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Post by Deleted on May 28, 2019 11:28:54 GMT -5
I have watched a lot of War Movies over the past three days and most of them that I have seen before.
1) Midway (1976) 2) The Battle of Britain (1969) 3) The Flying Leathernecks (1951) 4) Sinking of the Bismarck (1960) 5) The Devil's Brigade (1968) 6) The Desert Rats (1953) 7) Operation Crossbow (1965) 8) Patton (1970) 9) The Last Days of Patton (1986)
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Post by codystarbuck on May 28, 2019 23:13:24 GMT -5
I have watched a lot of War Movies over the past three days and most of them that I have seen before. 1) Midway (1976) 2) The Battle of Britain (1969) 3) The Flying Leathernecks (1951) 4) Sinking of the Bismarck (1960) 5) The Devil's Brigade (1968) 6) The Desert Rats (1953) 7) Operation Crossbow (1965) 8) Patton (1970) 9) The Last Days of Patton (1986) !. Midway-Great film, though, if you aren't a history buff, it is probably kind of boring. Really covers the buildup to the battle, the code breaking efforts, the Japanese strategy and how narrow a victory it was and how important it was. Repurposes footage from 30 Seconds Over Tokyo, Tora, Tora, Tora and Battle of Britain (if you look closely in a couple of dogfights, you can see German markings and Messerschmitts). 2. Battle of Britain-one of the last big cast war pictures, until Midway and A Bridge Too Far. Exciting stuff; but, probably suffers a bit, in the pacing. You can see a young Ian McShane in it. 3. Flying Leathernecks-John Wayne fantasy, not history; but, you know, the Duke. 4. Sink the Bismark-not what you expect in a war movie, based on the book by CS Forrester, author of the Hornblower series. Covers the strategy of hunting down the battleship well, the cost in lives, and how thin a rope Britain was hanging on, in these early days. Kenneth More is excellent. The WREN character was quite good, too. 5. The Devil's Brigade-another fantasy; but based a bit more on reality than the Duke. Anti-authoritarian flavor too it, great character actors; love the scene where Claude Akins gets his comeuppance from the hand-to-hand instructor (who was based on the actual instructor for the group) 6. Desert Rats-Not as well known as The Desert Fox (James Mason has a cameo, as Rommell); but, nice little film about the desert fighting and the raiding parties. The Desert Campaign was about as close as it got to a clean war, with few civilian casualties (apart from places like Tobruk), where logistics played as big a role as firepower and air support. Nice to see Robert Newton without the pirate bit. 7. Operation Crossbow-Decent little espionage thriller, with George Peppard as the lead; he's kind of subdued and doesn't quite have the presence of a Burton or Gregory Peck. Different flavor of film than a lot of the era. 8. Patton-monster of a film about an immense and divisive figure. Scott is in his glory as Old Blood and Guts (Our blood, his guts). Bit more flamboyant that the real Patton, though not by much. 9. Last Days of Patton-remember hearing about the upcoming broadcast of it; but, never caught it, with Scott returning to the role. Watch this and ignore that BS book from Bill O'Reilly. In this line I would add The Big Red One (highly underrated), Go For Broke (about the Nisei, in WW2), A Bridge Too Far (about the failure of Operation Market Garden), Never So Few (about the OSS & SOE operations in Burma, with young Steve McQueen and older Frank Sinatra), and Is Paris Burning? (about the liberation of Paris, including the uprising by the Resistance). By the by, I remember seeing the trailer for Rocky, when my dad took us to see Midway. That might have also been where we saw the teaser trailer for Star Wars, though I think that was probably later.
