Free Republic

It wasn’t a particularly good year for conservative cinema. It rarely is. Yet alongside the cavalcade of ideology, mediocrity and stupidity that is Hollywood today, a few gems shone forth dazzlingly. What is a conservative film? Let’s start with what it isn’t. It’s not about men with bulging biceps and even bigger guns. It’s not cartoonish action heroes. It isn’t revenge tales masquerading as heroism. Conservative cinema does more than entertain; movies that do no more are visual candy. It instructs and inspires. Conservative films celebrate virtue. They tell timeless tales of individuals overcoming all manner of adversity to achieve...

The Great Raid It's a movie about courage and freedom and every American should see it. The Great Raid is in theaters now (Aug. 05), though it may not be for long unless movie-going America quickly realizes that there is a wonderful and inspiring film in its midst, one that celebrates courage, sacrifice and endurance, and which unabashedly proclaims that hope (plus superior firepower and tactical surprise) can conquer all. It is a movie which deserves a vast and appreciative audience. It is 1945, and Douglas MacArthur has returned to the Philippines. More than 500 American survivors of the Bataan...

"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...

Leader of WWII's 'Great Raid' looks back at real-life POW rescue Bob Prince has never taken off the simple gold signet ring that his late wife, Barbara, gave him after they were married at Seattle's Church of the Epiphany on Jan. 31, 1942. It can be seen in a 50-year-old photo taken around their third anniversary, when Prince was an Army Ranger serving an ocean away from Barbara, in the Philippine Islands. Then he was Capt. Robert W. Prince, 25, of the Army's elite Sixth Ranger Battalion. Prince, known for his coolness, just had been hand-picked by a man he...

IT IS TIME to rescue The Great Raid. The Great Raid is in theaters now, though it may not be for long unless movie-going America quickly realizes that there is a wonderful and inspiring film in its midst, one that celebrates courage, sacrifice and endurance, and which unabashedly proclaims that hope (plus superior firepower and tactical surprise) can conquer all. It is a movie which deserves a vast and appreciative audience. It is 1945, and Douglas MacArthur has returned to the Philippines. More than 500 American survivors of the Bataan Death March languish at the Cabanatuan prison camp, and the...

I hereby award the World War II drama "The Great Raid" a Cement Star for faithful and distinguished service to the cause of mediocrity. ...snip... Special citations go to the following lines: "There's not another group of men in this or any other army I'd sooner trust my life with." "We were going to rescue them, or die trying." "You gotta pull through this, pal. Just think of everything you got to look forward to." ...snip ... Director John Dahl is presented with the Misunderstanding of the Service Medal for his stalwart mangling of Army custom. Dahl places his GI's...

Here is a war movie that understands how wars are actually fought. After "Stealth" and its high-tech look-alikes, which make warfare look like a video game, "The Great Raid" shows the hard work and courage of troops whose reality is danger and death. The difference between "Stealth" and "The Great Raid" is the difference between the fantasies of the Pentagon architects of "shock and awe" and the reality of the Marines who were killed in Iraq last week.

As you probably already know, I am not a movie-goer – only set foot in a theater maybe once or twice a year, if that -- for three reasons: (1) most of the ‘stuff’ that passes for cinematic excellence these days is no more visually or intellectually rewarding than staring at road kill, (2) I cringe at the thought of lining the pockets of the politically-activist Hollywood left, and (3) I’d rather be biking. :) With that disclaimer out of the way … Rick and I saw the just-released movie ‘The Great Raid’ last night. Knowing the shared love that...

Movie Review: The Great Raid Here’s my review of The Great Raid for NewsMax. For a Miramax movie, I was surprised by how patriotic and pro-military the film was - and by how positively they depicted Christianity. Jason and I talked with director John Dahl and producer Marty Katz after the screening, and they both expressed tremendous respect for the veterans of the Great Raid on Cabanatuan, and a sincere desire to pay homage to them by depicting their story accurately. John Dahl also spoke emotionally about the fact that his father served in World War II in the Pacific,...

I was just wondering if there are any FReepers who saw The Great Raid last night. A few quick thoughts would be appreciated. thanks

Hearing stories about popping popcorn with Filipino natives in 1945, a former Whiteland resident grew up with a rosy picture of her father’s World War II military service. When he returned home from the Philippines, Cpl. Marvin Kinder liked to tell stories to his 10-year-old daughter, Kathy. But there was one story Kinder didn’t tell his child. It wasn’t until she was 45 that Kathy Hasty found out her father participated in one of the most daring and dangerous rescue missions in U.S. history. In 1945, Kinder was a member of the U.S. Army’s 6th Ranger Battalion, which rescued more...

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Army News Service, Aug. 12, 2005) - Hollywood and the Army continued their cooperative association with the making of the film "The Great Raid." Set in the Philippines near the end World War II, “The Great Raid” tells the true story of the rescue of 500 Prisoners of War by the 6th Ranger Battalion and Filipino guerillas. Infiltrating 30 miles behind Japanese lines, the Rangers risked everything to save men imprisoned for almost three years at the infamous Cabanatuan Japanese POW camp. To provide an accurate portrayal of events, the film makers reached out to the Army...

"The Great Raid": The Year's GREAT Movie By Debbie Schlussel If you love America, "The Great Raid" is the movie for you. If you love freedom and appreciate the fight it takes to sustain it, you'll love this movie. But if you don't appreciate what it takes to protect our life as free Americans--the sacrifices our military men and women make every day, then you must see "The Great Raid." In theaters, today, "The Great Raid" is--hands down--the best movie of the year. It has drama, action, a love story, heroes and villains. And it makes you proud to be...

After more than 40 wars, Dale Dye knows his stuff--and those are just the battles he has fought in films. The veteran of Platoon , Saving Private Ryan, and Band of Brothers began his military-movie-consulting career after racking up three Purple Hearts in the Marines in Vietnam. At age 60, he tweaks scripts, whips actors into shape, directs, and acts; he plays himself on HBO's Entourage, training the main character to be "Aquaman." Not only does he appear as a general in The Great Raid, starring Benjamin Bratt and based on the World War II mission to save 500 American...

The Great Raid. Benjamin Bratt, James Franco, Connie Nielsen, Marton Csokas and Joseph Fiennes. Miramax. W- Carlo Bernard, Doug Miro. D-John Dahl. Opens 8/12/05. The title threw me. I thought it was a western, maybe something about Jesse James or George Custer. I don’t know why; no one makes westerns anymore. Well, it’s not a western. And it’s not a great title. What it is, however, is the best film I’ve seen so far this year. What’s more, it will be difficult to top. Quite simply, it is amazing. Director John Dahl recreates the gritty reality-based story of one of...

Directed by John Dahl, The Great Raid captures the story of WWII’s 6th Ranger Battalion who undertake a daring rescue mission to liberate 500 American prisoners-of-war in the Philippines. The film premiers on Aug 12