Let you entertain me
Column’s up: The lost patriots of Hollywood
Sigh. They just don’t make men like Clark Gable and Jimmy Stewart and Lee Marvin and Steve McQueen anymore. Brad Pitt? Yawn. Colin Farrell? Ewww. Ben Affleck? Gag.
Anyway, I’m enabling comments on a trial basis and would love to hear about your favorite WWII flicks and scenes.
Me first: I’ll never forget the hanging scene at the school in Back to Bataan. Watched the movie when I was 8. Still get choked up thinking about the principal’s body and the American flag.
Look forward to your reflections. See you in the morning.
Update: Thanks for all the inspiring recommendations! Your extensive list of movies should help me avoid the following argument with my husband at the Blockbuster checkout line for the 10th time:
“Honey, why are we renting The Waterboy again?”
“There’s nothing else to watch.”
“Nothing?”
“C’mon. The Waterboy is a classic.”
“Again?!?!?!”
Update II: Coupla folks thought the date of the Academy Awards ceremony I mentioned was a typo since it occurred before Pearl Harbor. Nope. True, we were not officially at war yet, but Walter Wanger saw the need to support our allies’ efforts and defend America’s good name as our place in the world was under fire. We were on the precipice of war and the MPA rallied to the side of the good guys. Regarding Collateral Damage, I know it was made before 9/11 and released afterward. Probably should have worded that more clearly. The point is that p.c. was hampering our ability to name the enemy before 9/11 and it continues to handicap us even more today. The same reluctance to confront our enemies did not infect Hollywood before and during WWII (they didn’t substitute Mongolian fighter pilots for Japanese ones, as far as I’m aware!).
Update III: I stopped liking Harrison Ford when he dumped his wife, stuck that goofy diamond stud in his ear, and shacked up with Ally McBeal.
Update IV: Jeff Quinton’s thoughts are here.
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I’m glad, though, you pointed out Don Rumsfeld’s service record, which I wasn’t fully aware of. Now could you also provide me full details of the service records of Dick Cheney, John Ashcroft, Paul Wolfowitz, Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, Bill O’Reilly, Tom DeLay, Dick Armey and Dennis Hastert? Really, I’m curious…..
I’m sure flying an F-102 over the skies of Texas is hard — but flying an aircraft in combat over the skies of Vietnam is a bit harder. Just ask George H.W. Bush, who flew against the Japanese in WWII, or John McCain, shot down over Hanoi — both men are genuine war heroes and real aviators. Dubya was courageous enough to learn to fly, sure, but not courageous enough to volunteer to fight when his countrymen were dying. That may not make him a coward but it certainly doesn’t make him any kind of hero. Contrast that with Senator Kerry, who not only volunteered for the Navy but then, when serving on the USS Gridley, took the further stop of volunteering for extremely hazardous Swift boat duty, duty which he knew could get him killed. Kerry is a war hero and combat veteran — Bush isn’t. It’s as simple as that.
Stephen -
1) Do you hold in contempt the millions of military personnel who served stateside and abroad in the Vietnam era but didn’t volunteer for Vietnam? Or just Republicans?
2) Please submit the military records of William Jefferson Clinton, Hillary Rohham Clinton, Michael Moore, etc. Really. I’m curious.
3) Throughout American history, our leaders have included many men from both sides of the isle who never served in the military. It’s not a pre-requisite for office. The “chickehawk” charge you make is highly offensive, especially because you liberals never said it of draft-dodger Bill Clinton, who wrote during the Vietnam era that he “loathed” the military, and ran away to smoke pot at Oxford.
4) The war *was* winding down. It was a long wind, but once Noxon was in office he began the process of withdrawing troops from Vietnam. All our combat troops were gone by 1973. And, it takes a couple of years to properly train a fighter pilot. Bush and a fellow pilot expressed interest in the program where Guardsmen rotated into Vietnam, but he was too late because the program was being discontinued by the time he was fully trained.
5) I bring up Colin Powell again, one of our nation’s most celebrated and honorable soldiers. Do you seriously beleive that such a man of honor would have agreed to become Bush’s Sec State if he held Bush’s Guard service in contempt? Or would Norman Schwartzkopf, who campained for Bush in 2000? Or would real war hero Bob Dole along with scores of Medal of Honor winners be campaigning for Bush now? Or war hero John McCain? Or MOST of John Kerry’s commanding officers from Vietnam?
6) It’s really wierd that you libs are now all gung-ho about a war that you collectely fought tooth and nail to end. Will you all be gung-ho about the war on terror 30 years from now?
When asked why he didn’t go to Vietnam, Cheney said he “had better things to do.”
Tom Delay said he wanted to go but blacks took all of the spots. I’m not kidding.
I liked Private Benjamin and Stripes.
Apocalypse Now really made me think hard and realize how aggressive war is a vicious Ponzi scheme and death or glory a cruel joke. Defending the country is something else entirely, which hasn’t happened in my lifetime.
It’s amusing to see the thread hijacked by the likes of Stefan
The Vietnam War was was “winding down” from 1969 to 1975?
American troops left vietnam (outside of any POWs not repatriated) in Spring of 1973.
I’m also not quite sure you should really give George W. credit for ALL of ‘69 to ‘75 — after all, he did go AWOL once the Air Force started mandating drug testing in its annual physicals.
If this URL were working:
http://www.wsftdtl.ftmeade.army.mil/history.htm
you’d find:
April 4, 1974
Department of Defense (DOD) Instruction 1010.1 issued. This instruction established random testing of all eligible members of the Armed Forces on active duty for more than 30 days. Biochemical testing of urine samples is the acceptable screening method with tests sufficiently sensitive and specific to identify with a high degree of certainty those individuals who are excreting the drugs in question. Results of biochemical testing of urine samples conducted as part of the DOD drug testing program cannot be used for forensic purposes.
His medical suspension took place 2 years before the DOD started drug testing. Testing that begun over 6 months after Bush’s dicharge from the NG.
Kerry is a war hero and combat veteran — Bush isn’t. It’s as simple as that.
A combat veteran? Absolutely.
A war hero? Not on this earth.
Kerry either comitted war crimes and atrocities in Vietnam or lied about them to congress. Kerry either falsely accused others of committing war crimes, or witnessed war crimes and stood by, allowing them to happen.
Those aren’t the actions of a war hero, regardless of what he did to earn that Bronze Star.
Comments about WW2 Movies? I’ve been waiting 51 years for this! Here are THE best:
1.”Guadalcanal Diary”
2.”Air Force”
3.”Flying Tigers”
4.”Wake Island”
5.”Aerial Gunner”
6.”Bombardier”
7.”Winged Victory”; haven’t seen it in 37 years! Where can I get a copy?
8.”Bataan”
9.”Up in Arms”; Danny Kaye’s film debut; the FUNNIEST WW2 movie ever!
10.” The Beginning or The End”
11.”Thirty Seconds over Tokyo”
12.”Go for Broke”
13.”Mrs. Miniver”
14.”The Moon is Down”
15.”The North Star”
16.”Destination Tokyo”
17.”The Story of Dr.Wassell”
18.”A Yank in the RAF”
19.”I’ll Never Heil Again” and “You Nazty Spy”; both done by the Three Stooges.Fascinating!
20.”Eagle Squadron”
21.”A Wing and a Prayer”
22.”The Purple Heart”
23.”I Wanted Wings”
24.”See Here, Private Hargrove”
25.”Objective: Burma!”
26.”Sahara”
27.”Five Graves to Cairo”
28.”Twelve O’Clock High”
Das Boot is a gripping movie. It’s almost as if you are in the boat with them. Best watched in the original german with english subtitles.