We Were Soldiers

ChrisDurano · August 2002

Thinking about getting this movie. Didn't really hear too much about it. Anyone have it or like it?

Dr. Spec · August 2002

I just bought it for $14.99 @ BB sight unseen on the recommendation of a good friend who is a major war buff and who saw it twice at the movies and who thinks SPR should be a national viewing requirement. That was good enough for me! I'll post my thoughts soon, unless someone else beats me to the punch.

Doc

Ron-P · August 2002

Picked it up as well yesterday, have yet to watch it, maybe tonight.

Doc, as for your friends comments on SPR, Black Hawk Down is more suited for a national viewing. An all around much better film.

Peace Out~:D

Dr. Spec · August 2002

Really?? I honestly thought SPR was a much more emotionally engaging film. I thought BHD had a somewhat detached docu-drama flavor to it, and didn't evoke nearly the emotion that SPR does every time I watch it.

If you want to tug on heart strings, SPR is the movie. I think that's what he was getting at. The Normandy invasion cannot be compared to the peacekeeping mission gone awry in Somalia - one was a pivotal and watershed battle in a world war, and the other was a blip on the radar screen that our government tried to downplay for years until the ugly truth finally worked it's way to the surface.

That is not to diminish at all what happened to our boys in Mogadishu - it is a riveting story and it needed to be told, and heroism abounded those fateful 24 hours, and BHD does a damn good job of telling it. It just doesn't hit me "right here" (thumping chest) like SPR always does.

Doc

Ron-P · August 2002

Really?? I honestly thought SPR was a much more emotionally engaging film. I thought BHD had a somewhat detached docu-drama flavor to it, and didn't evoke nearly the emotion that SPR does every time I watch it.

That is exactly why I prefer BHD over SPR, the emotional detachment from the characters. SPR was excellent, there is not doubt, just to sappy. BHD shows the grit of war, almost in a non-glorified way. SPR was more like a cushy look at war, geared toward the character emotions rather than war. BHD does the opposite.

SPR is a great war movie, but I feel BHD has bypassed it.

Peace Out~:D

dlew308 · August 2002

sappy is the term! cut out the whole matt damon part and it was a great movie

For those who want to get your read on,
The Flags of Our Fathers is a must read if you're into war books. Very gut wrenching.

Billm57 · August 2002

Originally posted by Ron-P

SPR was more like a cushy look at war, geared toward the character emotions rather than war.
Peace Out~:D

SPR a cushy look at war??? how many bodies have to be blown up to earn a non cushy look??? SPR was a fictional piece save for the Omaha Beach scene and the whole 3 brothers in the same war scenario. Comparing it to a non fiction piece like BHD is like comparing apples and oranges

Ron-P · August 2002

As far a 'cushy', I'm talking about the movie as a whole. Sure there are some gory scenes, but for the most part it is emotionally driven focusing in on how each individual deals with war and it's effect on that person. BHD is quite the opposite. We get a look at the constant bombardment from the ememy, how each individual deals with that moment when under attack, no real time to wander around and chat about the word fubar. If SPR was 1 hour long, (the first half hour and the last half), it would be one great war movie. Instead it is emotionally driven, not war driven.

Peace Out~:D

ChrisDurano · August 2002

ok......thx for the comments guys. I'm still not sure about We Were Soldiers though. Maybe I should just stick to SPR and BHD.......LOL

Dr. Spec · August 2002

Sorry Chris - nobody has seen it yet!!!!!!

Ron, I think we are in complete agreement on our assessments of BHD and SPR - we just feel differently about the flicks, and that's cool - viva la difference!

Anyway, what about Band of Brothers on HBO? Reminded me of a 10 hour SPR - that's what I loved about it. Real guys, real life - and interviewing the actual men the BOB characters were based on during each episode was a great touch.

Doc

ChrisDurano · August 2002

Well I just rented/saw it. I thought it was a great movie. Very sad, and very violent. I think the a lot of people have got a real grasp of what war is with these great movies (SPR, BHD), and this movie just reinforces it. If there are any war vets reading this.....TY!

Dr. Spec · August 2002

I watched Jackie Brown last night instead..........just wasn't up for a war movie; been a rough week.

Chris - How are the surround sound and LFE effects on WWS?

Doc

Ron-P · August 2002

Watched it last night myself. Although good, it's not great. It really had a Hollywood feel to it, not a real war feel. Kinda hard to expalin, maybe the fact Mel was in it hindered the movie more than helped it. It just never really engaged me like previous war films. There were a couple good surprises and some good effects.

Of the last few war films, I'd rate them as follows;

1. Black Hawk Down
2. Tigerland
3. Saving Prvt. Ryan
4. We Were Soldiers

BTW: WHAT the **** did Madeleine Stowe do to herself, she looked horrid, like the walking dead and those lips, talk about too much air pressure.

Peace Out~:D

TheGrayGhost · August 2002

It really had a Hollywood feel to it, not a real war feel.

Ron,

Do you have actual combat experience to know how war feels?

Ron-P · August 2002

Umm, no, I was basing it off and comparing it to, the other war movies on my list....sheesh.

