Posted on 11/11/2009 5:34:19 AM PST by Saije
I watched the 60's "Battle of the Bulge" movie with my grandfather. He had actually seen it in the original, real-time version. ;-)
Anyhoo, I asked Grandpa what he thought when it was over. He said - keep in mind that he'd never say anything bad about anything - "It was a fine movie, but no one looked cold enough".
Dad has a picture of Grandpa and his driver, standing waist deep in the snow, in the Ardennes. Both of them have huge smiles on their faces, and I always wondered what they had to smile about.
They were alive.
They were alive.
Sometimes, that's enough.
I must agree, Patton is my favorite followed by The Big Red One. Thank you to all the Veterans that read this.
Couldn't agree more. It's a great opening to a painfully average film. Saving Private Ryan wasn't even the best WWII film from the Summer of 1998, let alone of all time.
Technically excellent, but just a terrible story, phony and sappy--from the "Irony!" of the Hanks character's killer, to the wimp-becomes-man (as a combat vet told me, "Doesn't happen."), to the ridiculous idea that because Damon says he's staying, Hanks stays...
Dreadful movie.
Different strokes. I think it's one of the finest films of any genre ever made.
I read the Richard Tregaskis book when I was young and had the opportunity to meet his son.
I saw "Ryan" first (on HBO), and really enjoyed it, so I went out and picked up "Thin Red Line"....which - IMHO - is a completely different movie, in every single respect.
If I had seen them in a different order, it's possible I'd feel differently. That, and with having relatives who were in the ETO, I've got more interest (a connection?) there than with the Pacific Theater.
However, I will say that you're the first guy I've chatted with that liked it. Different strokes, as you say.
The Fighting Sullivans
If you liked the movie, you should read the book it was partially based on, “War Of The Rats”
I thought Gallipoli with Mel Gibson was a pretty good pic.
I normally have great respect for Beevor (witness his Stalingrad), but here he just makes himself sound like an idiot.
As for the best film made about WWII, currently it is Band of Brothers: all the great production value of Ryan without the angst and cynicism...oh, and based on the experiences of real men.
Capt. Winters should get his Congressional Medal of Honor already, before it has to be accepted posthumously on his behalf.
I agree entirely. The schoolteacher was the perfect choice, because he's an educated person and can thus engage the sympathies of educated viewers, but he's still middle-class like most of us. Shows us that any one of us could find ourselves in the same nightmare situation he was in.
Makes a great German-language double feature with Der Untergang.
Huh?
A lot of people didn’t know what to expect with “Thin Red Line”, especially because “Ryan” set the expectations (you’re not the only one who saw it first... everybody but Terrance Malick did). They are very, very different movies (aside from the fact that I think one is brilliant and the other is a cartoon).
I had a couple of friends who despised “Thin Red Line” after seeing it within a few weeks of “Ryan”. They went to see a war movie and got a “f***ing poem”. I implored them to sit down and watch it again, with adjusted expectations. One of them loved it the second time around, the other never made it past the first hour.
Oh well.
I love Bob Hoskins portrayal of Khrushchev, and his repetition of the expression "shitting his pants."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.