Bubo Posted January 31, 2022 Share Posted January 31, 2022 THIN RED LINE Quote What happens next is a story of redemption and the meaninglessness of war. Regardless of the outcome Visuals and sound are good, but ........ The first time I watched this movie, I was asking myself "what am I watching" ? About every 5 years, I ask the same question. Last night I was bright eyed and bushy tailed, and thought I would give it another try and really try to understand this time. Amazon had it up on Prime as only 2 free days left. I may force myself to watch the last 35 minutes this evening, see if I get it this time. I grew up with men who fought in the Pacific, China and Europe who were quite open about their experiences and perspective. We also grew up studying WW2 in detail, something I still do. This movie is unlike anything any of the men ever told me Basic questions: Is the movie 1st person 2nd person 3rd person or just schizophrenic ? What is the plot of the movie? Why are the US soldiers portrayed as undisciplined barbarians and the Japanese soldiers as victims shocked by the violence? This was the best of the Japanese Army and Marines who had been fighting in China for years. To say they were battle hardened and tough would be an understatement. Long thin Guadalcanal is best described as a fight to the death in a locked phone booth no holds barred, to say the fighting and level of violence was animalistic would be an understatement. You had hand to hand fighting, planes dropping their bombs as soon as they cleared the runway,and naval battles a few miles off shore with lots of hits and lots of lost ships. The entire Pacific theater was this way. John Travolta's character does explain the significance of Guadalcanal on the transport, which somehow gets lost in the next 5 minutes of the movie. Noltes character's ordering a frontal assault against hardened positions, things like this did occur regularly in WW1 which broke the back of the British Empire, Collapsed Germany and led to the Soviet Revolution. And still occurred in WW-2, which is one reason Patton and Romel achieved such results and notoriety for going around instead of frontal assaults. Modern US MIL, ordering a frontal assault would be a court martial offense. Was such a thing ordered on Guadalcanal ? By the Japanese in concentrated locations yes, it had worked for them in Malaysia and Singapore, but failed miserably against the 17-18 year old Marines in Guadalcanal. At great cost and multiple frantic Naval and land battles, GC marked the end of southern expansion of the Japanese Empire. They had just vaporized the British and Dutch Empire Armies, Navies, and Air Forces and were driving on mineral rich Australia Watching footage of the fighting on GC, airplanes talking off from Henderson Field were dropping their loads inc lots of napalm less than a mile past the end of the runway etc. Massive Naval battles were clearly seen by the troops on shore. The other thing the movie glosses over is that the outcome of the War in the Pacific was very much in doubt for the first year, in fact the allies had their heads handed to them almost everywhere. From the point of view of the Australians, their fathers and sons fighting desperately in New Guinea, the US taking of Guadalcanal and the Battle of the Coral Sea saved Australia from invasion and likely occupation, which would have been brutal. Where the producers and directors of the movie uninformed, out touch or trying to accomplish something else with their long plodding spectacular ? Is the movie intended to be pure fiction based on a book ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuzzzer Posted January 31, 2022 Share Posted January 31, 2022 I've never seen it but there's a good write-up on IMDb about it: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0120863/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babadono Posted January 31, 2022 Share Posted January 31, 2022 The movie is from Hollywood. Done. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geezin' Posted January 31, 2022 Share Posted January 31, 2022 If you wish to understand (especially military) history reading books would be the preferred medium. Movies are entertainment subject to the bias of writers and directors. Telling a story and dispensing information are quite different. In my experience a career soldier would be the person to ask. I worked with a 25+ year retired Marine Corps Gunnery Sargent who was/is one of the best educated men I've ever met. His knowledge and ability to explain history w/o political coloration is unparalleled in my lifetime. His personal politics were unmistakable however his integrity with the historical facts was without reproach. A tough thing to do. He helped me understand a lot about Vietnam and it's root causes. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubo Posted January 31, 2022 Author Share Posted January 31, 2022 47 minutes ago, wuzzzer said: I've never seen it but there's a good write-up on IMDb about it: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0120863/ Reading IMDB it came as no surprise to read that the first person character was edited out of the movie and left on the cutting floor. As to the fantasy scenes with the girlfriend, one was too many, I'm sure that the mind focuses on the here and now when lots of people are trying to kill you.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubo Posted January 31, 2022 Author Share Posted January 31, 2022 5 minutes ago, geezin' said: If you wish to understand (especially military) history reading books would be the preferred medium. Movies are entertainment subject to the bias of writers and directors. Telling a story and dispensing information are quite different. In my experience a career soldier would be the person to ask. I worked with a 25+ year retired Marine Corps Gunnery Sargent who was/is one of the best educated men I've ever met. His knowledge and ability to explain history w/o political coloration is unparalleled in my lifetime. His personal politics were unmistakable however his integrity with the historical facts was without reproach. A tough thing to do. he helped me understand a lot about Vietnam and it's root causes. A submariner I spoke with told me that he read a book every day or two and that many of them were pursuing masters degrees while on the boat with their down time...... Well educated bunch ...... This was 30 years ago, maybe they all play video games on their phone all day........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boom3 Posted January 31, 2022 Share Posted January 31, 2022 William Manchester's "Goodbye Darkness" is the best war history book I've ever read. He weaves his experiences as a Marine in the Pacific theater with his then-current (late 1970s) quest to deal with PTSD. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer Posted January 31, 2022 Share Posted January 31, 2022 There's a thin red line, but also a thin blue line and a green one. It is scary stuff. Reasons Why North Texans Are More Likely To See An Ice Storm Vs A Snow Storm This Week (msn.com) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubo Posted January 31, 2022 Author Share Posted January 31, 2022 50 minutes ago, oldtimer said: There's a thin red line, but also a thin blue line and a green one. It is scary stuff. Reasons Why North Texans Are More Likely To See An Ice Storm Vs A Snow Storm This Week (msn.com) better get the generators filled up the car filled up and an Oklahoma credit card at the ready Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebes Posted February 2, 2022 Share Posted February 2, 2022 Red the book. It's by James Jones, who also wrote "From Here to Eternity". It's based on his own experiences in the Pacific theater. He's one hell of an author. As an aside I first read this when I was 11, or 12 or so. I'd "snuck" it out of the grownups section of the local library. My parents happened to look it over and came across one section describing a homosexual affair between two soldiers and got really upset about the book, yelled at me a lot, and made me take it back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boom3 Posted February 2, 2022 Share Posted February 2, 2022 The first movie (with Frank Sinatra) didn't mention that, but the second movie certainly did! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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