On the seventh day of
Christmas, my true love gave to me – seven Royal Marines a defending
“An Ungentlemanly Act” was filmed to commemorate the
10th Anniversary of the Falklands War.It covers the start of the conflict.A background statement informs that the
British Royal Marines took over the islands in 1833 and the Argentines had
wanted it back ever since then.The
movie was filmed in the Falkland Islands and in a British studio for BBC 1.It was well-received and won a BAFTA for “Best
Single Drama”.
The story opens in April,
1982.Life on the main island is British
idyllic.We meet the townspeople who are
typical blokes and birds.The center of
their society is the pub, of course.This
utopia is going to change.War talk is
in the air.The new commander of the
small Royal Marines detachment Maj. Norman (Bob Peck) gives a rousing speech to
his charges.Contrast this with Governor
Hunt’s (Ian Richardson) wife who questions whether the islands are worth
it.Women – they always want to stop the
fun.
The action takes a while to arrive
(there’s a lot of talking), but when it does it is pretty good for a TV
movie.Argentine commandoes (don’t
laugh!) attack the governor’s house.Cool use of tracers in the night.It’s a last stand with glass shards.The Royal Marines hold out until the main landings begin.The Argentines will have to use that war
movie trope of quantity defeats quality.Plus they bring armored personnel carriers.Not very sporting.Governor Hunt negotiates with the Argentine
commander and does the reasonable, non-William Travis thing.A newsreelish post script assures us
Anglophiles that all was well in the end.G.B.! G.B.! G.B.!
“An Ungentlemanly Act” is an
informative little film.It is an accurate
depiction of the onset of the war.I
learned a lot from the film.Believe it
or not, I do not teach it in my American History class.On the other hand, I bet they don’t teach
Grenada in British classrooms.We’ll
call it even.The movie is nobly
even-handed.For instance, the Argentine
commander is not a villain.The movie
was shown on Argentine TV.That tells
you a lot about it.The action is
surprisingly intense although not particularly suspenseful as no significant
British character is even wounded.The
acting is above average with Richardson providing the gravitas.The movie begs for a sequel.I’d watch that.In fact, are there any good movies on the war
itself?
On the sixth day of
Christmas, my true love gave to me – six wild geese a slaying
“The Wild Geese” is sometimes referred to as the
father of mercenary movies.How proud it
must be to have sired that low quality subgenre!It was based on an unpublished novel about
the rescue of an African leader by an elite force of mercenaries.The producer dreamed of replicating “The Guns
of Navarone” and “Where Eagles Dare”.Dream big, baby!The producer
rounded up an all-star cast of codgers and took them off to South Africa for
filming.An interesting choice for a
movie that has a theme of integration.
“The Wild Geese” opens with a song that rivals “Soldier Blue”
in bizarre crappiness.Not a good
start.A veteran mercenary leader (he
looks old enough to have served with Walker in Nicaragua) named Faulkner
(Richard Burton - who agreed not to drink during the shoot) is contracted to
rescue the African leader Limbani by a copper industrialist who oozes future betrayal.Next comes
the obligatory recruitment sequence.Faulkner reunites with tactician Janders (Richard Harris - who agreed to
not drink during the shoot), pilot Fynn (Roger Moore), drill sergeant Young
(Jack Watson), and kaffir-hater Coetzee (Hardy Kruger - who agreed to stop
smoking crack, just kidding).This is
followed by the corollary interviewing of the cannon fodder.They ask each why they want to slaughter
Africans, in so many words.Oh, and are
you over 50 years old?Interestingly,
their net snares a gay medic named Witty (Kenneth Griffith).Training montage, anyone?
In case you’re wondering what do
mercenaries do to train – jumping off a tower, tossing logs, and bayonet
practice.It’s off to Africa.They parachute in and no one gets caught in a
tree!They are startled by an exotic
animal – an ostrich!(As far as I know the
only appearance by one in a war movie.)The rescue of Limbani is suspiciously easy what with Coetzee using his crossbow
and the cyanide gas used on the guards.What a boring anticlimax!But,
wait – there are complications due to a double-cross by a copper magnate.Imagine
that.
The movie transitions to a trek
film after one badass Piper Cub strafes and napalms their jaunty victory convoy.On the way to their alternate egress, Coetzee
and Limbani debate colonialism and Coetzee sees the light while carrying his
new “don’t call him kaffir” buddy.Bodies begin to fall and not just expendables.Even the name actors are vulnerable.The movie posits the question:who will survive?And did their nursing home hold their room?The first openly gay character in a war movie
(as far as I know) gets to kick some ass before being gang-macheted. (I am quite sure that this is the only time in war movie history that an openly gay character is killed by Africans wielding machetes.) Get your calculator out to keep track of how
many African soldiers are mowed down.The movie looks like “Zulu” with automatic weapons.As per war movie rules, the good guys never
miss and the bad guys are never just wounded. The mortality rate is the same as in every other war movie - 100%. All this leads to a plane piloted by
Fynn.Janders gets his Von Ryan
moment.(I didn’t cry this time.)Percentage of geezers still alive – 33%. Percentage of greedy, corrupt industrialists still alive - 0%.
