Red Tails: Film Review [Hollywood re-writes history again!]

The Hollywood Reporter ^ | 7:53 PM PST 1/18/2012 | Todd McCarthy

[pfflier]

They got closer than you think. In a promo on HBO Cuba Gooding had them escorting B-52s.

[pfflier]

If you want to really fire the libs up, mention Gens LeMay and Tibbets.

The real crime in history is that Paul Tibbets elected to be in an unmarked grave to save everyone from the circus that would have surrounded his burial place.

Because of Tibbets, I was born. He is my hero.

[Joe 6-pack]

MG (Ret) John Frost was a battalion commander of Paras at Arnhem and was portrayed by Anthony Hopkins in A Bridge Too Far. Frost also served as a consultant for the film. There's one scene where Hopkins had to cross a street that was controlled by MG42 fire to get from the house commandeered as his HQ to another building being used as an aid & litter station. When they filmed the first take, Hopkins dodged and sprinted across the street. Hopkins later recounted that the real Frost corrected him, telling Hopkins he should just walk briskly and smartly as British troops would have considered seeing one of their officers dodging and diving to be a sign of panic, and in fact, the real Frost had walked briskly but authoritatively under fire at Arnhem Bridge.

The scene was reshot per Frost's advice, but the editors ultimately went with the first version having decided that it was "more realistic."

[pfflier]

Also decent Korean war flicks:

Men of the Fighting Lady

Pork Chop Hill

Battle Hymn (so-so)

[wbill]

editors ultimately went with the first version having decided that it was "more realistic."

"More realistic" = "sells more tickets". Or, alternatively, "audiences will believe this".

I have a pretty good USMC oral history of WW II. Some of the stories would never make it into the movies not because they weren't any good, but because audiences would say, "Yeah Right! Like THAT would ever happen."

Like the Marine captain who controlled Bloody Nose Ridge (I think?) for a time by standing up (!) on top of it and firing a 30 cal from the hip, until he ran out of ammo. Then he grabbed a wounded Marine and came back down again.

Truth is stranger than fiction.

[nutmeg]

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