Mad Max,
Mad Max - The Road Warrior,
Mad Max - Beyond Thunderdome,
Benny Hill,
Monty Python,
Blackadder,
Zulu (Michael Caine's first movie - and an awesome war movie),
The Alamo (John Wayne - no other version will suffice),
The Green Beret,
Ok, any John Wayne movie,
Any Clint Eastwood movie, but especially the spaghetti westerns,
There's more, but I have to get my daughter ready to go to school and then go to school myself. Where's the coffee??
Andy Griffith's character was PRICELESS, and he played it as only he could. Funny how those two kids were intent to serve in the INFANTRY, where today's recruiting schemes almost never mention the job that is the key element of any military organization!
I laugh so hard EVERY time I see it!
Here's today's Weird Story..........
He still limps a might, that fella who's leg I broke!!
Hollywood And The Stars:
Hollywood Goes To War.
The quality of this print is if anything better than "The Thirties". In the closing minutes of that film, Joseph Cotton mentions the gathering war clouds: here we see Hollywood's response beginning with Bob Hope and a lovely blonde entertaining the troops overseas.
But then every major star is featured doing their bit for the boys including a very lovely Yvonne De Carlo and a rather bored William Powell. Off duty shots of Paul Douglas. Joe E. Brown, Gary Cooper and Clark Gable lead to the credits and the space for the commercial break, (I rather wish Perry's had edited these out but then I suppose it is "authentic"
Hollywood heart-throb Clark Gable goes to war in Perry's excellent new import - see review. A mean and moody Errol Flynn in 'OBJECTIVE BURMA' - see review of 'HOLLYWOOD GOES TO WAR' whatever that means). We then zoom forward to the Korean War and the stars who entertained then including AI Jolson, Debbie Reynolds, Mickey Rooney and Marllyn Monroe at her loveliest.
Joseph Cotton talks about the precedent that was established which meant that is was part of a stars duties to entertain the troops In war time and to prove the point we see historical footage taken from the First World War showing Douglas Fairbanks Snr., Sessue Hayakawa, Sarah Bernhardt, Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford who managed to sell five million dollars worth of War Bonds in a single afternoon.
With the coming of the Second World War we are shown documentary footage of German troops on the march. Their grim aspect is contrasted with the gentler approach to war represented by Robert Montgomery who enlisted early on as an ambulance driver. Paris falls to the Germans and in Hollywood Myrna Loy, Dorothy Lamour, Fred MacMurray and Madeleine Carroll are knitting socks for the war effort. Jimmy Stewart and Douglas Fairbanks Jnr. enlist and then America enters the war for real with the bombing of Pearl Harbour.
It would seem from the footage that follows, that Spielberg's 1941 wasn't so far fetched as I thought. We see how Hollywood prepared for war with gun emplacements concealed beneath tennis courts and "Designer" Barrage Balloons.
Stars glimpsed in uniform include Caesar Romero and Buster Keaton while other stars such as James Cagney, Greer Garson, Fred Astaire, Dorothy Lamour, Cary Grant, Harpo Marx, Hedy Lamarr and a very young Glenn Ford hit the road on War Bond Tours. But it wasn't just through personal appearances that the stars hoped to sell war bonds. We see a fascinating selection of promotional films made during the time for showing in local cinemas. These feature Loretta Young. Jane Withers and some of the most stilted dialogue ever to clunk out of a loudspeaker. Walt Disney is seen sacrificing a metal statue of Bambi for the War Drive, Veronica Lake launches a battleship and then changes her hair style to safe-guard women in factories who have emulated her earlier style.
On a grimmer note, Carole Lombard is seen making her last public appearance before crashing to her death only hours later in a fatal plane crash. Gable enlisted shortly afterwards and this is the cue for a series of candid shots of stars in battle dress Including Tyrone Power, Glenn Ford, Henry Fonda, Gene Kelly, Gene Autry and Wayne Morris. Humbler servicemen are seen being entertained by Hollywood in private homes and at the famous Hollywood Canteen. Marlene Dietrich and Hedy Lamarr appear again as hostesses while entertaining onstage we see Jimmy Durante and Dick Powell looking a little less bored this time. Then it's time for another commercial break. The final third of the film begins with an extract from "Objective Burma". This is contrasted with extracts from some of the great documentaries on the reality of war, produced by such directors as William Wyler and John Huston.
Hollywood shows its gratitude to the foot soldier by arranging tours of the overseas Army and Naval bases. Among the visiting celebrities are glimpsed Joe E. Brown, Rita Hayworth, Jack Benny, Edward G Robinson, Danny Kaye, Gary Cooper again, John Wayne and of course, the man we began with, Bob Hope. He sings, he dances, he jokes, he chews gum, he shoots off a machine gun. Is it any wonder the G.I.s loved him?. In liberated Paris Marlene Dietrich sings her famous "See What the Boys In the Backroom Will Have", Lana Turner fries a steak In front of a microphone to revive memories of home for the boys in the field, Groucho Marx gags about Hollywood's female stars and most movingly of all Judy Garland sings "Over the Rainbow in a Radio Studio. While she sings we cut away to film of celebrations to welcome returning servicemen at the end of war. It is a touching and emotional end to a great six hundred feet of film.
And if that wasn't enough we are treated to a trailer for the following week's episode,, half an hour devoted to a documentary about the filming of Otto Preminger's "The Cardinal".
Apart from their attractions to movie buffs, these are the kind of releases that add interest to any film programme because they reawaken memories in everyone but the youngest of filmgoers. I can only urge you to buy them.
Reviewed by John Cane
Marines providing security make their rounds outside Camp X-ray where Afghan detainees are being kept, Wednesday, April 3, 2002, in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. (AP Photo/Beth A. Keiser)
A U.S. Marine providing security enters Camp X-ray, right, as a detainee is brought back to his cell Wednesday, April 3, 2002, in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. (AP Photo/Beth A. Keiser)
Have a great Friday, everyone!
7 more days till Spring Gobbler season!
I'm ready fer the weekend...this'll be me in a few hours:
Thank you.
Its been awhile sence I seen that #2 picture. :^)
