BLACK HAWK DOWN: MY PERSONAL REVIEW: 2 1/2 STARS

self ^ | 01/18/01 | RaceBannon

[RaceBannon]

Ok, after all the hype, I expected a blockbuster of a movie. Sorry, it aint.

[LurkerNoMore!]

I agree..... apparently it pretty much followed the actual accounts of those Who Were There

Also, the letter in #53 above is from the dad of Ranger with the severed artery.

BTW, I couldn't believe how many young children were in the theater..... with their parents. I guess it isn't easy to find baby sitters these days.

[Hank Rearden]

Is it a 20th Century Fox-produced movie? For the life of me, I can't figure out why Fox News Channel is hyping the hell out of this movie about 47 times a day, on all shows, unless it's a Fox movie.

[noone]

It's not a movie for young children.

[RaceBannon]

I dont get it. I just went to see it again, and liked it much more than the first time! It was like 2 different movies!

Well, I did like it the first time, but it really was better the second time. I saw much less of the Hollywood acting in it as I saw at first, I dunno.

[OK]

Saving Private Ryan went over the top in language

Back in the days before sensitivity training and all, the military was a place where cussing was done just for the fun of it as much as you could. It would be very difficult for any movie to go over the top on this.

I grew up on Marine Corps bases in the 50's and 60's. Marine Corps children were world class cussers. The enlisted Marines I was around used a cuss word in every sentence if at all possible.

When I was in the Navy in 67 to 71 it was the same way. The "F" word was required to be present at least once in each sentence.

[celtic gal]

I find that this movie is going to be like SPR. The more often it is viewed, the more you realize you missed during the first time it was seen. I think it is because you get beyond the hollywood stuff and can concentrate more on the dialogue. I am reading the book. I had it for a time but have been too busy to read it..so I am into it now. So far the movie has followed the book pretty well. My only problem with the movie is that there was not mucht time to devote to introducing the characters. The book fills in that portion better.

[WhiskeyPapa]

I just got back from seeing BHD and it is no BFD.

I didn't like it at all. I guess I will learn some day that Jerry Bruckheimer (sp) makes uniformly bad movies.

This movie had no discernable plot or any characters worthy of interest. It was just a big shoot-em-up. Definitely thumbs down.

Walt

[Nitro]

I may just break down and go see it, I just object to $8.00 a show when I can wait 6 months and catch it cable. I got big screens so I don't miss much!!

[cactmh]

You never cease to amaze me, you old fool.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT E.T. DIED!!!!!!

[whenigettime]

I am going to put my foot in my mouth, Mr. RaceBannon, sir. In my inexperienced opinion, BHD has made me proud to be an American seeing what those special ops forces had to do under the almost skeletal circumstances they were given. I am an RN by trade and can rip apart any medical scene that Hollywood produces. I am certain you do the same with war scenes. Thank you for your service to our country. Thanks also for your review, however, I still give BHD higher ratings for such a viewer as myself. 5 stars, in my book

[BradyLS]

During my time with the 1/75, we had an event that occured a couple times a year called "Banner Day." On Banner Day, various athletic and soldierly events were held among select individuals and teams from each company for the honor of being the premiere company until the next Banner Day.

Each company also presented a two or three skits that lampooned officers, NCOs, and soldiers alike, the situations they were in, often with a lot of pop culture references thrown in. Sometimes the skits were very cutting, but it was (and probably still is) an excellent platform for the soldiers to spotlight messed up policies, practices, and situations in a hilarious way that avoided clear disrespect. (The names of the pilloried, for example, were rarely if ever used. But we "knew" who and what were being addressed.) Goodale's rant (if I have the character correct) would have fit right in.

[Travis McGee]

I salute you.

And you are exactly right, it is a great movie about Americans in a chaotic street battle, not a "film" about character development.

Four stars for one of the greatest war flicks ever made.

Another great one (off the top of my head) is "Cross of Iron" with James Coburn, about a German "Lost Patrol" in the Crimea.

[Fred Mertz]

"Cross of Iron" is one of my favorite war flicks. Nobody else thinks so though; besides you that is.

[Travis McGee]

Cross of Iron is also an excellent novel with a slightly different ending.

Another great "Russian Front" novel is "The Black March" about Waffen SS in Ukraine then almost to Stalingrad.

[Travis McGee]

SPR had some really terrible aspects, accuracy wise. To me the worst was the prolonged segment with the "experienced" recon patrol going forward into German contested areas, just strolling through open fields, "smoking and joking", oblivious to potential snipers, or machine gun ambush. Folks, that was a BAD JOKE!!!!!!!! Recruits might do that once on manuevers in the states, but an "experienced" recon platoon near German lines??? Not in a billion years.

[GOPyouth]

The Thin Red Line was the biggest piece of shit that I have ever witnessed.

I walked out on that worthless movie.

[junta]

Best novel on WWII is "Forgotten Soldier" written by a young man from Aslace France and because of him having a German mother was able to participate with the losers. He first tries to join Rudel's Stutka squadron but flunks their test so he is assigned to a supply unit and then in a youthful indiscretion (looking for valor) joins the Grosse Deutschland division as a leg with his good buddy. It proves two things that stand out at this early hour, one that literature is the highest art form from France and secondly what they went thru is nearly incomprehensible to try and fathom. I highly recommend this book.