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"The Pacific" Band of Brothers for the Pacific War


Bob Hudson
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HolyHappiness
It’s downright odd the producers decided to create a series by combining two completely unrelated books and also throw in a third totally unrelated character like Basilone. Can you imagine anyone trying to combine “From Here to Eternity” with “The Naked & the Dead”, then adding a third famous character like Gen. Claire Chennault just for additional drama? It’s too weird, too much to cover, too many unrelated characters. But, that’s what we got with The Pacific.

 

In all fairness, they didn’t really have any appropriate material for this series. They wanted a story that was true, 100% nonfiction based on real people’s lives like Band of Brothers. It also had to be a chronology that covered many places & events over a period of years, like BOB, except set in the Pacific Theater. So what book do they use as the basis for the series? “Helmet For My Pillow” started out early in the war but ended when Leckie was wounded on Peleliu. They couldn’t use that because the story ended in the middle of the war. “With the Old Breed” didn’t begin until Sledge entered the Marines in 1944. They couldn’t use that story either because it didn’t begin until the middle of the war. The story of John Basilone started on Guadalcanal and ended on Iwo Jima which completely left out every Pacific battle in between. So, the only other option was to combine all three stories.

 

I personally think the combination of the Leckie and Sledge books would have been enough so I’m not sure why they opted to include the story of John Basilone. According to most opinions, it has proven to be too much of a mish-mash, too complicated and too difficult to follow.

 

The series is good, some of it is great but it simply isn’t fantastic like BOB was.

 

JW

 

 

The problem is that there are really no memoirs of the whole war in he pacific. Reason being, the Marines rotated a lot more than the army. After 3 or 4 campaigns a marine could be rotated home and that's the end of the story. We see this in the pacific with Sid Phillips, Sledges good friend, he is sent home from Pavuvu just after Sledge arrives.

 

-Nathan

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Richard W.

The inclusion of Basilone's story makes sense if you look at "The Pacific" as being told through the eyes of the 1st Marine Division (even though he had been reassigned to the 5th Marine Division for Iwo Jima). I liked the Basilone arc of the series the best so far.

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kjones5452

I thought they were trying to do something with Basilone and his

recruits like was done in that old 50s/60s film with Chad Everitt as

a Marine hero who gets decorated,comes back,marries,has conflicts,

tough on the kids, goes back,can't remember if he gets killed or

realizes the error in his ways.To me it was like Basilone was there

kinda like Fredo was there in The Godfather.

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I thought they were trying to do something with Basilone and his

recruits like was done in that old 50s/60s film with Chad Everitt as

a Marine hero who gets decorated,comes back,marries,has conflicts,

tough on the kids, goes back,can't remember if he gets killed or

realizes the error in his ways.To me it was like Basilone was there

kinda like Fredo was there in The Godfather.

 

 

That film was based on Basilone.

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Richard W.

The Chad Everett movie was called "First to Fight".

 

I saw it as a kid but it's been so long I can't remember what happens at the end.

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willysmb44

Not a bad episode. The series has taken it’s time to gain traction with me, but it has built momentum. As I understand it, the final episode will be about the end of the war or afterward.

I just can’t help wondering about the original plotline for this series I’d read in several different places when they first announced they were going to do a PTO series. I have a few articles somewhere saying the plan was to cover a USO troupe which visited various units, showing all the different kinds of folks fighting there. I wonder what happened with that or if it was ever how they considered telling the story? You wouldn’t have identified with people as well if they never showed too many people, but think of what else you could have seen!

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cutiger83

I was able to get my hands on a set of the DVD's. Tonight, Dad and I watched episodes 9 and 10. I won't spoil it for everyone but I will say that if there are bad comments about both of these episodes, then there is absolutely no pleasing people. These were two very powerful episodes. Both my Dad and I really liked both episodes. It is amazing what these men went thru and were able to come home and lead normal lives. At the very end it shows the actors along with the real men.

