I've absolutely watched the longest day, it is not however representative of typical American movies.

You're kidding, right??? Ok, let look at American movies re D Day.

1. Saving Private Ryan (1998) - Not really about D Day, but there is the opening scene during which we hear mention of British troops. The sole focus is on Omaha beach, for which the Americans were responsible. So, you cannot knock this movie.

2. The Longest Day (1962) - Discussed above.

3. Where Eagles Dare (1968) - Staring Clint Eastwood. Focuses on a British commando unit rescuing a US General with detailed knowledge of the Normandy invasion. It focuses on the British troops.

4. Eye of the Needle (1981) - Staring Donald Sutherland. Sutherland is a German spy in London. The story focuses on a Royal Air Force Pilot and his wife. So, again, the focus is on British troops.

5. The Americanization of Emily (1964) - Staring James Garner and Julie Andrews. Set in London, Garner falls in love with Englishwoman Andrews who has a brother fighting WWII. Most of the military in the movie are British.

We can throw in Patton and Ike, both of which heavily feature British soldiers.

Then we have The Great Escape and The Dirty Dozen, both of which feature a number of Brits.

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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

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Did Nolan leave out the epilogue where the Brits call the the U.S. President and tell him, "Hey, old sport, I don't know if you have been keeping up with current events but we just got our asses kicked here. Can you come bail us out...again?"

Not to piss off the Forge, but the big heroes on film are always the stars and stripes boys. The Brits are usually sideline characters in these movies. Love you guys to death, but you sure love to blow your own horn even if its sometimes a distortion of facts. There is always the Hollywood version and then what really happened. Even on "Bridge on the River Kwai" William Holden played a major character despite the fact that there were no Americans in the Burma prison camps.

But to regress - The Canadians took Juno Beach which was then the second heaviest defended beach after Omaha and pushed into France the furthest of any troops by the 2nd day. That continued and Canada should have lead the parade into Paris as our troops had advanced the furthest but were ordered to hold back and let the USA go in first for reasons of politics. And in the "Longest Day", Canadian troops are not even fucking mentioned. But we Canucks are just to polite to make an issue of it. :-)

The Australians and New Zealanders played a significant role also, especially in the Pacific and how much credit does Hollywood ever give them?

LOL! I supposed we Americans should get our noses all bent out of joint for our omission from Bridge Over the River Kwai, right? We are still burning over the lack of mention of US troops in Enemy at the Gates. US troops had to be bailed out by the Brits in The Guns of Navarone, which we should be butt hurt over, right? Where are the American troops in The English Patient???

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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

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 "Do you think we should get Ben Affleck to play an American flying Spitfires in the RAF? "

Ben needs to do a remake of "The Battle of Britain" in which he is an American flying a Spitfire and single handed wins it based on the fact that were were a handful of Americans who had joined the RAF before the USA entered the war.

Consider Ben's film "Argo" about when the Americans were smuggled out of Iran through the Canadian embassy. In the movie its a covert CIA operation but in reality the CIA had nothing to do with it. It was strictly a Canadian operation although the CIA was kept in the loop. But like I said in a previous post, there is always the Hollywood version and what really happened.

Approximately Zero.

And while we're at it. How often is Australian involvement in Vietnam mentioned? What about the Commonwealth's involvement in Korea. FFS The PPCLI even won a Presidential citation there while every US unit around them ran away.

Where are the American troops in The English Patient???

This scene. Enjoy. LOL. :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU5kwdXhSzY

The movie The Longest Day was based on Cornelius Ryan's book. In the book he's entirely fair to the non-US troops. Ryan was a Brit, Irish or a Scot, something like that. Isn't fair to crap on the movie for the US focus, it was a US movie so of course it's going to play to local audiences.

Re. Aussies and Kiwis played a significant role in the Pacific. Can you elaborate on that pls? My recollection is that almost all Aussie and Kiwi forces were helping the Brits in the various theaters that the Brit Army was oriented on. There were some early fights were the entirely unprepared Aussie and Kiwis got quickly pushed off some Islands, of course none of the Allies were prepared for the fight so that is not a unique criticism, and then there was the small group of Coast Watchers which contributed more than their #'s would suggest. What am I missing?

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"If only he had used his genius for niceness, instead of Evil." M. Smart

We visited Juno beach as a family two years ago. It wasn't really my idea but for whatever reason my son (11 at the time) was really interested in WW2. When we arrived the first thing he did was take off his shoes and walk into the water!

I'm not one to really "glorify war" but it was very moving to be there, see the film in the museum and then go out to the beach and into the bunkers. I can't imagine what all the soldiers went through on that day.

