This article reminded me that the Sands of Iwo Jima included several actual Marines. Here is the section from Wikipedia.
Rene Gagnon, Ira Hayes, and John Bradley, (until 2016, Bradley was incorrectly identified as being a flag-raiser) the three survivors of the five Marines and one Navy corpsman who were credited with raising the second flag on Mount Suribachi during the actual battle, appear briefly in the film just prior to the re-enactment. Hayes was also the subject of a film biography, The Outsider, and Bradley the subject of a book by his son James, Flags of Our Fathers.
Also appearing as themselves are 1st Lt. Harold Schrier, who led the flag-raising patrol up Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima and helped raise the first flag, Col. David M. Shoup, later Commandant of the Marine Corps and recipient of the Medal of Honor at Tarawa, and Lt. Col. Henry P. “Jim” Crowe, commander of the 2nd Battalion 8th Marines at Tarawa, where he earned the U.S. Navy Cross.[4][5]
These “professional” movie critics wouldn’t know a decent movie if it hit them in the arse! Went to see this movie last night, and, while it was a bit slow at times, the leads did a good job playing what they were, three guys who grew up together and remained friends. Not a classic, but not as bad as this bozo would have you believe.
To contrast this, we went to see “Phantom Thread” a couple weeks ago. The critics LOOOOOOOOVED this movie, said it was Daniel Day-Lewis’ best ever performance, blah, blah, blah. After sitting through 2 1/2 hours of this movie, our assessment was just that: BLAH!
We need more movies like “Sully”, “12 Strong” and “15:18 to Paris” showing real people in places they don’t want or expect to be. And a lot less SJW pablum like the impending “Black Panther” movie looks to be.
Really looking forward to this movie. Especially that the heroes play themselves. I don’t care if their ‘acting’ seems stilted. Their actions on that day should excuse them from any criticism, on anything, forever. I thought Alek was adorable on Dancing with the Stars. This comment is from a grannie : )
i love clint, i love USA hero movies, and was primed for a great one.
but folks, the movie is just bad. the acting is awful, the story takes forever to get anywhere.
you have to endure an hour of bad acting, bad dialogue before anything happens.
i couldn’t take it. i left
On the afternoon of August 21, 2015, on a train headed to Paris from Amsterdam, an Islamic terrorist named Ayoub El Khazzan exited a bathroom with a AKM rifle and 300 rounds of ammunition. The first person to try and stop him was Mark Moogalian, a 51-year-old American-born Frenchman, who wrestled the rifle away from El Khazzan but was shot in the back with a pistol Moogalian did not know the terrorist was carrying.
With his rifle and rounds back in his grasp, El Khazzan made his way to the passenger car. It was here that he met up with three Americans, three lifelong friends enjoying a European excursion together: 23-year-old Airman First Class Spencer Stone, 23-year-old Anthony Sadler, and 22-year-old Specialist Alek Skarlatos.
It is the story of the American friends that producer/director Clint Eastwood wants to tell. In fact, the three-time Oscar winner is so interested in these three, he had them play themselves in a $30 million studio film.
If these three young men had taken a home movie camera and in real-time documented their actual lives and what happened that day we would have witnessed a “home” movie that was typically boring except for the train part. It was a brilliant move to have them cast themselves. The story was never about them to begin with.
The truth is I don’t want to be invited to someone’s home movies, which are without failure, dull. If one of these young men invited me. I would have wanted to watch just the action scenes. I’m just a typical guy.
Consequently every single frame is the very opposite of a well-crafted Hollywood movie. But - it’s not a Hollywood movie! It’s a home story like many other American stories, that most of us take for granted.
My only criticism is that when they had the French President presenting those medals, they didn’t change what he actually said. He should have added a couple of other things like we “thank the country that grew these men, the country that breathes freedom”.
I don’t know if I’m going to see it at all.
The Liberal ending to Gran Torino (the last few minutes when he bent over forward so the criminals could give him the shaft right up his *ss) was such a stunning disappointment to me. It changed my view of Clint Eastwood 180 degrees.
I wish I had never gone.
I just saw it. I thought it a good story and made me proud to be an American. I can see why the MSM and American hating liberals are panning the movie. I can see this movie is going to do well and be seen by the public and disliked by the critics.
Notice how the critics are BLASTING this patriotic, multi-ethnic tribute, while giving the race-dividing “Black Panther” 100% on RT.
Buy your tickets in advance online. We went to see this today as a last-minute idea (got there a half hour before showtime) and it was sold out!
Awesome turnout for a great story!