I Mentioned It Once, But I Think I Got Away With It
Quote of the moment:
Should I put on my suit and try to stand in the background?!
The second half of the 100 Greatest War Films was on tonight. Very much my cup of ration-pack hot chocolate. I missed the first half because Willy ordered me over to entertain him.
Cool fact about Zulu: In order to balance out the apartheid-era pay difference between white and zulu extras, Stanley Baker (star and producer) gave them the herd of 3,000 cattle used in the film.
What I noticed about it was firstly how many places Ireland doubled as and secondly how many of the films had Dale Dye as a commentator. He's a former US Marine who enlisted as a private and retired as a Captain, making him pretty cool. He then became a military consultant in Hollywood, with cameo appearances in most of the films he advised on. They included:
Platoon
Born on the Fourth of July
Natural Born Killers
Mission Impossible
Starship Troopers
Saving Private Ryan
The last, incidentally, was voted the best war film made thus far, which was obviously deserved for the Normandy beaches opening. The Spielberg/Hanks team (with Dye's assistance) then produced the series ' Band of Brothers ' which, if it counted as a film, would have been a worthy winner itself. It's like 'Ryan' but 10 hour-long episodes, each directed by a different person or pairing. All of them are done in a slightly different way, focusing on individuals, groupings or a common theme, but all are brilliant. The series is about one company in an airborne (paratroop) regiment in WWII, starting with their training and going right through until the atomic bomb ending the war.
It doesn't really star anyone, but the most constant character is Captain Winters, played by Damian Lewis, the man who makes ginger hair credible. Even in ten hours the book isn't done justice, with some of the small facts left out being the most impressive. For example, during the build-up to the invasion their battalion scored 97% on the US Army PT test, the highest ever. That was including the cooks, clerks and all, not just the men in the rifle squads. When the truth of the score was questioned by a senior staff officer, they took it again and got 98%.
Mentioned in Dispatches:
37. Cross of Iron - Awesome anti-officer film
35. The Last of the Mohicans - Soaringly amazing ending
34. Kelly's Heroes - Just funny
33. All Quiet on the Western Front - Classic B+W
29. Battle of Britain - The LOCAL film
26. Ice-Cold in Alex - Beer makes it better
25. Spartacus - I am...
24. Gladiator - ...Maximus Decimus Meridius
22. M*A*S*H - Sex, drugs and combat surgery
21. Where Eagles Dare - Maclean's Gestapo castle
17. Das Boot - Sehr, sehr, sehr, sehr gut.
14. The Guns of Navarone - Maclean's cliff-top fortress
13. Braveheart - Crushes you like a worm
11. The Dam Busters - Keeping it in the family:
I don't know which one is Flt Lt Richard D. Trevor-Roper, DFC, but there's an obvious guess...
9. Black Hawk Down - The chaos, made real
8. Zulu - Not a slack upper lip in sight
7. A Bridge Too Far - All star awesomeness
6. Platoon - Disenchantment expresso
5. Full Metal Jacket - Cool like Eskimo...
4. Schindler's List - Beautiful.
Should I put on my suit and try to stand in the background?!
The second half of the 100 Greatest War Films was on tonight. Very much my cup of ration-pack hot chocolate. I missed the first half because Willy ordered me over to entertain him.
Cool fact about Zulu: In order to balance out the apartheid-era pay difference between white and zulu extras, Stanley Baker (star and producer) gave them the herd of 3,000 cattle used in the film.
What I noticed about it was firstly how many places Ireland doubled as and secondly how many of the films had Dale Dye as a commentator. He's a former US Marine who enlisted as a private and retired as a Captain, making him pretty cool. He then became a military consultant in Hollywood, with cameo appearances in most of the films he advised on. They included:
Platoon
Born on the Fourth of July
Natural Born Killers
Mission Impossible
Starship Troopers
Saving Private Ryan
The last, incidentally, was voted the best war film made thus far, which was obviously deserved for the Normandy beaches opening. The Spielberg/Hanks team (with Dye's assistance) then produced the series ' Band of Brothers ' which, if it counted as a film, would have been a worthy winner itself. It's like 'Ryan' but 10 hour-long episodes, each directed by a different person or pairing. All of them are done in a slightly different way, focusing on individuals, groupings or a common theme, but all are brilliant. The series is about one company in an airborne (paratroop) regiment in WWII, starting with their training and going right through until the atomic bomb ending the war.
It doesn't really star anyone, but the most constant character is Captain Winters, played by Damian Lewis, the man who makes ginger hair credible. Even in ten hours the book isn't done justice, with some of the small facts left out being the most impressive. For example, during the build-up to the invasion their battalion scored 97% on the US Army PT test, the highest ever. That was including the cooks, clerks and all, not just the men in the rifle squads. When the truth of the score was questioned by a senior staff officer, they took it again and got 98%.
Mentioned in Dispatches:
37. Cross of Iron - Awesome anti-officer film
35. The Last of the Mohicans - Soaringly amazing ending
34. Kelly's Heroes - Just funny
33. All Quiet on the Western Front - Classic B+W
29. Battle of Britain - The LOCAL film
26. Ice-Cold in Alex - Beer makes it better
25. Spartacus - I am...
24. Gladiator - ...Maximus Decimus Meridius
22. M*A*S*H - Sex, drugs and combat surgery
21. Where Eagles Dare - Maclean's Gestapo castle
17. Das Boot - Sehr, sehr, sehr, sehr gut.
14. The Guns of Navarone - Maclean's cliff-top fortress
13. Braveheart - Crushes you like a worm
11. The Dam Busters - Keeping it in the family:
I don't know which one is Flt Lt Richard D. Trevor-Roper, DFC, but there's an obvious guess...
9. Black Hawk Down - The chaos, made real
8. Zulu - Not a slack upper lip in sight
7. A Bridge Too Far - All star awesomeness
6. Platoon - Disenchantment expresso
5. Full Metal Jacket - Cool like Eskimo...
4. Schindler's List - Beautiful.
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