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WAR MOVIE BLUNDERS


Patriot
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Borderline blunder...I was watching an old "horror" film, The Serpent and the Rainbow and saw something that made me laugh. One of the main characters (a member of the Tonton Macoute - part of Bebe Doc's ruling regime in Haiti) played by Zakes Mokae was wearing a military uniform that was chock-full of U.S. accouterments. I was laughing as I observed his ribbon rack to see the NatDef, Humanitarian Medal, Vietnam Campaign, Vietnam Service to name a few.

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The screenshots suck...but you get the idea.

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Not in a movie, but in a way kind of relevant to this thread. I went to an Elvis tribute festival at the weekend. Lots of the fans wore 50s style outfits, Vegas jumpsuits and Elvis shades etc., to get into the spirit of the thing (incidentally, I didn't! ) Anyway, in the audience was an "Elvis in the Army" type. He was a mature man of ample proportions. He was dressed in an AG jacket and cap with khaki pants. The jacket had appropriate sergeant stripes....and a full set of infantry officers' collar brass! Suffice it to say my wife had to restrain me....! :D

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GUADALCANAL DIARY the Japanese soldiers were armed with Springfield 1903 rifles & KRAGs

 

TAE GUK GI during the Korean war they show a South Korean soldier with a Big Hershey chocolate bar with a BAR CODE on the back of the wrapper, I dont think they used bar codes back in 1950? everything was done manually on the old style cash registers

 

Kelly's Heroes, during the scene where Don Rickles & Clint Eastwood are discussing the gold heist , a box of Almond Joy candy bars can be seen in the background, but Almond Joy was not introduced until 1946

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I have the box set of the TV series "North and South," and while it isn't a military bulnder as such, there's a scene where slaves are working in the fields, scratching on a row being planted. The extras were clearly handed whatever the prop people had, some of them are scraping axes sideways across the row!

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One detail which is often seen in movies and which always irks me is when carbine armed GIs wear rifle belts (invariably with visibly empty pockets!) Same principle applies when every German is armed with an MP40...and wear leather Mauser pouches!

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One detail which is often seen in movies and which always irks me is when carbine armed GIs wear rifle belts (invariably with visibly empty pockets!) Same principle applies when every German is armed with an MP40...and wear leather Mauser pouches!

Like Steve McQueen in Hell Is For Hero's while toting a grease gun.

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ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES:

 

US Marines armed with M14 rifles modified to look like M1 Garands and also wear WWII style camo helmet covers and M1 ammo belts and the time is supposed to be Los Angeles, Ca 1973

 

 

 

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UNCOMMON VALOR 1983

 

the scene with the old asian man with his two daughters

 

they are speaking Cantonese / Hong Kong dialect to the Laotian Border patrol but they were portraying one of the Hill tribes from Laos / Thailand

 

I dont think the Hill tribes of Laos would be speaking Hong Kong dialect

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Re WINDTALKERS: IIR the computer-generated graphics show F6F Hellcats bombing and strafing in close support.

 

Funny, I thought the F6F was a higher-altitude, air-to-air fighter, and the the F4U Corsair was the CAS type.....

 

But what the heck, in Saving Private Ryan it was a P-51 Mustang that got the Tiger at the end. (Same deal, P-51s weren't wasted on low-level stuff, and it was the job of P-47s (and Brit Typhoons)). AND what the %^*# ordnance did the Mustang use? No bomb rack(s), no rocket racks, in evidence....

 

This is an old post, but it reminded me of one P-51 pilot who got the Silver Star for a ground strafing mission.

 

docssilverstarnews.jpg

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One detail which is often seen in movies and which always irks me is when carbine armed GIs wear rifle belts (invariably with visibly empty pockets!) Same principle applies when every German is armed with an MP40...and wear leather Mauser pouches!

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Not a war movie but my sister was watching "Supernatural" on TV tonight. Was a woman in Army cammo with PFC brass on her cover calling herself a SGT. Maybe we should start a thread stuff like this and the stupid stuff on the "SYFY" channel.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

Missing in Action starring Chuck Norris

 

the NVA officers at the meeting declaring there are no American POWs in Vietnam speak with a very distinctive "FILIPINO accent"

 

when Chuck Norris frees a prisoner at one of the POW camps he identifies himself as "Sgt Diem Black Panther Rangers" and also has a strong Filipino accent

 

when Chuck Norris goes to a local bar in Saigon asking if he knows a certain guy, the bartender also speaks with a Filipino accent

 

he's says Im looking for a friend, then the bartender says isnt everybody?

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I caught the 'previous on' portion of the start of an episode of 'The Carrie Diaries,' which I've never seen before. It takes place in the 80s and there was a scene where a woman enlisted in the army and the recruiter was wearing a current set of Class As complete with black beret with the blue flash.

Yep, only Rangers were wearing black berets back then. Made me glad I never watched the show.

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the improper wear of berets & service caps while indoors , having a drink in the bar wearing a Special Forces uniform wearing a SF green beret

 

beards with class A uniform & green beret

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In all fairness, as a kid I recall seeing soldiers wearing berets and caps indoors on a couple of occasions, this would have been at the very tail end of 'Nam. The funny part is that looked odd to me, even then.

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Though this isn't a movie blunder-it's a blunder that almost made it....................................

 

Many years ago, while I was still a newspaper photographer, with a reporter I traveled to the set of the TNT film "Andersonville" to do a story. The production company welcomed us and were given free reign over the set. I've photographed several movie and television productions in the past-so I knew the protocol of when or when not shoot pictures (I always use a long lens no strobe etc). At one point director John Frankenheimer started to flip out when he saw me with my cameras. Talk about an embarrassing situation-to get yelled at by a famous director. (the funny thing about it was I wasn't even taking pictures at the time). Much to his credit, Frankenheimer later came up to me and apologized for the outburst he went on to explain why: Earlier in the week when the were shooting the scene where the Raiders were being hanged (elaborate set with gallows and very large group of extras). Frankenheimer went on to say that it wasn't until after he viewed the dailies when it was noticed that one of the Civil War extras had pulled out a small camera and shoot a photo. Needless to say, the scene had to be re shot in the following days. It was real nice of him to come and talk with me -I later went and took a week of vacation and worked as an extra on the film--a lot of fun.

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Hey fstop you reminisces reminds me of this scene with Peter Sellers as a actor from India playing a Indian Soldier out in Hollywood in the opening scene of the 1968 movie The Party :lol:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9tBFBULj90

 

Too darn funny-looks like a pretty interesting film. When Frankenheimer fussed at me everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at me. I wanted nothing but to melt into the background. Great clip Patches...Thanks

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