D-Day

Ashie62
Jun 06 2014 04:36 PM

A thank you to those that served and those that gave their lives...

Rockin' Doc
Jun 06 2014 06:12 PM
Re: D-Day

A special thank you to a great generation that sacrificed so much to make the world a better place.

batmagadanleadoff
Jun 06 2014 08:09 PM
Re: D-Day

What the hell happened to the History Channel? Used to be, I could count on about 50 hours of D-Day programming on the anniversary. Pawnshops are now history?

Happy birthday, Bud -- you D-Day Met.

MFS62
Jun 06 2014 08:40 PM
Re: D-Day

Thanks to all who served that day.
Later

metirish
Jun 06 2014 09:02 PM
Re: D-Day

Brian Williams had a great hour tonight at 8 focusing on four heroes

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/d-day- ... ay-n124311

Frayed Knot
Jun 06 2014 09:42 PM
Re: D-Day

Anniversaries of D-Day reminds me that it's Bud Harrelson's 70th birthday.

cooby
Jun 07 2014 05:31 AM
Re: D-Day

I guess a lot of us noticed DDay is Buddy's BDay!

Ashie62
Jun 07 2014 11:42 AM
Re: D-Day

Very few remain..

Zvon
Jun 07 2014 01:37 PM
Re: D-Day

metirish wrote:
Brian Williams had a great hour tonight at 8 focusing on four heroes

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/d-day- ... ay-n124311

This was very good.

As always I salute our vets.

Zvon
Jun 09 2014 04:01 PM
Re: D-Day

A little late with this but just ran into it. The best on-line D-Day presentation I've ever seen. Even the half hour NEWSREEL film is very informative. Watch this, especially you younger whippersnappers. Much here I didn't know.

[url]http://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/exhibit/d-day-and-the-normandy-invasion/wRQ7nqwa

Edgy MD
Jun 10 2014 06:37 AM
Re: D-Day

"Hitler couldn't stop me and neither can you!"

batmagadanleadoff
Jun 11 2014 08:15 AM
Re: D-Day

Normandy, then and now.

[fimg=1000]http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/352674/slide_352674_3823061_free.jpg[/fimg]
Tourists walk by where the body of a dead German soldier once lay in the main square of Place Du Marche in Trevieres after the town was taken by US troops who landed at nearby Omaha Beach in 1944.

[fimg=1000]http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/352674/slide_352674_3823134_free.jpg[/fimg]
Beach goers walk past a captured German bunker overlooking Omaha Beach near Saint Laurent sur Mer.

[fimg=1000]http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/352674/slide_352674_3823126_free.jpg[/fimg]
Tourists top up their tans where the members of an American landing party once assisted troops whose landing craft was sunk by enemy fire off Omaha beach in 1944.

[fimg=1000]http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/352674/slide_352674_3823129_free.jpg[/fimg]
Where Canadian troops once patrolled in 1944 after German forces were dislodged from Caen, shoppers now walk along the rebuilt Rue Saint-Pierre in Caen, which was destroyed following the D-Day landings.

See more at http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/06 ... 58026.html

Vic Sage
Jun 11 2014 08:24 AM
Re: D-Day

It was a good excuse to re-watch BAND OF BROTHERS, one of the greatest TV mini-series ever produced. They had a marathon on one of the channels (HBO, i guess, since it was their series), but that just reminded me i already had the DVD set (it was a gift many years ago; it comes in a cool tin case), so i watched it from the beginning, over the weekend.

Highly recommended to those who've not seen it. and to those who have.

The follow up series, THE PACIFIC, didn't come close to this one.

batmagadanleadoff
Jun 11 2014 08:39 AM
Re: D-Day

Vic Sage wrote:
It was a good excuse to re-watch BAND OF BROTHERS, one of the greatest TV mini-series ever produced. They had a marathon on one of the channels (HBO, i guess, since it was their series), but that just reminded me i already had the DVD set (it was a gift many years ago; it comes in a cool tin case), so i watched it from the beginning, over the weekend.

