The Pacific
- Thread starter RBBailey
- Start date
just watched on HBO....fantastic. I have read With The Old Breed and Helmet for My Pillow, plus heard stories from my uncle (dad never talked about it) and this was realistic and complelling....
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Jake said:just watched on HBO....fantastic. I have read With The Old Breed and Helmet for My Pillow, plus heard stories from my uncle (dad never talked about it) and this was realistic and complelling....
Trying to get my Father to talk about his Pacific WWII experience was like pulling teeth. I wish he could have recorded it somehow before he passed, its sad that his story is lost to history but I understand his need to keep it buried and behind him...almost.
My dad's oldest brother, a PFC in the Corps, was killed on Iwo Jima, shot while carrying one end of a stretcher.
My wife's grandfather was in the landing at Okinawa, and was expecting to land on Kyushu.
Good to see attention on the other half of the war now.
My wife's grandfather was in the landing at Okinawa, and was expecting to land on Kyushu.
Good to see attention on the other half of the war now.
roverMc said:
Personally, I think that if it continues in the same realistic portrayal of events that happened and given that it is about the Marines, it will be by far better than The Band of Brothers. But then again, I may be partial.
atriot:Not sure about far better, but I think you're right. As a series, I think it is already shaping up to be better. Band of Brothers almost felt experimental at times, this is finely crafted right off the top, and although I actually know some of the actual Band of Brothers, I have to say, the character development in The Pacific is going better already -- Band of Brothers simply told the story of the 506th, then worked on characters here and there. Also, there were many more main characters in BofB, this is already simplified, focused.
BofB takes some generalizations with the group as a whole, and with some of the characters who were not able to be consulted when the history was written. The survivors told me that they were honored by the movie, but that they really did see it as 'Hollywood'. They seemed to consider it a good history, but one that took liberties with specific events when the evidence was not there. They may have remembered something going down that Ambrose and the others may never have asked them about, but it was written into the movie anyway.
For instance, Don Malarkey personally told me the bit about the German from Oregon was true, but portrayed wrong in the movie. He was from Portland, Don was from Eugene, the German was not killed, etc, etc, etc.... In fact, I think he said no one ever actually saw Spiers kill any Germans. There was at least one guy who Malarkey didn't like well, and I can't remember who, I just remember him sort of snorting and brushing the air with his hand when talking about him.
There was something else about Buck Compton in the Ardennes that didn't quite fit, but I can't recall what he told me about it right now. Something about how they switched the characters for a few minutes to maintain a story line for that episode. Or that Compton wasn't actually shipped out, something like that...
There doesn't seem to be any reason not to watch it, or not to actually learn from it.
BofB takes some generalizations with the group as a whole, and with some of the characters who were not able to be consulted when the history was written. The survivors told me that they were honored by the movie, but that they really did see it as 'Hollywood'. They seemed to consider it a good history, but one that took liberties with specific events when the evidence was not there. They may have remembered something going down that Ambrose and the others may never have asked them about, but it was written into the movie anyway.
For instance, Don Malarkey personally told me the bit about the German from Oregon was true, but portrayed wrong in the movie. He was from Portland, Don was from Eugene, the German was not killed, etc, etc, etc.... In fact, I think he said no one ever actually saw Spiers kill any Germans. There was at least one guy who Malarkey didn't like well, and I can't remember who, I just remember him sort of snorting and brushing the air with his hand when talking about him.
There was something else about Buck Compton in the Ardennes that didn't quite fit, but I can't recall what he told me about it right now. Something about how they switched the characters for a few minutes to maintain a story line for that episode. Or that Compton wasn't actually shipped out, something like that...
There doesn't seem to be any reason not to watch it, or not to actually learn from it.
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I really dug this first episode. I'm really looking forward to the rest of the series. I think I'm going to talk to my Grandpa about being in the Navy in WWII some more. The only two stories I can remember him telling me are 1, crossing the pacific in a flat-bottomed boat that nearly rattled his teeth out, and 2, witnessing the detonation of an atomic bomb after the war was over. They told all the men to get on deck, stand behind the buildings on deck, face away from the blast, close their eyes, and put their hands over their face. ...and even still, he swears he could see the bones in his hands it was so bright.