WAR MOVIE BLUNDERS

[snake36bravo]

I'd like to add I noticed the jumpmaster in the door with incorrect uniform on my flight to Australia with the 25th ID for Kangaroo 95. I didn't own the movie at that time and hadn't see it since I was a kid. Once I started collecting yes, things started popping out a lot more that are just basic in getting an impression right. Wrong boots, wrong camo, wrong slang, that sort of thing.

 

I can suspend disbelief and enjoy a movie ABTF is one of my all time favorite war movies or I wouldn't have noticed as much.

 

For the record, ABTF had Andrew Mollo as a uniform consultant and for the most parts the SS and German uniforms are impeccable. In some instances they used original uniforms. He was also an advisor on "The Eagle has Landed" and that movie too is excellent in terms of German uniforms. The Rangers in that movie if I remember right were good on uniforms too.

[Sabrejet]

I remember once examining some SS camo smocks which were actually used in ABTF. The "pea-pattern" was created on a plain od canvas base by multiple dabs of suitably coloured emulsion paint, applied with the finger tip. Strange, but true! Looked ok up on the screen though.

 

Sabrejet

[cutiger83]

Also, in the beginning of the movie when the plane lands on 1 wheel and blows up, the plane is not a B-17 that blows up, pause it right before it explodes and you will see what I mean. Also, the crew are at max altitude, and the waist gunner pops his head out of the window to try and grab his medal that Jack Foley "throws" out the window. Not to mention each guy took gloves off, and touched alot of stuff at 25K they would have been frozen to that plane.

 

This is my case in point. I am by no means picking on you so please understand I am just using this as an example. If the movie could not be paused, would someone know it was not a B-17? Someone who studies B-17's and knows their outline may know but most people would not. I totally understand what you are saying about the gloves. That is something that anyone would easily spot but the airplane is not.

 

Thanks, Kat

[B-17Guy]

A couple that I am thinking of are from Memphis Belle. I know it was pretty bad, but I liked that movie.

I read it was a B-17G, but converted to an "F" model just for the movie.

Also, in the beginning of the movie when the plane lands on 1 wheel and blows up, the plane is not a B-17 that blows up, pause it right before it explodes and you will see what I mean. Also, the crew are at max altitude, and the waist gunner pops his head out of the window to try and grab his medal that Jack Foley "throws" out the window. Not to mention each guy took gloves off, and touched alot of stuff at 25K they would have been frozen to that plane.

 

You are correct, the Sally B was modified to look like a F. Remember, there are no flyable F models, only G's.

 

I like the movie as well, even though there are a number of things that were done incorrectly. Many of the operational items that are well known to operating the 17 were performed incorrectly. IE, I always get a laugh the way the throttles are held on takeoff. Never mind that the 25th mission was portrayed totally in-accurately. But remember, it was totally in-accurate in the documentary too!

 

I must say however, a number of things were correct too. During the pre-start checklist, as an example, the co-pilot is looking in all the correct places, as the items are being called out. So, it's not all bad.

 

The film does get the point across about how horrible the air war over Europe was, and what the loss rates were like. It gives the average person a small taste of life in the 8th AF during WWII, even though it's not perfect.

 

Overall, I personally enjoy the movie, despite the flaws.

 

Cheers, John

 

PS- It really does take that long to crank the gear down, but there is no ratcheting sound...

[tredhed2]

What our modest member, B-17 Guy, is trying to say is that he flies a B-17 today! And a B-25!

[navcic7]

Absolutely concur with the earlier comments about 'Windtalkers' Although someone commented that the Navajo was spoken correctly the way the movie was written and filmed was a joke. Mostly a Nick Cage shoot'em up film. A botched opportunity to honor a little known unique group who provided a secure code or language to communicate/ send messages.

[Nkomo]

Absolutely concur with the earlier comments about 'Windtalkers' Although someone commented that the Navajo was spoken correctly the way the movie was written and filmed was a joke. Mostly a Nick Cage shoot'em up film. A botched opportunity to honor a little known unique group who provided a secure code or language to communicate/ send messages.