Highly recommended to those who've not seen it. and to those who have.

The follow up series, THE PACIFIC, didn't come close to this one.

I'm in total agreement. I also own the tin BoB box set. I haven't watched BoB in a while but I'd say I've seen every episode of that series close to 10 times. So yeah, I've seen BoB, and continue to do so. I did get into the mood to watch Saving Private Ryan again this past weekend, but not strongly enough to actually sit through it.

I couldn't make it through the first few episodes of The Pacific.

d'Kong76
Jun 11 2014 11:46 AM
Re: D-Day

I've only seen it once all the way through. We also have
the box set and KB has watched it about a ½ dozen times
so I've seen chunks too. Good idea, it's been some time since
I went start to finish.

Vic Sage
Jun 11 2014 12:20 PM
Re: D-Day

The first 20+ minutes of RYAN are shocking and ground-breaking in its depiction of the chaos and horror of combat. After that, it settles into a corny, dull accumulation of war movie cliches, with a final battle right out of BRIDGE AT REMAGEN, as if its originality in the opening had been long forgotten. Overall, i still kind of liked it anyway, but i'm a sucker for WWII movies.

I stuck with THE PACIFIC but regretted it. There have been so many good "War in the Pacific" movies, there's no reason to sit through this series. They showed a bunch over the weekend on TCM, including OPERATION: BURMA with Errol Flynn.

Great WW II films... list to follow.

Benjamin Grimm
Jun 11 2014 12:51 PM
Re: D-Day

I watched, and enjoyed, Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison, the other day. An intimate World War II movie starring Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr, and no one else.

He's a U.S. Marine stranded on a Pacific island during World War II, and he finds that he's alone with a beautiful woman. The only problem... she's a nun!

Edgy MD
Jun 11 2014 01:01 PM
Re: D-Day

That's a big category. You could almost do a list of best World War II movies, divided by front:

Europe
Pacific Islands
Mainland Asia
Africa
U-Boats
Civilians Behind the Lines
The Camps
US Homefront
British Homefront

Blahblahblah

A lot of Oscar winners: Patton, Schindler's List, The Pianist, Life Is Beautiful, etc.

Vic Sage
Jun 11 2014 03:18 PM
Re: D-Day

Best WW II movies (including only U.S. films, specifically about soldiers in combat)

Top 20: Europe
A WALK IN THE SUN (45)
THE STORY OF G.I. JOE (45)
TWELVE O’CLOCK HIGH (49)
BATTLEGROUND (49)
TO HELL AND BACK (55)
ATTACK (56)
THE GUNS OF NAVARONE (61)
HELL IS FOR HEROES (62)
THE LONGEST DAY (62)
THE GREAT ESCAPE (63)
THE TRAIN (64)
BATTLE OF THE BULGE (65)
THE DIRTY DOZEN (67)
PATTON (70)
CROSS OF IRON (77)
A BRIDGE TOO FAR (77)
THE BIG RED ONE (80)
SCHINDLER'S LIST (93)
SAVING PVT RYAN (98)
INGLORIOUS BASTERDS (09)

Top 20: Pacific
FLYING TIGERS (42)
WAKE ISLAND (42)
BATAAN (43)
FIGHTING SEABEES (44)
OBJECTIVE, BURMA (45)
BACK TO BATAAN (45)
THEY WERE EXPENDABLE (45)
SANDS OF IWO JIMA (49)
HALLS OF MONTEZUMA (51)
FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (53)
BATTLECRY (55)
HEAVEN KNOWS, MR. ALLISON (57)
BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (57)
IN HARM’S WAY (65)
HELL IN THE PACIFIC (68)
TOO LATE THE HERO (70)
TORA! TORA! TORA! (70)
MIDWAY (76)
EMPIRE OF THE SUN (87)
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA (06)

Benjamin Grimm
Jun 11 2014 04:55 PM
Re: D-Day

There are a number of films on the Europe list that I haven't seen, so I can't say for sure which one, if any, I'd bump, but I'd want to include Stalag 17.

