Tom Hanks is about to do it again!

[mack7.62]

After a web search you have Clint Eastwood, Chuck Norris and James Earl Jones of that generation being veterans, Dye and Emery but the only one of the more recent generation bilieve it or not is Adam Driver.

"Before he joined the dark side as Kylo Ren in Star Wars, Adam Driver joined the Marine Corps following 9/11. His time in service was cut short after a mountain-biking accident. Driver injured his sternum prior to his deployment to Iraq. Instead, he was discharged and decided to reapply to Julliard, which he was rejected from before joining the Marines: "There's something about going into the military and having all of your identity and possessions stripped away: that whole clarity of purpose thing," Driver told The Guardian about his time in the military. "It becomes very clear to you, when you get your freedom back, that there's stuff you want to do."

[ABNAK]

R. Lee Ermey was indeed USMC and a Drill Instructor (as a Corporal). He did do a tour in Vietnam, but he was a "winger", i.e. he was assigned to a Marine Air Wing in Da Nang, not a grunt. He was medically retired as a SSG, but later the honorary title of "Gunny" was given to him although he never actually achieved that rank. Certainly had the creds to pull off Full Metal Jacket and my hat is off to him. I kinda liked the guy, too bad he died rather prematurely.

A lot of the old-time actors previously mentioned were WWII combat vets, like Charles Durning (from Wiki):

Durning served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He was drafted at age 20 and participated in the Normandy invasion. He was discharged with the rank of Private First Class on January 30, 1946.....
For his valor and the wounds he received during the war, Durning was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and three Purple Heart Medals. Additional awards included the Army Good Conduct Medal, the American Campaign Medal and the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with Arrowhead device and two bronze service stars, and the World War II Victory Medal. His badges included the Combat Infantryman Badge, Expert Badge with Rifle Bar, and Honorable Service Lapel Pin.

I recall seeing an interview with him about his WWII experiences. Fast-forward to 1:30.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0GVUXh4tQQ



The interview I was actually trying to find was about him killing a German later on after D-Day, up close and personal.....from the Washington Post in 1994:

Durning is the only survivor of a unit that landed on Omaha Beach that June 6 in 1944. He holds the Silver Star for valor and three Purple Hearts for wounds he suffered. He was an infantryman, only 17. But so were the German soldiers on the bluffs above, strafing the Normandy beach from concrete bunkers that are still there.
Durning survived the invasion -- he had to kill seven German gunners to do it -- and suffered serious machine gun wounds to his right leg and shrapnel wounds over his body. Later, he was stabbed eight times by another bayonet-wielding German teenager. He killed that soldier with a rock. A few months after that, he was taken prisoner at the Battle of the Bulge, survived a massacre of other prisoners, then had to return to help identify the bodies. A bullet in the chest finally ended his wartime duty.

He underwent medical treatment and hospitalizations for four years.

[flenna]

R. Lee Ermey was indeed USMC and a Drill Instructor (as a Corporal). He did do a tour in Vietnam, but he was a "winger", i.e. he was assigned to a Marine Air Wing in Da Nang, not a grunt. He was medically retired as a SSG, but later the honorary title of "Gunny" was given to him although he never actually achieved that rank. Certainly had the creds to pull off Full Metal Jacket and my hat is off to him. I kinda liked the guy, too bad he died rather prematurely.

A lot of the old-time actors previously mentioned were WWII combat vets, like Charles Durning (from Wiki):

Durning served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He was drafted at age 20 and participated in the Normandy invasion. He was discharged with the rank of Private First Class on January 30, 1946.....
For his valor and the wounds he received during the war, Durning was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and three Purple Heart Medals. Additional awards included the Army Good Conduct Medal, the American Campaign Medal and the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with Arrowhead device and two bronze service stars, and the World War II Victory Medal. His badges included the Combat Infantryman Badge, Expert Badge with Rifle Bar, and Honorable Service Lapel Pin.

I recall seeing an interview with him about his WWII experiences. Fast-forward to 1:30.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0GVUXh4tQQ

The interview I was trying find was about him killing a German with a bayonet, up close and personal.

Sterling Hayden also had an interesting service record, serving with the OSS fighting behind enemy lines in Europe. From Wiki:

After two film roles, he left Hollywood to fight in World War II. He enlisted in the army, trained in Scotland, but broke his ankle and was let out.[13]

He returned to the US and tried to buy a half-interest in a schooner but could not raise the money. He joined the United States Marine Corps as a private, under the name John Hamilton, an alias he never used otherwise. While at Parris Island, he was recommended for Officer Candidate School.