We also visited Omaha beach. Much respect to ALL who fought that day.

BB

How about you guys make your own movies and quit bitching about ours?

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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR

"How about you guys make your own movies and quit bitching about ours? "

Wasn't that what he English Patient was about?:-) I just wish Hollywood would make movies a bit more true to history. A lot of people get their concept of history from Hollywood and think its accurate.

What was historically inaccurate about any of the movies I posted on this thread?

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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR

"My recollection is that almost all Aussie and Kiwi forces were helping the Brits in the various theaters that the Brit Army was oriented on. "


And? They may have been helping the Brits in many cases, but how does that diminish their significance? That's like saying Gurkas or Sikhs were insignificant because they served under the British.

Of those that have done some reading re. the Korean War, the Commonwealth's contribution is, imo, highly respected. While in Korea we did a little "leadership walk of some of the battlefields the Commonwealth fought in. Like much of Korea, the terrain was brutal. By all accounts the Commonwealth guys fought their asses off.

If you talk to a South Korean tho, they won the war themselves. Starting in the 70's they revised the history that Korean kids are taught. In the current text books the UN forces weren't much of a factor.

Re. the PPCLI having their flanks exposed when the US forces withdrew. Is always best to have a Marine Corps unit on your flank.

Or the Rangers.

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"If only he had used his genius for niceness, instead of Evil." M. Smart

I asked you to elaborate on your assertion that that Aussies and Kiwis made a significant contribution in the Pacific. And that's your answer? Really?

The issue is not whether or not they made a significant contribution. No one has disputed that. The issue is contribution in the Pacific.

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"If only he had used his genius for niceness, instead of Evil." M. Smart

OMG. You're actually being serious aren't you? No wonder you're a Trump supporter.:-)

No, it's in Churchill's "we will defend the beaches..." speech which is quoted at the end.

In other words, you are unable to give a single example. Not one.

Wow.

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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR

During the first five months after Pearl Harbor, while US troops were being defeated on Wake Island, Guam, the Philippines, and Java, the Australian 8th Infantry Division was fighting losing battles in Malaya, Singapore, the Dutch East Indies, and New Britain. Almost all of them were killed or captured, and one-third of the POW's died in Japanese prison camps.

From roughly mid-1942 fhroigh the end of 1943 the Australian Army had a major role in the defense and subsequent retaking of Papua, New Guinea.

From 1944 on, the Australian Army was employed in less glamorous campaigns mopping up in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands and the recapture of Borneo.

Including naval and Air Force casualties, the Australians suffered 17,500 killed along with almost 14,000 POW's in the Pacific Theater.

Of course before and after the US entered WWII the Australians were also engaged against the Germans and Italians, especially in N Africa.

If you calculate total deaths due to the war as a percent of the prewar population, the US escaped WWII relatively lightly compared to our allies, much less compared to the Axis powers.

United States - 0.32
Canada - 0.38
Australia - 0.58
UK - 0.94
France - 1.44
USSR - 13.70

Germany - 8.24
Japan - 3.50-4.34
Italy - 1.06

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

We ANZACS are quite proud of the support we've provided to our allies over the years. We got given a bit of a raw deal by the Brits in the trenches of Gallipoli in WWI that was by all accounts every bit as brutal as the famed WWII allied beach assaults.

We didn't later watch the turmoil unfold in Europe from afar until we were attacked. We didn't lose the bulk of our fleet because we were asleep at the wheel. Ok ok perhaps we didn't have a fleet, but we kept a good watch on our canoes. We like to think we've given great support to both the Brits and the Yanks when called upon to fight wars that did not involve us.

There's been a few local war movies, though they are always headlined by foreigners (Gallipoli and Mel, Romper Stomper and Russell, Gladiator - Russell again).

Our most famed war movie though is The Castle. Outgunned by a vastly superior army, the heroes (led by General Darryl Kerrigan) overcame significant odds to triumph over adversity having had the serenity of their way of life threatened.

Back on thread, the film looks interesting and I look forward to taking my Italian born, Argentinian raised Canadian father in law to it next week. He will be best placed to comment on its authenticity.

Those people are idiots. That's like saying, "Gee, I wish The Daily Show was more accurate. Lots of people get their news from The Daily Show."

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Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)

See..that shows the Americans had already won the war! You are welcome!

Shouldn't we be focusing on if the main solder guy ever got take a dump? He needed to at the beginning of the movie and it never addressed it again.

I went and read up on Alan Turing after seeing that movie about him. In the movie about the only thing that was historically accurate was he worked on figuring out the Nazi code and he was gay. Everything else was changed to make a "good" holllywood story from his personality to his interactions with his collaborators to the role he played.