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Anzio


1canpara
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Wow, what a disappointment! I'm currently traveling around Italy and will be in Anzio in a couple of weeks, so I thought in preparation for my visit, I'd watch the 60's made movie Anzio, with Robert Mitchum and Peter Falk. Well when the opening credits rolled to the "theme" song, a lame Vegas lounge-styled tune sung by Jack Jones I should've known then it was going to be a load of garbage. I downloaded it to my iPad to watch on the 9 hour flight over to Rome, and it was 2 hours of my life I can't get back.

 

It was so full of nonsense, with little or no regard to the actual battles and the screw ups, that I actually felt bad for the stars, thinking they must have misjudged what it could have been when they signed up for it. I don't know much about War Correspondents, but I'm fairly certain that they didn't advise Generals about enemy Intel and orders of battle, or lead men in combat, like was portrayed in the movie. Full of inaccuracies and over-dramatic acting and dialogue, it's nowhere near the quality of war film that so many others of that era proved they could be.

 

Thumbs down from me, :(

 

I am really looking forward to visiting the real Anzio area and seeing what I can find in the way of memorials and museums in the area.

 

Rick

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Wow, what a disappointment! I'm currently traveling around Italy and will be in Anzio in a couple of weeks, so I thought in preparation for my visit, I'd watch the 60's made movie Anzio, with Robert Mitchum and Peter Falk. Well when the opening credits rolled to the "theme" song, a lame Vegas lounge-styled tune sung by Jack Jones I should've known then it was going to be a load of garbage. I downloaded it to my iPad to watch on the 9 hour flight over to Rome, and it was 2 hours of my life I can't get back.

 

It was so full of nonsense, with little or no regard to the actual battles and the screw ups, that I actually felt bad for the stars, thinking they must have misjudged what it could have been when they signed up for it. I don't know much about War Correspondents, but I'm fairly certain that they didn't advise Generals about enemy Intel and orders of battle, or lead men in combat, like was portrayed in the movie. Full of inaccuracies and over-dramatic acting and dialogue, it's nowhere near the quality of war film that so many others of that era proved they could be.

 

Thumbs down from me, :(

 

I am really looking forward to visiting the real Anzio area and seeing what I can find in the way of memorials and museums in the area.

 

Rick

 

 

I visited Salerno where my grandfather fought during WWII. He landed on the beaches in front of the town of Paestum. If you have time, take a trip down. It is a small town and does not have convenient transportation. Take the regional train from Naples through Salerno to Paestum. You can either walk to the beach (around 45 minutes) or cross your fingers that you see a taxi (most likely will not). Either way, its worth it! Huge beach to walk up and down. Not a super clean beach fyi. You can also check out the Paestum tower which was a machine gun nest located on Red Beach. The Paestum ruins are worth seeing too. Safe travels!

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Here's some stills from this Gem. BTW I actually seen this in theater when it first came out in July 1968, my Father took me, I was nearly 7 :D.

 

The whole scale use of the British SMLE MK III rifle by extras.

post-34986-0-66254700-1442589718.jpg

 

And the use on all the Rangers of the 1950s to then present (1967) RANGER qualification tab.

post-34986-0-03781700-1442589743.jpg

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"I had hoped that we were hurling a wildcat onto the shore, but all we had got was a stranded whale!" ( Winston S. Churchill)

 

Wynford Vaughan Thomas was a distinguished Welsh broadcaster / BBC War Correspondent who wrote the book "Anzio" upon which the movie was loosely based...the key word here being "loosely"!

 

Buone vacanze! B)

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The whole scale use of the British SMLE MK III rifle by extras.

 

There is also a scene showing troops disembarking into LCVP's; they are 1960s Marines complete with M-14 rifles and associated equipment. Of course the Navy personnel seen (coxswain) is wearing an orange fiberglass life preserver which was also contemporary to the 1960s.

 

IIRC, the interaction between Falk and Mitchum was one of the few highlights I recall.

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that movie was so casual with the festive music soundtracks that didnt go well with a WWII movie, I almost thought it was a Frank Sinatra musical?

 

wrong type of rifles, wrong kind of tanks, wrong kind of sound track! I read all the tanks were US post WWII models?

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that movie was so casual with the festive music soundtracks that didnt go well with a WWII movie, I almost thought it was a Frank Sinatra musical?

 

wrong type of rifles, wrong kind of tanks, wrong kind of sound track! I read all the tanks were US post WWII models?

Would have been whatever the Italian army had when made. The SMLE were in their inventory from Co-Belligerent times

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Too Much WW1 Militaria

I remember seeing this with my father, who was at Anzio. Said he never saw Robert Mitchum there! lol But hey, it was entertainment on the TV.

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Thanks Johan, I'll use this link as part of my guide as I travel through the area. I'm still in Florence at the moment, will be in Rome tomorrow for a few days with my wife, then on to Anzio and other battle areas near the end of September.

 

Ciao, and again grazie mille!

 

Rick

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:P These were two songs with an Italian flavor that were considered for the title song of ANZIO, one by Jimmy Roselli, Buona Sera, and other by Matt Monroe, On Days Like These, but it was decided to used the Jack Jones song. As it turned out the Roselli one was used in the 1968 comedy film Buona Sera Mr's Campbell, and the Monroe one for the 1969 comedy caper The Italian Job. :P :lol:

 

Some Hot 60s Chicks in this vid eh! LOL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj_mUGRClek

 

 

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The movie is just a waste of time watching. I wish Hollywood could have made better movies at that time but they didn't and most are bad. I would like to see some movies re-made with Steven Spielberg doing them. At least they would have a better feel to them.

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  • 3 weeks later...

One thing's for sure, we're long overdue for a good MTO-themed WW2 movie!

As you can imagine, I loathe the Anzio movie for the comical representation of a War Correspondent...

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One thing's for sure, we're long overdue for a good MTO-themed WW2 movie!

As you can imagine, I loathe the Anzio movie for the comical representation of a War Correspondent...

 

HA HA HA HA HA HA

 

owen

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I liked a few of the scenes like the part when a us soldier gets captured by two German soldiers and they take his personal belongings and throw his child's photos on the ground, then he gets shot trying to pick them up , that was one of the only serious or realistic scenes in the movie, showing the brutality of the German soldier.

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  • 9 months later...

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