Military History in Film

[Griz882]

With reference the list offered by @Renegade One I have to add the following:

Flags of Our Fathers
Letters from Iwo Jima
Fury
Kelly’s Hero’s (just...because)
Catch 22
The Longest Day
Midway
They Were Expendable
In Harm’s Way
Stalingrad
The Bridge at Remagen
A Midnight Clear
Ride With the Devil

 

[Griz882]

Just looked those up; they weren't them. From what I vaguely remember about the plot, it was a LT or LCDR who was the original protagonist, with his dutiful housewife, and he suddenly dies in an accident and from what I remember, a more senior officer, a CDR or CAPT, someone he considered a mentor gets to the bottom of it for his wife's sake and improves safety within the Navy. I remember them almost exclusively wearing SDB's in the film.

You got me stumped...but I want to find it and watch it.

 

[OT-VA]

This is not directly about the tactical elements of warfare but hits heavy on the ideational side of things. Wadja, I think, really encapsulates the convergence of the political and military in social dynamics in Poland. His most recent film before his death, Katyn, shows how far Poland has come in being able to reflect on its past.

Ashes and Diamonds.

 

[Renegade One]

 

[picklesuit]

This is not directly about the tactical elements of warfare but hits heavy on the ideational side of things. Wadja, I think, really encapsulates the convergence of the political and military in social dynamics in Poland. His most recent film before his death, Katyn, shows how far Poland has come in being able to reflect on its past.

Ashes and Diamonds.

Top Gun 2 is in production right now. No time to watch “Ashes and Diamonds” I’m waiting to see how they work Val Kilmer into the story line!!

 

[HAL Pilot]

There is a lot of porn on the internet. No time to watch “Ashes and Diamonds” I’m waiting to see how they work a horse into the porn!!

FIFY to Pickle-centric...

 

[Max the Mad Russian]

At last, this new Tom Hanks's Greyhound deserves IMO to be rendered as the best Shoe movie for depictind the bridge/CIC ASW activity as it was. Kinda Das Boot for WWII surface ASW ship, though in my opinion the best submarine-related WWII film is not Das Boot but the adaptation of Wouk's War And Remembrance in miniseries. Back to Greyhound: in all other respect an average movie, it is really the first one to show the real hard work of a DD's bridge. And yes, Naval Aviation is slightly presented too: there is the PBY attacking the German U-boat in a final stage of the movie with depth charges, successfully. Well, this one was RAF Catalina, but who cares?

 

[Renegade One]

At last, this new Tom Hanks's Greyhound deserves IMO to be rendered as the best Shoe movie for depictind the bridge/CIC ASW activity as it was.

I'd call "The Cruel Sea" and "The Enemy Below" the benchmarks to beat in that regard.

 

[jmcquate]

Good pod cast from Dan Carlin with Hanks discussing the movie.

 

[SlickAg]

I'd call "The Cruel Sea" and "The Enemy Below" the benchmarks to beat in that regard.

I was going to say The Cruel Sea seemed pretty accurate in that regard.

I used to watch it with my grandpa, a World War 2 “blackshoe” as he would’ve referred to himself. He had retired from the reserves before SWO entered the lexicon and just sort of assumed if you had a star on your sleeve and no dolphins or wings you were one.

He gave the movie high marks for accuracy, including the scenes of the sinking of the Compass Rose and the one where they continued their depth charge attack instead of picking up survivors. His own ship was sunk and a lot of the men who survived the torpedo blasts and abandoned ship died when the other ships in the convoy began taking evasive action.

 

[Hair Warrior]

He had retired from the reserves before SWO entered the lexicon and just sort of assumed if you had a star on your sleeve and no dolphins or wings you were one.

Threadjack: Anyone know if there is a historical timeline of what warfare pin got created on what date/year?

 

[Mos]

Just saw Greyhound and thought it was excellent. Rare movie that is pretty faithful to the book. Hanks and the other actors did an awesome job.

 

[Pags]

Just saw Greyhound and thought it was excellent. Rare movie that is pretty faithful to the book. Hanks and the other actors did an awesome job.

I also enjoyed it. Very swotivating.

 

[Pags]

Good pod cast from Dan Carlin with Hanks discussing the movie.

I liked how this started off with Hanks gushing about being on hardcore history.

 

[Max the Mad Russian]

I'd call "The Cruel Sea" and "The Enemy Below" the benchmarks to beat in that regard.

Yes but "The Cruel Sea" as a book is much more impressive when it comes to an ASW search and destroy, I think the movie director failed in the mirroring of a sense of a painful, tedious waiting, the main thing in ASW, that was so real when you're reading the book. Anyway, thanks for reminder. This Monsarrat book was mustread in my time in naval college, though taught to be fiction. We didn't know HMS Compass Rose was irl HMS Zinnia and her Captain Lt Ericsson was in fact LtCdr Cuthbertson, RNR.
It seems to me Tom Hanks loves to read. In each his war-related movie (Ryan, Gump and now this Greyhound) there are all four Borges's things: the siege, the return home, the quest and the sacrifice of a God. An everlasting recipe to success.