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WAR MOVIE BLUNDERS


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An uncle of mine was a movie screenwriter and be befriended Audie Murphy in the late 1940s, when Audie had some roles in "oater",

"Grade B" Westerns. The uncle said that by 1952 or so Audie had "lost his mind, believing his own press-agent hype" and thinking he was a great actor -- hence he lost jobs (Grade B). The uncle tried to help with the BOOK "To Hell and Back", but Audie blew him off and his changes/advice were largely ignored. Then, Audie recontacted him when the movie was in production, asking for the help -- but it was "beyond help by then" per uncle. BTW Unc was last associated with Audie in a short-lived TV Western called "Whispering Smith", Audie as a Pinkerton-type detective in Denver, which lasted not long.

 

With the Greatest respect and reverance for Audie L. Murphy, It must be said he was a lousy actor, he never should of ventured into it,. I've read some stuff in this area, stuff you will not find here on the net. It was James Cagney who thought he would have potential, as no one cana say a word agin Jimmy Cagney, as Cagney was a real stand up guy, he genuinely thought Murphy would be good and genuinely wanted to help Murphy.

 

I found this and this will tell a little more, of this interesting story.

 

http://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Murphy,_Audie

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  • 2 weeks later...

In regards for "Operation Dumbo Drop":

Don't judge a movie by its title. Danny Glover, Ray Liotta and Dennis Leary are in it. It was supposedly based on a true story, but I have read not quite the way portrayed in the movie. An entertaining film IMHO.

I agree. It's a Disney movie, make no mistake, but I was surprised at how watchable it is. They must have had someone on set to try to get things right, there were a lot of little details I liked, such as Danny Glover using a BAR belt for his magazines (M-14 if I recall). I know some SF folks in 'Nam did that, as a SF vet much later showed the same type BAR belt he used for that. Dennis Leary is the perfect guy to play a wartime Warrant Officer! Sure, it's sanitized and filtered from the true story, but watch it frst before you judge it.

More can found about the real story behind the movie, here.

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Just watched Guadalcanal Diary last week on the military channel. Anyone notice that the Japanese machine guns were tripod mounted Tommy guns and a lewis gun? :think:

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craig_pickrall
Just watched Guadalcanal Diary last week on the military channel. Anyone notice that the Japanese machine guns were tripod mounted Tommy guns and a lewis gun? :think:

 

 

The movie was made in 1943. It was probably a little tough to get the real thing.

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I think it may have been touched on over the last 19 pages, but John Wayne in the Green Berets. In the scene where they are making a jump and John Wayne is the Jumpmaster, aside from some totally jacked up Jump Commands, Like basically Stand up, Hoooooooook up, Stand in the freakin door and just Go! lol in both shots from inside and looking in as they jump John wayne NEVER hooks up. He still has his Static Line snap hook clipped to the top carry handle of his reserve as he steps off and into space. Damn He is a BADASS!

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Speaking of John Wayne, The Longest Day has been touched on plenty here. Just had to agree that the D-day Jump scenes were totally Hollywood. Those Sticks must have been scatterd for 100 miles, after the Jumpmaster gives everybody a stress free 2 second interval before giving a GO!..after of course the stick has conversations over the engines and the luxury of such a smooth flight. Not bad for Jumping into a hot DZ in Normandy of all places..lol

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RAMBO FIRST BLOOD PART 2, 1985. lets just call the film entertaining. Did anybody notice the scene, one of the many, that Sly was firing away with the M-60 one handed? FIRING BLANKS. this isnt the best picture but if you watch the scene you can see the belt of blanks

 

post-25162-1328724994.jpg

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Seeing the above photo of RAMBO, reminds me of two other scenes in two other differant movies, while these two flics are not War movies or for that matter historical movies, they are related in a sense that Firearms are used thoughout, these will be The Godfather, and Scarface. If you recall scenes from both movies, one in the Godfather, the famous rubout scene at the toll booth in which Sonny ( James Caan) gets blown away, what was there like 6 guys with Tommy guns right ? I always got a kick out of the amount of hits Sonny takes by what had to be about Seventy or more 45 cal slugs, here he was just gyrating as he takes the hits, now this of course would not be the case, as we know that even one hit from a 45. bullet will cause a whole lot of damage, no less dozens of slugs, right ? I mean he would have been blown to pieces, there wouldn't be much left to work with when the Godfather bring in the undertaker to make Sonny presentable, because of poor mama Corleone would die if she seen him in that state.

 

Just for kicks.

 

Just for kicks.

Then there's Scarface, same deal, this one is really wild, at the end he gets hit, what about 40 times, with I gather both 5.56 mm, and 7.62 mm slugs but he still stands, it's the close rage shot gun blast that kills him, HOORAY, and HORRAY for Hollywood !

 

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Around 1962 there was "Dark of the Sun" (approx title ?) set in the Congo (topical at the time) with Rod Taylor and Jim Brown as mercenaries. At the end their train is being strafed (by T-6s IIRC) and Jim Brown grits his teeth and heroically lays into them with a .50 cal Browning MG on a pintle mount.

