Posted on 11/11/2009 5:34:19 AM PST by Saije
Some reviewers have called "Saving Private Ryan," Steven Spielberg's World War II film about D-Day and the search for a soldier, one of the greatest war movies.
Military historian Antony Beevor begs to differ.
Not only is it not the greatest war movie, it's not even the best cinematic depiction of D-Day, says Beevor, author of the newly published "D-Day: The Battle for Normandy" (Viking).
He admires the famed Omaha Beach opening -- "Probably the most realistic battle sequence ever filmed," he said -- but described the rest of "Saving Private Ryan" as "ghastly."
"It's sort of a 'Dirty Dozen' cliche of the worst form," he said.***
Beevor says a director would do well to remember that the Allied effort to retake the continent extended well beyond that single day of June 6, 1944.
"D-Day, although an iconic moment, was not actually the end of it. Films like 'The Longest Day' and 'Saving Private Ryan' almost give the impression that D-Day was 'it' and then the next thing people know about was the liberation of Paris," he said. "But in fact it was the fighting in Normandy which was far worse. Casualties on D-Day were far lighter than expected -- [military leaders] had expected 10,000 dead and only 3,000 died.
"The real fighting and the real casualties," he added, "came in the Battle of Normandy."
So what does Beevor prefer in the way of a Hollywood treatment of D-Day? Another project Spielberg had a hand in, "Band of Brothers."
"On the whole I think [it] was pretty close to the truth," Beevor said of the 2001 HBO miniseries, which Spielberg and Tom Hanks executive produced. He called it "incomparably more realistic" than "Saving Private Ryan."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Patton was actually targeted as an anti-war movie when it was produced. However, the performance of George C. Scott was so overwhelming, that any pretense of the intended message was immediately dropped after its release.
Mine is Kelly’s Heros. The fun part of the movie is that every sterotype is portrayed. “What kind of deal”, “A deal deal”.
Though not a film, Band of Brothers is the best depiction of WWII from a realistic, historical perspective, IMHO.
We Were Soldiers
The book is nearly always better than movie, and the book can’t capture it all either. There is a country song about a kid who finds a bunch of black and white photos of his grandfather and buddies durring WWII and asks about the experience. His Grandpa says “you should have seen it in color.” My Grandpa was mustard gassed in WWI and came to under a bunch of bodies being hauled back in a cart. Hard to describe, for one thing, the smells associated with war are missing from books and movies, thank goodness, we’d have people throwing up in theaters. Saving Private Ryan was pretty good, Band of Brothers being a smaller scale unit was more realisitc, longer too. On this vetrans day, let’s be glad that those who experinced the real thing, make it possible for us to view war as entertainment.
He’s talking from the perspective of historical accuracy, not dramatic quality. Two different things.
Love the movie personally.
“Band of Brothers” beats “Saving Private Ryan” on realism becase the former is based on real events, while the other is a fiction devised for its dramatic effect.
Personally, I find them both enjoyable, and watch them whenever my wife seems able to tolerate them :)
The opinion of anybody who mentions The 317th Platoon as a great war movie should begiven a little bit more weight than you give him credit for.
That was Vietnam...you know, the war John Kerry was in...
Enough with the negative waves...
Big Joe mocking “We ain’t got no booze...” is the common line for my brother and I when we’re together.
A Bridge Too Far is still my favorite war movie, but Kelly’s Heroes ranks right up there. Band of Brothers is definitely top-notch.
What”s wrong with school teachers? You think school teachers didn’t go to war? You think they can’t be or weren’t heroic too? What job would you have preferred the hero to have?
Please allow me to draw your attention to the fact that Joshua Chamberlain was a college professor.
Same here.
“BOB” is one of the best, with the most well-developed storylines and characters. “SPR” was good, but it was sort of a stereotype (NY accents, token jew, etc.)
However, I think the American-centric take tends to short-change our views on the subject.
“Das Boot”, anyone? Amazing movie.
Or how about the more recent, “Stalingrad”.
Great films from other countries that were fighting WWII for a few years more than the US.
Different takes, different action.
I wish their would be another first class movie about the “Battle of the Bulge”.
Concur!
The school teacher “twist” was one of the more realistic and humanizing parts of the movie. Just an average guy, like 99.99% of those who served.
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