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Post by brutalis on Jun 6, 2019 8:22:21 GMT -5
Midweek mind restorative watching a pair of George O'Brien westerns. You do remember George don't you? Big, strong, affable good looking, smile upon his face as he punches you? Started in the silent films, went to WWI in 1917, becoming light heavyweight boxing champ of the Pacific Fleet. Then back into the movies in the 20's and into talkies in the 30's, becoming a consistent Top 10 box office draw and making lots of westerns along the way. Went to WWII in the Navy and afterwards had small parts in John Ford movies and his last movie was in 1951 with the Three Stooges. He was a splendid, solid kind of actor that the ladies liked looking at and the guys wished they could be. I watched Lawless Valley an RKO western from 1938. O'Brien is paroled from prison after serving 1 1/2 years of a 5 year sentence where he was framed for a robbery and it is said his father having committed suicide. Returning to the town where it all happened O'Brien picks up a friend on the train ride home and together they set about to proving his father's death wasn't a suicide and clearing O'Brien's name and reclaiming the lady he loves. A nice solid movie with O'Brien doing lots of his own stunt fights (since he can't carry a gun which would break his parole) rather than the usual shoot em' ups. Arizona Legion from 1939 another RKO picture has O'Brien playing a young dude who has sold his ranch and cattle while now spending his days drinking, gambling and hanging with disreputable types. His fiance has broken off their relationship not realizing that it is all a ruse. O'Brien has been empowered by the Arizona Governor to form the Arizona Rangers and that he is working undercover to infiltrate the local gang and finding out who the leader is. Eventually all comes out in the end and with the help of a friend in the local Cavalry the gang is broken up, stolen money recovered and O'Brien and his lady are reunited. Both have a young skinny Chill Will's as costar (nearly unrecognizable until you hear his voice) and both are strongly written and basic hero beats the villain morality plays. Entertaining and fast moving with a bit of stronger acting while playing upon basic western stereo types. Just nice solid entertainment with out a lot of preaching or violence and blood and guts. Movies of the good old days
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Post by berkley on Jun 7, 2019 1:20:39 GMT -5
I have watched a lot of War Movies over the past three days and most of them that I have seen before. 1) Midway (1976) 2) The Battle of Britain (1969) 3) The Flying Leathernecks (1951) 4) Sinking of the Bismarck (1960) 5) The Devil's Brigade (1968) 6) The Desert Rats (1953) 7) Operation Crossbow (1965) 8) Patton (1970) 9) The Last Days of Patton (1986) 5. The Devil's Brigade-another fantasy; but based a bit more on reality than the Duke. Anti-authoritarian flavor too it, great character actors; love the scene where Claude Akins gets his comeuppance from the hand-to-hand instructor (who was based on the actual instructor for the group) 7. Operation Crossbow-Decent little espionage thriller, with George Peppard as the lead; he's kind of subdued and doesn't quite have the presence of a Burton or Gregory Peck. Different flavor of film than a lot of the era. I'm not a big war movie guy in general and haven't seen a single one of those, except for the Devil's Brigade, which I remember watching part of on tv back in the early 70s. All I remember is the scene where the Canadian soldiers, wearing kilts IIRC, have a big brawl with the Americans. I think that was pretty early on in the story so it could be that I only saw the first part. Or maybe that's just the scene that happened to stick with me - I would have been pretty young at the time, probably 10-12 years old. Funny, in my memory, I always assumed it was an older film from the 50s, for some reason. Just looked it up on wiki and was surprised to see it was made in 1968.
Operation Crossbow sounds like the one I'd most like to see out of that list. I always liked George Peppard in stuff - apart from the A-team, oddly enough, which I could never get into.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 7, 2019 6:52:43 GMT -5
I watched the THE LONGEST DAY on TCM ... that's one of my favorites.
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Post by String on Jun 7, 2019 11:39:35 GMT -5
I watched the THE LONGEST DAY on TCM ... that's one of my favorites. Before they aired that, I caught Battle of Britain which I had never seen before. Terrific cast, Robert Shaw, Christopher Plummer, Sir Laurence, a young Michael Caine, even younger Ian McShane. I enjoyed it overall, great seeing all the vintage aircraft in use, the dogfight scenes were good. I've never seen The Longest Day before either. Although I had heard criticism that some of the actors were considered too old to play the roles they had (especially the Duke). Either way, very good with balancing the focus between the Allie forces, the German forces, and the French resistance. The black and white format really worked well too. Unfortunately, I had worked yesterday so fell asleep before the film finished. May need to track down a DVD copy to finish watching it.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 7, 2019 12:13:12 GMT -5
5. The Devil's Brigade-another fantasy; but based a bit more on reality than the Duke. Anti-authoritarian flavor too it, great character actors; love the scene where Claude Akins gets his comeuppance from the hand-to-hand instructor (who was based on the actual instructor for the group) 7. Operation Crossbow-Decent little espionage thriller, with George Peppard as the lead; he's kind of subdued and doesn't quite have the presence of a Burton or Gregory Peck. Different flavor of film than a lot of the era. I'm not a big war movie guy in general and haven't seen a single one of those, except for the Devil's Brigade, which I remember watching part of on tv back in the early 70s. All I remember is the scene where the Canadian soldiers, wearing kilts IIRC, have a big brawl with the Americans. I think that was pretty early on in the story so it could be that I only saw the first part. Or maybe that's just the scene that happened to stick with me - I would have been pretty young at the time, probably 10-12 years old. Funny, in my memory, I always assumed it was an older film from the 50s, for some reason. Just looked it up on wiki and was surprised to see it was made in 1968.