“The Wild Geese” has become
something of a cult classic since it bombed in the U.S. upon release.I guess I don’t belong to that cult.It is hard to get past the stunt-casting of
old has-beens.Not only are they too old
for their roles, but they act tired.At
least “Grudge Match” is meant to be a comedy.The film looks cheaply made.The
cinematography is that of a made for TV movie.Check out the cheesy 60’s sets, fashions, and women in the British
scenes.The dialogue is not bad as you
would expect and the movie has a large amount of action in the last 30
minutes. If you can sit through the build-up, the payoff is pretty visceral.That is if you consider slaughtering
Africans to be action.It does have a
number of classic clichés, but that just allows you to feel good about yourself
as you predict a lot of what is going to happen.
It’s hard to be too harsh with a
movie that portrays mercenaries with hearts.It is entertaining in a mindless sort of way.Is it a worthy successor to “The Guns of
Navarone” and “Where Eagles Dare”?Ha ha
ha ha ha!
On the fifth day of
Christmas, my true love gave to me:5
bronzed Italians
“El Alamein – The Line of
Fire” is an Italian war movie set in North Africa at the start of the Battle of
El Alamein.It was released in
2002.It follows five Italian soldiers
from the Pavia Division.
In October, 1942 a newbie named
Serra (Paolo Briguglia) arrives at the front.He’s a college boy who has dropped out to do his duty (ala Taylor in
“Platoon”).His guide is disintegrated
by an artillery shell.Too soon with the
“war is hell” theme!The depressed men
are appropriately living in trenches near the Qattara Depression.Serra is informed that the two biggest
problems are thirst and dysentery.Sgt.
Rizzo (Pierfrancesco Favino) becomes his mentor and tells him every soldier
gets three miracles and then fate comes knocking.Some of those miracles come from surviving
the random, intense, and amazingly accurate British bombardments.
The central core of the movie is
a series of vignettes that include going in minefield to loot a British truck,
sparing the life of Mussolini’s horse, frolicking at a beach, and a mortar
versus sniper duel.You know, the usual
war movie stuff.This leads up to the
big set piece which has the unit defending a sector of the front against the
British onslaught.They are given
amphetamines to keep awake.This is the
first time I have seen reference to this WWII practice.The assault occurs at night so the British
tanks have their headlights on.Did
British tanks use headlights?The combat
is visceral with slo-mo, of course.Although the British break through, when dawn breaks the Italians have
held the position.Without researching
yet, I will call a foul on this.From”
last stand” the film transitions to “lost patrol” as Serra, Rizzo, and Lt.
Fiore wander through the desert.
“El Alamein” is pretty good for
an Italian war movie, about the WWII Italian army.Not exactly my favorite subgenre.It can be boring at times, but so is war from
a soldier’s viewpoint.The movie is
realistic about soldier life (privations and dysentery) and the randomness of
death.You definitely get the microview
as the five main characters don’t have a clue about the big picture and neither
does the audience.You won’t learn much
about the Battle of El Alamein from this movie.You do learn that the Italian soldiers were human beings.The main characters are well-played and
appealing.In fact, there are no
villains in the film.Serra may remind
of Chris Taylor background-wise, but that is where the “Platoon” parallels
cease.Serra is welcomed into the unit
and there is no hazing.By the way,
Rizzo reminded me of Sgt. Elias.
The movie is well made.The cinematography is average, but the music
is outstanding.It is eerie and
foreboding at times.The themes are
pretty thick.Abandonment, survival
against the odds, soldiers are pawns, the role of luck (or miracles as the
movie proclaims) in warfare.Certainly
the experiences of Italian soldiers in North Africa were rife for exploring
these themes.It is important to note
that the movie is sad, but not maudlin.I did not feel contempt for the Italians, like I have when reading about
the war in North Africa.The movie
develops sympathy for them.I guess they
deserved that.
Christmas cheer?It’s
not bad, but I doubt I will remember it.
On the fourth day of
Christmas, my true love gave to me:
four guerrilla Kachin
“Never So Few” is a WWII movie
set in Burma in 1943.It was directed by
John Sturges (“The Great Escape”) and released in 1959, one year before his
vastly superior “Magnificent Seven”.It
is loosely based on OSS Detachment 101 which operated behind enemy lines in
Burma and made use of the anti-Japanese Kachin warriors.The unit was tasked with ambushing patrols,
rescuing downed pilots, and setting up landing strips.The movie is highly fictionalized, however.
