Has the Movie Industry made any historically accurate 'historical' films ?

[Babz]

27th October 2010, 04:04
Lachlan09
Very true !
It's difficult to tell which Revolutionary War film was worse, The Patriot or Al Pacino's Revolution
I see Mel has been fired from his cameo role in the upcoming Hangover 2 as he's too unpopular to work with, due to his outbursts, bad publicity and bad private reputation.
27th October 2010, 05:05
LisaMos
Ah, Mel. He needs to stop drinking. And talking. And making movies.
I had completely repressed all memories of Revolution until you mentioned it. Tough call. Now that I think on it, has there ever been a good film about the American Revolution?
30th October 2010, 12:49
Lachlan09
Well, I believe DW Griffith made a film about it in 1909, 6 years before he made Birth Of A Nation
31st October 2010, 05:03
LisaMos
Right..I forgot about him. A bastion of historical accuracy.
31st October 2010, 05:36
Duthill
Has Hollywood made any historically accurate historical films ?
31st October 2010, 05:50
LisaMos
Forrest Gump ?
1st November 2010, 03:12
Lachlan09
Anything with Errol Flynn in it was sure to be spot-on in the historical accuracy field !
Classics such as "The Charge of the Cocktails Brigade" and "They Died With Their Two-Tone Golf-Brogues On" to name but two.
1st November 2010, 03:38
Duthill
And lets' not forget John Wayne , with such classics as
Chicken Hawks The Draft Dodgerand the all time favorite , Johnny hides in Hollywood
2nd November 2010, 07:13
Lachlan09
Ahh the Dook and The Look ! Remember his one-off "I'm angry and shocked" look ? He'd put on a serious face and at the same time make his scalp shoot backward ?
There was the anecdote about his cameo in The Greatest Story Ever Told. As a centurion, he was supposed to look up at the cross and say "He surely was the son of God". But the director wasn't happy with his lacklustre delivery. He told him "Duke, you've got to say it with awe !". They shot it again. This time JW said "Awwww, he surely was the son of God !"
Mel also has his own version of The Look to show shock. He's done it in several films but Braveheart is the most famous. Remember when he un-helmets the mysterious black knight to discover it's The Bruce who has betrayed the Scots ? He sinks to the ground and puts on that stunned, helpless face. I wonder if he puts that look on in court whenever he gets done for drink-driving or hitting the missus
2nd November 2010, 09:18
Duthill
Quote:Originally Posted by Lachlan09
Ahh the Dook and The Look ! Remember his one-off "I'm angry and shocked" look ? He'd put on a serious face and at the same time make his scalp shoot backward ?
That wasn't his scalp , it was his toupée .
The gutless wonder was one big lie
6th November 2010, 12:45
Lachlan09
Quote:
Originally Posted by Duthill
That wasn't his scalp , it was his toupée .
The gutless wonder was one big lie
So thim pesky redskins got Captain Nathan Brittles after all !

6th November 2010, 12:59
Lachlan09
I know my Dad used to blow steam out his ears whenever "Objective Burma !" was on the telly or was mentioned ! It was a 1945 film starring Errol Flynn about the Americans in Burma. He knew that there were some Americans in Burma - Merrill's Marauders and the Chinese Nationalists with Gen Stillwell and his American advisers, but this film showed what my dad took to be how the US won the war in Burma single-handed too !

The first time he saw it, after he'd come back from Burma and was in a cinema in Calcutta in late 1945, it started a riot among the British and Commonwealth troops watching it ! The second time he saw (about 3 seconds) was on telly years later - as long as it took to dive off his seat and change the channel !

I did see it on telly once. It wasn't that bad, better than contemporary John Wayne WW2 films in some ways and it was particularly interesting for showing US para uniforms and equipment close up for real, they didn't need to use props with all the real stuff still around and the war still going on !

PS I think it was in Errol Flynn's The Charge of the Light Brigade or some other film starting off in the NWF which showed classic Americanisms, referring to setting an ambush near an "arroyo" (must be a Pushtu word ! ) and killing tribesmen using kukris held downward dagger-style to stab with !!!!
6th November 2010, 14:09
wullie m
Same stable as Brigadoon guys!
Duthill
And every film that portrays a 'surprise attack on Pearl Harbour' , a " date which will live in infamy".

[Duthill]

Any film that was even remotely connected to Leon Uris

[Lachlan09]

...and John Ford !

Col. John Marlowe indeed ! The real "Colonel Marlowe" of The Horse Soldiers was Col Benjamin Grierson who in 1863 led a Union cavalry raid through the Rebs' heartland, all the way from La Grange, Tenn to Baton Rouge, La.

Why they completely changed his name, Hollywood only knows !

A scene which makes me squirm yet is where Marlowe's men are chased off by a bayonet charge by a small force of grey-clad pee-wee military school cadets led by their elderly schoolmaster. The charge is carried out with gusto, accompanied by Tom & Jerry-style chase music. One cute little drummer boy gets put over a yankee trooper's knee and paddled on the bottom. Funny in the context of Hollywood, it's a playground style mix-it-up with no-one injured and the grown-ups "chased off" by enthusiastic little pre-teens.

However, the reality of cadets in battle was a lot grimmer and the film's treatment is an insult when remembering the teenage cadets of the Virginia Military Institute who bayonet-charged Union forces at the Battle of New Market, Shenandoah Valley, Va in 1864. Though they won, cadets were killed and more wounded. There was no Tom & Jerry music as as soundtrack there.

Sorry to get anal, but sometimes Hollywood trivialises too much.

[Duthill]

and lets not forget Cameron's Titanic movie

[Lachlan09]

One of the things which I look for in films set in earlier periods is believable "hairdo's", whether it be 20th Century or before. All too often, actors have not gone that extra yard to have believable haircuts/hairstyles for the period. Some do however and all praise to them.

Typically, war/military films have more often than not failed in this regard. As a general example, where wigs and applied hairpieces are not used, only the actor’s own hair, films shot in the 1930’s/40’s depicting earlier military periods (eg 17th and 18th Centuries) often have haircuts which are far too short (eg Errol Flynn) and films shot in the 1960’s and 70’s depicting WW1 / WW2 have hair far too long (eg A Bridge Too Far, MASH, Escape To Victory, Where Eagles Dare or any military film with Michael Caine ). British WW2 war films made in the 1950's were usually more accurate that way as the actors were often ex-WW2 servicemen or had done national service and weren't put off by having a short back and sides.

Nowadays there’s a trend for warrior movies set amongst Vikings, Ancient Britons etc to have shaved or closely cropped hair. This trendy up to date hairstyle (which also rescues today's middle aged men with receding hair from looking past it) does however suit the type of military haircut often encountered nowadays, especially in the US Forces and is quite accurate for Gulf War/War on Terror movies. On a longer style, Braveheart had its population of “New Age” travellers with braided or shaved hair amongst the Scots army (where did they keep their dogs on a string ?).

[figheadair]

What film, new or remade, would you like to see? Kidnapped and Catriona might be a good one?

[Duthill]

Years ago I read a novel 'The Cowboy and the Cossack' written by Clair Huffaker .
I'd love to see that film.

I should email Pete Jackson eh