 

There is no ammo can, just a short belt of maybe 10 rds of dummies (IIRC you can see the holes in the cases). But what the heck, nor is there any movement of the ammo belt, nor action movement, nor RECOIL, nor links dropping, nor muzzle blast. The only thing happening at the muzzle is a tiny lick of blue floame (propane?).

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Around 1962 there was "Dark of the Sun" (approx title ?) set in the Congo (topical at the time) with Rod Taylor and Jim Brown as mercenaries. At the end their train is being strafed (by T-6s IIRC) and Jim Brown grits his teeth and heroically lays into them with a .50 cal Browning MG on a pintle mount.

 

There is no ammo can, just a short belt of maybe 10 rds of dummies (IIRC you can see the holes in the cases). But what the heck, nor is there any movement of the ammo belt, nor action movement, nor RECOIL, nor links dropping, nor muzzle blast. The only thing happening at the muzzle is a tiny lick of blue floame (propane?).

 

 

In another example, of underkill, in the Fighting Seabees, the scene where Fred Murtz, gets killed by a Sniper, the Duke, spots the Nip, and lets loose with a long burst from his Thompson, the enemy sniper, is leaning forward on a berm, with just his head , shoulders, and arms,with his rifle in the firing position, he gets hit, and he just NODS OFF, yea LOL, thats what happens when a person get his most upper part of his body to include his head, hit by 6 or 7 : 45.cal bullets. :rolleyes:

 

This is fun, anymore Hollywood weaponry high jinxs, Anyone else remember other blunders like these ?

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Gotta love Scareface he fires a 40mm grenade 15 or 20 feet it explodes and he doesn't get a face full fragments and I thought the 40mm grenade was bore safe for at least 35 meters. Chuck Norris does the same thing in "Invasion USA".

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Gotta love Scareface he fires a 40mm grenade 15 or 20 feet it explodes and he doesn't get a face full fragments and I thought the 40mm grenade was bore safe for at least 35 meters. Chuck Norris does the same thing in "Invasion USA".

 

Right LOL, and OTHER flying debris, like wood splinters and chunks blowing back towards him.I was gonna add that in my quotes, but then why should I, I said to myself, we have a slew of Ex Combat Arms Servicemen/ Combat Vets that would spot that straight off, LOL. You know what I find odd, LOL, in the two instances, Sonny, and Scarface dont take a round to the head,theres dozens and dozens of rouds zipping around and no hit to the head or face. In the case of Scarface,here you have dozens of muzzle's aimed at him and no one aims at the head ?, but then it wouldn,t be that dramatic and drawout if our hero's get their heads blow off in the first half second of the scene LOL.

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When I first watched it I was very impressed with SPR. Very good uniforms equipment ect. What really bothered me was the story. A platoon of rangers and they are questioning a mission? In front of their officer, I couldn't believe they wanted to bypass the radar site and got into a debate about it. These me were trained to follow orders. Rangers especially were selected to aggressiveness. Every ranger who wanted one prior to the D-day landings was offered a Thompson. They were the so called tip of the sword. Granted the Hedgerow battles and continual combat toned this down somewhat, This soon after the landings Miller would have had to work to hold them back. They had been training for almost two years, but most of the Rangers and the 29th division had not seen combat prior to the Landings. They wanted to kill Germans. Prior to the recent run of uber correct CGI films. My favorite was Kellys Heros. I'm a military vehicle guy and aside from a few M38 jeeps, and Odballs flying helmet, I was really impressed. There is one continuous shot where I counted over 18 Sherman tanks. The Shermans attack of the railroad yard is still unmatched even today.

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In another example, of underkill, in the Fighting Seabees, the scene where Fred Murtz, gets killed by a Sniper, the Duke, spots the Nip, and lets loose with a long burst from his Thompson, the enemy sniper, is leaning forward on a berm, with just his head , shoulders, and arms,with his rifle in the firing position, he gets hit, and he just NODS OFF, yea LOL, thats what happens when a person get his most upper part of his body to include his head, hit by 6 or 7 : 45.cal bullets. :rolleyes:

 

This is fun, anymore Hollywood weaponry high jinxs, Anyone else remember other blunders like these ?

 

We all know that if someone gets hit frontally by a hi-velocity round it kicks like a mule and they get knocked back/spun round. In virtually all 40s > 50s war movies, when attackers are hit the standard way of "dying" was to drop your weapon whilst flinging your hands into the air....and falling forward. Peckinpah's "The Wild Bunch" changed all that in the late 60s!

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We all know that if someone gets hit frontally by a hi-velocity round it kicks like a mule and they get knocked back/spun round. In virtually all 40s > 50s war movies, when attackers are hit the standard way of "dying" was to drop your weapon whilst flinging your hands into the air....and falling forward. Peckinpah's "The Wild Bunch" changed all that in the late 60s!

 

I keep seeing the footage of D-Day where a GI is hit, drops to his knees and falls forward.