The film has a recognizable cast
led by Frank Sinatra as the unit leader, Capt. Reynolds.The movie gets a head-scratching start as the
men lounge around in a jungle camp even though they are warned that the
Japanese are sneaking up on them.Supposedly they are luring the enemy into a trap, but one character is
still reading a comic book when the Japanese open fire.They then proceed to dash into the foliage
and then counterattack.Wouldn’t they
have been waiting in concealment?WTFThe movie makes no attempt to
recover from this perplexing opening.One theme is established as Reynolds puts his caddy (the Kachin that is
tasked with handing Reynolds an appropriate weapon in combat) out of his
stomach-wound misery even though he is unconscious and not screaming in pain or
begging to be killed.We now know
Reynolds is a bad-ass who doesn’t care what his wimpy subordinates want.
Reynolds makes a trip back to
civilization (well, India anyway) so we can get an exotic locale and some
romance in the form of Clara (Gina Lollobrigida).She waltzes in on the arm of a three-finger
cigarette smoking rich snob and proceeds to stomp on Reynolds tongue which
happens to be lying on the floor.She is
so brutally condescending to the Yank that you can be sure they will hook up by
the end of the film.Lucky for anyone
hoping to see some acting in this movie, Reynolds meets Cpl. Ringa (Steve
McQueen) and enlists him to bring some life into the film.
From here the movie drunkenly
sways from Old School combat action of the no blood, no enemy wounded variety
to Old School romantic interludes between Reynolds and Clara.These interludes are like speed bumps.The feisty Clara is frosty until she suddenly
isn’t.She is always well-dressed and
well-coiffed, but so is Sinatra.There
is a scene where Reynolds is wounded and is gleeful when it is suggested he
return back to India (John Wayne, he ain’t).
The big set piece is a raid on a
Japanese base.The action is ridiculous
with drive-by shooting via trucks and Reynolds tossing jerry cans that explode
on contact.There are plenty of gasoline
barrels to make for pretty explosions in the night. Hollywood!Reynold’s old Kachin liaison gets a good
death scene (this comes on the heels of the Japanese killing Reynold’s monkey
during a Christmas ambush – Jap bastards!).
Reynolds defies orders by
infiltrating China to track Chinese bandits who ambushed an Allied convoy.They sneak up on the camp in broad daylight
because all the enemy are sleeping.When
Reynold’s BFF Danny is treacherously gunned down, Reynolds orders the execution
of all the prisoners.When he returns he
faces court-martial.Guess who is
waiting for him?Hint:well-coiffed.She’s like a big-breasted bad penny.Queue the swelling music.
This is a typical Sinatra war
movie.It’s all about him.He gets to spend half the movie romancing
Lollobrigida because he could.The movie
has a low ratio of macho to smoochie.The combat, when it sporadically arrives, is poorly staged and
unrealistic.The acting is average which
allows McQueen to stand out.Sinatra
plays himself which means Reynolds is a jerk and a poor leader.The theme of leaders having to make tough
decisions is diluted a bit by Reynolds’ decision to commit a war crime.But they’re just Chinese bandits.Note the year of the movie’s release to
figure out why the Chinese are bigger villains than the Japanese.Another flaw is that for a movie dedicated to
the Kachin, there is little lauding going on.
Good Christmas viewing?Only if you would like to see a monkey get
killed at a Christmas celebration – you sick bastard!
P.S. Look at the poster. "Kiss by kiss the time ran out and never so few were the moments left for love." If that got you into the theater, I hope you were a female.
On the third day of Christmas, my
true love gave to me… three Cain-marked Brits
“The Mark of Cain” is “based on
extensive research, but is a dramatic work of fiction.”I assume the research was about Abu
Ghraib and similar incidents.The made-for-TV British drama
won a BAFTA and Amnesty International recognized it as a “Movie That
Matters”.It is a tale set in Basra,
Iraq and then back home in Britain.
When Mark (Gerard Kearns) and
his buddy Shane (Matthew McNulty) arrive in Iraq, they and the other newbies
are counseled on the need to avoid violations of the rules of war.Their commander states that any unjustifiable
killing of civilians will result in the “mark of Cain”.A well-staged ambush results in the fiery
death of their commander.Vengeance is
in the air and a “search and detain vigorously” raid nabs some suspects.Cpl. Gant (Shaun Dooley) tells the men to lay
off the detainees, but has a change of heart and leads the
“interrogation”.The reluctant Mark is
peer pressured into joining in the “fun”.Shane is a picture-taking participant.
Upon return to Britain, Mark
suffers from PTSD and guilt feelings which result in convenient
flash-backs.Shane suffers from picture
showing-off and a snitching girl friend.The two and Gant are charged with war crimes.Gant and everyone up the chain of command
scapegoat the two privates.Mark admits
he was caught between moral courage (the ability to report atrocities) and
loyalty to his unit mates.He now feels
he chose unwisely and is torn apart by it.Shane eventually comes to this conclusion as well.He is pressured to plead guilty at his
court-martial and take one for the team.What will he do?
