Flags of our Fathers (2006)

The life stories of the six men who raised the flag at the Battle of Iwo Jima, a turning point in World War II.

Director:

Clint Eastwood

Writers:

William Broyles Jr. (screenplay), Paul Haggis (screenplay)

Stars:

Ryan Phillippe, Barry Pepper, Joseph Cross

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 15 wins & 24 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ryan Phillippe	...	John "Doc" Bradley
Jesse Bradford	...	Rene Gagnon
Adam Beach	...	Ira Hayes
John Benjamin Hickey	...	Keyes Beech
John Slattery	...	Bud Gerber
Barry Pepper	...	Mike Strank
Jamie Bell	...	Ralph "Iggy" Ignatowski
Paul Walker	...	Hank Hansen
Robert Patrick	...	Colonel Chandler Johnson
Neal McDonough	...	Captain Severance
Melanie Lynskey	...	Pauline Harnois
Tom McCarthy	...	James Bradley
Chris Bauer	...	Commandant Vandegrift
Judith Ivey	...	Belle Block
Myra Turley	...	Madeline Evelley

Storyline

In 1945, the Marines attack twelve thousand Japaneses protecting the twenty square kilometers of the sacred Iwo Jima island in a very violent battle. When they reach the Mount Suribachi and six Marines raise their flag on the top, the picture becomes a symbol in a post Great Depression America. The government brings the three survivors to America to raise funds for war, bringing hope to desolate people, and making the three men heroes of the war. However, the traumatized trio has difficulty dealing with the image built by their superiors, sharing the heroism with their mates.

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Plot Keywords:

reference to arizona | pima indian | japanese soldier | japan | japanese army | 

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Taglines:

The real heroes are the ones left on the island.

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Genres:

Drama | History | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sequences of graphic war violence and carnage, and for language

Details

Official Sites:

Paramount Pictures [United States] Warner Bros [France]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 October 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Flags of our Fathers

Filming Locations:

1842 Oxley Street, South Pasadena, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$90,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$10,245,190, 22 October 2006, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$33,602,376

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$65,900,249

Company Credits

Production Co:

DreamWorks,Warner Bros.,Amblin Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

135 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The reason for taking the second picture is because they wanted a bigger flag so it could be seen by the naval ships off shore and also used as a simple recruiting poster-it then became and still is (72 years later) regarded by photojournalists the world over as the most famous photograph ever taken! An early copy was given to the San Francisco Press Club-it is now displayed at the Marine's Memorial Club & Hotel in San Francisco. Marine everywhere all have thoughts on what happened to the original flag.

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Goofs

When Ira Hayes goes to visit Ed Block (Harlon Block's father) at his farm near Weslaco, Texas you see mountains in the background. The Block farm was in the lower Rio Grande Valley of deep South Texas, which is quite flat. (Despite its name, it isn't a valley at all but the delta of the Rio Grande). The nearest mountains are in northern Mexico, over 100 miles to the south.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Soldiers: Corpsman! Corpsman! Corpsman! Corpsman! For God sakes, corpsman! Corpsman! Corpsman!

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Crazy Credits

There is an additional short sequence after the credits have ended.

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Connections

Referenced in Jeopardy!: Episode #33.29 (2016)

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Soundtracks

Summit Ridge Drive
Written by Artie Shaw
Performed by Artie Shaw and His Gramercy Five
Courtesy of Bluebird/Novus/RCA Victor
By Arrangement with Sony BMG Music Entertainment

User Reviews

On February 23, 1945, an insignificant event became one of the most significant events of World War II.

"Flags of Our Fathers" is the story of the five Marines and one Navy Corpsman who raised a replacement flag on a stinking little island six-hundred miles south of Tokyo. An Associated Press photographer, who wasn't ready and was caught off guard, snapped a picture of them raising this seemingly unimportant second flag. He had no idea what he had just done.

That one picture is said to be the most reproduced picture in the history of photography.

I toured Iwo Jima in 2000 with my father, a private in the 5th Marine Division, who, along with the flag raisers, landed on Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945 -- the opening day of what would be the costliest battle in the history of the U.S. Marine Corps.

I can't say enough good things about the realism of Clint Eastwood's "Flags of our Fathers." Visually, the movie made me think that I was back on Iwo Jima, and emotionally, I felt like I was witnessing what I had been told by Iwo survivors and what I had read in Richard E. Overton's "God Isn't Here: A Young American's Entry into World War II and His Participation in the Battle for Iwo Jima."

James Bradley's book "Flags of our Fathers," is wonderful, and this movie of the same name is very faithful to his book.

But, the editing of the movie takes the viewer through so many flash-backs and flash-forwards that it's hard to keep things straight -- even if you have read the book!

The movie opens with Harve Presnel (I think it was Harve) playing the role of what I thought was a narrator. Later, it looks like he's just one of many people that James Bradley interviewed for his book.

I was expecting some corny things in the movie, like seeing the flag raising picture taking up the full screen in the theater while the Marine Corps Hymn played. That didn't happen. After I heard what I thought was a narrator, I thought that anyone who didn't know what was going on in the movie would probably be kept informed of the not-so-obvious things . . . like it was Howlin' Mad Smith who was demanding, and not getting, additional bombardment of the island; like it was Secretary of the Navy, James Forrestal, who told Howlin' Mad Smith that "...the raising of that flag on Suribachi means a Marine Corps for the next five hundred years." These events were in the movie, but the characters were neither introduced by name in the movie, nor were they described by "the narrator," who seemed to come and go at odd times.

Ira Hayes is a tragic character. It's obvious that Hollywood likes tragic characters just because of all of the attention that he gets in this movie, and because Tony Curtis made a movie about Ira Hayes back in 1961. The actor who plays Ira in this movie is great!

Stephen Spielberg and Clint Eastwood obviously had to tap dance around an "Elephant in the Room" when it came to showing what happened to John Bradley's friend on Iwo Jima. If you've read the book, you know what happened. The movie does a masterful job of bringing the subject up, but not bringing it up in a manner that would offend the squeamish, or, for that matter, bringing it up in a way that would make it impossible to show the movie to a Japanese audience.