Change Your Image
Hoplophile-1
Reviews
Days of Glory (1944)
Fails to the the rest of the story
In and of itself, it's a good film. Not a great film, but a good film.
However, the reference to a "free people" in the opening was as sickening today as it should have been in 1944. In fact the first SSRs invaded by the Germans (especially the Ukraine) welcomed the Germans as liberators.
Being produced in 1944, it doesn't show the thousands, tens of thousands, of Soviet citizens murdered or exiled to Siberia by their fellow Soviet "liberators" because they stayed behind. Russian soldiers captured by the Germans who were fortunate enough to survive the war were sent to gulags because they surrendered or were captured. Nikita Kruschev earned the nickname "Butcher of the Ukraine" for the murder and/or deportation of millions of Ukrainians sick of both German and Soviet rule. After the "Great Patriotic War," not during.
The film is pure propaganda despite the fact that Hollywood, and any American who cared to do the research, knew what the Soviets were doing to their own people.
Ignore the political context (or lack thereof in the film) and it's an acceptable yarn, typical of its genre.
Retreat, Hell! (1952)
A few more facts about the movie...
Much of the footage of the fighting in and around Seoul and near the Chosin Reservoir came from actual Marine Corps combat photographers (this was l-o-n-g before embedded reporters!). The "sensitive, caring" company commander (Richard Carlson) was a Marine reservist and veteran of WW II who was called back for Korea -- and carried some resentment of the recall with him. The comment "Retreat, hell, we're just attacking in another direction" has been variously attributed to 1st Marine Division Commander Major General Oliver P. Smith or to regimental commander Colonel (later LtGen) Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller. Douglas MacArthur spent most of his involvement in the Korean War in his Far East headquarters in Japan. The battalion executive officer in the movie, "Major Knox," was played by Peter Ortiz (a Ford favorite who appeared in What Price Glory and Rio Grande, both times wearing an eye patch), who was a real-life WW II Marine hero with the O.S.S. in France.
Windtalkers (2002)
Hollywwod at its worst
To begin with, I am a 56 year old male, a veteran of 28 years active duty in the Marine Corps. I am a graduate of both the basic and advanced communications officer courses at Quantico, as well as the career cryptologic officer course at Fort Meade, Maryland. Coincidentally, I was also present at the retirement of one of the last, if not the last, Navajo code talkers from the Marine Corps in 1973. I can't guarantee that I have seen every war movie ever made (both pro- and anti- and neutral on war), but I've probably seen 95% of them. I'm confident that I've seen every talking movie made about Marines.
In my personal and professional opinion, Windtalkers is absolutely the WORST war movie I have ever seen. If someone was born yesterday and had no knowledge of the Navajos' performance for the Corps in WW II, it might rate one tiny point of redeeming social value. But otherwise, the movie not only was useless as a historical portrayal (even a fictionalized one), but it perpetrates a lie as well --- that any Marine was under orders to kill another Marine to prevent him from falling into enemy hands. Suicide MAY have been an option discussed, MURDER was not.
I have neither the time nor patience to list all the faults and inconsistencies with the movie, technical, tactical, moral and simply good storytelling.
Director Woo and lead actor Cage owe the Marine Corps and the American people an apology for perpetrating this travesty on the public.
And for the record, the Navajos were neither the only nor the first native Americans who used their native language to foil enemy communications intercepts.