The film is meant to be
thought-provoking and basically succeeds although how we are to think is pretty
much shoved down your throat.Anyone
unaware of the Abu Ghraib-type activities would be informed by this movie.I think that was the point.(What I learned was that the Brits pointed at
wieners, too.)It is not as heavy-handed
as the Amnesty International endorsement would imply.
The movie is balanced cinematically.The ambush scene is of the new school
variety.Hand-held.Quick cuts.Realistic soldier reactions (ex.one guy freezes).The movie does
a fine job setting up the torture by showing the stress (e.g., that coke can could be
an IED) and fog of war (is having a lot of cash proof of insurgency?) the
soldiers went through.You are forced to
wonder how you would have reacted if some of your mates were killed by faceless
insurgents.Iraq = Vietnam.The home front scenes are also
realistic.Mark and Shane represent two extremes
of soldier post-combat reactions.
The movie is well made,
especially for a TV production.The
cinematography is interesting.The
flashbacks work in teasing out the torture.The acting is fine.The three
leads are effective although Gant’s switch from warning against atrocities to
leading them is implausible.Dooley does
play slime-ball well.Kearns is
particularly poignant as the tortured torturer.
The movie attacks some easy targets.The military has a code of silence similar to
the police.Young men do bad things
under war stress.Military authorities
tend to cover up crimes that they encouraged. Hey British society, you have the mark of
Cain.Ours is way bigger than yours,
however.USA! USA!USA!
Good gift?Sure, and
it’s so Christmasy.Actually I should
throw in a Genesis reference here.
On the second day of
Christmas, my true love gave to me, two feuding Vikings …
“The Vikings” has been called a “Norse
opera” because it combines Western elements with a soap opera feel.It was directed by Richard Fleischer with
much input from his star Kirk Douglas.It was filmed in Norway to take advantage of the lovely fjords.The film makes efforts to throw in a greatest
hits of Viking warrior culture - for entertainment purposes.
The story begins with Ragnar
(Ernest Borgnine) raiding England, killing a king, and impregnating the
queen.The new King Aella sends the baby
off into exile and years later Erik (Tony Curtis) arrives in Norway as a
slave.Ragnar’s legitimate son Einar
(Douglas) is a vain playa, but great warrior.He and Erik take an instant dislike to each other which is aggravated by
the fact that Erik’s falcon takes out one of Einar’s eyes.Ragnar sentences Erik to death-by-high-tide,
but Odin saves him. Later, Erik rescues
the kidnapped princess Morgana (Janet Leigh as Aella’s bride) from the lusty
Einar.Strike two.Erik sails to England using a magic metal
that points the way through a fog which causes Ragnar’s ship to crash into
rocks.Strike three.Erik rescues Ragnar and turns him over to
Aella for death-by-wolf-pit (but Erik gets major Viking props for slipping
Ragnar a sword so he can die a Viking’s death).Erik is kicked out of England sans left hand and forms an awkward
alliance with Einar to get Morgana back.They’ll figure out who gets her later.This leads to the big castle-storming scene and inevitable duel.Both of which are rousing.
Before I go any further, this is
not really a war movie.With that said,
it is entertaining, if implausible.Lots
of things have to fall into place to reach the action-packed finale.The acting is okay, but Douglas is not his
usual outstanding self.He tries too
hard, as does the movie which vainly tries to reach epic status.This includes the pompous epic wannabe score.Borgnine has a fine time, Curtis is
handsomely noble, and Leigh is ravishing (and ravish-worthy).Speaking of out-standing: Leigh’s breasts. (see below)The locales are awesomely scenic and we get a
lot of local color in the form of manly Viking activities.Fleischer crams in as many as the film can
hold.The Vikings are caricatured.They spend most of their time getting drunk
and engaging in manly contests like “Running the Oars” (that’s really my man
Kirk risking his life!) and cutting
the braids of an adulteress with throwing axes.These are the same carousing berserkers who are so afraid of the fog
they always sail within sight of land. The Vikings were such wimps.Unless they have a magical metal England-finder.Kudos for the accurately constructed
longboats and for not putting horns on their helmets.Beware:this movie has extreme violence for a 1958
movie.(Some critics were shocked by the
wolf pit scene and Ragnar was not even shown in the pit!Quaint.)So if you are a grandma, you should avoid it.
Merry Christmas?It’s so fluffy, it’s more Easterish.
Since I have the Holidays off, I have decided to see if I can watch and review 12 movies and post them over the next twelve days. Probably too ambitious, but what the heck. Anyway, here goes.
THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS:On the first day of Christmas, my true love
gave to me:one God in a cockpit…
“God is My Co-Pilot” is a flag-waving
WWII movie released in 1945.It is based
on the smash hit autobiography of Robert Lee Scott, Jr.Scott served as a technical advisor and did
some stunt flying for the film.It is
true to his story and certainly retains the spiritual theme.The film had the full cooperation of the Air
Force which provided several P-40s and B-25s and AT-6s to masquerade as Zeros.
