Change Your Image
thomasja5
Reviews
Sink the Bismarck! (1960)
Admiral Gunther Lutjens Maligned
I agree with the other reviewers who complained that Adm. Gunther Lutjens was portrayed as being a pro-Nazi when in actuality, he wasn't. In fact, Lutjens had protested against the dismissal of Jewish officers from the Navy and when Hitler came to visit the Bismarck 2 weeks before her departure, he gave Hitler the navy salute and not the Nazi salute.
Part of the problem with this movie is where 20th Century Fox obtained their material from. They used the material in C.S. Forrester's book "The Last Nine Days of the Bismarck". In that book Forrester had portrayed Lutjens as being pro-Nazi which had 20th Century Fox researched before making the movie, would have uncovered Forrester's mistake (intentional or not). A better book was Ludovic Kennedy's "Pursuit: The Chase and Sinking of the Battleship Bismarck," but I don't believe his book had come out at the time the movie was made. 20th Century Fox should have waited until it did than to base a true event on a possibly biased book.
Public Enemies (2009)
Good Movie But Could Have Been Better
This review contains spoilers!!
When I went to see this movie, I had high hopes it would be a really good movie - especially with Johnny Depp & Christian Bale in the lineup. Although the movie was alright, it contained several factual errors.
In one scene, FBI agent Melvin Purvis (Bale), guns down Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd. While this is factually correct, it should be noted that Pretty Boy Floyd wasn't gunned down until October 1934; Dillinger was killed in July of that year.
In another scene which took place at "Little Bohemia", Baby Face Nelson was gunned down and killed. In reality, Baby Face Nelson wasn't killed until November of 1934 and it was nowhere near Little Bohemia.
I just wish SOMEONE would make a movie about a gangster and show it the real way it happened and not change it for dramatic effect.
Fingerprints Don't Lie (1951)
This Is Not That Bad Of A Movie
The movie concerns a young man (Emory) who stands accused of murdering the mayor over a dispute between the two. After being crucified by a police fingerprint expert (Travis) who testified that his fingerprints were all over the murder weapon, the condemned man pins his only hope for proving his innocence on the daughter of the murder victim and the very man whose testimony could send him to the gas chamber!
The writer who previously reviewed this movie and said this movie is worse than Plan 9 From Outer Space was totally wrong. Although this movie was a low budget movie, it wasn't really a bad movie at all.
One more thing. The writer said that he recalled that a scene from a railroad station showed smoke going the wrong way. That's funny as there wasn't any railroad scene in this movie. I guess he must have had it confused with another movie.
Twisted (2004)
When Will This Type Of Story Ever End?
The movie concerns a female police officer (Judd) investigating brutal murders which all seem to point to her as the killer.
When will this type of movie end? We saw it before in the Denzel Washington movie Bones. It seems that in every psycho movie, the murderer is either one of the main characters or a friend. Why can't the murderer be someone no one knows? Someone like the Zodiac? That would make a lot better story than this type where you have x number of main characters and the only mystery is guessing which one it is.
As for the movie, I liked it. It was certainly better than High Crimes in which Ashley Judd played a lawyer who defended her husband. And it was a lot better than Eye Of The Beholder which I didn't care for one bit. It's just too bad that all police movies are written like this one.
I think what we need is a Dragnet-type movie.
The Last Samurai (2003)
Good Movie But Wrong Fact
I wasn't planning on seeing this movie as I'm not a fan of Tom Cruise. I only did so to appease my daughter. However, after seeing the movie, I was quite pleased by what I saw.
The previous comment tells the story so I won't rehash this over again. However, I do wish to point out a glaring error in the movie.
At the beginning of the film, we're shown a scene of San Francisco with the date "February 1876". Minutes later, Tom Cruise relates the story of Custer at the Little Big Horn to a group of citizens standing on the street. Evidently, the screenwriter as well as the actors didn't know or forgot that Custer's "last stand" happened on June 25, 1876 - four months later. Perhaps the filmmakers thought it happened in 1875, but they're wrong. It only goes to show that before inserting an historical event into a movie, that they should check before going ahead to make sure they have it correct.
Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)
A Good Film
I saw this movie when it first appeared on the big screen in 1970. I also happened to see part of the movie being made as I was in the Navy at the time and served aboard the USS Finch (DER-328) which played the part of the USS Ward (DD-139); the destroyer which fired upon and sank the midget submarine before the attack.
As with all movies that are made from true events, this movie had its share of errors. For example, the movie showed the battleship California being abandoned before the Arizona had blown up. In actuality, the California wasn't abandoned until around 9:00 a.m. which was well after the Arizona had blown up (it was the burning oil from the Arizona which forced the evacuation of the California). Also, the movie showed the bomb which destroyed the Arizona crashing into its stern, when in reality, it forward. Another error, was when the acting captain of the USS Nevada said he would beach the ship "over there". In reality, it was Adm. Furlong who ordered him to stay clear of the channel for fear of the ship sinking and bottling up the fleet. One more error appeared toward the beginning of the movie when Adm. James Richardson was telling Adm. Kimmel in an Amphibian seaplane that he felt uneasy about the fleet being at Pearl Harbor, citing what happened at Taranto and was then relieved by President Roosevelt. Actually, Richardson was more concerned with having to supply the fleet with supplies stretching back 3,000 miles than he was with the possibility of an attack.
I felt that the American director didn't do that good of a job in certain scenes as the acting seemed amateurish, but overall, it was a good movie. I just wish that the technology we have today was available back in 1969 when this movie was being filmed.
The Forest (1982)
Bad Movie With Humorous Line
I have to agree with the other reviewers that this is a bad movie.