After graduation, he was commissioned a second lieutenant and was transferred to service as an undercover agent with William J. "Wild Bill" Donovan's Office of the Coordinator of Information. He remained there after it became the Office of Strategic Services (OSS).[14][15][16]

As OSS agent John Hamilton, his World War II service included sailing with supplies from Italy to Yugoslav partisans and parachuting into fascist Croatia. Hayden, who also participated in the Naples–Foggia campaign and established air crew rescue teams in enemy-occupied territory, became a first lieutenant on September 13, 1944, and a captain on February 14, 1945.

He received the Silver Star (for gallantry in action in the Balkans and Mediterranean; "Lt. Hamilton displayed great courage in making hazardous sea voyages in enemy-infested waters and reconnaissance through enemy-held areas"), a Bronze Arrowhead device for parachuting behind enemy lines, and a commendation from Yugoslavia's Josip Broz Tito. He left active duty on December 24, 1945.[16] Tito awarded him the Order of Merit.[17]

[SteyrAUG]

NONE of it, brother. I loathe seeing some faggy assed punk actor who never did a real days work in his/her life...try to "portray" real life heroes who put life & limb on the line to defend good from evil or help someone.
My tv stays off weeks at a time. If all tv/movies disappeared today- we'd be better off, imo.

Well the real guys are too busy kicking doors and such. But honestly I can't remember the name of the actor who played Major Winters, I only know that it was kind of impressive hearing his brit voice during behind the scenes stuff and how much he did his best to accurately portray Maj. Winters. But more importantly is that the stories are told and the men honored and remembered even if it is by some libtard actor.

The remaining men of the 101rst seemed to appreciate the effort and that is good enough for me.

[SteyrAUG]

I have actors on my do not watch list, there are films I refuse to pay money to watch like recent Star Wars, but I have a level of tolerance, I have learned to ignore a certain level of Hollywierd BS and still be able to enjoy a film. IMO Hanks does a decent job of not carrying his personal bias into his movies, also telling that the trailer starts out with him praying, and his movies show America in a good light. This is one I will pay to go see.

Now my pet peeve about The Pacific, Band of Brothers covered D-Day to the end of he war in 10 hours, to shoehorn the 4 years of the Pacific War into 10 hours was BS that should have been at least a 3 season show.

The real problem was Band of Brothers was single sourced by one historian and the group he was writing about. The Pacific was sourced from the perspective of three different men, and while I appreciate his service I'm not sure I could have done an entire season about Bob Lechie. They could have incorporated other events like Midway and the Philippines but then it really might have been all over the place.

[3 AE]

Being a retired 4th generation merchant mariner, the "Battle of the Atlantic" holds a lot of my interest. The U.S. Merchant Marine suffered a tremendously high loss rate of ships and crew, especially in the first two years of WWII.

http://www.usmm.org/casualty.html
https://www.wearethemighty.com/histo...st-losses-wwii

Movies about the merchant marines in WWII are rare. A few that come to mind are:

1) "Action in the North Atlantic", A Humphrey Bogart classic.
2) "Under Ten Flags", Movie about the German raider Atlantis.
3) "The Cruel Sea", British movie about convoy escort duty.

One particular sea battle involved the Liberty Ship S.S. Stephen Hopkins fighting it out with the German raider "Stier" and the blockade runner "Tannenfels" in the South Atlantic in Sept. of 1942. Minimally armed and with a small untested Naval Reserve gun crew, the Hopkins managed to inflict enough damage to the Stier that the Germans were forced to scuttle her as the Hopkins herself slipped beneath the waves. Of the 57 crew members and reservists on board the Hopkins, only nineteen men made it into the one remaining lifeboat. Thirty one days later, fifteen mariners and sailors made it ashore in Brazil after sailing 2000+ miles in an open 22 ft. lifeboat.

http://www.usmm.org/hopkins.html
https://www.historynet.com/the-last-...ii-feature.htm

A more detailed account is in the book titled "Action in the South Atlantic" written by Gerald Reminick.

I always thought this "David and Goliath" story could have been made into an action movie many years ago. Today, not so much. Hollywood would somehow have to throw in a few love interests, a female headliner, some Brokeback Mountain shenanigans within the Navy, and somehow it was the Americans fault for being out there all alone in the Atlantic. I am tempted to see this Hanks movie but I'll wait for the reviews first.

[ABNAK]

Being a retired 4th generation merchant mariner, the "Battle of the Atlantic" holds a lot of my interest. The U.S. Merchant Marine suffered a tremendously high loss rate of ships and crew, especially in the first two years of WWII.

http://www.usmm.org/casualty.html
https://www.wearethemighty.com/histo...st-losses-wwii

Movies about the merchant marines in WWII are rare. A few that come to mind are:

1) "Action in the North Atlantic", A Humphrey Bogart classic.
2) "Under Ten Flags", Movie about the German raider Atlantis.
3) "The Cruel Sea", British movie about convoy escort duty.