Edgy MD
Jun 12 2014 08:48 AM
Re: D-Day

Africa, I guess, begins with Casablanca.

Latin America begins with The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

What's missing from those excellent lists above: They Saved Hitler's Brain.

Vic Sage
Jun 12 2014 09:14 AM
Re: D-Day

WWII as a subject is very broad, and the only reason i didn't include either CASABLANCA or STALAG 17 (2 of my absolute faves) is that i was looking only at films that depicted actual military combat scenes. On that basis, i wasn't sure about SCHINDLER'S LIST, but i do recall some combat scenes so i included it (though i may be misremembering).

Once you get into WWII films where the war is the subject or background for the story, but without any substantial depictions of combat, you get alot of other great movies (other than those 2), including Holocaust/POW and Occupation/Resistance stories:

GREAT DICTATOR
TO BE OR NOT TO BE
CASABLANCA
STALAG 17
A MATTER OF LIFE OR DEATH
AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY (actually, this one has a brief scene on D-Day, so maybe it should be included)
CATCH 22
LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL
THE PIANIST
BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS

batmagadanleadoff
Jun 12 2014 09:23 AM
Re: D-Day

Vic Sage wrote:
On that basis, i wasn't sure about SCHINDLER'S LIST, but i do recall some combat scenes so i included it (though i may be misremembering).

Lotsa combat scenes involving elite SS troops equipped with the best military gear in the world against mostly unarmed, old, feeble, infirm and broken down Jewish people.

Vic Sage
Jun 12 2014 09:31 AM
Re: D-Day

so maybe i should swap out AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY for SCHINDLER... or better yet, James Mason as Rommel in DESERT FOX (51). Oh, wait... CAPTAIN AMERICA!

batmagadanleadoff
Jun 12 2014 09:44 AM
Re: D-Day

[fimg=444:p07utea6]http://rroyreport.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/tumblr_lz3u19tqoh1qbgo38o1_1280.jpg[/fimg:p07utea6] [fimg=438:p07utea6]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VH_YqFaDI50/T160pf5ek7I/AAAAAAAAFXM/X51RF3eKIcM/s1600/action.comics-059.jpg[/fimg:p07utea6] [fimg=444:p07utea6]http://www.supermanhomepage.com/images/comic-covers/Pre-Crisis-Covers/1942/adv017s.jpg[/fimg:p07utea6] [fimg=420:p07utea6]http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20081011132624/batman/images/7/7b/Batman_%26_Hitler.jpg[/fimg:p07utea6]

Benjamin Grimm
Jun 12 2014 10:05 AM
Re: D-Day

I think POW films could be its own subcategory, because they're less about combat, although it sometimes is part of the story. The POW subcategory would include films like Stalag 17, Bridge on the River Kwai and The Great Escape.

And then there are homefront movies, like Watch on the Rhine, The Best Years of Our Lives, and even The Clock.

When I saw Watch on the Rhine I was surprised to find that it took place in Washington DC; the title is pretty misleading! (And the movie was pretty disappointing.)

MFS62
Jun 12 2014 10:28 AM
Re: D-Day

Twelve O'Clock High was good, but I think a very similar movie, about WW I pilots, was better.
It was Dawn Patrol and made in 1938, a year before WW II broke out. It is one of my all time favorite films of any genre.
Both movies dealt with the difficult decisions the officers had to make to carry out orders from above.
I've wondered if the producers of the later movie had the older one in mind when they made theirs.

Later

Benjamin Grimm
Jun 12 2014 10:35 AM
Re: D-Day

I also liked Dawn Patrol. It had a really good cast, too: Errol Flynn, David Niven, and Basil Rathbone.