The trailer I saw on HBO last night had a lot of philosophical-sounding rhetoric coming from Marines in combat. Don't recall a ton of that in With the Old Breed, but it's been awhile.
Looks like they definitely spent money on screen, though. I'll be watching.
There wasn't, really. Helmet for my Pillow had more of that, but (IMO) it's also not as well-written. Not sure that I like the idea of wedging Iwo Jima in with the First Marine Division, either. We've already had a spate of Iwo movies, and the campaigns of the First Marine Division are for the most part glossed over as something that happened between the Canal and Oki. Peleliu was really a foreshadowing of Iwo, and Cape Gloucester was a nasty place as well.Originally Posted by tequila
One of the strengths of "Band of Brothers" was the focus on one unit. Wedging Iwo into the story really breaks that up, IMO.
"On the plains and mountains of the American West, the United States Army had once learned everything there was to learn about hit-and-run tactics and guerrilla warfare."
T.R. Fehrenbach This Kind of War
I look forward to this, but agree, no need to add Iwo; the 1st Division carried plenty of water in their own operations.
Of course, with two uncles who earned their CIBs the hard way in the Pacific; one with the 41st Division, and one with the 25th; I personally believe it is a missed opportunity to simply re-tell the Corp's great legacy in the Pacific when so much of the fighting, bleeding and amphibious assaults for that matter, were executed unsung in MacArthur's long shadow by Army Infantry.
Robert C. Jones
Intellectus Supra Scientia
(Understanding is more important than Knowledge)
"The modern COIN mindset is when one arrogantly goes to some foreign land and attempts to make those who live there a lesser version of one's self. The FID mindset is when one humbly goes to some foreign land and seeks first to understand, and then to help in some small way for those who live there to be the best version of their own self." Colonel Robert C. Jones, US Army Special Forces (Retired)
Or they could have gone to the folks that MacArthur often left to mop up...the ANZACs. Not as big an American audience, granted, but still a story well worth telling.
"On the plains and mountains of the American West, the United States Army had once learned everything there was to learn about hit-and-run tactics and guerrilla warfare."
T.R. Fehrenbach This Kind of War
Apparently we talk funnyno market in subtitles
So long as the story is realistic (as opposed to completely accurate), then I would be satisfied if the audience gets to know the characters who die - judging from the trailer, this movie might be attempting to do that. Too many war movies just have random, anonymous characters who die in the background. The only characters whom you get to know are the ones who run through a hail of gunfire, go on to save the day, and return home to their happy family. That wasn't my experience in war. I know a lot of men who were killed, or lost limbs, wives who were widowed, and of marriages that caved under the weight of deployments and training exercises that, on average, consumed 10 months out of every year, for 5 years or more. Those people are not "extras" who blend into the background.
I think that there would be less tendency to politicize the deaths and other sacrifices of our Soldiers if there was a better appreciation for who they are - beyond just numbers in the media's body count, extras in the background of an action scene, or brainwashed killing machines in some ridiculous Rambo-esque movie. I would also hope that, in getting to know the characters in the movie, the writers are able to convey that troops are not just members of the poor, huddled masses, going off to fight the rich man's war because they have no other alternatives in life. That is the root of the soft bigotry that many hold towards the military and probably the greatest obstacle to many people with high potential choosing to serve.
All very well said and understandable. I fear however that the greater US public does not want to know the reality and is more than willing, indeed eager to accept the shorter, glitzier, and ultimately artificial version.
There have been attempts to do what you call for in the past and some have come close. I still like the mini-series Once An Eagle with Sam Elliot playing Sam Damon. There was very little combat shown in the series. A parallel would be the mini-series Lonesome Dove where the western setting was merely a vehicle for the rich character development. Another was Shawshank Redemption; a deliberately long movie to develop the effects of time against the will to survive.
Absent companions,
Tom
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