One particular sea battle involved the Liberty Ship S.S. Stephen Hopkins fighting it out with the German raider "Stier" and the blockade runner "Tannenfels" in the South Atlantic in Sept. of 1942. Minimally armed and with a small untested Naval Reserve gun crew, the Hopkins managed to inflict enough damage to the Stier that the Germans were forced to scuttle her as the Hopkins herself slipped beneath the waves. Of the 57 crew members and reservists on board the Hopkins, only nineteen men made it into the one remaining lifeboat. Thirty one days later, fifteen mariners and sailors made it ashore in Brazil after sailing 2000+ miles in an open 22 ft. lifeboat.

http://www.usmm.org/hopkins.html
https://www.historynet.com/the-last-...ii-feature.htm

A more detailed account is in the book titled "Action in the South Atlantic" written by Gerald Reminick.

I always thought this "David and Goliath" story could have been made into an action movie many years ago. Today, not so much. Hollywood would somehow have to throw in a few love interests, a female headliner, some Brokeback Mountain shenanigans within the Navy, and somehow it was the Americans fault for being out there all alone in the Atlantic. I am tempted to see this Hanks movie but I'll wait for the reviews first.

Well after all it would be about a Navy-like entity.....

Seriously though, my desire for a WWII movie about the brutal naval gunfights halfway around the globe in no way denigrates the Merchant Marine guys and what they endured, nor guys in the Atlantic period. Just a wish on my part.

[Straight Shooter]

It sounds like you're pretty consistent in your boycott of TV and Film. So what do you do for music listening? Any contemporary or vintage music you listen to - rock, country, pop, classical? Or do you just make your own?

I cull A LOT of stuff, I got certain stuff I listen to and thats it. Music has been pretty much- with some exception- garbage for the past 25 or so years. To my ears, anyway. As I said, there are exceptions. I literally have not listened to terrestrial radio in 20+ years. I do Sirius/XM radio, and listen to what I want. Whats called "classic" country or rock..is REAL country or rock. Country music died the day f-in Garth Brooks opened his damned pie-hole.
I listen to Christian music mostly, and hand picked stuff on my playlists. I listen to what I want to..not what some schmuck in a booth somewhere wants me to.

[TexHill]

I cull A LOT of stuff, I got certain stuff I listen to and thats it. Music has been pretty much- with some exception- garbage for the past 25 or so years. To my ears, anyway. As I said, there are exceptions. I literally have not listened to terrestrial radio in 20+ years. I do Sirius/XM radio, and listen to what I want. Whats called "classic" country or rock..is REAL country or rock. Country music died the day f-in Garth Brooks opened his damned pie-hole.
I listen to Christian music mostly, and hand picked stuff on my playlists. I listen to what I want to..not what some schmuck in a booth somewhere wants me to.

Amen brother, preach it!!!

[OH58D]

I cull A LOT of stuff, I got certain stuff I listen to and thats it. Music has been pretty much- with some exception- garbage for the past 25 or so years. To my ears, anyway. As I said, there are exceptions. I literally have not listened to terrestrial radio in 20+ years. I do Sirius/XM radio, and listen to what I want. Whats called "classic" country or rock..is REAL country or rock. Country music died the day f-in Garth Brooks opened his damned pie-hole.
I listen to Christian music mostly, and hand picked stuff on my playlists. I listen to what I want to..not what some schmuck in a booth somewhere wants me to.

If that works for you, I am not in any position to be critical. For me it's a lot of 60's, 70's, 80's Rock. Some Country, some Bluegrass, some independent type. I also have a decent collection of Classical, but mostly from the period of the Baroque, but extending into the Rococo Period of art. Some years back that period of music was called the Baracoco. Some of the stuff I listen to goes back to the 17th century in France, and some lesser known Baroque composers from Denmark and Prague.

I know a lot of the performers I have listened to are lefties - but I just enjoy the music. When I was a teenager I got to see a lot of the late 60's and 70's groups - Crosby, Stills, Nash - Three Dog Night, Led Zeppelin, etc. I am less critical of Hollywood because they paid my father (and later me) to provide horses for the film industry in New Mexico.

I mentioned before that my father provided horses for films shot here beginning in the 1950's. They like the scenery here and locals make money helping with that industry. In fact this Fall, my operation and the Shipman Ranch will be providing horses for a film that begins production in September. I'll provide details later.