My wife and I were saying the exact same thing last night. Having met several Code Talkers at a parade in Crown Point, New Mexico a few years back and my wife being Navajo.....I wish someone would make a movie and do it right about what the Navajo Code Talkers did.

[101CH47]

I read it was a B-17G, but converted to an "F" model just for the movie.

 

 

That is correct, the B17 belong to David Tallichet. I met him not long after the filming when he had the plane in Nashville for a photo shoot. I was part of the group that provided the crew for the photos. He was very good to us, gave us free rein of the 101st restaurant he owned at the time near the airport.

[capa]

While I love the movie, the wood (tree trunk) beach obstacles facing the wrong way in Saving Private Ryan was a foreseable mistake to make.

[Jason G]

Kat, as someone who also was doing 'this' long before digital media, I have to say that it's just my nature LOL. Matter of fact, I've NEVER went through a movie frame by frame looking for incorrect 'stuff'....most of the time, it just 'jumps out' at me. Be it German or American uniforms, equipment, etc, I just 'do' it.

 

Movies and TV shows from the 60's and 70's are the worst for me when it comes to uniforms/ribbons. I go crazy when I see all sorts of 'jacked up' ribbons on uniforms.

 

And don't get me started on 'wound ballistics'. My favorite is (Insert favorite TV detective here) carrying a snubnose .38 special who manages to shoot the 'bad guy' off a high balcony/staircase/moving car with 1 or 2 rounds, dropping same in his (or sometimes her) tracks like nothing, despite said bad guy being armed with .45/M16/Hunting rifle, who in the process of all this has fired multiple rounds at (our hero), causing the "usual shoulder" wound with no apparent ill effects to (our hero).

 

Heck, I just repeated the end scene for any Rockford Files/Barretta/Barnaby Jones/Mannix/Peter Gunn episode LOL

[Darktrooper]

In The Longest Day, the troops on the beach can be seen wearing the FRENCH post-war pot (M1951?) and there was at least one wearing Spec 4 rank, 8th Inf Div SSI. And they are wearing M1951 zippered field jackets.

 

 

IIRC, the Beach Landing scene was done by Active Army (US) troops doing this for training. You can see the Super bazooka (m20?) the larger one, and some nice black horn rimmed glasses from the late 50's/ 60's.

[BOLO]

in the WWII movie "MERRILLS MARAUDERS" one of the medics is seen wearing an M1 helmet with post WWII Vietnam type clamp on T-1 chin straps on his swivel bail in a close up shot.

[mpguy80/08]

How about the Blue Max? In the opening scene we see George Peppard hauling tail across no man's land and jumping into a shell crater. Have you ever thought to tak e alook at his rifle? SMLE... :hapy0004:

 

The second Rambo movie was another one filled with blunders. The most glaring of which were the Law rocket fired from the cockpit of the Huey and the scene where he grabs the -60Rs and shoots up the command post with what the slow mo close ups clearly show as nato skinny nosed blanks!!! :thumbdown: I saw this one on a military post and OMG the place erupted with boos from all the soldiers in attendance. :twothumbup:

 

Wayne

[Sabrejet]

Kat, as someone who also was doing 'this' long before digital media, I have to say that it's just my nature LOL. Matter of fact, I've NEVER went through a movie frame by frame looking for incorrect 'stuff'....most of the time, it just 'jumps out' at me. Be it German or American uniforms, equipment, etc, I just 'do' it.

 

Movies and TV shows from the 60's and 70's are the worst for me when it comes to uniforms/ribbons. I go crazy when I see all sorts of 'jacked up' ribbons on uniforms.

 

And don't get me started on 'wound ballistics'. My favorite is (Insert favorite TV detective here) carrying a snubnose .38 special who manages to shoot the 'bad guy' off a high balcony/staircase/moving car with 1 or 2 rounds, dropping same in his (or sometimes her) tracks like nothing, despite said bad guy being armed with .45/M16/Hunting rifle, who in the process of all this has fired multiple rounds at (our hero), causing the "usual shoulder" wound with no apparent ill effects to (our hero).