Peace Out~:D

ChrisDurano · August 2002

Hey Dr. Spec,
I don't think you want to ask me how the sound and LFE were because I pretty much say I like anything in 5.1. Hehehe. But two things in the movie I really like w/ regards to sound were the bullets and the helicopters.

Billm57 · August 2002

Originally posted by ChrisDurano
ok......thx for the comments guys. I'm still not sure about We Were Soldiers though. Maybe I should just stick to SPR and BHD.......LOL

Ill let ya know once I get it..I pre-ordered it online so its on its way!

TheGrayGhost · August 2002

"Umm, no, I was basing it off and comparing it to, the other war movies on my list....sheesh."

So you are assuming that one of the other Hollywood movies has the real feel of war.

Ron-P · August 2002

So you are assuming that one of the other Hollywood movies has the real feel of war.

Based on the 4 movies I listed about, yes I am.

Peace Out~:D

Aaron · August 2002

So you are assuming that one of the other Hollywood movies has the real feel of war.

OK, so just lay it on the table. Which war were you in, and which movie do you feel is the most realistic based on your war experience?

Aaron

burdette · August 2002

As for SPR... having been a WWII buff as a kid when they didn't make movies like this... I loved the action sequences and getting to see equipment. The first half-hour is better than any battle sequence I've ever seen. The part of SPR that really blew it for me was how the ONE German they let go out in the country ends up being the one that kills several of them.. and the 'irony' of the desk jockey then killing that one German. Just a little too... "we good, you bad and ungrateful, we pay for being nice but at least you get what you deserve now" to it.

BHD was a good movie... I'd wanted to see it since reading a Cliff's Notes version of the book (as formed by the original author). I'm not sure how much of the movie would REALLY make sense if you hadn't read ANYTHING of the story. I was able to follow much of it and knew what they were talking about only because of that prior read. Lots of good military action.

I devoured the book A Bridge Too Far in the late 1970s, and was thrilled as a teenager when the movie came out. It was one of the first DVDs I purchased this year. It isn't 5.1, but it is a pretty good war movie and an interesting story if you know it in detail.

We also have Patton.. again, not 5.1, and frankly, not enough battle action for my taste... but a must-have if you're a war-movie buff.

I read a lot about We Were Soldiers... I know the actual people involved weren't too pleased with the way the story was presented.. so don't take it as historical gospel. Haven't seen the movie.

Anyone see Platoon on DVD?? It was certainly cutting edge war movie of its day.. haven't seen it in years and years.

TheGrayGhost · August 2002

OK, so just lay it on the table. Which war were you in,"

If you have seen WWS you have seen a small part of my war.

and which movie do you feel is the most realistic based on your war experience?

None of them because they are all Hollywood movies and no movie can really capture the real feel of war or for that matter tell the whole story, not even WWS. WWS did not even tell half of the story that the vets of the Ia Drang Campaign deserve.

If you would like to know the full story of that battle and the resulting lose of life to the 2nd of the 7th Cav that replaced Col Moore on LZ X-Ray go to http://www.lzxray.com/albany_o.htm for a good read. Some would like to separate Col Moores victory from the defeat suffered by the 2/7 Cav but in my opinion both make up one battle.

At the end of WWS we are told where the panel with the 79 men killed is located, however the movie does not tell us that the same panel contains 151 names of the men from the 2/7 Cav killed the day after the 1/7 Cav departed the LZ.

Billm57 · August 2002

Originally posted by burdette

I read a lot about We Were Soldiers... I know the actual people involved weren't too pleased with the way the story was presented.. so don't take it as historical gospel. Haven't seen the movie.

Anyone see Platoon on DVD?? It was certainly cutting edge war movie of its day.. haven't seen it in years and years.

Platoon was great..as far as the actual vets from Ia Drang...they interviewed them on a History Channel special on the movie and several said that the movie WAS pretty accurate..
hey if you liked a Bridge Too Far read the rest of Ryans books..like the Longest Day and The Last Battle..all just a sgood

Billm57 · August 2002

Originally posted by TheGrayGhost
OK, so just lay it on the table. Which war were you in,"

If you have seen WWS you have seen a small part of my war.

and which movie do you feel is the most realistic based on your war experience?

None of them because they are all Hollywood movies and no movie can really capture the real feel of war or for that matter tell the whole story, not even WWS. WWS did not even tell half of the story that the vets of the Ia Drang Campaign deserve.

Thank you..although I do like Hollywood war flicks I hate when people become war experts after viewing them..the only experts were the ones in the field..I tip my glass to you

Ron-P · August 2002

If you have seen WWS you have seen a small part of my war.

Care to fill us in a bit more?

I do agree with you Billm57, they are just movies nothing more, weather they depict real-life events or not, they are just movies.

Peace Out~:D

avelanchefan · August 2002

I have PLatoon on DVD.

It is ok in surround (DD 5.1) but could have been better, but the story and movie was just to good to pass up.

RuSsMaN · August 2002

Hamburger Hill anyone?

Billm57 · September 2002

just got around to watching this over the long weekend...I thought it was excellent

schumach · September 2002

Another good book to read is "Wild Blue".

We Were Soldiers

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