Danny Glover guided him out along with a knowledge of Golf courses. Supposed to be based on a true story. Not a bad movie.

[lesofprimus]

BAT 21 is something Im quite familiar with Jaco....

It is based on the true story of Bat 21B, the call sign of an EB-66 navigator, Iceal “Gene” Hambleton, who is slammed by an SA-2 just south of the (DMZ) in 1972... When on the ground Col Hambleton found himself in the midst of an invasion force of over 30,000 North Vietnamese troops.... Lieutenant Colonel Hambleton had served with the Strategic Air Command.... He carried, in his memory, intimate details of American missile forces and targets that dared not fall into enemy hands....

An immediate (SAR) effort was mounted to recover the downed airman.... Two Army helicopters rushing to his rescue were quickly shot down.... The entire 4-man crew of Blueghost 39 was lost, the second limped to an area of safety before making a controlled-crash-landing.... That crew was rescued by a "Jolly Green" helicopter and flown to safety...

As morning dawned on April 3rd, position had been marked within 30 feet by onboard LORAN... The Air Force knew where the injured survivor the the EB-66 was, but couldn't reach him because of the massive enemy force that surrounded him.... Fellow pilots began dropping mines around him...

Coast Guard Lieutenant Commander Jay Crowe descended towards the area where Lieutenant Colonel Hambleton waited.... He was met by an immediate curtain of enemy fire.... Enemy rounds literally shredded "Jolly Green 65", and it was only the courage and flying skill of the Coast Guard pilot that enabled the chopper to stay airborne long enough to return to base.... "Jolly Green 66" then followed, facing ten enemy tanks and a withering fire.... Lieutenant Colonel Bill Harris fought the controls to bring his rescue helicopter within one hundred yards of Hambleton, his gunners engaging the enemy on all sides.....

Harris' aircraft shuddered as bullets riddled his helicopter and shattered the cockpit.... Somehow Harris managed to get his badly damaged aircraft to gain altitude, then limp back to safety....

Before darkness fell on Monday another aircraft would take direct fire... Captain William Henderson was piloting an OV-10 FAC in support of the rescue effort.... In the cockpit behind him sat Lieutenant Mark Clark... Both managed to eject when a SAM destroyed their aircraft, landing in the same general vicinity as Hambleton.... A "triple-play" rescue for all three fliers followed....

All 3 downed airmen watched in frustration as enemy fire shattered three more helocopters, forcing them to pull back with severe damage... During the night of April 3rd, Captain William Henderson was captured by the NVA.... In just over twenty-four hours of the rescue attempt, three aircraft had gone done, five more had been severely damaged, three American rescuers had died, and a fourth had been captured.....

On April 4th the Air Force began launching a series of air strikes in and around the Cam Lo Bridge.... On the ground, LTC Hambleton directed the fire.... So thorough was the enemy penetration in the area, of the ten A-1s that engaged the enemy from the skies over the downed airman that day, eight received battle damage.... One aircraft was totally destroyed.... It became quickly apparent that the North Vietnamese were using Hambleton and Clark as bait, drawing in the rescue forces, then systematically destroying them.....

On April 6th a total of 52 sets of American fighters and four B-52 bombers began pounding the area around Cam Lo.... Back at Da Nang, Captain Peter Chapman in Jolly Green 67 had volunteered to pilot the next rescue, despite the fact he was "short".... Amid a smoke screen and intense rocket and machine-gun fire deployed by accompanying American aircraft, Captain Chapman began to drop his rescue helicopter near Hambleton.... Enemy fire raked the chopper, smoke billowed, and Captain Chapman began to pull away, as flames started to appear... Pieces of the helo began to fall off, the aircraft floundering in its attempts to flee the area... It rolled to its side, hitting the ground in an explosion of fire that instantly sealed the fate of six brave Americans...

