Posted on 08/05/2022 6:51:05 PM PDT by Az Joe
Rickles was a WW2 vet (Navy)
“and apparently never saw a real firefight.”
Dye saw plenty of firefights as a correspondent. In one battle he took over the SAW when the Marine manning it was killed. At Hue a sniper missed his head by two inches.
“I wasn’t as enthusiastic about Platoon: it was not realistic to me with its cartoon-like characters, emotional outbursts and back-to-back war crimes.”
The characters were indeed corny. It was the battle scenes that spooked my friend. He was a screw off in his original post in Germany so the Army shipped him off to VN. His first week landed him at a FOB that got overrun by NVA regulars with a lot of the good guys getting killed. He said that the muzzle flashes coming out of the jungle looked exactly like what was in the movie. He was a funny guy. When I see the Donkey in the movie Shrek I’m reminded of him.
Thank you. I think so.
1. Not sure where you heard the SAW story - but the M249 SAW was introduced into service about 1978 or so - well after Vietnam.
2. Your buddy with the PTSD undoubtedly was traumatized - but the special effects in Platoon were the usual ridiculous Roman candles used to mimic tracers, “napalm grenades” (cans of gasoline blown up to simulate grenades) and tinny-sounding blanks. The real thing is much more chaotic, overwhelming, deafening. Hollywood never could get it right.
“1. Not sure where you heard the SAW story - but the M249 SAW was introduced into service about 1978 or so - well after Vietnam.”
It was a machine gun forward of the position. My error to refer to it as a SAW.
“Your buddy with the PTSD undoubtedly was traumatized”
He said he was scared the minute he set foot in Vietnam until the day he left. When I knew him he wasn’t bothered by anything. Not bosses, not police, not angry husbands, nothing.
I know - I was traumatized too. I spent 17 months in Vietnam, including some horrific combat - plus a year in the hospital recovering from wounds. Anybody who wasn’t scared would have been demented.
There was a cottage industry of insulting, stupid depictions of us in movies and TV and it was yet another rock in our packs when we got back to the “World”.
Blazing Angels Squadrons of WWII (Music) - Midway (2019) Scene Mashup MV
Is it the “Roughnecks, Starship troopers chronicles”?
Are these them?
Starship Troopers
From the bridge of the Fleet Battlestation Ticonderoga, with its sweeping galactic views, to the desolate terrain of planet Klendathu, teeming with shrieking, fire-spitting, brain-sucking special effects creatures, acclaimed director Paul Verhoeven crafts a dazzling epic based on Robert A. Heinlein’s classic sci-fi adventure. Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer, Denise Richards, Jake Busey, Neil Patrick Harris, Patrick Muldoon, and Michael Ironside star as the courageous soldiers who travel to the distant and desolate Klendathu system for the ultimate showdown between the species.
Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation
In this rapid-fire sequel to the cult favorite, the Federation’s best Mobile Infantry unit goes back into action against the Bug horde. But this time, the Bugs are waiting for them. Trapped on a remote outpost light years from the nearest reinforcements, a small group of soldiers fights an enemy smarter and more cunning than any they’ve ever faced. Now they must join forces with an infamous traitor to the Federation if they are to have any hope. And it’s not just their lives at stake, it’s the survival of the human race. If they want to live, they’ll have to use their heads before the Bugs do! Academy Award winner Phil Tippett (1994, Best Visual Effects for Jurassic Park), one of the greatest visual effects wizards in movie history, makes his directorial debut.
Starship Troopers 3: Marauder
Starship Troopers 3: Marauder explodes with mind-blowing man-on-bug combat! Col. Johnny Rico (Casper Van Dien) is back to lead his team on a secret mission to rescue a small crew of troopers stranded on the remote planet of OM-1. Battling bugs, both new and old, the new “Marauder” advanced weapons technology may be their only hope against a treasonous element operating within the Federation itself. As Captain Lola Beck (Jolene Blalock) and the rest of the starship crew fight to survive in the harsh conditions, it begins to dawn on them that something on OM-1 is very, very wrong. This time the bugs have a secret weapon that could destroy humanity. Join the Mobile Infantry in this intergalactic action-packed adventure.
Yes, those three movies. There are so other spin off’s that are animinated, but the film movies are fantastic. The actors are very good. The script is great. I felt like I was a part of the film’s infantry from my 20-years in the Army, especially the early 70’s.
The movies have everything. Propoganda. Chiche’s. Common sense. Human emotion. A proper place for NAZI’s;)
The movies go from High School graduation week to the final victory.
Perfect-thanks! I am very interested in checking them out.
300
Blue Max
Sink the Bismark
The Desert Fox
Immortal Sergeant
The Patriot (Mel Gibson, revolutionary war story)
We Were Soldiers (Mel Gibson, Vietnam)
[The real thing is much more chaotic, overwhelming, deafening.]
Great rationale - but somehow I really doubt that anybody from the producers, directors, salespeople and the theaters actually care about hurting anyone’s ears. Just took my son to watch Maverick and it was so loud, I had to watch with my fingers in my ears - and I’m pretty close to deaf already!.
No, it’s that nobody in the whole industry has near heard a real full-on firefight: hundreds of guys, both sides, firing at the cyclic rates - punctuated every few seconds by grenades. I haven’t seen any movie that came close.
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