A montage takes Scott (Dennis
Morgan) from jumping off a roof with an umbrella to a secret mission to India
as a bomber pilot.Along the way he gets
his first sermon from the family black guy about the need for God instead of
luck in the cockpit.Scott remains
skeptical for most of the film.The
interlude in India gets the requisite exotic locale in and clues us in on two
facts.One, there are belly dancers in
India.Two, WWII air crewmen said things
like “jiminy crickets” and “jumping jehosafats”.God would approve.
After a stint flying the Hump
into China, Scott hooks up with Gen. Chennault (Raymond Massey) and Father “Big
Mike” (Alan Hale).He is assigned a
fighter and helps defend the base against an attack led by the legendary “Tokyo
Joe” (Richard Loo).This is one of the
most hilarious scenes in war movie history as the opposing pilots trash talk
through the dog fight.Naturally the
Japanese speak American.Here is a
sampling:
Tokyo Joe:“Okay, you Yankee Doodle Dandies, come and get it.I’m going to drop one right in Chennault’s
lap.Where are you gangsters?Come on up and get a load of that scrap metal
you sold us.”
Johnny:“Now
repeat after me.Your mother was a
turtle, your father was a snake and you’re a good Jap.”
Crew chief:“Why you dirty retail monkey!”
Johnny:“One meatball in the side pocket.”
Scott turns into the star of the unit and his home
town follows him like Joe Dimaggio.He
duels with Tokyo Joe, but they both run out of ammo before they run out of
zingers.He flies Father Mike through a
storm which inspires the priest to give a sermon about what a wonderful
co-pilot God would be.The sun emerges
as though to smack Scott upside the head.In the climactic duel, Tokyo Joe is outnumbered two to one and even the
samurai sword he carries on board does not make up for Scott’s co-pilot.
“God is My Co-Pilot” is unique in balancing its
flag-waving propaganda with cloying religiousity.That is not a winning combination, although
the movie was a hit with those patriotic Bible-thumping rubes that made up
1940s audiences.Sorry, greatest
generation grandparents, I couldn’t help that one.Even if you take out the sermons and the lame
taunting, the dialogue is atrocious.The
music matches it.The action is
fair.The dog fights are not “Wings”
worthy, but they are swirling.We get a
lot of cockpit views and bullet holes in the glass indicating death.Planes tend to blow up and no one parachutes.The movie has a large amount of droning.The acting is average.Earnest, but not scene-chewing.
Was it a good Christmas present?If God is asking – yes!Otherwise, I would have preferred a lump of
coal.
“We Were Soldiers” was based on
the acclaimed best seller We Were Soldiers Once…And Young by Lt. Col.
Harold Moore and journalist Joseph Galloway.The book is a non-fiction account of the Battle of Ia Drang in the
Vietnam War.The movie was written, directed,
and produced by Randall Wallace of “Braveheart” and “Pearl Harbor” infamy.
The film opens with a scene set
in 1954 during the First Indochina War pre-Dien Bien Phu.A French unit is ambushed in the Ia Drang
Valley (the Valley of Death) by the Vietminh led by Nguyen Huu Anand wiped out.The action is graphic with “Saving Private
Ryan” style cinematography (quick cuts, slo-mo, POV).It’s a great opening and sets the theme of
“how will the American experience be different?”
The body of the film begins at
Fort Benning, Ga (it was filmed on location) in 1964.Back when America was innocent, naïve, and
overconfident.And clueless about
nonconventional warfare in a jungle environment.Moore (Mel Gibson) arrives with his idyllic
family of supportive wife and perfect kids.A 1950s TV family in a 2000s war movie that wants to be a John Wayne
movie.
Plumley and Moore - comedy team
Moore is in command of a new
type of unit – air cavalry.Helicopters
will take the role of horses.The unit
is the 7th Cavalry and in case you don’t get the reference, the
movie hammers the fact that the 7th was Custer’s unit and you know
what happened to them!We get the
obligatory training montage.The movie is an excellent study in
command.Moore is the classic “lead by
example” commander.He is also very
hands-on in his leadership.This
includes counseling his young officers.For instance, he has a talk with a new father named Lt. Geoghegan (Chris
Klein) in a chapel.The scene is
cringe-inducing with overt religiousity and sappy dialogue.Geoghegan is saintly and soon to be a papa with his new bride (and thus doomed).Moore offers a prayer that concludes with
asking God to disregard the enemy’s prayers and help us kill the “little
bastards”.Hilarious!
Geoghegan and Moore pray to prey on our enemies
The movie makes a concerted
effort to integrate the families into the narrative.Moore tells his daughter that war is when
some people in another country try to take the lives of people and then
soldiers like daddy have to go over and try to stop them.This is not a bad analysis of what the public
was told the war was about in 1964.The
movie introduces us to the officers’ wives.Julie Moore (Madeline Stowe) is the sorority mom.When orders come, the men are enthusiastic
about going off to test their manhood, the wives are stoically nervous.