One line by the murderer however, I found hilarious. In the scene where the murderer was circling his next victim trying to get an opening, the murderer had the nerve to tell his would-be victim, "Winter's setting in and I need meat!" I half expected the victim to just lie down and say, "Oh. Go ahead and help yourself!" That line was as bad as some I heard in Plan Nine From Outer Space.
The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955)
Good Movie But Incorrect History
This movie which is supposed to be about Billy Mitchell, an early proponent of air power and of his subsequent court martial for insubordination was entertaining, but as with most Hollywood productions which are made from true stories, was filled with errors.
During the first part of the movie, Billy Mitchell allegedly violated orders by using one-ton bombs that he was told not to use. That is a falsehood. Mitchell had permission to use the heavier bombs. In addition, in the movie, the general overseeing the bombing tests was a General Guthrie. There was no such person.
The movie showed Mitchell being reduced in rank for violating orders which was another falsehood. He was reduced in rank, but not for this reason. As previously stated, Mitchell had permission to use the heavier bombs.
The movie also portrayed Mitchell as being a bachelor, when in reality, he was married. In fact, pictures of Mitchell at his court martial show his wife sitting next to him!
The movie also showed Mitchell telling Congressman Reed, that he wouldn't go along with Reed wanting to challenge Army members of the court for prejudice. In reality, Mitchell had one general removed for that reason. After his removal, the general remarked that he and Mitchell were now enemies.
Just once, I wish that Hollywood, when making a movie of a true event, would make it like it really happened and stop changing things to suit what they want the public to see.
I think the biggest mis-casting was having Gary Cooper playing Billy Mitchell. The real Billy Mitchell was a firebrand who wasn't afraid to speak his mind. Cooper, in the movie, was more laid back and just didn't impress me as being the right actor to play Mitchell.
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)
An Excellent War Movie
This was one of the outstanding war films covering WWII. For the most part, it was historically accurate, although some things were changed by MGM, which isn't unusual for Hollywood.
Sadly, one point the movie didn't mention, was the terrible price the Chinese paid for their help in getting our fliers out of China and back home.
General Chang Kai-Shek didn't want to support this operation as he knew what the Japanese would do in retaliation and he was right.
Under the orders of Emperor Hirohito, the Japanese, after learning that the Chinese had helped the American fliers, began a ruthless campaign of murdering Chinese men, women and children in retaliation for the raid. In fact, at least one village was wiped out due to Japanese troops.
It was a heavy price for the Chinese to pay for America to get partial revenge against what we suffered at Pearl Harbor.
Feardotcom (2002)
FearDotCom (2002)
I have to say that I was really disappointed with this film. From what I could see of it, it made no sense whatsoever.
The ending was really stupid. The good guy, the cop, shoots the bad guy in the leg. The bad guy falls to the floor and rolls around with his hands hidden. Anyone who has ever watched the TV show COPS, knows that one of the first things a real cop yells, is: "Keep your hands where we can see them!" This cop didn't do that. He just stood there giving the bad guy all the time in the world to grab his gun. And when he shot the cop, the only thought I had was that he deserved it for being so stupid.
The only good thing I can say about my viewing this movie, is that I didn't buy refreshments beforehand as the line was too long. I can comfort myself that I was only out the price of the ticket and not refreshments too!
Midway (1976)
Midway (1976)
For a movie which starts out by saying this is the way it happened, it contained a lot of historical errors and omissions. There are so many that it would fill a book.
One of the errors was when the movies showed a radio broadcast announcing the leader of the Doolittle raid the day after it happened. With our fliers behind enemy lines, it would have been stupid to do that. Actually, it was months before we finally admitted that we had bombed Japan.
Another error, was when Charlton Heston (a fictional character) was asking Hal Holbrook (a real person) how much he could decipher from Japanese intercepts. When told only 10%, he was astounded. Does anyone believe that this was news?
Another mistake was when the movie showed Adm. Halsey scheduling himself to go into a hospital. Adm. Nimitz put him there. As for Adm. Nimitz being taken aback when Halsey recommended Ray Spruance to take his command, that was hogwash. Adm. Nimitz was thinking of Spruance himself, but wanted to give Halsey the professional courtesy of naming his replacement. And by the way, Adm. Spruance was not the skipper of a cruiser as the movie implied. He was a rear admiral in charge of Halsey's cruiser-destroyer screen. Rear admirals do not command cruisers.
Another mistake was when the movie showed Glenn Ford (playing Spruance) saying he wanted to attack the carriers at long range while Halsey's chief of staff was against it. In reality, it was Capt. Browning (Halsey's chief of staff) who suggested it. What was Spruance's idea was to launch an all out attack.
And then we see Max Leslie getting on his radio and telling the other pilots to arm their bombs. That was dumb. Not only could the other pilots hear him, so could the enemy radio operators. He might as well send out a radio message telling them they were coming.
As for their splicing in actual war footage, they used poor judgment. One of the scenes showed an Iowa class battleship at Midway. We didn't have any battleships there. Also, that class wasn't even in service in 1942.
The biggest mistake they made, was putting fictional characters with fictional sub-plots in a movie which was supposed to be about our greatest naval victory. And splicing in scenes from other movies was also bad. I counted four: Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (the opening scene); Away All Boats!, Tora! Tora! Tora! and last but not least, I Bombed Pearl Harbor (which accounted for most of the scenes on the Japanese carriers). If you take away all those scenes, you're left with precious little that Universal shot.
I have to say that the stupidest line in the movie was when Cdr. Rochefort suggested to Adm. Nimitz that we get our boys out of there. Does he actually believe that the Japanese would pack up and go home when they still had one carrier left? Whoever wrote that in must have really been dumb.
Tora! Tora! Tora! was a lot better movie than this one. It flopped because of it chronicled our biggest naval defeat. Midway succeeded because if was our greatest naval victory. It didn't deserve it though.