 

...Kat

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kammo-man

Seen the WHOLE thing 3 weeks ago and have been keeping my BIG mouth closed about it.

That is the best thing dont ya think??????????

 

 

 

owen

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I was able to get my hands on a set of the DVD's. Tonight, Dad and I watched episodes 9 and 10. I won't spoil it for everyone but I will say that if there are bad comments about both of these episodes, then there is absolutely no pleasing people. These were two very powerful episodes. Both my Dad and I really liked both episodes. It is amazing what these men went thru and were able to come home and lead normal lives. At the very end it shows the actors along with the real men.

 

...Kat

I agree, you can't please everyone, some love it, some not so much, I enjoyed the most recent episode though.

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03PackMule
That film was based on Basilone.

 

 

I always thought it was based on Mitchell Paige, six o' one half dozen of the other.

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kammo-man

just got back from the WEST COAST HISTORICAL SHOW and got to see all the uniforms again in one big lot together

It all looks great and there was szles already.

owen

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troyadamietz

I didn't read all of this long thread - but wanted to throw my own comments in on this mini-series.

 

When I heard it was coming out I got excited as I loved Band of Brothers and have seen it many times.. including just showing it to my fiance' for her first time and she loved it and got excited about the Pacific as well.

 

There are some really impressive parts and the filming is excellent. I cannot begin to imagine the things the soldiers went through just getting to the islands much less fighting on them. They are truly brave and heroic.

 

But the way this thing is done with the sex scenes thrown in makes it unwatchable by our son. He loves WWII but how can he watch when they have these totally unnecessary romps thrown it?

 

I am quite dissapointed that I cannot share an otherwise interesting bit of history with my son.

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kjones5452

It's probably safe to assume that the A&E and History will have the version

that everybody can enjoy,like they have with BOB. No bad language,scenes,

etc. Happy birthday will be a little shorter.

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ClaptonIsGod
I didn't read all of this long thread - but wanted to throw my own comments in on this mini-series.

 

When I heard it was coming out I got excited as I loved Band of Brothers and have seen it many times.. including just showing it to my fiance' for her first time and she loved it and got excited about the Pacific as well.

 

There are some really impressive parts and the filming is excellent. I cannot begin to imagine the things the soldiers went through just getting to the islands much less fighting on them. They are truly brave and heroic.

 

But the way this thing is done with the sex scenes thrown in makes it unwatchable by our son. He loves WWII but how can he watch when they have these totally unnecessary romps thrown it?

 

I am quite dissapointed that I cannot share an otherwise interesting bit of history with my son.

 

While I do agree the scenes are unnecessary, how can you call them out any more so then guys getting shot in the head, burning to death from flamethrowers, guys getting legs and arms blown off, guys getting stabbed, etc. etc. ?

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normaninvasion

As stated by CIG and afew others. It is quite interesting that many are concerned about the sex and not the gore :think:

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Linedoggie

Ok, I get your squeamish about the sex scenes and nudity,but thats worse than Snafu dropping pebbles into the skull cavity of a dead Japanese Soldier?

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Linedoggie

Army shows up tonight- 27th Division SSI on fatigues, 27th Stencil on a helmet and the Intell officer wearing XXIV corps SSI . Helmets with Burlap covers and helmet netting.

 

Misfire procedures and wet Mortar rounds falling short, rain, rain, and rain.

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HolyHappiness

Speechless. Episode 9 plucks the strings of emotionality big time! This one really takes the famous line by General Sherman "War is hell" and puts them into a moving picture that we can see and feel. Sledge was going down a slippery slope, I am glad that he regained himself and fixed his direction. They really captured the carnage an inhumanity that occurred on Okinawa. I am very glad to see the civilians play that big of a role that they did, I was really afraid they would have been looked over. I never thought that they would have shown the civilians being used as shields by the IJN, something that further shows the brutality and inhumanity of war.