The unit is sent to the Central
Highlands in 1965.The air cavalry
experiment is about to begin.That
experiment is simple – use mobility to “find the enemy and kill them”.Their first mission is to land in an enemy
area and provoke combat.Hopefully not
against ten to one odds.Oops!Hueys led by Maj. Crandall (Greg Kinnear)
drop them in a clearing designated LZ X-Ray.The tactics are realistic as the Americans come charging off the
choppers guns blazing and immediately establish a perimeter.Things go wrong immediately as the gung-ho
Lt. Herrick (Marc Blucas) goes chasing after an enemy scout and gets himself
killed (“If I have to die. I’m glad to give my life for my country.”) and his
platoon cut off in a position called The Knoll.Sgt. Savage (Ryan Hurst) takes command.The trials the Lost Platoon will go through are incredible.A few men holding out against huge numbers of
the enemy.The fighting gets so
desperate Savage calls artillery fire down on his own position.
Inside the perimeter, it’s a
macrocosm of what the Lost Platoon is going through.The landing at LZ X-Ray was like kicking an
ant pile.It turns out there is a NVA
battalion commanded by now Col. An stationed in the hills nearby and they are
up for a fight.Even against the vaunted
U.S. Army.The battle is a series of
enemy assaults and Moore’s attempts to plug the holes with his courageous
few.Crandall’s helicopters participate
by bringing in reinforcements and supplies and medevac the wounded under
fire.They also bring in an intrepid
photojournalist named Joseph Galloway (Barry Pepper).At one point, the NVA get to the command post
and Galloway grabs an M-16 and fights for survival, like everyone else.
At this point the movie jumps to
the home front where the wives are coping with separation, but not death.Then the first telegrams arrive.Julie Moore and Barbara Geoghegan (Keri
Russell) take over delivering the death notices.It’s extremely poignant and effective.Wouldn’t it be extra poignant if one of the
telegrams is for one of them?
Mrs. Geoghegan and Mrs. Stowe delivering telegrams
Meanwhile, day two dawns to more
of the same.Now the VC have joined in,
for Christ’s sake!Geoghegan and a black
soldier make a two man assault so racism can be eliminated and Geoghegan can
leave his body in no man’s land to be found by Moore later.Hail, Hollywood!The enemy break-through in several places and
it begins to look like those Custer premonitions will come to fruition. It gets so bad Moore has to call for “Broken
Arrow” (when all available aircraft drop ordinance on a unit about to be
overrun).Some friendly fire napalm
roasts Pfc. Nakayama because he had made the mistake of bragging about his new
born.Two proud fathers, two doomed
soldiers.The movie implies the Broken
Arrow incident turns the tide.Soon
after, another attempt to reach the Lost Platoon is successful.Savage takes a short breather and then
reenters combat because if you have a name like that …
Napalm + Hollywood = box office dynamite
On the third day, An plans an
all-out assault to finish off the exhausted Americans and thus convince the
Yankees that South Vietnam is a bad investment.This will be the ultimate vindication for his “grab them by the belt
buckle” solution to American artillery and air support.Col. Joshua Chamberlain, I mean Lt. Col.
Moore, looks at the situation and decides it calls for a bayonet charge.“Fix bayonets!”Moore (Gibson) leads the charge.The enemy are too surprised to fire their
weapons.However, the thrill of the
chase carries our heroes smack into the well- defended enemy bunker
complex.Get more telegrams ready,
including one for Julie Moore.But wait,
the air cavalry arrives in the form of Crandall in a Huey gunship and he
proceeds to Gatling and rocket the enemy to smithereens.USA! USA! USA!
An licks his wounds and prepares
for the long haul.The media arrives
like vultures to report the great “victory”.Moore is the last to leave, as he promised.The rest is history. Spoiler alert: we lost.
This is a schizophrenic movie.Parts of it are great and parts are not.Not surprising for a movie that tries to be
accurate and entertaining in equal measure.Wallace insisted the movie was as accurate as possible (the same bull
shit he spewed about “Braveheart”) and most of it is.The parts that are aimed at the general
audience make a war movie lover squirm.The Moore family scenes are not pathetic, but it’s obvious Wallace meant
to make the opposite of the unpatriotic, impious Vietnam flicks like “Platoon”,
“Apocalypse Now”, “Full Metal Jacket”, and “The Deer Hunter”.The pre-battle training sequence is
simplistic and heavy in foreshadowing.For instance, Herrick is a tightly-wound glory hound who is likely to
get his men into a trap. Sure ‘nuff.The references to Custer’s Last Stand are too
maladroit.