Operation Crossbow sounds like the one I'd most like to see out of that list. I always liked George Peppard in stuff - apart from the A-team, oddly enough, which I could never get into.
There is a big brawl; but, it's between the Canadians & Americans and some a-hole civilian lumberjacks. Part of the premise of the film (which was not true of the real unit) was that the Canadians were the cream of the crop of the Canadian Army and the Americans were misfits and disciplinary problems, because Washington was trying to scuttle the project. The Americans have a big brawl, at the start, when the Canadians come marching in (to "Scotland the Brave") to formation, and the Americans all stop fighting and stare, dumbfounded. Later, in barracks, some of the Americans try to needle the Canadians, and come close to blows, when the corporal, played by Jack Watson, reminds the Canadians of their orders (stopping Richard Dawson, in a rather broad accent). Cliff Robertson is their Irish Major, who informs William Holden, the colonel and CO, that the Canadians have been ordered not to engage in brawls or activities that would bring disgrace upon the regiment and suggests similar orders for the Americans, which ruffles Holden's feathers. Claude Akins' character, Rocky, is the worst and he bullies people throughout the training, even getting some shots in on Watson (Cpl Peacock). Then, they bring in an Irish hand-to-hand instructor, without revealing who he is, to goad Akins into attacking him, in the mess hall, and he proceeds the throw him all over the room, then introduces himself to the men. Later, at a civilian bar, Akins is stewing and is getting drunk, with plans of going after Peacock and the other Canadians, as the women seem to be drawn to them. He is about to go pick a fight, when the lumberjacks show up. The Canadians hold back from the taunting of the civilians, then Akins sticks his nose in, defending them, leading to the big brawl. At that point, the unit comes together as one. The mess hall scene... Bar brawl...
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 7, 2019 12:24:06 GMT -5
ps the MP at the end is Norman Alden, aka Aquaman!
Here's the arrival of the Canadians...
The movie is mostly fiction, though based on the 1st Special Service Force, one of the forefathers of the US Army Special Forces (as well as the OSS). It was a combined force of Canadians and Americans; but, the Americans were volunteers and soldiers with exemplary records. They were originally formed for a planned invasion of Norway, with the idea of putting them in there to wreak havoc on the Germans, from a secret base, until the Allies affected landings. The idea was finally axed as a bit too starry-eyed. The unit was almost disbanded, which is one of the accurate elements of the film. Their CO went to Washington and fought for them, ultimately getting them assigned to the Italian Theater, where they took part in many operations and earned their name. The climactic attack on a German mountain position is based on an actual assault.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 7, 2019 20:17:50 GMT -5
I watched the THE LONGEST DAY on TCM ... that's one of my favorites. Before they aired that, I caught Battle of Britain which I had never seen before. Terrific cast, Robert Shaw, Christopher Plummer, Sir Laurence, a young Michael Caine, even younger Ian McShane. I enjoyed it overall, great seeing all the vintage aircraft in use, the dogfight scenes were good. I've never seen The Longest Day before either. Although I had heard criticism that some of the actors were considered too old to play the roles they had (especially the Duke). Either way, very good with balancing the focus between the Allie forces, the German forces, and the French resistance. The black and white format really worked well too. Unfortunately, I had worked yesterday so fell asleep before the film finished. May need to track down a DVD copy to finish watching it. I watch the Britain movie the other day on another channel ... it's a favorite of mine and the Longest Day is an great film and I really enjoyed it. Thanks for your comments.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 7, 2019 22:55:37 GMT -5
I watched the THE LONGEST DAY on TCM ... that's one of my favorites. Before they aired that, I caught Battle of Britain which I had never seen before. Terrific cast, Robert Shaw, Christopher Plummer, Sir Laurence, a young Michael Caine, even younger Ian McShane. I enjoyed it overall, great seeing all the vintage aircraft in use, the dogfight scenes were good. I've never seen The Longest Day before either. Although I had heard criticism that some of the actors were considered too old to play the roles they had (especially the Duke). Either way, very good with balancing the focus between the Allie forces, the German forces, and the French resistance. The black and white format really worked well too. Unfortunately, I had worked yesterday so fell asleep before the film finished. May need to track down a DVD copy to finish watching it. Longest Day is based on the book, by Cornelius Ryan, who interviewed tons of people. Both covered a fairly wide scope, they most of the focus is on the American sectors. The film is a bit more balanced on that note, though they don't spend much time on the British beaches (especially Sword, which was a harder slog, though that is where Lovat and his commandos landed). It ignores Juno, the Canadian sector, completely. The depiction of Operation Deadstick, the British glider assault on what became known as teh Pegasus Bridge, is very well done and is a source of trivia, for the film. Richard Todd plays the assault leader, Maj. John Howard, who leads the coup de main attack. In actuality, Todd was a Para and was at Normandy. He was part of the airdrop that followed the gliders and reinforced Howard's assault force. He was offered the chance to portray himself, in a more active role; but, chose, instead, to portray Howard. Another actor plays Todd, as he reports to Maj Howard. Todd was most famous for The Dam Busters, portraying the leader of the bombing attack on the German dams, with bouncing bombs. My favorite appearance in the film is Bernard Fox, who played Dr Bombay. on Bewitched. I watched Bewitched through my childhood, then saw this movie later and there's Dr Bombay eating his dinner, in the rain, with a Yorkshire accent, rather than his normal English Gentleman (I say, wot?).
