War Movies - Real & Fiction - Goofs and Trivia

As mentioned above, some of the combat sequences towards the end of 'Tea with Mussolini' are recycled from 'A Bridge Too Far'. Is this the only time that Holland has stood in for Tuscany? Wayne also turned down the lead role in 'The Dirty Dozen'. Surely Bob didn't rate 'Anzio', which must rank alongside 'Battle of the Bulge' as the worst film based on a real World War II battle? Don't think it could be 'Heaven Knows, Mr Allison'. 'Story of GI Joe'?

 

Whilst watching the Patton film I found myself a tad annoyed at the portrayal of Monty, particularly with the silly voice they gave the actor portraying him.

I then went online and found an actual news reel audio recording and blow me if the diction wasn't spot on !!!!!!

I "met" Monty twice (give me five minutes & I'll find the link) and actually was the recipient of one of his speeches shortly before landing on Sicily so I should have not been surprised at his most peculiar way of talking.

Just found the link.......http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/17197-return-to-sicily-after-66-years/

(See my comment #30)

Ron

 

Try Eagles Over London ? made in the 1960s a Italian romp huge budget , some out takes from BoB but some interesting scenes shot in London , a truly weird movie ?

 

Last year I did a tour of the locations for Where Eagles Dare , very easy to do as all the locations are reasonably accessible ,the castle now a home for birds of prey , the village where the bar is was also the hotel for the crew , the railway station and bridge are a different small town but unchanged , also had a ride on the cable car that's a bit farther on and a hour away at least , the airfield is a Austrian Airforce active station ,but you can find the area where the bus runs the fence , interestingly the day we were there a Great War replica Albatross was being tested ,will sort out some photographs .
Have looked at doing similar for Kelly's Heroes but locations are pretty scattered , though John Frankenhimers The Train is possible ? Interestingly a comment was made about Burtons role in Eagles that the title should have read Richard Burtons part played by! watched the film on a big screen recently and you can see Burton is struggling with the part , he was to be offered the lead in Zulu but the money refused so Baker stepped in and Burton just did the voice over , the yanks said that at the time Burtons career was on the slide .

 

we were there last year too. (didnt go in castle though)
pic here.
http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/9678-where-eagles-dare/?p=509814
Did you visit the ice caves? fantastic.

 

Castle was fantastic and staff very helpfull with locations ,the radio room Eastwood throughs grenade in is the toilets! most other locations very easy ,including where they scale the walls ,good restaurant in castle also ,though no souvenirs off the film for sale? Nice stein with castle though , missed the caves though .

 

Michael Bates (for it was he) was by far the best 'Monty' - look how he walks at the end of Patton when announced as 'the next Chief of the Imperal General Staff' - until Ian Richardson's turn in 'Churchill and the Generals' - where Timothy West was Churchill.

 

'Churchill and the Generals' had an amazing cast of very good lookalikes: Ian Richardson as Monty, Eric Porter as Allanbrooke, Patrick Magee as Wavell, Terence Alexander as Alex and Patrick Allen as Auchinleck. The only exception was Timothy West as Churchill himself! Ian Richardson reprised his role as Monty in the mini-series 'Ike' but had to dispense with the lisp so that American viewers could understand him.

 

It just struck me that I am probably the only forum member who had the opportunity to hear Churchill telling a dirty-joke http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/2346-winston-spencer-churchill/ (Comment #19)
and yes.......his distinctive lisp was still there

Ron

 

Some one recommended to me the Tom Sellick movie on Ike , concerning the last 24hours prior to D Day could not at first get my head around Sellick playing the man himself ? but bought the DVD off Amazon and was somewhat impressed ? Became quite interested in the Ike thing as I picked up a pre publishing copy of his female drivers book , it was the publishers copy with notes from the censor on what to remove concerning descriptions of Monty ,makes interesting reading ?

 

He can't be as bad as the bloke playing Ike in the BBC 'D-Day' drama-documentary, who didn't even have an American accent that I could detect. However, I can't see Mr. Selleck as Eisenhower, I must admit. He sounds as unlikely as the hilariously mis-cast US TV movie 'Once Were Giants' which has Bob Hoskins as Churchill and Michael Caine as Stalin! In an award for worst Churchill impersonators, Bob Hoskins must be through to the final with Timothy Spall ('The King's Speech').

 

Must agree with the above then got the thing off Amazon and well , it was not bad at all and made some very very good points concerning the invasion and Ikes involvement and decisions ,so it's worth ago .But would love to have been at the meeting when someone said "Lets use Selleck for old Ike!"

 

Have been looking else where on the forum and a article on a model figure from Arnhem was discussed , if I recall there was a interview with a ex officer who had been at the bridge and was portrayed in the movie A Bridge To Far , one issue he had was that his character in the film had been also used to portray another office who was wounded and dies in the basement of a house overlooking the bridge ,the veteran said it was a bit odd watching yourself die on screen ?
Similar incident with the solider Blythe in Band of Brothers , who did not die in 1944 but went on to stay in the army and died in service in 1968 ,a few issues with that one which I feel brings the author Steven Ambrose research in to question?

 

Digby Tatham-Warter was 'the man with the umbrella' at Arnhem. I remember reading that he was living in Kenya at the time the film came out and was very surprised to discover when he got round to seeing it that he had 'died' in the battle! He has one of the worst 'dramatic irony' lines in the film when he reassures Frost on the way to the bridge: 'Don't worry, sir, everything's going according to plan'.
For a serious academic historian, Ambrose's research on his popular war books is often dodgy. In particular he seems to take individual eye-witness accounts of incidents completely at face value and doesn't bother to cross-check them. He also relied a lot on researchers and this seems to have caused the problems with his last book 'Wild Blue' which was accused of extensive plagiarism of another work.

 

Have you seen Al Murray (The Pub Landlord)'s "Where Eagles Dare" Drinking Game?

Basically, these are the rules:

1. Every time Clint Eastwood shoots a German soldier ... you take a drink.

2. Every time Richard Burton blows something up ... you take a drink.

3. Every time there's a bad German accent .... you take a drink.

4. Every time German script is used on screen .... you take a drink.

5. Every time the "Broadsword calling Danny Boy" call sign is said (and vice versa, of course) ... you've guessed it ... you take a drink.

The result is, of course, but the end of the film (if you get that far!), you're completely paralysed!

I haven't played it myself, but it sounds fun ... even if rather dangerous to the liver!

 

Spot on with above , I read Band Of Brothers many years ago and went through the rest he had done , reasonable reading but not great history? he seems to treat Ike as a god who has no human failings and can do no wrong ? gave up on Wild Blue .
On his research on Brothers I organised a tour to Normandy May 2012 so went through all the available accounts and memoirs ,and yes lots of failings on Ambrose part , I think the trouble was he was so in awe of Don Malarky and his mate he took everything they said as gospel and as two old soldiers you get to think in the end they told him what he wanted to hear ?

 

Error, found what I was looking for now.