The trite pre-Vietnam scenes
come to an abrupt end when the unit gets shipped overseas.That scene is powerful with a building score
and no dialogue.In no time at all, they
are in battle.The action is
consistently intense and some of the effects are spectacular.This movie has more combat than a vast
majority of war movies.And yet, believe
it or not, the actual battle was even more intense and violent than the movie.The tactics are realistic for both
sides.The movie is excellent on
helicopter participation in the fighting and air and artillery support.The napalm shots are breathtaking (get
it?).There is even a “mad minute”
moment to get the enemy to reveal their positions.One problem I had was the lack of emphasis on
the role of M-60s in holding off human wave attacks.It could be argued that “We Were Soldiers”
comes closest to accurately portraying a Vietnam battle.
The movie is rolling along
nicely until it jumps the shark with Moore going out in the dark to find
Geoghegan.It is inconceivable that a
commander would risk his life in a situation like that.The scene was obviously forced in to confirm
Moore’s pledge not to leave any men behind.More tears get jerked with the telegram for Barbara.But Wallace saves his best for last with the
abysmal bayonet charge topped off with the Crandall massacre of the remainder
of the enemy.Wallace forces a happy
ending into what was a pretty level-headed narrative.This reminded me a lot of “Pearl Harbor”.Worse, the success of American grit and
firepower in winning the battle dilutes the explicit moral that America will
have a hard time in Vietnam.
The last ten minutes of the
movie prevent it from being a very good movie, but it still ends up being good
and better than most Vietnam War movies.The acting is good if a bit too earnest and the cast is able.The actors were put through a boot camp.Mel Gibson is not aggravating and gets
Moore’s personality right.It’s obvious
Gibson was comfortable playing a man as religious as he is.Greg Kinnear is strong as Crandall and
Pepper’s late appearance as Galloway gives the movie a second wind.Making the most impact is Sam Elliot as Sgt.
Major Plumley.It’s acting in his sleep,
but the character is a lot of fun, if clicheish.He gets some great lines and provides some
welcome humor without cracking a smile.He does not say a lot, but it’s all quality.Unfortunately, much of the dialogue could
easily fit into a 1940s war film.When
Moore asks Galloway what he is doing there, Galloway says “because I knew these
dead boys would be here.”At one
point,Moore says “There’s nothing wrong
except that there’s nothing wrong.”Apparently, the dialogue is accurate, but it seems hokey.
The movie is technically
proficient as would be expected for a movie costing $70 million.Wallace may be shaky as a screenwriter, but
he does a good job directing.The action
scenes incorporate all the bells and whistles of modern war movies.There are some hand-held shots.There is some slo-mo.Blood splatters on the camera lens.It is a very violent movie.The make-up crew did a remarkable job on some
horrendous wounds. Someone counted the
number of KIAs – 305.The sound effects
are great.The lighting in the night
attacks is admirable.The score is fine
and restrained.
The movie has some admirable
goals.Wallace wants the audience to get
a feel for what military wives go through.Having a military mother and having lived on a base while my father flew
in Vietnam I can attest to the authenticity of the home front scenes.The telegram scenes are not in the book and
may be Hollywood, but they are refreshing for this macho genre.We certainly did not need another stale
romance or love triangle.Stowe is great
as Julie Moore.WWS has a strong female
vibe.Another example of balance is the
coverage of the enemy.This is not
“Black Hawk Down”.The communists are
not faceless.Gen. An (Don Duong) is
sympathetically rendered as are his men. One soldier gets to keep a diary with his
girl’s picture in it and then gets to try to bayonet Col. Moore. They are brave but there is definitely a drone
quality to them.Wallace goes out of his
way to cover their tactics and even implies they will win the war.
Some people sneer at the unambiguous
religiousity of the film and Gibson’s involvement in the film caters to this
criticism.However, my research shows
that Moore is indeed a devout Catholic so the characterization is true to form
although obviously forced into the film (probably at the insistence of Gibson).Considering how a vast majority of war movies
purposely ignore religion, we can excuse WWS for purposefully including God.It has more scenes with religion than any ten
war movies.Hell, even An says a prayer.Another jarring element is the squeaky
cleanness of the American soldiers.This
ain’t “Platoon”.There is no drug use or
sociopathic behavior.Although I would
put the movie in the VioLingo school, I do not think the f word was used a
single time.(Considering the graphic
violence, Wallace’s decision to sanitize the language is bizarre.)Before you cry bogus, this is fairly close to
the 1965 Army especially when you consider these would not be draftees and they
are in an elite unit.They should be
naïve, enthusiastic, and patriotic.
In conclusion, “We Were
Soldiers” could have been the best Vietnam War movie if Wallace had not pulled
his punches in the end.For someone who
wanted to make the most accurate Vietnam War battle movie, it is infuriating
that he would taint his admirable effort with a phony happy ending.Especially when the truth would have fit his
purpose so much better.Still, if you
overlook the bayonet charge, the battle is as good as you are going to get, the
wives get their just due, the soldiers of both sides are positively depicted,
the enemy is sympathetically portrayed, and the movie is an excellent study in
command.Nothing’s perfect.
