I've never seen the movie, but the book on which it's based, by a journalist named Richard Tregaskis, is right up their with E. B. Sledge's With the Old Breed as one of the great war memoirs.
It covers the first few months of the Guadalcanal campaign. Very gritty story told by a journalist on the front lines. ยท 3 hours ago
Edited 3 hours ago
I remember reading the book years ago when I was in college. I saw the movie the first time when I was around nine when local stations used to have mid afternoon movies. I think the last time I saw it was eight to ten years ago when AMC used to show a lot of the old Fox films. Even though it has it cliches most war films of that era had, it held up pretty good.
Damn, now I gotta' check if the book is available on Nook or Kindle!
To paraphrase Edwards, there are two America's. One in which a multimillionaire politician can decry income gaps while building a mansion the size of a small state while voting for idiotic laws that limit my freedom of political speech, then flaunting those laws to cover up an indiscretion against his dying wife. The other America is where no one is above the law and will be prosecuted in accordance to the law. I am happy to be in the latter America.
I find it ironic that over 30 years ago the government told us what we should eat (i.e. the infamous food pyramid). In the last 30 years we have seen an increase in obesity, type II diabetes and all other health problems associated with being fat. There is credible evidence that this caused by the increased intake of refined carbohydrates which is basically sugar, which the body turns to fat. Guess who tells us to eat up to 400 grams of carbs a day... the government. We are so scared of fats that we seek out low fat foods that replace the fat with high fructose corn syrup. Some one ought to tell Sen. Cultra that this is what happens when governments, with the very of best intentions, mess with peoples lives. Of course someone should propose a law that any Illinois elected official that is over their government sanctioned BMI should lose their public pensions.
Re: TCM Alert and Memorial Day Movie Thread: What's Your Favorite War Movie?
Now when I think of it, I have to include:
Operation Pacific with John Wayne (contains a great scene where early in the war American torpedoes don't work)
Run Silent Run Deep with Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster...probably the best American submarine movie ever made.