We Were Soldiers

Steyn On-line ^ | November 11, 2017 | Mark Steyn

[Twotone]

On "Fox & Friends" this morning, reacting to the live footage of President Trump in Hanoi, I talked about the Vietnam war's domestic impact on the American psyche. It took many decades for that to change, and this Veterans Day movie pick is one of the cultural artifacts of that evolution in perception - a film about soldiering that wears its allegiance in its very title. It was released about six months after 9/11, in the spring of 2002, and in that sense is a movie about an old war seen through the lens of a new one.

The best thing about We Were Soldiers is how bad it is. I don't mean "bad" in the sense that it's written and directed by Randall Wallace, screenwriter of Braveheart (which won Oscars for pretty much everything except its screenplay, which was not overlooked without reason) and Pearl Harbor (whose plonking dialogue has been dwelt on previously in this space). Mr Wallace is as reliably uninspired as you can get. And yet it serves him well here. Pearl Harbor was terrible, but it was professionally terrible, its lame dialogue and cookie-cutter characters and butt-numbingly obvious emotional manipulation skillfully woven together into state-of-the-art Hollywood product. By contrast, in its best moments, We Were Soldiers feels very unHollywoody, as if it's a film not just about soldiers, but made by soldiers - or at any rate by someone who cares more about capturing the spirit of soldiery than about making a cool movie. It's the very opposite of Steven Spielberg's fluid ballet of carnage in Saving Private Ryan, and yet, in its stiffness and squareness, it manages to be moving and dignified in the way that real veterans of hellish battles often are.

[bagster]

I love that movie.

[Twotone]

Yes, it was a great one. Makes me start crying just to think of it.

[Bryanw92]

It is my favorite war movie. I watch it about once a year.

[redcatcherb412]

As an Air Mobile member that followed Col Moore and 7th Cav footsteps in Air Mobile training at Fort Benning with the 199th Light Infantry (That unit is still at Benning today), I can only say this is the most realistic depiction of what air mobile really was. The 7th Cav training and the Ia Drang battle caused one of the pivotal swings in battle tactics by Airborne, Ranger, Special Forces and Light Infantry units for the rest of the war. Great movie.

[MagUSNRET]

LtGen Hal Moore was truly a Generals General, and EVERY MANS General, may he rest in eternal peace!!

[ealgeone]

Good flick. Loved the final battle scene.

[SoCal Pubbie]

Does anybody remember Freeper Aloha Ronnie who was in the Army in Vietnam around this time? He used to post here all the time.

[SES1066]

Lt.Gen. Harold Gregory "Hal" Moore, Jr., USMA 1945, left us this past February (2017) after a long and distinguished career.

While he was the 'star' of the book and movie, there was another soldier there at the Battle of Ia Drang that we should keep green in our memory, Col. Cyril Richard Rescorla, a Cornishman who lived a life that left footprints in the sands of time. When called to ultimate action, after a very eventful life, he died at 09/11 saving people in the South Tower. It was his face, his photo, that was on the cover of Hal Moore's book.

On this day where we remember our Veterans, lets us also praise them for they are and were heros in our midst!

[Lurker]

Sgt. Major Plumley was an amazing man. Simply amazing.

L

[samtheman]

Bkmk

[blueunicorn6]

There is a documentary with Soldiers from this fight returning to Vietnam.

Very moving.

I read the book about the French battle at the beginning of the movie.

STREET WITHOUT JOY

[combat_boots]

Yes

[MomwithHope]

I remember Aloha Ronnie well.

[Ax]

I was thinking about “Aloha Ronnie” just the other day. Hope he’s all right.

[combat_boots]

The Master Sgt was The Best

Sam ????

[combat_boots]

Correction

Sgt Maj Plumley

[FreedomOfExpression]

Aloha Ronnie's most recent post was February 25th of this year.

[MomwithHope]

Thanks!

[Phillyred]

One of my favorite movies. Bought it recently. But I came away from it just thinking what a horrible waste of great young men! Politicians just suck!