The current generation(s) (other than history buffs), has no interest in war movies, especially WWII films (Saving Private Ryan being the last hurrah for this genre), no matter how patriotic. This is why this film is tanking at the box office (and its young people who drive ticket sales).
BTW: Best movies out right now are the Departed and The Last King of Scotland
I was looking forward to The Guardian but it was too full of cookie-cutter stereotypes to be a good flick.
History shows that the armed forces in WWII were segregated and the majority of blacks in that time were not allowed to fight. They were delegated to mess stewards and manual labor units. The armed services were not desegregated until 1946 when Truman did so under executive order. Even then, it took time to complete.
"BTW: Best movies out right now are the Departed and The Last King of Scotland"
What?? No Employee of the Month????? I see an Oscar for Jessica Simpson ;-)
My son saw 'Departed' last night and said it was "good".
Believe me, when my son says a movie is "good", it must be a potential Oscar winner for best picture.
Watched with my former WWII Marine Dad. He explained that Marines were late to integrate, and that the Army had a lot of blacks. As he recalled, many blacks were cooks, and not in combat role at time of Iwo.
I am also a former Marine, and just came back from my son's graduation from boot camp at MCRD San Diego.
One thing struck me as I watched over 500 new Marines last Friday was the clear absence of Black Americans in numbers similar to my time during Vietnam. Back then I estimate that Black marines were about equal to their proportion in the general population. Friday I was actually shocked at the absence of Blacks from the ranks. My estimate was there were less than 20 out of 576.
Anyone else have similar observations, or a possible explanation as to what might be going on?