 

Heck, I just repeated the end scene for any Rockford Files/Barretta/Barnaby Jones/Mannix/Peter Gunn episode LOL

 

One thing that always "lets down" many war movies is the way in which the actors/extras portray being hit by bullets. It's invariably a kind of slow-mo ballet with arms being raised aloft before falling to the ground... and usually in the wrong direction! Directors never seemed to be able to grasp this important..though gruesome..detail, until Sam Peckinpah's "The Wild Bunch".

 

Sabrejet

[Jeeper704]

Anyone explains this in SPR ...

The scene where that lady discovers the three Ryans being KIA.

The one-armed Colonel has a combat patch of the 2nd ID.

Now, the 2ID only came ashore on D-Day+1 (!).

 

It would have been a better idea to put the 1ID as combat patch on his jacket as they were in since North Africa.

So he would have gotten wounded, sent to the US and returned to serve at the General's Quarters stateside (eventhough that doesn't seem plausible in my eyes).

 

Not to mention all "them purdy collers" on the ribbons of the officers.

 

Erwin

[Sabrejet]

Any of you vehicle spotters ever notice the Land Rover chassis beneath some of the German SdKfz's in ABTF?! That said, where would war movie-makers be without T34s dressed up as Panzers? The "Tiger" from SPR was at Beltring one year. I had a good look at it. Apart from the scale (much smaller than a Tiger!) they didn't do too bad a job overall. The Tiger in "Kelly's Heroes" was another.

 

Sabrejet

[LtRGFRANK]

How about Charlton Heston in Midway crashing on the deck of the carrier and its a Jet Plane exploding

[Allan H.]

Anyone explains this in SPR ...

The scene where that lady discovers the three Ryans being KIA.

The one-armed Colonel has a combat patch of the 2nd ID.

Now, the 2ID only came ashore on D-Day+1 (!).

 

It would have been a better idea to put the 1ID as combat patch on his jacket as they were in since North Africa.

So he would have gotten wounded, sent to the US and returned to serve at the General's Quarters stateside (eventhough that doesn't seem plausible in my eyes).

 

Not to mention all "them purdy collers" on the ribbons of the officers.

 

Erwin

 

Erwin,

I believe that the one armed colonel was supposed to be a World War I veteran. The thing about his uniform is that the right shoulder worn "Combat patch" was originally authorized to wear to denote Former Wartime Service and was originally only authorized in the spring of 1945. It was announced at the same time as the authorization for the Combat Medic's Badge. Even if the colonel had been in the 1st or say the 34th ID in North Africa, he still wouldn't have been authorized to wear a patch on his right shoulder.

 

there are plenty of other screw-ups in SPR. I have a copy of the original script which reads more like a Sergeant Rock comic book than the finished product. Every cliche known to army movies appears in that script including the Rangers stealing general Gavin's jeep!

 

The problem with SPR is the whole continuity from Roger Rodat's farce of a script and what Steven Ambrose made it into... The Rangers under CPT Miller were supposed to have been in the Rangers since North Africa. The 1st Rangers were the only battalion in North Africa. It was the 2nd and 5th Ranger battalions that went into Normandy. The 1st was split to make cadre for the 3rd and 4th Ranger Bns. Most of these men ended up killed, wounded or POW after Cisterna which went down before Normandy. Had CPT Miller have been able to escape, he would have been rolled into the First Special Service Force.

 

Remember how the Rangers had a running bet about Miller's civilian job? Again, they have known their CO since North Africa and didn't know anything about him? All you combat veterans out there- tell me you don't know every inimate detail about everyone in your squad, heck, your platoon! Why would Miller keep it a secret? It was a continuity thing between Rodat's Sergeant Rock character and A,brose's notion of the citizen soldier.

 

Switching gears- I too first saw Rambo II in a post theater at Ft. Knox, KY. We all booed and whooped it up over all the fakery there.

