Request input for COIN related movie bits

[Eden]

In Go Tell the Spartans (1978), there is a classic scene between Burt Lancaster and a nerdish young MI officer (played, I think, by David Clennon - or was it Joe Unger?). The MI officer is armed with statistics, charts, and computer readouts and is trying to advise Lancaster where and when the next VC attack will take place. He, of course, is the world-weary US adviser who relies on instinct and experience. Illustrates the tension between warfighters, theorists, and analysts - much like what you get on this forum. A lot of other great material in this lesser-known gem.

Would also recommend the knife-fight from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

[Vic Bout]

Thanks Tom. It's amazing what a few baht strewn about can do.

I should have mentioned that the OPD (officer professional development)/NCOPD (non-commissioned officer development) presentations will be directed at leaders at the tactical level...prolly battalion and below. Kind of a COIN grassroots kick-start primer. Anticipate primary audience to be units, National Guard, Reserve and Active, that haven't deployed or have had a lengthy lag between deployments.

[patmc]

Red Dawn, discussed on this site as Guerilla War classic. Movie is much deeper than one would suspect from Patrick Swayze, though Roadhouse was Tao. Hard to pick one scene.

The Quiet American. Graham Greene's novel of an American trying to help "the locals" with the best of intentions, though his methods are suspect and dangerous. Michael Caine, playing the expatriate reporter, realizes Brendan Frazier, Aid worker's true identity.

Breaker Morant. What is ethical, who is a combatant, what is justice in war?
Australian Soldiers are tried for murdering a priest accused of aiding the Bo'ers in South Africa. Again, hard to pick just one scene. maybe the "confession" by the Australians, talking about what really happened.

[CR6]

In a 2006 Washington Post article
T.X. Hammes recommends "In the Name of the Father" as a cautionary tale regarding overly zealous interrogations of suspected insurgents.

Breaker Morant.

Good one.

[Buck Elton]

Vic,

Here is a link to a 12 minute video I put together using Kennedy's speech. I have a high def (75 Meg) version I could mail you if you are interested.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=27e_1205470676

Buck

[SWCAdmin]

+1 Breaker Morant

There are some great scenes in Farewell to the King, in general one of my favorite niche movies. But they are far more IW / SF or something else other than COIN.

You asked re copyrights. I attempted one time to get legit permissions for use of a clip from the Siege for an official homeland defense presentation. It is an unbelievable nuisance. You have to get multiple permissions from the studio, the individual credited actors who are on screen in the clip(s) you intend to use, etc. etc. Even with a Hollywood LnO, it proved untenable in our timeframe. In my naivete I figured it must be doable. It probably is, but too hard for 99%+. I now understand why the "don't do it" and "don't ask" COAs are so popular.

Here's a good resource on copyrights, http://fairuse.stanford.edu/

[davidbfpo]

I personally liked 'Lost Command', a film starring Anthony Quinn, as a French paratroop officer, starts with Vietnam and ends in Algeria. Link to amazon site: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lost-Command.../dp/B000065UHS and a better reviews: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060637/usercomments and http://www.epinions.com/content_115767742084

davidbfpo