“What Price Glory?” was based on
a play by Maxwell Anderson and Laurence Stallings. It is mainly set in the Western Front of WWI.Both movies are credited with creating the
buddy film. They also created one of the enduring war movie clichés - the battling rivals in love and war. This is appropriately known as the Quirt/Flagg trope.
The Raoul Walsh silent version
begins in China where Flagg (Victor McLaglan) is sweet on a prostitute named
Mabel.He gets into a knock down fight
with his big rival Quirt (Edmund Lowe).The film then jumps to the Philippines where Quirt steals Flagg’s
Filipino girl friend.This is supposed
to be hilarious and maybe it was in the Twenties.
Now that we know that Quirt and
Flagg are frenemies who are always after the same girl we are off to the
Western Front in 1917.Flagg is now a
Captain in command of a company stationed in a French village.Flagg is billeted at the local tavern where
he begins to woo the saucy owner’s daughter Charmaine (Delores Del Rio).Because this is technically a war movie, the
company gets sent to the front for some action.They attack across no man’s land in a pretty good set piece with plenty
of explosions.To make sure the audience
does not enjoy the war Flagg says:“There’s something rotten about a world that’s got to be wet down every
thirty years with the blood of boys like those.”
Okay, with that out of the way,
it’s back to the village for more wooing.Guess who shows up to complicate the romance?Flagg goes off on a ten day pass to wine and
wench thus leaving Quirt to move in on Charmaine.She is receptive because he’s a U.S. Marine
and they are pretty interchangeable.When Flagg returns he is confronted by Charmaine’s father who demands
that the Marine who “wrecked” his daughter get hitched to her and throw in 500
francs.He is referring to Quirt and
Flagg is guffawing as the mayor is called in to officiate the wedding.Close call as Charmaine doesn’t cotton to being sold.Bugles!Time for another combat interlude.
Quirt, Charmaine, and Flagg
This time it’s a night
attack.Explosions go off like a pack of
firecrackers as our heroes cross no man’s land.The action is fast-paced and dynamic.There are deaths, including the “momma’s boy” who dies in Flagg’s
arms.Lt. Kiper rants about the futility
of war and asks “what price glory now?”
I won’t ruin the ending for
you.I know you will want to watch the
movie to find out who gets Charmaine, but since I mentioned that this was the
first buddy film you can bet Quirt and Flagg go marching off hand in hand.
#$%^&*! (subtitled: You are a big poop head!)
This is a typical silent film in
that the acting is hammy and the soundtrack is incessant.McLaglan is actually pretty good and Del Rio
is spicy (thank goodness we did not have to hear her Mexican accent).The rest of the cast grossly overacts.They have one character who must have thought
he was the Jim Carrey of his day.His
big schtick is doing raspberries.His
constant mugging is supposed to be hilarious, but comes off as desperately
creepy.The humor is basically slap
stick with what passed for witty lines.Like: “why don’t you blow your brains out?”One reason why the movie is famous is because
McLaglan and Lowe were actually swearing at each other which resulted in
complaints from lipreaders.How quaint!Someone needs to put out an updated version
with accurate subtitles.Apparently
noone had problems with the number of ass shots thrown in.We see each significant female’s derriere
before we get to know their face.
The movie is more of a romance than
a war movie.The two combat scenes are
adequate, but are thrown in to break the monotony of the romance.The company spends no time in the trenches.They go off twice to cross no man’s land and
then it’s home to the village for wining and wenching.War is Hell – is what the movie is trying to
say, ineffectively.The romance is lame
and I did not care who got the girl.The
two main characters are not to root for.As far as competition with “The Big Parade”, get serious!
The 1952 version was directed by
John Ford and stars Jimmy Cagney (Flagg) and Dan Dailey (Quirt).The plot is essentially the same, but there
is a lot more physical humor and some songs.The movie actually has a credit for “dances staged by”.As a war movie lover, I can tell you that you
never want to see that at the beginning of a war movie!Nor do you want to endure songs being sung by
characters.The combat is periphery
again and unrealistic.Ford does not
seem to have his heart in the action scenes.He does have Quirt and Flagg going into no man’s land together
(helmetless) and arguing in conveniently placed shell craters.The movie has a weird vibe by mixing humor
and drama less than deftly.
Charmaine and Quirt
Cagney and Dailey must have been
told they were making a silent movie because they do some serious
scene-chewing.Cagney is basically
playing Cagney.It is an embarrassing
performance.There is no chemistry
between the leads.Corinne Calvet is
lovely as Charmaine, but cannot act.We
also get a very young Robert Wagner as Pvt. Lewisohn.
The 1926 version is not a good
war movie.It is overrated as
entertainment, but deserves credit for introducing the Quirt/Flagg trope that
will reappear in many future movies – not just war movies, by the way.The remake is inferior although the fact that
it is in sound probably makes it more watchable for most viewers.I would not recommend either.
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