Thursday, June 25, 2009

Spoiler Alert!

Sometimes I hate war movies. Mistakes in uniforms, rank, SOPs and military vernacular that should have been caught by technical advisers are left staring at you in the face (the spec-4 master sergeant in Basic comes to mind). I hope the upcoming Iraq movie The Hurt Locker is generally free of errors, but I could not help but notice the nametape switcheroo from this clip:




For the uninitiated, the U.S. Army goes on the left side of your chest. Last name on the right.

Hey, Hollywood. I'm looking for a job, and you guys need some help. Just sayin'.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

My husband gets irate about errors like that too. Seems like at least for honor's sake "hollywood" shouldn't make silly errors like that. I love your blog. Keep up the great work.

membrain said...

Since you're paying this much attention to this movie it must mean that it's pretty close to the real thing.

I'm curious to know if you saw Scott Kesterson's AT WAR documentary at the Milblog Conference and if so what were your thoughts.

CI-Roller Dude said...

But the very few movies where they get the weapons, rank etc right are jewels. Before my first deployment, I made all the new LT's watch Band of Brothers for leadership training. I told them to not act like the first company commnder. Generation Kill is pretty good...just a few tiny mistakes.
I heard they were going to make a movie about the battle of Fallujah...they asked Harrison Ford to play me. I think he's a little too old...unless they use a lot of make up...but he's cool.
Be safe...remember "anyone worth shooting once is worth shooting twice!"
Is the Mosoul chow hall still good?

Alex Horton said...

Hell, I ain't deployed right now. But Marez's chow hall is still the best. You can't beat press-grill sandwiches. Those were the days.

13 Stoploss said...

that's right, dude. country first, over heart, before family. always wondered about that...

Unknown said...

When I was in training to become a Naval officer, we watched "Twelve O'Clock High" (w/Gregory Peck) and at another time, "The Caine Mutiny" (w/Humphrey Bogart). We spent the better part of an entire day with our instructor stopping the film at key points to discuss with the class what had transpired and what leadership lessons we should draw. When you unpack the story line at that level of detail, it became evident that some very skilled Hollywood screenwriters showed that even the heroic General Savage (Peck) could show weakness or screw up, and the twisted, psychopathic Navy skipper (Bogart as Captain Queeg) could be right about a situation and his crew wrong. I heartily recommend both movies and the original works by Herman Wouk, who authored the the novel, "The Caine Mutiny," followed by the play, "The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial." "Twelve O'Clock High" was an original screenplay based on the two writers' experiences with their B-17 bomber squadrons in England during WWII.

themorethingschange... said...

LOL! When will Hollywood wise up and hire your ass?!

Got a fair number of Iraq movies/documentaries. I know "Over There" bugged you but I wonder what you'd see if you watched it again - now that you've been there, done that.

My fav is "Generation Kill" tho I have to admit after watching it the first time I was more than a little disturbed. On subsequent viewings I've concentrated less on the lame officers, hence the crush on Iceman. ;-)

A couple of great books on Fallujah, I'd love to see "House To House" made into a film or even an HBO series....

...or perhaps an Alex Horton film on Baqubah.....

~P~

NUGHT said...

Hey alex

you've been spot on with your reviews so far.... the little technical errors you mentioned, are all over hurt locker.... that was my biggest problem with the movie... Advisors are definatley needed in hollywood... HIRE THIS DUDE....

NUGHT OUT....