Gary-133 Reviews

The Thin Red Line (1998)

For war movie buffs only, I would say.

[8/10 · 21 August 1999]

If you are a war movie buff, as am I, then I would definitely recommend that you see this film. My only caveat would be to rent it and watch it over the span of two nights. The reason for that is because the internal dialogue the soldiers are having with themselves during this 3 hour movie is a bit pretentious. Those slower moments are beautifully offset by the spectacular camera work, however, which accompanies those "Deep Thoughts".

There were several scenes which struck me in a way that no other war movie has done. They were both combat and non-combat scenes, and the effect they had was to put me right there in that setting. The combat scenes as they are attempting to take a steep hill with hidden Japanese machine gun nests seemed exceptionally realistic. I felt as scared and confused as the soldiers. If you aren't into war movies, then I would pass. If you are willing to give a war movie a chance and three hours of your time, however, then I think you will find this worthwhile. I gave it an "8" out of 10.

The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel (1951)

Ok for what it is.

[17 August 1999]

If you have no interest in Rommel then you probably won't like this at all. It's a narrated story focusing mostly on Rommel after he fell out of favor with Hitler, and his subsequent involvement with the plot to assassinate Hitler. The film has a classic old black and white war drama look to it, though most of the fighting scenes are clips of the actual battles. Almost all of the action is among "Germans", but the cast doesn't even attempt to fake an accent. Rommel is played by James Mason who, of course, has that "Englishman with a pole up his ***" accent.

Mildly entertaining, and reasonably accurate by early 50's Hollywood standards. You could probably watch it with the sound off and not miss much. I give it a sympathetic 5 out of 10.

The Great Escape (1963)

Silly Hollywood fluff

[3/10 · 15 August 1999]

A silly, silly movie. I rented it based upon the rave reviews on this site, and only sat through until the end so I could add my own review. I love war movies, but this thing was a combination of "Hogan's Heroes" and "Gilligan's Island". I should have known by the goofy little theme song in the beginning that it was just a piece of Hollywood fluff, circa 1963. I find it truly hard to believe that others have rated it highly.

My main problem with the film is that everybody and everything is a Hollywood cliche or stereotype. The camp guards spend the movie ignorantly staring into space while the escape plan magically develops before them, and the Commandant is downright sympathetic to the plight of his prisoners. And why were they trying to escape, anyways? I lost track of the number of scenes showing clean, healthy, well fed, well groomed "prisoners" sitting around smoking pipes in their sweaters, fer cryin' out loud! And the camp itself looked like an upscale hunting lodge during a comfortable summer. Imagine a 3 hour Nazi prison movie without one single unpleasant scene! This movie is nothing less than an insult to anyone that managed to survive a Nazi camp, and the millions that didn't. Heck, I look worse after a good night's sleep than these "prisoners" did after 20 days in solitary. I always wondered where the idea came from to make a TV sit-com about a WWII German P.O.W. camp (Hogan's Heroes). After seeing this completely unbelievable waste of time I now know. If you want a good WWII movie rent "Patton" or "Saving Private Ryan". This thing is just a bad comedy. I would give it a "3" out of "10". Maybe they should have added a laugh track.