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.

[Texas_Jarhead]

"She has warned me that if I am ever arrested at a FReep, she won't bail me out."

lol

[Timmy]

Just returned from the movie tonite. Very disappointed. Reading "Ghost Soldiers," one of the two books the movie is based on, probably ruined it for me. Too much Hollywood license. Much of the story (outside the actual raid) is nonsense.

The theatre was over half full, and I was one of the youngest people in it (I'm 47). I recommend you watch the movie in order to support this sort of movie-making (subject wise) but read the book to really get an understanding of the magnificence of the Rangers and the Filipino guerrillas who were involved.

[wildwood]

there was a very interesting interview on the web yesterday of michael prince, the second in command. the commander died in the nineties, but i thought the prince interview was great....a great man...(http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/movies/237842_raid25.html) i dunno if i did the link right or not.

[wildwood]

hmmmm...prince (in the article posted above) verifies much of the film...discusses which were hollywood devices....pretty accurate, according to the second in command.

[JoeSixPack1]

Thank you for the review.

But the real question is: Why do you torture your Mrs. so much?? :-)

[doug from upland]

This political stuff is important. I put up with all the money and time she has invested in quilting and quilt supplies. Hey, what other FReeper husband has taken his wife on 5+ quilt runs all over hell and back?

[U S Army EOD]

I am looking forward to seeing it. It was a great operation, well planned and well executed. However things don't always go as well as you hope they will. This is what happened to my father in law in a similar raid.

My father in law was a New Zealander in the Long Range Desert Group during WWII. They had information that there was a German POW camp that was only lightly defended. What they did was have a few of them dress up like German soldiers and the rest look like British POW's, they were going to drive into the prison camp like they were delivering the other "prisoners". They had enough trucks where they had room for all the people in the POW camp. They were going to over power the guards, put everybody on the trucks and haul ass.

However when they got there, it seemed there were at least a battalion sized German armored unit next to the camp. So what they had to do was the guys dressed up like POW's had to get off and the ones dress as Germans had to leave them. He was dressed as a German since he could speak the language. He saw a few of his friends after the war that they left and they told him what happened. The Germans always kept excellent records and could not understand why they had about 20 more men in the POW camp than they were supposed to have. It took the Germans about three days to figure out what had happened. When they did, they actually thought it was quite funny.

[U S Army EOD]

See the movie "To End All Wars" to see what life was like in a Japanese POW camp. Try to put yourself in the position of the people in the camp and how they suffered. I don't think I could have done what they did at the end. I couldn't forgive people like that.

[krunkygirl]

doug, you are a gutsy guy!

[Prince Caspian]

Just returned from the movie tonite. Very disappointed.

Some people would be disappointed even if you hung 'em with a new rope.

[Timmy]

Well, yeah. There WAS a raid. It occurred in late January 1945. 500+ prisoners WERE liberated. Colonel Mucci WAS in charge. Bob Prince DID plan and execute the raid. The Japanese WERE bad guys. Doctor Jimmy Fisher was wounded (and later died). There was only one other Ranger killed (accidently, by another Ranger). But:

There was no love story as presented in the movie. According to Ghost Soldiers, there was no tension between Mucci and Prince. In fact, Mucci loved Prince so much (he called him "my wonderful Captain Prince") it was a subject of embarrassment to Prince. The men did not misunderstand Mucci, they worshipped him. The Filipino guerrillas did not beg to fight, they were part of the plan from the beginning. There was no execution of 11 prisoners the day before the raid. The Japanese who took over the camp after the guards left were NOT special police forces. They were merely Japanese army personnel who left the prisoners pretty much alone (unlike the previous landlords). The plan was to destroy the bridge, not just to make it unusable for vehicles (which is what actually happened). The evil Japanese commander, the last to survive? Please!

They should have left out the love story and focused more on character development.

But what do I know? I thought Mel Gibson unforgivably botched the end of We Were Soldiers.

[JoeSixPack1]

...in quilting and quilt supplies.

ROFL!! Now I truely understand. Kudos! :-)

[razorback-bert]

While channel surfing, I saw a promo for this movie and they had actor who said, "We had these little tents slept on the ground and it was cold."

[investigateworld]

The Marine Base where my Dad worked employed a lot of former "Prisoners of the Sun" and Maru survivors. Over the years the affection I hold for the Corps has grown.

[Timmy]

Some people would be disappointed even if you hung 'em with a new rope.

Well, I'm not sure that that's fair. But tell you what, I'll gladly listen to criticism of my comments from anyone who has read one of the two books (The Great Raid on Cantabatuan or Ghost Soldiers) and who has seen the movie. What would be more fair?

[krunkygirl]

And, since he is no longer here to do it, I will thank you for my step-granddad who survived the Bataan Death March. I know that he would feel extreme contempt for the likes of Ted Kennedy.

[krunkygirl]

whoops! meant to address that to you, doug.

[bboop]

Haha, Doug, my husband says I should go to the Opera with you. When they bastardize them with Madonna-like costumes or putrid existential renditions of what could be so lovely, I warn him first and then BOO loudly at the end. Have never failed to find others who join in. And it is so satisfying, definitely a way to make sure you get your money's worth.

[neodad]

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.

The Japanese used panties too?