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Post by Hoosier X on Jun 8, 2019 8:12:11 GMT -5
Did anybody watch Attack! (1956) last night?
Eddie Albert (Oliver Douglas on "Green Acres") is a US Army captain with a yellow streak whose indecision is endangering the company as they make their way across France late in 1944. Lee Marvin is the colonel who protects him because they know each other from before the war and Eddie Albert's father is a very influential judge.
The rest of the cast: Jack Palance, Buddy Ebsen, Robert Strauss, Richard Jaeckel, Strother Martin and a few other recognizable faces.
I thought I'd seen all the really good war movies of the 1950s.
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Post by beccabear67 on Jun 8, 2019 12:46:00 GMT -5
Longest Day is based on the book, by Cornelius Ryan, who interviewed tons of people. Ryan also wrote A Bridge Too Far, and a movie was made of that... my father was a little toddler in the reality of all that Operation Market Garden stuff and will be over there in Arnhem just near the start of any 75th anniversary activity.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 8, 2019 17:02:04 GMT -5
Longest Day is based on the book, by Cornelius Ryan, who interviewed tons of people. Ryan also wrote A Bridge Too Far, and a movie was made of that... my father was a little toddler in the reality of all that Operation Market Garden stuff and will be over there in Arnhem just near the start of any 75th anniversary activity. Yeah, used to have both books; but, I do own both movies. Bridge is an underrated film, which didn't do that well at the box office, since the Allies don't really win the fight and Arnheim was such a slaughterhouse. Enjoyed Sean Connery, as Gen Urquhart and Anthony Hopkins as Maj Frost, especially. Edward Fox has a ball as Gen Brian Horrocks, CO of XXX Corps. XXX Corps was one of the best British units in the war and Horrocks was one of the British generals that Eisenhower respected the most. His men would follow him into fire. He appears in interviews in the british documentary series, The World at War and speaks very candidly about orders he gave during the battles to cross the Rhine and the cost in lives, on the German side. he said it was one of the most horric decisions he ever made and didn't sugarcoat it, which was refreshing. Interesting bit of trivia, there. Garrick Hagon, who played Biggs, in Star Wars, also appears in this, as a radio operator, with the HQ section of one of the American Airborne units. He had to have his hair cut for Bridge, then, had to go back to shoot scenes for the X-Wing attack, for Star Wars and was worried about continuity with his earlier scenes, on Tatooine. Lucas just said, "Don't worry; you had it cut at the Academy." As it was, in the released film, you only ever see Biggs wearing his flight helmet, in the attack, with all of his other scenes cut from the film.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2019 9:23:11 GMT -5
Did anybody watch Attack! (1956) last night? Eddie Albert (Oliver Douglas on "Green Acres") is a US Army captain with a yellow streak whose indecision is endangering the company as they make their way across France late in 1944. Lee Marvin is the colonel who protects him because they know each other from before the war and Eddie Albert's father is a very influential judge. The rest of the cast: Jack Palance, Buddy Ebsen, Robert Strauss, Richard Jaeckel, Strother Martin and a few other recognizable faces. I thought I'd seen all the really good war movies of the 1950s. I saw that too and it was excellent and noteworthy movie and I was surprised to see both Buddy Ebsen and Strother Martin in it and they did their roles quite excellent.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 19, 2019 22:24:49 GMT -5
So after reading Hammett's novel, I indulged in one of my perennial movie favorites... with an eye at seeing how well the adaptation lined up with the book. It is an amazingly faithful adaptation-there are bits left out or condensed, but those are mostly things to make it work as a movie within the typical run length, or because they weren't viable content for movies at the time and would not have gotten past studio censors. This is one of those films I first discovered in high school, and have re-watched several times over the years, and I seem to like it more each time I see it and discover something else about the film every time I watch it. Now, having read the book, it opens up even more layers to the watching of the film. -M
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