Worst Military Portrayal in a Movie

[Guest]

What do you think it was?

I vote for the embarrasingly bad farce that was Pearl Harbor. What do you think.

[Bill]

Enemy at the Gates.

Worst depiction of a profession in the history of film.

[gunnut]

Enemy at the Gates.

Worst depiction of a profession in the history of film.

I bet you loved the ending.



Wait a minute, are you telling me girls like Rachel Weiss don't become snipers?

[highsea]

I can think of no film that even remotely challenges Top Gun in the realm of stupidity.

[leib10]

Both are great candidates. At least Enemy at the Gates was (somewhat) based on reality. Top Gun was pure nonsense.

[gunnut]

What? You mean the EWO can't die from hitting the canopy during ejection?

[leib10]

Well, of course not ALL of it is ********. There have been incidents involving flat spins involving F-14's, and there (was) a place called Top Gun at Miramar. However, modern combat tactics are nothing like what was shown in Top Gun. The "welded wing" formation often portrayed in the movie is almost useless in modern aircraft.

[TopHatter]

I can think of no film that even remotely challenges Top Gun in the realm of stupidity.

Could not agree more.

I usually refer to it as "the most militarily ridiculous movie ever made".

[RustyBattleship]

The 1965 movie "Battle of the Bulge" starring Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw (Jaws), Charles Bronson, James MacArthur (Hawaii five-oh), Telly Savalas (Kojak). That was the worst depiction of that battle ever done. To begin with, they filmed it in Spain where the only representatives of tanks they could use were M-47s for German King Tigers and Panthers and M-24 Chaffees for M-4 Shermans. They could have gone to Yugoslavia (as Clint Eastwood did for "Kelly's Heros") and used vintage T-34s and M-4 Sherman Fireflys.

The producers and director(s) did not keep a close enough watch on the weather and it was almost Spring by the time Robert Shaw is trying to slip and slide an M-47 up the hill.

Also they played to much importance on the German need to take over our fuel dumps. I remember all American tanks I was ever involved with (repairing, riding, loading, commanding or driving) were gasoline powered. That includes American trucks and jeeps of that era on up to the M-60 tank in Viet Nam. Correct me if I'm wrong (and I don't think I am) all German tanks were diesels. Probably many of their trucks and half tracks as well. So they wouldn't find too much diesel fuel in our fuel dumps except for use on bulldozers or other engineer battalion equipment.

A much better film was in 1949 with "Battleground" with Van Johnson (Thirty Seconds over Tokyo), Ricardo Montalban (Fantasy Island & Khan of Star Trek) and George Murphy (US Senator from California). A little hokey in some areas, but at least it looked c-c-c-c-cold.

The best film of all, however, is "Band of Brothers".

[TopHatter]

If we are including sci-fi, then Starship Troopers definitely hits the mark for puke-worthy.

[Bill]

I stand corrected.

Topgun was definitely worse.

Great flying scenes though....and great flying scenes go a long way toward covering warts. At least to me. ;)

Still though, i agree. Topgun is the least realistic military movie of all time.

[Lunatock]

Windtalkers. Aka the movie where everything & anything shot by a Japanese rifle or M1 Garand explodes.

[THL]

Does GI Blues count?

[BenRoethig]

This stealth movie with ice cube and willem defoe. Defoe's character wore the uniform of a Navy captain, but was called a colonel throughout the film. At least the ten minutes I could stand of it.

[leib10]

The 1965 movie "Battle of the Bulge" starring Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw (Jaws), Charles Bronson, James MacArthur (Hawaii five-oh), Telly Savalas (Kojak). That was the worst depiction of that battle ever done. To begin with, they filmed it in Spain where the only representatives of tanks they could use were M-47s for German King Tigers and Panthers and M-24 Chaffees for M-4 Shermans. They could have gone to Yugoslavia (as Clint Eastwood did for "Kelly's Heros") and used vintage T-34s and M-4 Sherman Fireflys.

The producers and director(s) did not keep a close enough watch on the weather and it was almost Spring by the time Robert Shaw is trying to slip and slide an M-47 up the hill.

Also they played to much importance on the German need to take over our fuel dumps. I remember all American tanks I was ever involved with (repairing, riding, loading, commanding or driving) were gasoline powered. That includes American trucks and jeeps of that era on up to the M-60 tank in Viet Nam. Correct me if I'm wrong (and I don't think I am) all German tanks were diesels. Probably many of their trucks and half tracks as well. So they wouldn't find too much diesel fuel in our fuel dumps except for use on bulldozers or other engineer battalion equipment.

A much better film was in 1949 with "Battleground" with Van Johnson (Thirty Seconds over Tokyo), Ricardo Montalban (Fantasy Island & Khan of Star Trek) and George Murphy (US Senator from California). A little hokey in some areas, but at least it looked c-c-c-c-cold.

The best film of all, however, is "Band of Brothers".

Actually, all German tanks were gasoline powered. And it was true that a lot of the success of Operation Autumn Mist depended on capturing American fuel dumps. ;)

I just remember seeing one film about the Battle of the Bulge in which American prisoners are shot by a German in the back of a truck with an American water-cooled Browning machine gun. Talk about a big mistake!