Private Ryan...
Do y'all suppose that story/movie has anywhere the effect on people from other countries,that it has on me/ other Americans?
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I would say probably not. That is the only movie that I have gone to see in the theatre more than once (6 times). You have to have the right mindset to appreciate a movie like that and I don't think there is that many of us like that out there. The old man (Ryan) crying in the cemetery is just as important as the whole movie. I hope I am wrong but I don't think so. If you look around you how many people could you realistically put into that whole situation and have it come out like that. Takes a special breed. 0 -
This is a uniquely American movie. I dont think foreigners would appreciate the meaning it has for Americans and what that generation did for us.
Everytime I see an old guy with a WWII Vet hat on, I go up to him and shake his hand and thank him for what he sacraficed. Those guys wont be around much longer.
I would suggest everyone do the same.0 -
I would think that the movie would have the same affect on any Commonwealth soldier / vet as it does for Americans. All anyone had to do is drive through a small Canadian town and find the monument to those lost in both World Wars to see the impact.
Try to not forget that the Brits fought the Hun from 1914 until 1918 and again from 1939 until 1945. The US came to the party late in both cases.0 -
quote:Originally posted by fishkiller41
Do y'all suppose that story/movie has anywhere the effect on people from other countries,that it has on me/ other Americans?
Sure, why not? What person can watch les Miserables and not feel something for the common man? Paths to Glory also comes to mind for a different reason.
As a kid I watched a lot of British wartime movies, Dunkirk, 633 Squadron to name a few. The human story about struggle strikes a common chord in us all (or should).0 -
quote:Originally posted by Laredo Lefty
Everytime I see an old guy with a WWII Vet hat on, I go up to him and shake his hand and thank him for what he sacraficed. Those guys wont be around much longer.
I would suggest everyone do the same.
You and me both.0 -
This topic is recurring here in the forums. Thanks to those of you who still relish discussion about america's greatest generation.
My pop's military service is still a mystery to us as he would not really ever talk about it in specific. We knew he was there and he was on the beach and he walked across france...but we just don't know the specifics. I sent off for his military service record but it was lost in "the fire".
Recently he has become much less lucid (read dementia) and his disorientation is manifested in he inability to relate to time.
I was visiting with hime the other day and he started telling me in no nonsense conversation that he had just had to clean out a boxcar and how horrible it smelled. I humored him along as he discussed the process until I realized that he was talking about either dead or dying people thet were being unloaded. He went into great detail at one point about the brittleness of the bones in the wrists and how hard it was to carry them.
He told me once...when the book Citizen Soldier came out, that it was a pretty close description of what he did.
May God bless these great men.0 -
My pop was Commander of a VFW post in NJ. for a number of years, when i was a kid.I never really understood what that was all about, until much later in my life.Yet when he put on the uniform,and walked in the parades with all the other old guys in town, i knew their was something special about it.I moved to Florida in "79, and he retired from the Navy(Civil Service,worked for Naval jet propulsion test center).He had been in the Army/Air corps during WWll,he was a mechanic/Flight Engineer on cargo planes.
He doesn't have much to do with the "Post" any more, as most of his buddies are long-gone. It's sad. I talk to him almost daily, and i see him often, as he only lives about 20 miles from me.He's in remarkably good health and spirits, considering he turned 84 last December 9th..0 -
I just watched the end last night at the station and I think that the movie really hits us as American's specifically because it is an American made movie about American's. If it were a british made movie abotu a British occurance during the war I think it would appeal more to them and less to us. I must say though getting an idea from that movie really makes me proud to be an American and makes me feel as if I could never repay the greatest generation. I also love how the movie ends with the music and the American flag blowing in the wind lit up by the sun behinds it. 0 -
On another note one thing that has always bothered me about the movie is the possible different survival of some of the characters in the movie if different tactics were used. When they assault the machine gun nest underneather the radar and lose Wade the medic. Why didnt they have the sharpshooter Pvt. Jackson take out the machine gun nest before/during the assault. I know I know its a movie. Also just thing of how many people might have survived if Opham overcame his fear. If he ressuplied Melish and the paratrooper with 30 cal ammo on the flank, or even helped Melish when he was in hand to hand combat with the Waffen SS soldier (one of the most gruesome moments in the movie IMO). Or when he is on the opposite side of the bridge at the end and the released German shoots Capt. Miller, he could have taken out quite a few germans with a grenade or his M1 Garand when he is cowering next to them in a bomb crater. Its a movie ill shut up now........ 0
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