Movie goof

[noman]

In at least one comic and probably countless war movies the hero takes the pin out of an grenade to arm it by using his teeth....Busted myth see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythBus...nade_Hero...so how did this get started?

Well a 1920's movie "The Big Parade" Shows the War hero arming a grenade just this way....probably more dramatic for the auidiance this way.....

[scelli]

Originally Posted by noman

In at least one comic and probably countless war movies the hero takes the pin out of an grenade to arm it by using his teeth....Busted myth see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythBus...nade_Hero...so how did this get started?

Well a 1920's movie "The Big Parade" Shows the War hero arming a grenade just this way....probably more dramatic for the auidiance this way.....

Cataloging movie goofs involving the portrayal of the US military in Hollywood movies could be a full-time profession. I myself go absolutely bonkers when watching a film where the producers haven't cared enough to do their homework and instead allow a myriad of falsehoods to be swallowed by a gullible public who for the most part doesn't know any better. It's a subject no sane individual wants to get me started on and in fact just last week someone asked me yet once again to comment regarding the realism of a the motion picture A Few Good Men.

[David of Galilee]

I know the feeling. When yet another Napoleon/Waterloo movie came out in 1970 with a great cast, including Rod Stieger and Christopher Plummer,I had great hopes. Then they had to spoil it all by having the pipers attached to Highland regiments play pipe tunes that hadn't even been composed at the time. Some wrong trim on tunics, and incorrect button arrangements, which doesn't bother me, in an otherwise above-average war movie. Stieger played a great fat, dyspeptic, paranoid, worn-out Napoleon. and Plummer did an equally nice job portraying the aristocratic Irishman (usually mistaken as English, as he was a British Army general).

Most Israeli war-themed movies (aside from the older army comedy films!) have some great realism, as most of the actors will have served in the IDF, and may still be doing reserve duty. But how widely Hebrew language films, even with subtitles, are distributed abroad, I don't know. Our war films are never really about the fighting, and very different from US, British and other war films. Israeli war films tend toward the idea that war creates trauma, not heroes, and that victory can be as hard as defeat.

And I have noticed unmilitary haircuts in many Hollywood war films!

How do you all think of BLACK HAWK DOWN? In a way, I really hope to hear that it was NOT accurate, as it depicts a horrible waste of what were originally motivated, well-trained soldiers. I really hope it was pure Hollywood! But maybe the technical side was good?

[scelli]

Originally Posted by David of Galilee

I know the feeling. When yet another Napoleon/Waterloo movie came out in 1970 with a great cast, including Rod Stieger and Christopher Plummer,I had great hopes. Then they had to spoil it all by having the pipers attached to Highland regiments play pipe tunes that hadn't even been composed at the time. Some wrong trim on tunics, and incorrect button arrangements, which doesn't bother me, in an otherwise above-average war movie. Stieger played a great fat, dyspeptic, paranoid, worn-out Napoleon. and Plummer did an equally nice job portraying the aristocratic Irishman (usually mistaken as English, as he was a British Army general).

Most Israeli war-themed movies (aside from the older army comedy films!) have some great realism, as most of the actors will have served in the IDF, and may still be doing reserve duty. But how widely Hebrew language films, even with subtitles, are distributed abroad, I don't know. Our war films are never really about the fighting, and very different from US, British and other war films. Israeli war films tend toward the idea that war creates trauma, not heroes, and that victory can be as hard as defeat.

And I have noticed unmilitary haircuts in many Hollywood war films!

How do you all think of BLACK HAWK DOWN? In a way, I really hope to hear that it was NOT accurate, as it depicts a horrible waste of what were originally motivated, well-trained soldiers. I really hope it was pure Hollywood! But maybe the technical side was good?

First saw the Steiger film Waterloo on a plane in 1971 sometime after it first came out in 1970. Was the shortened 35mm version and found the flick fairly interesting, but never viewed the film again until obtaining a hard-to-find DVD copy a few years ago. I also own the 1927 Abel Ganze silent epic Napoleon on VHS tape and love it.

Black Hawk Down actually wasn't bad, all things considered. Some of the radio traffic communication was pure nonsense if I recall correctly, but the same problem exists in a lot of Hollywood movies regarding that particular area because military radio operators have their own lingo that wasn't used just to sound cool...this was absolutely necessary to get the message across in the shortest possible time without garbling it. I know because radiotelephone operator was one of my MOS designations and learning to be a good RTO takes time, effort and most of all a great deal of hands-on experience.

Just one example of Hollywood ineptitude: Out of the numerous films I despise in the genre depicting the US military in general and especially our involvement in Vietnam, the worst piece of crap ever unleashed on the world was the disgraceful Mel Gibson atrocity We Were Soldiers. To make matters even worse, the individual who wrote the book supposedly acted as an advisor on the film. I'll never forget ranting for weeks about such a steaming pile of dog dung and still angers me to even think about it as I'm writing this.

[Little Rock]

Shalom Scelli.

Hollywood films and accuracy are most often oxymorons which in a way is kind of fitting as many of those making those films are morons. I find it stunning at just how far from actual events many Hollywood and/or British films are. How about, CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE with Errol Flyn whereim the setting of the charge was moved from the Crimea to India? Or ZULU with Michael Caine where the 24th Regiment of Foot was portrayed as a Welsh regiment which it really wasn't at the time of the battle of Roarke's Drift nor was MEN OF HARLECH the regimental song? How about 300? That film had so many inaccuracies in it that it was almost a comedy/fantasy. To start with, when the Spartans broke ranks to do battle? Whenever the Phalanx broke like that in real life it was usually just before their end.

If I have even a hope of watching an accurate portrayal of a battle I'll avoid the theatrical films and hope to find a decent documentary on it. Like I said Hollywood and accuracy in war films are oxymorons.

Cheers from Peter

[scelli]

Originally Posted by Little Rock

Shalom Scelli.

Hollywood films and accuracy are most often oxymorons which in a way is kind of fitting as many of those making those films are morons.
If I have even a hope of watching an accurate portrayal of a battle I'll avoid the theatrical films and hope to find a decent documentary on it. Like I said Hollywood and accuracy in war films are oxymorons.

One of my "favorites" (if it can be phrased like that) is in that ridiculous movie The Deer Hunter which depicts Robert DeNiro wearing a beard/goatee while in US Army Class A and B uniforms.

What a joke.

[noman]

In Black Hawk Down mostly accurate although several of the characters are composites.....

During WW II Doolittle raid of Tokyo was made as "Thirty Seconds over Tokyo" }Ted Lawson who wrote the book was a consultant I think...only goof is having Spencer Tracy as Jimmy Doolittle {Doolittle didnt have that much hair!} Still more accurate than most of those mushy slop for the home crowd....One of the worst movies on the Doolittle Raiders was that Reagon area movie Pearl Harbor.....absolutely ghastly mismash...

[scelli]

Originally Posted by noman

In at least one comic and probably countless war movies the hero takes the pin out of an grenade to arm it by using his teeth....Busted myth see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythBus...nade_Hero...so how did this get started?

Well a 1920's movie "The Big Parade" Shows the War hero arming a grenade just this way....probably more dramatic for the auidiance this way.....

Have owned The Big Parade for many years and don't recall that particular hand grenade scene at the moment, but will look for it next time I watch the film. Don't know enough about WWI from a historical perspective to spot major goofs in procedures, weapons, uniforms and the like worn during that time period, but can tell you the film's most famous scene of grunts walking through a forest full of enemy snipers was at the time (and still remains today) an extremely realistic depiction.