 

I guess the last thing that I really hated about so many movies, Patton, etc. is the use of modern tanks. In one particular movie, the Americans are using Patton tanks and the Germans are driving Shermans!

 

Allan

[MPage]

One thing in SPR that was totally unrealistic was the over-the-top special effects involving guys getting shot underwater. They're already at least a couple feet under, and the bullets are traveling several feet (if not yards) underwater and killing them? Nah, sorry. Not at that distance, anyway.

 

Water is good cover in that regard.

[noexpert]

Why are German soldiers always deaf, dumb and blind when they are on guard duty?

 

Guys who get shot numerous times but not only keep on going, they LAUGH and carry on lengthy conversations! Likewise POW's who undergo brutal torture, etc.

 

German and Japanese soldiers ALWAYS wind up unconcious as the result of an Allied soldier jumping down behind them. Likewise, wiping the blade of a knife across their throat seems to give them the vapors. And the same move chiropractors do to straighten spines everywhere is, apparently, also excellent for breaking Nazi necks.

 

Enemy soldiers NEVER discharge their rifles when jumped from behind, and the same weapons never clatter when dropped on concrete or asphalt surfaces.

[Sabrejet]

What about cr***y dialogue?! Personally, I much prefer those movies where the Germans actually speak German rather than the usual "G.I...for you zer var iss ofer"...and the Japanese speak Japanese. I don't mind having to read subtitles. It worked well in movies like ABTF , Longest Day and Letters from Iwo Jima etc. I watched "Battle of Midway" a few days ago. All of the principal Japanese characters spoke with American accents...very unconvincing!

 

Sabrejet :pinch:

[Steve B.]

I finally got to watch "The Pacific" just this last week after buying the DVD set last weekend.

 

The set contains a 'BONUS PHOTO BOOK!" and one of the cololor photos clearly shows a Marine draping a machine gun ammo belt over his neck with one hand as he charges forward with his M1 rifle in the other hand. The problem is that the machine gun ammo is very obviously the flat-nose blanks in metal links or possibly empty casings. I must say I didn't notice this in the movie, but it jumped out at me in this photo.

 

Another thing I noticed - but this is not limited to "The Pacific" is that the packs/rucksacks/duffle bags/ammo cans/ammo boxes don't weigh enough.

 

The biggest glitch I noticed was in the last episode when Sledge is home and sitting outside talking to his brother who was an armor officer. The brother is wearing his pinks & greens and the top ribbon on his LEFT side is blue with a gold frame around it - a Distinguished Unit Citation! Marines & Navy may wear unit awards on the left, but Army has always worn them over the RIGHT pocket. Somebody is not paying attention.

[jerseygary]

First of all, I am sorry to all the SPR fans, but I must admit I really couldn't stand that movie. Watching it in the theater, besides the moving opening scene, the rest to me played out like a big-budget A-Team episode. Every ethnic and geographical stereo-type was represented in that unit. That said, the real stink-o part for me was the end where Miller dies while propped up against the German motorcycle. It KILLED me that the stupid bike was infact a modern Ural motorcycle! You can tell by the rubber trim on the gas tank and the cylinder heads. At the time it was released I was painstakingly restoring a real civilian 1939 BMW R-71, I knew the ins and outs of those period German bikes and the fact that they couldn't get a real or modified bike to be used just made the already lousy movie even worse for me. Sometimes I wish I knew less than I do and could simply enjoy a movie!

[1canpara]

And don't forget the flip up swivel loop M-1C which did not even exist on D-Day... or have we maybe just found photographic evidence? :w00t:

 

 

....and isn't the Dukes / Vandervoorts M-42 jacket just a little too green, or is this just possibly due to the "colourization" of the movie after it's original release?

 

 

Rick

[Sabrejet]

You mention stereotypes. Isn't it one of life's constants that in virtually every American war movie there's ever been there's always a "Kowalski" in the squad!!

 

Sabrejet