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Reviews
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Unbelievable realism
Like anyone else I was not only spellbound but also made very uneasy by the opening scene. There was a specific part of that scene that I have never witnessed in a war movie before, one of stark realism that I can attest to because of a tour in Vietnam. As the landing craft begin to lower their ramps there is the vision of many of the men being cut down by German machine guns ashore. I say "vision" because you don't hear the sounds of the guns as you would in the average war movie. Instead what you hear is the sound of the rounds striking the men and the sides of the craft. This fits with the very real tenet that you never hear the one that gets you. Obviously because of the speed of sound you take the hit before you hear the report providing you're lucky enough to hear it and if you do is not a loud report, rather a sometimes faint one depending upon the distance of the shooter from your position. I have heard leaves all around me being clipped by enemy fire and can honestly say I don't recall hearing the shots responsible. This is the realism that Spielberg provided during that scene and it was a bit unnerving. Later in the film I noticed that after the firefight at the radar station where the American medic was killed, the same number of GI's are seen walking across a field as had walked across another field prior to the contact. This obvious editing mistake was actually good for me because it put the movie in its proper perspective, the fact that that was what it was; a movie. Considering the fact that the rest of the thing was brutally realistic I was glad to have had that little error to fall back on. Otherwise I might have been tempted to believe that it wasn't just a movie at all. My opinion of this film, one of the best of all time if not the top. I can watch it several times and I will.
The Alamo (1960)
Historical perspective
I first saw "The Alamo" in 1960 and loved it. I loved it for several reasons, one was because like countless other kids {I was 11} I had been raised on Fess Parker's treatment of Davy Crockett and was fascinated by the story and two I've been a John Wayne fan since I can remember. I have copies of both the theatrical and the uncut versions. I prefer the theatrical because I feel that the scenes that were cut were unnecessary and in some cases tedious and painful to watch. Historically speaking the movie was a hit and miss affair but that's okay with me because as a package it was a direct hit on the action sequences and since that basically was what the Alamo was about I can forgive the inaccuracies. Some of the most glaring; the battle was over just before dawn on a rather cold day {the temperature ranged between the 30's and mid 50's and was probably on the low end of that spectrum at that time of day} and yet the movie shows up bright blue cloudless skies and the participants in less than cold weather attire,; the film portrayed Bowie as being in bed because of a leg injury suffered in a fall from his horse later aggravated by shrapnel during a bombardment when the truth was that he was sick. He had practically drunk himself to death for 3 years because of the loss of his wife and children to cholera and probably had TB. On that note the movie shows Bowie receiving the news during the siege. Another case of license. On the other hand the film was accurate in a lot of cases too, for example, the locations of Travis and Bowie at the times of their deaths and depending on whether you believe that Crockett fell where Suzanna Dickinson and several others said they saw him or that he survived the battle with five others only to be executed we may be able to make a case for his actual location too. But the most wonderful example of historical fact is in the location of the filming. This was a painstakingly assembled replica of the area and is breathtaking in its realistic appearance. There was one fact that was mistreated, though, that took me some time to accept as dramatic license. James Butler Bonham {Patrick Wayne} reports to the garrison that Col James Fannin and his men will not be reinforcing them because the were "ambushed, murdered". This is sort of true but not until after the Alamo had fallen. The fact was that Fannin had started out to reach the Alamo but while still within view of his own garrison at Goliad he had a wagon break down and some oxen run off and by the time he repaired those problems he changed his mind about going and returned to his command. He and his men were captured and about 600 of them, including Fannin, marched into a river and shot down. All things considered though I can still watch this movie again and again 39 years later. Besides, who can deny that the opening credits complete with some of the most beautiful music in cinematic history {Dimitri Tiomkin} constitute one of the most unforgettable movie beginnings of all time? I think I'll go watch it right now.