On April 7th an OV-10 flying in support of the continued rescue effort was shot down..... Aboard was Air Force First Lieutenant Bruce Walker and Marine Corps First Lieutenant Larry Potts.... Walker managed an initial radio contact before he began his escape, but was never heard from again..... There were later reports that Lieutenant Potts died in captivity.... His remains were never recovered and he remains one of the Vietnam War's Missing in Action....

By April 9th the 7th Air Force was in dire straits with far too many battle-damaged aircraft.... Five aircraft had been destroyed, nine Americans were dead, two had been captured, the fate of Potts and Walker was uncertain.....

On April 10th, Nail-38 (Clark) and Bat 21 (Hambleton) were advised of the NEW plan to get them out...

The true events surrounding this story were still classified at the time of the movie production... Ltc Hambleton and Lieutenant Mark Clark were rescued by Navy SEAL LT Tom Norris, Walker on the 10th, and then Hambleton on the 11th.... Norris and Vietnamese SEAL Petty Officer Nguyen Van Kiet, using a sampan to infiltrate to Hambleton's position, rescued him....

LT Norris was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions.... Nguyen Van Kiet, the brave South Vietnamese SEAL, was subsequently awarded our Nation's second highest military award, the Navy Cross.... It was and is the highest honor that could be presented to a member of a foreign military force... He was the only South Vietnamese warrior of the 14-year war to receive so high an honor...


Lieutenant (j.g.) Thomas Norris was one of the greatest Navy SEALs ever deployed, and remains one of the most respected men in the SPEC-OPS community...

[Njaco]

Awesome! So the movie was fairly accurate in respect to classified info at the time. I always enjoyed that pic. Hardly ever see it on lists of good war movies.

[tpikdave]

It would have to show all the different snakes and bugs that killed or ate you. Other than that, I don't think a movie can really portray the horror, the boredom or the true feeling of the "it won't happen to me" thing. One bad thing was seeing a buddy reading a "dear john", or getting one over the radio via a MARS station.


Quote: "By the way, do some on here despise the attempt by John Wayne to portray Vietnam"?

I hated that movie. It was stupid, but I couldn't get mad at the Duke for trying. The only fat old men over there were in air conditioned trailers.

[pbfoot]

Flight of the intruder





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[Soundbreaker Welch?]

Other than that, I don't think a movie can really portray the horror, the boredom or the true feeling of the "it won't happen to me" thing.


Watching war on film just doesn't cut it, I guess.

Even if it's an intense battle and the combatants are on the point of exhaustion, a fellah can still be lolling on the couch or chair and yet be excited and awed without feeling real discomfort or fear. It can still be numbing at least, but often it can be enjoyable to watch the fighting, instead of horrifying.

Still, historic battle movies are one of my favorites.

[lesofprimus]

During the opening weekend of Platoon, I went with my father to see it.... He is a former Green Beret that did 2 1/2 tours....

During the last combat scene, my father started getting very worked up sitting there, sweating and whatnot....

He had to leave the theatre.... Is that realistic enough???

[Watanbe]

I thought platoon was an exceptional film. However the best has to go to the undubbed Das Boot. It kept me on edge for the entire film which is incredible considering its length.

For a movie that portrays the horrors of War, Kokoda is very good as Wildcat suggested.

[Soundbreaker Welch?]

He had to leave the theatre.... Is that realistic enough???

Yeah, and movies can be disturbing!


Sometimes it's just good to not overwatch something too much in one day I think, then it can lose it's impact.

[tpikdave]

lesofprimus

I think your Dad had his own private demons. There was a lot of content in Platoon that could have been considered irrational, over the top, and just plain BS, and you have to remember that the people who produce this stuff have never left their comfey chairs, nor had a single bullet fired at them. Its possible that that is why your Dad was uncomfortable. I felt something similar when seeing Apocalypse Now, years later. I was disturbed seeing something so eerie and strange in a country I had been in. It was like "hey wait a minute" could that have happened without me hearing about it. People looked at us differently for a while after that movie. Your Dad was in an outfit that survived by being as close-knit as a family, for him to see some GI even in a movie, killing for the sake of killing, must have made him want to puke.