 

Ray

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We all know that if someone gets hit frontally by a hi-velocity round it kicks like a mule and they get knocked back/spun round. In virtually all 40s > 50s war movies, when attackers are hit the standard way of "dying" was to drop your weapon whilst flinging your hands into the air....and falling forward. Peckinpah's "The Wild Bunch" changed all that in the late 60s!

 

Not so. Dale Dye who was tech advisor for many war films said that in most instances a body would just drop "like a puppet having its string cut" when hit by gunfire. He hated what he called bodies doing "the funky chicken" when they get shot most often seen in movies since blood squibs became prominent. The movies would take the term "blown away" too literally.

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I always wondered about the details of that clip. I figure it was real, but it just seemed odd for a camera to roll on a fire-swept beach, and I about half feared it was recreated for the newsreels. Anybody know the details?

 

Kelly's heroes, aside from the M1891/30 sniper rifle, really gets high marks for me, mostly because of the real Shermans, and the convincing looking Tigers. Woof-woof!

 

I keep seeing the footage of D-Day where a GI is hit, drops to his knees and falls forward.

 

Ray

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I always wondered about the details of that clip. I figure it was real, but it just seemed odd for a camera to roll on a fire-swept beach, and I about half feared it was recreated for the newsreels. Anybody know the details?

 

Kelly's heroes, aside from the M1891/30 sniper rifle, really gets high marks for me, mostly because of the real Shermans, and the convincing looking Tigers. Woof-woof!

The film clip of the G.I.'s on Omaha beach was the real deal. The cameraman who shot that footage lives in southern Minnesota, and was a guest at the Ft. Snelling WW2 History Roundtable a number of years ago. He said that he got to a seawall during the assault, and turned his camera to the beach and just started filming. As weighed down as they were with equipment, being soaking wet, etc. when they got hit they just dropped. It really is some of the most remarkable footage shot during D-Day in Normandy.

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Not so. Dale Dye who was tech advisor for many war films said that in most instances a body would just drop "like a puppet having its string cut" when hit by gunfire. He hated what he called bodies doing "the funky chicken" when they get shot most often seen in movies since blood squibs became prominent. The movies would take the term "blown away" too literally.

 

certain parts of the human body that if you get hit there, you will drop like a sack of potatos.

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Like so! On loan from the former Yugoslav Army, I think....

 

post-8022-1328827530.jpg

 

Ian, as per Grandomatics quote, they also used in Kelly's Hero's a funny looking BAR, right, it turns out it either the Polish or Belgian version or the Browning Automatic Rifle, can you find a image of it ?

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Not so. Dale Dye who was tech advisor for many war films said that in most instances a body would just drop "like a puppet having its string cut" when hit by gunfire. He hated what he called bodies doing "the funky chicken" when they get shot most often seen in movies since blood squibs became prominent. The movies would take the term "blown away" too literally.
Yeah, people don’t get knocked 30 feet when hit by anything other than the concussion from high explosives, and sometimes not even then. When I was in a theater seeing the movie, “Open Range” and Robert Duval shoots that guy with the 12G shotgun and he flies across the alley, myself and a few other people laughed out loud by reflex. I’ve seen a person get shot and took a hit myself on another occasion (a very minor wound in a CONUS training exercise, ruined a good pair of boots. The guy who did it is probably still doing pushups for it), both times nobody got spun or knocked down. A normal rifle bullet carries a lot kinetic force but not nearly enough to counter the mass of a human body (especially one in motion). Naturally, a .50 caliber or such large round is a different story but from what I’ve heard (from two Ma-Duce gunners with combat kills), parts just come off and you still don’t get spun around. One second you’re there; the other you go down like a dropped sack of potatoes.

I can’t fault movies for not showing people flying apart when hit by MG fire, as that would be very hard to film correctly. Still, it HAS been done. Anyone else remember the M-60 gunner shooting up the VC in the hole at point-blank range in, “Hamburger Hill”? I’ve never seen someone shot into pieces by a MG, but I’d assume it might like look something like that.

The thing that really bugs me is when someone gets shot, even once, and they act like it’s no big deal. Same with someone in a fistfight that lasts half an hour and they act like they didn’t hurt any more than a paper cut. I’ve been in a couple of bar brawls in my time and seen a lot of other fights. People generally only get in two or three really good punches before the receiver either goes down or has had enough. And even a minor gunshot wound will stop someone in his tracks, trust me on that! The idea that someone can be riddled with bullets or just endured a whooping that would kill a normal person and they just kick back with a minor grimace and say the usual, “I’m getting too old for this [poop]” line is a lot of nonsense.

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Kelly's Hero's I think the BAR's are Swedish and Oddballs tanks have been rearmed with longer barreled guns.

 

Hi 45, I sure it was the Belgian FN Modele 30 Browning Automatic Rilfle that was used, I cant seem to find an image of this weapon, it's not the Polish version as that one had the ribbed barrel. The Swedish, they made their own version too ? or did they use the Belgian ?

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