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 Post subject: Thoughts on War Epics
PostPosted: Wed Apr 05, 2017 10:11 am 
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For decades, the film industry has made war epics with large casts of A list stars with the hopes of cashing in. Some of the epics paid off, some didn’t. I’ll discuss some of the epics here with a list of what worked, and what didn’t work.
The Best:
1) In Harm’s Way-Otto Preminger executive produced and directed this movie. John Wayne was in the lead, but he was held in check by Preminger, no fistfights or gunfights in this one. Wayne also didn’t get to use his full bag of histrionics, being forced to act the character in this one. The movie was loosely based on true events, so the purists could grumble about this and that. The U.S. Navy still had WW2 ships in use when this movie was made in 1964. There is extensive filming on a Baltimore class heavy cruiser. Also, in the Pearl Harbor attack, the planes dropping real bombs appeared too soon, almost catching the camera crew unaware. A bomb was dropped next to a Fletcher class destroyer. You actually see the aft section of the destroyer lift and drop three feet. The sailors in the aft section must’ve has headaches and ringing ears from the blast. Preminger’s direction and the intention towards authenticity makes this my favorite war epic.
2) How The West Was Won-This movie had a section on the Civil War, so it applies here. John Wayne played General Sherman and Harry Morgan played General Grant. Both men were horribly miscast. Debbie Reynolds outshines pretty much everyone in the cast, even when working with veteran actors, like Jimmy Stewart, Gregory Peck, and Robert Preston. The movie follows the Prescott family, presumably from about 1830 to 1900. The score was stirring, and even though a sanitized version of the move west was given, the story depicts some hardship. Speaking of hardship, the movie lost 3 million dollars.

3) The Battle of Britain-Painstaking care was made to find both the correct planes and uniforms for this movie. The movie posted a 10 million dollar loss, but left us with not only great footage, but also incredible dog fighting scenes. A piece of trivia from the film: A B-25 Mitchell bomber, owned and piloted by Jeff Hawke and his co-pilot Duane Egli, was converted into a camera plane. Cameras were fitted into the nose, tail, dorsal, and belly turrets, the nose being fitted with an optically perfect dome. The plane was painted in many bright colors, so it would look different from all angles, and would be easily seen by other planes. It was nicknamed the "Psychedelic Monster". Eventually flown back to the U.S., it sat derelict for many years in New Jersey, before being restored back to flying condition in Florida. Flown in air shows for many years as "Chapter XI", referring to the high cost of flying, but later repainted as "Lucky Lady".

The Worst:

3) Midway-I like that the film depicted the battle, pretty much as it really happened. Where Tora Tora Tora was superior was that it actually used Japanese actors in Japan. Midway used Japanese-Americans, filmed in America. Finally, Midway sank into political correctness, unnecessarily, over the issue of Japanese internment during WW2. Was it wrong? You bet. Did it need to be in this movie? No. The internment section was included because of the success, a year earlier, of a movie called Farewell to Manzanar.

2) Saving Private Ryan-My father served in Patton’s Third Army, across North Africa, Sicily, wounded at Naples, recuperated in time to make the second wave at D-Day. Got the “million dollar” shoulder wound in Luxemburg during the Battle of the Bulge. Speaking with him and his contemporaries, if a soldier was told that his three brothers was dead, he was needed home, he would’ve left immediately-damn skippy. The story was contrived. What happened at Omaha Beach was ugly and gruesome. Spielberg used grainy film to give it a “You’re right there on the beach” feel, but those of us who have actually been shot at and have had to fight for our lives don’t feel the need to have the scene realistically depicted. Finally, there’s a scene, just after the troops make a beach head where a father hands off his preteen daughter to the troops, but stays behind, with his wife, in the shattered remains of their house. This made me feel slimy, although the troops protected her and were noble throughout. What was Spielberg trying to say here?

1) The Worst-Pearl Harbor-This movie would lead us to believe that a pilot served in The Battle of Britain, got to the U.S. in time to fly at Pearl Harbor, then volunteered to fly in the Doolittle Raid. What a pile of crap. Then, the movie could have used CGI for the Pearl Harbor attack, but instead used modern day destroyers in Pearl Harbor scenes. Are you kidding me? This movie sucked, bad.


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