Posted on 09/03/2013 11:15:32 AM PDT by lotr01
This is a classic war movie, that ranks right up there with "Platoon" and superbly directed by Steven Spielberg. What many people don't know is that the main casting crew (Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Vin Diesel and Matt Damon) underwent "Boot Camp" from a company called Warrior Inc.
Warrior Inc is a California based company that specializes in training actors for war movies. Founded by Ret. USMC Capt. D Dye (a Mustang)after his military retirement. (1984)
Most of the war movies that was produced from the mid 80's to current, Warrior Inc. has had a hand in it from anything from training to acting as advisors to the authenticity.
So back to Saving Pvt Ryan, the Boot camp that the casting crew went through was merely for character building. Characteristics of a WWII grunt.
In the movies made from the 20s to the early 70s, teaching actors how to act like soldiers was no problem and cheap for the studios because most of actors had been taught by the government. Veterans.
I thought I heard somewhere that by the end of the second or third day of the training just about all the actors were ready to quit but that Tom Hanks put an end to that by making it clear he was going to continue to the end even if it killed him.
They did the same thing for the cast of Band of Brothers, Captain Dale Dye ran a boot camp for the actors.
that’s exactly correct...
Interesting article. I suppose 7 days of training would seem interminable to an actor or civilian who never served in the military. It would seem like a vacation for anybody who has gone through real thing.
You could say the same thing about members of Congress and the general public at large.
And The Pacific.
I would be more impressed if they went through REAL boot camp
Why did you not put this in as an excerpt?
The movie “The Great Raid” has a segment on their boot camp with Dye in the extras section.
Dye also played Col. Sink.
yeh, I think I read that somewhere. I think Dale Dye ran the course for “Platoon” as well. He’s been involved in many war flicks.
Platoon was utter sh!t.
Complementary rant fail.
Who writes this stuff? This guy did not retire twice so just say it once. Captain D Dye USMC (ret) is at least one of the correct designations.
For those not in the know, a "Mustang" is slang for an officer who started their military service at an enlisted rank. In WW2 it frequently was attached to battlefield commissioned officers, but now these are Warrants or 'O' ranks that did not come through the Academies or R.O.T.C., but are more often Officer Candidate Schools (OCS) grads.
All the principal actors underwent several days of grueling army training - except for Matt Damon, who was spared so that the other actors would resent him, and would convey that resentment in their performances.
I like the part where the Rangers smoke and talk as they stroll across open fields behind enemy lines in the combat zone, chatting, getting to know each other, having fist fights and telling off their Ranger leader.
Ranger patrolling Hollywood style.
The cast endured a grueling, week long course at boot camp instructed by technical advisor Dale Dye. Tom Hanks, who had previously been trained by Dye for the Vietnam war scenes in Forrest Gump was the only one of them who knew it would be a hard and uncompromising experience: "The other guys, I think, were expecting something like camping in the woods, and maybe learning things while sitting around the campfire."
I watched the "Making Of" for BoB.
In my non-military opinion, it was hardly boot camp. Maybe some small unit tactics. Mostly, it looked like getting actors familiar with uniforms, equipment, modes of address, and for lack of a better word - customs, language, etc from the 1940's. Figure that a 20-year-old from 1941 is a whole lot different from a 20-year old today.....Capt. Winters - who all involved agreed was a great man, was 24 in 1942 (I looked it up). In this day and age, you're more likely to find a 24-year-old living in his parent's basement and playing "Call of Duty", than being a great man, and leader of men.
So - this "Boot Camp", at least to my inexperienced eye - was more an acclimation than a training opportunity.
I'm sure that there are more experienced FReepers than I who can weigh in, though.
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