Comments by "Evan" (@MrEvanfriend) on "Good historical movies - Patton, Apollo 13, Black Hawk Down, and more | Based on a True Story" video.

  1. As for Flags of our Fathers, one major inaccuracy is that it depicts Doc John Bradley as raising the flag, when the Marine Corps now claims that he did not, and that it was a Marine named Harold Schultz instead. However, Bradley received recognition for it at the time, and the flag raisers themselves didn't really remember it, as to them it was a minor thing that took place on the fourth day of a month long battle.
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  2. The thing is, the way the soldiers were depicted isn't really wrong. No, it doesn't really go in depth about them drinking too much and doing stupid shit around the barracks, or standing around in the smoke pit waiting for word and arguing if soda is called soda or pop, but apart from that, it isn't inaccurate in a way that I, as a veteran, notice. Obviously the movie is shown from an American point of view, because Moore's book which it's based on was written by an American. I'm not sure where you get nationalism and inaccurate portrayals from that.
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  3. Something like that. The Marine Corps only determined it was Schultz last year. As memorable as the picture is, the moment apparently wasn't so. Bradley was certainly in the vicinity of the flag raising, and may have helped raise the first one. What amazes me is how long it took them to realize that the guy who you have the best shot of was a Marine and not a Corpsman. You'd think they would've noticed from the gear or something. Also, Bradley wasn't the first misidentification in the photo. Cpl Harlan Block, the man at the base of the flag, was misidentified for years as another Marine. Both Block and the other Marine were killed on Iwo Jima, and it was Block's mother who correctly identified him in the picture.
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  4. What is wrong with depicting American soldiers in a positive light? Oh, and the Thin Red Line was terrible. Boring as all hell. I understand that war involves long stretches of boredom and inactivity, having been to Iraq myself, but it sure doesn't make for much of a movie. And given the subject matter, Guadalcanal, you'd think they'd be able to pull off something far better. But instead of focusing on the 1st Marine Division who did most of the fighting, they focus on the Army who came later, and then they make the kind of movie that damn near puts you to sleep.
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