THE GREAT RAID - "Ted Kennedy, that is torture; you shut the hell up!" yelled in theatre

dfu | 8-27-05 | dfu

[doug from upland]

"The Great Raid" was a very enjoyable, stirring, and patriotic movie about heroic Americans and Filipinos in WW II. It was the most successful raid of prisoners in our history.

Some idiot at the end of the movie yelled out in the movie theatre -- "That's torture, Ted Kennedy; you shut the hell up!" Yes, that idiot would, of course, be yours truly. No wonder Mrs. DFU usually wants to avoid going to movie theatres with me and would rather rent them. I can't blame her. And during the last presidential campaign, she cringed when I demanded that the waitress remove the Heinz Ketchup and replace it with a bottle of W Ketchup. And let's not forget that she didn't want to ride in my car with all the magnetic stickers. Other than that, we get along wonderfully. Well, almost. She has warned me that if I am ever arrested at a FReep, she won't bail me out.

SEE THE TRAILER

From director John Dahl comes the stirring true story of one of the most spectacular rescue missions ever to take place in American history: "the great raid on Cabanatuan," the daring exploit that would liberate more than 500 U.S. Prisoners of War in the face of overwhelming odds. A gripping depiction of human resilience, the film vividly brings to life the personal courage and audacious heroism that allowed a small but stoic band of World War II soldiers to attempt the impossible in the hopes of freeing their captured brothers.

Once a tale shared across the United States, the long-lost story of THE GREAT RAID has been recreated with meticulous authenticity to pay testimony to the many different people, from U.S. commanders to Filipino soldiers to women aid workers to the POWs themselves, who played a part in turning this time of intense hardship and unrelenting danger into a moment of inspiration.

[sono]

Doug ...
Your relationship seems more interesting than Carville and Matalin LOL.

[finnigan2]

Doug, you should be writing for The Onion.

[Last Dakotan]

Hollywood finds it difficult to give the full truth about our enemies for fear of offending and making them look too bad.

Sadly the reviewers that didn't like the movie did so because it was too hard on the Japanese and "just brought up old stereotypes."

[bboop]

OK, I think we need to go to movies in a clump. It could be darned fun. We might even get tossed out.

[RaceBannon]

I can think of a Michael Moore movie we could freep....

[U S Army EOD]

I am aware of that story. We had a lady who was captured during WWII in the Dutch East Indies who lived near me. She spent her childhood in a Japanese consentration camp. Her father died working on the "death" railroad. She had some interesting stories about her experiences. She hated the Japanese.

[U S Army EOD]

Interesting the name Fullbright came up. When the US Capital Building was bombed in 1971, Kennedy and Fullbright did all they could to impede the investigation. They never caught who did it, but I have always felt it was someone connected with VVAW. We knew they had explosives and the will and desire to use them. This took place after Kerry's march on DC and about the same time VVAW conspired to murder the US Senators.

[U S Army EOD]

Read, "Bored of the Rings".

[TASMANIANRED]

Good for you doug.

[brazzaville]

Good morning.

My wife and I saw it Saturday. I haven't read the books yet but they are on my list.

We loved the movie and I don't care how close to the books the movie makers came. Even the love story was done well, and did not detract from the story of the raid.

As others have said, the use of film of the real POWs and Rangers at the end was incredibly moving.

I felt that the movie was as accurate as the movie makers could make it, enough for me to overlook errors.

I would have liked to have seen a real Black Widow used in the fly over that distracted the Japanese. After I'm finished posting I'll do some research to see if any are still flying.

The sound of Garand clips flying out of weapons was well done, and I liked seeing Benjamin Bratt using an '03 Springfield.

My only complaint is that the theater had the air conditioning set very low. It's harder to immerse yourself in a movie about the Philippines when you are freezing.

This one will be in my library.

Rangers Lead The Way.

Michael Frazier

[doug from upland]

On a hot summer weekend, you drive about a thousand miles all over Southern California from quilt store to quilt store, buying the bargains and trying to win prizes. Typically it is over 20 stores. I took her on one once that was from Escondido to Palm Springs to Ojai to the Simi Valley. So when I make a fuss about Heinz Ketchup or occasionally make an astute political comments in a movie theatre, I think I need to be cut a little slack.

Oh, yeah. Driving home from the state of Washington once, the entire trip home was a non official quilt run.

[wildwood]

nooooooo thanks.....

[U S Army EOD]

It could literally kill you laughing, and it goes very close to the story. A must read. Chicken!!!

[SoCal Pubbie]

I'm 47 , and saw it Friday. Loved the movie. I knew some elements may have been fabricated, even though I knew nothing about the raid. I saw nothing from my general knowledge of WWII that seemed out of keeping with reality.

GO SEE THIS FILM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[R. Scott]

I took her on one once that was from Escondido to Palm Springs to Ojai to the Simi Valley.

Whoa! That is a lot of driving. I hope she was appreciative for a long time. That should make up for a lot of football games, beer with the buddies etc.

[It's me]

When i went, people clapped and "whooped" when the Japanese commander was killed.

My kids went to see it and half way thru, right at the place where the Filipino village was burned, the projector bulb broke and they couldn't replace it. Right when it was getting good!
They got a free movie ticket to come back at a later date.

[wtc911]

I know that you believe that you're on a mission but shouting anything out in a movie theater is for yahoos. People paid their money to see the film, not some form of political street theater.

[SoCal Pubbie]

Okay, I just have to post again. I have not read either of the books the film was based on and I can still tell you what's wrong with your critique. The movie was a dramatization, not a documentary. Filmmakers make choices in presenting a historical subject. In the movie Patton the general is shown saying things at different times and places than he really made them, and there were actually two, not one soldiers he slapped. But does that detract from the film? Not really, since it showed the man and his achievements in their proper light.

So what if there was a love story? My wife hates war movies. I made her go anyway. She was as moved as I was, but I'm sure she'd be thinking about all the wives and girlfriends who lose lovers in war, even if there was none shown on screen. This element was added to diversify the audience, and perhaps to represent all the loved ones lost, and the general sense of sacrifice experienced in WWII. The tone and outcome of the relationship was perfectly in keeping with the film. It was not a melodramatic PEARL HARBOR style love triangle.

The conflict between Prince and Mucci is called dramatic tension, You've got to give the audience a reason to think the raid will fail. Will the troops overcome their personal conflicts and the Japanese to save the prisoners? That sort of thing. As for the Filipino guerrillas, perhaps the writer wanted to use them to symbolize the somewhat second class treatment they have gotten after the war, as some have been denied the US citizenship they were promised.

So what if prisoners weren't killed right before the raid. Enough were throughout captivity that showing the brutality of the guards is not out of place. I suspect that using "special police forces" was a sop to the Japanese to try and imply that the worst treatment did not come from regular Japanese soldiers. Complain if you like about that one, but it did not hurt the film to me.

Finally, I suspect that the lack of enough explosives to destroy the bridge again was symbolic of the Filipinos having to fight an enemy they could not destroy, but could harass and obstruct.

The movie was a very, very good film. Not great as in all time best, but I think it was a fine piece of filmmaking. Again, if you haven't seen it, go do so!

[doug from upland]

Okay, I guess I am going to have to change my name to yahoo from upland.

[doug from upland]

End of the movie during the crawl. No dialogue. Many people were leaving. Showing scenes of our prisoners. No one demanded that I be removed from the theatre. Making a comment in three movies in about nine years doesn't make me a felon.