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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

You're right. The folks who made "The Great Raid" came as close as they could to history.

Before I went to see the movie I got out my copy of Shelby Stanton's World War II Order of Battle book. The table of organization and equipment of a World War II Ranger battalion showed that no M1 carbines were assigned to it. The Rangers carried Thompsons, Garands, BARs, and 2.36" rocket launchers. The 6th Rangers had Browning .30 cal. machine guns assigned, but I don't believe they used any on the raid, since they had to travel light and move fast. I'm guessing that Col. Mucci borrowed an '03 from one of the Filipino guerrillas.

I saw only one or two M1 carbines in the entire movie, and those might have been carried by Alamo Scouts. So the moviemakers got the weapons right (for a change).

This old tanker agrees that Rangers lead the way.