 

Needless to say, Mr. Patton, the director of episodes: 1,7, and 9, has done a superb job and I personally believe they should of had him do all of them. I was really tickled to see a formation of B-29's playing over at the end, that really had me going. I give his episode a 10/10. They problem with the series was the character development, and this episode fixed that and did a superb job. I actually felt for Hamm (who is a brief, new charactor). I am greatly looking forward to the next episode as usual. I am really excited to see these men as the return home in the conclusion of this series!

 

See ya on the flip side!

-Nathan

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I was disappointed with this episode, but I knew from the get go we were only getting one episode at Okinawa.

 

The Okinawa segment of Sledge's book was the most thought-provoking for me, and they left out so many good instances and people that would have been great to see on the series. Once again, I am left really wishing that all 10 episodes had been about With The Old Breed.

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Another pile of sh*t episode. Yes, it captures the bad morale and miserable conditions on Okinawa, but I cannot recall ever seeing another show where I disliked virtually every character. I guess this is the best a tribute to the US fighting man in the pacific that the producers could come up with nowadays. Everybody a pyschopath. Can't wait for this series to be over with.

best wishes,

jeff

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Army shows up tonight- 27th Division SSI on fatigues, 27th Stencil on a helmet and the Intell officer wearing XXIV corps SSI . Helmets with Burlap covers and helmet netting.

 

The 27th ID was portrayed really inaccurately in terms of uniforms and kit... and I was really hoping they were going to depict one of the most moving and descriptive parts of Sledge's book about the Okinawa campaign:

 

As April wore on, rumors and bad news increased about the situation the army was facing down south. Scuttlebutt ran rampant about our future employment down there. Our fear increased daily, and we finally got the word that we'd be moving south on 1 May to replace the 27th Infantry Division on the right flank of the Tenth Army…

 

We boarded trucks and headed south over dusty roads. In this central portion of Okinawa we first passed many bivouacs of service troops and vast ammunition and supply dumps, all covered with camouflage netting. Next we came to several artillery positions. From the piles of empty brass shell cases, we knew they had fired a lot. And from the numerous shell craters gouged into the fields of grass, we could tell that the Japanese had thrown in plenty of counterbattery fire.

 

At some unmarked spot, we stopped and got off the trucks. I was filled with dread. We took up a single file on the right side of a narrow coral road and began walking south. Ahead we could hear the crash and thunder of enemy mortar and artillery shells, the rattle of machine guns, and the popping of rifles. Our own artillery shells whistled southbound.

 

"Keep your five-pace interval," came an order.

 

We did not talk. Each man was alone with his thoughts.

 

Shortly a column of men approached us on the other side of the road. They were the army infantry from the 106th Regiment, 27th Infantry Division that we were relieving. Their tragic expressions revealed where they had been. They were dead beat, dirty and grisly, hollow-eyed and tight-faced. I hadn't seen such faces since Peleliu.

 

As they filed past us, one tall, lanky fellow caught my eye and said in a weary voice, "It's hell up there, Marine."

 

Nervous about what was ahead and a bit irritated that he might think I was a boot, I said with some impatience, "Yeah, I know. I was at Peleliu."

 

He looked at me blankly and moved on.

 

I thought it was a good episode and I understand what the filmmakers were going for with Part 9, but it was not as good as Part 7 IMO. Okinawa really needed at least 2 episodes... a lot of stuff happened on Okinawa that was not like previous campaigns and just too much to address in under one hour. It was nice to see the civilian element which was a tragic and huge factor in the campaign, but I feel the nature of the combat on Okinawa was really not depicted too well. I guess with just one hour to devote to Okinawa they did not want to repeat the same types of stuff they showed in the Peleliu episodes. I guess I just expected more out of an episode about Okinawa after Part 7 really set the standard.

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Another pile of sh*t episode. Can't wait for this series to be over with.

best wishes,

jeff

 

If its that bad, why do you watch? :dunno:

 

best wishes - Dave

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