CHRISCHA wrote:I have been considering this thread a bit more lately. To sum up my feelings, I'm glad films are made of the WW2 (especially) and other periods for entertainment and it's a form of remberence, although I'm not niave enough to think this is why movie producers make them. I find it fustrating to see inaccurate films, be it a German soldier having the wrong haircut (SPR), or current armoured vehicles portrayed as Panthers. Both take away some of the viewing pleasures as I inwardly correct the mistakes rather than concerntrating on the film and I make mental notes of things I want to check later. When one mistake is identified I'm almost on the look out for more to mumble to myself about. I find it dispicable when films are made with little or no regard for historical accuracy, when the option to change history to make some money is employed. I find this a total disrespect to the vetrans and those killed in the setting portrayed. These are the films I wish were never produced. The likes of Kelly's heroes etc. are for entertainment, and in a way I would rather watch a film such as this that is quite tongue in cheek than a serious film that is unsuccesful at attempting to portray reality.
I have to agree with a lot of that. Sure, most people wouldn't notice let alone care that this guy's uniform has the wrong patches on it or whatever. But when you DO, it can almost ruin the whole movie because now you're sitting there watching for how many OTHER goofs it has instead of following the story.
I have to say one thing. They definitely ARE making a lot better imitation panzers, etc., lately. The strange thing is, back when at least some of the CORRECT vehicles were still around and operational, the films still had whatever the Army used right now, standing in for them. Such as all the M-47 "King Tiger" tanks in Battle of the Bulge, and the Leopard version in A Bridge Too Far.
SPR had some pretty good mockups of Tigers on T-34's, in fact I think they're the same ones from Kelly's Heroes. They also used them in Band Of Brothers, on HBO. SPR also had what looked like REAL Marder SP guns, on WW2 Czech 38-T chassis, along with the T-34/Tigers. B.O.B. had several OTHER mocked up panzers, including a "Jagdpanther" on a T-72 (?) that would be hard to tell from the real thing. The only giveaways I could see were the tracks and road wheels. Same goes for the "Pzkw III's" in Enemy At The Gates. (Which I think could have done well without the love triangle, BTW)
But when the story's supposed to be about an actual event, such as Bridge Too Far, Bulge, etc., and the director thinks it'd be neat if they did THIS instead... nah. Give me The Longest Day, any time.
I think ABTF does pass a lot of respect to the soldiers who fought in operation Market Garden, unlike Pearl Harbour, U571, etc. A lot of the unbeleivable events in the film are actually the true parts, it's the detail that is wrong. I suppose my last point is it is now difficult to compare pre-Saving Private Ryan films with this film, as the D-Day scene is a lot more realistic of combat than was ever shown before, (I wasn't at the D-day landings, so is my opinion), so when you see someone killed and no wound is noticable, it seems less real. BTW, in SPR the sound of rounds hitting soldiers was made by firing the correct weapon at the required distance into a pig carcuss!
