What have you been watching?

Send me your addy, I want a nice autographed photo of ya - from the episode ;-))

 

I watched "When Trumpets Fade" last night.

 

Carl, I think I'd like Operation Pacific. Sub movies are great. My favorites are Das Boot, Run Silent, Run Deep, and The Enemy Below.

The Green Berets is a great film. John Wayne stood up for the American fighting man and his cause in a time when that just didn't happen. It's one of my top 3 'Nam movies, but it's not as good as my other favorite two: We Were Soldiers and Hamburger Hill.

I loved Preminger as the Kommandant in Stalag 17. Although I don't think I've seen any films he directed. Maybe I'll pop in In Harms Way later.

Those two series sound pretty good. Too bad they won't show them on TV. I remember hearing about the books by Wouk, but I've never read them. I'm not too big on fiction. I believe that Wouk wrote The Caine Mutiny as well. There's another movie that I still need to see.

I watched Wake Island the other day. Another good wartime flick to boost morale on the homefront. But the best part is near the end of the movie, I saw a Jap with, of all things, an MP-40!

I also started in on Hogan's Heroes Season 4 the other day.

 

Thanks for the review Jeff.

 

I recently finished season 5 of Hogan's Heroes. This season had quite a few good episodes. I was a bit disappointed that there were no extra features in this set. I'm still awaiting the reshipping of Season 6.

 

Hey Carl. I can't say I'm much of a nitpicker when it comes to movies. Accuracy really isn't important at all to me. Sure I'll catch a mistake here and there but it won't ruin the movie. I'm interested more in the characters. I think the characters are the most important part of the movie. The story could be lousy, the special effects horrible, but it could be a great movie if there are good characters.

I was also quite upset that Season 5 didn't have any extras. Seasons 1 and 4 didn't have any extras either. The only extra on Season 3 was Werner Klemperer on the Pat Sajak show. And I don't think Season 6 has any extras. Ah well, what are you going to do. At least Season 2 had some good extras.

 

Watched "Stalingrad" last night. Still amazed at the amount of men used and killed trying to take a single building.

 

Hi Col, im not much of a nitpicker either. I try to watch the film for the story its supposed to tell. Hell, I didn't care when watching the Daniel Boone Tv Series as well as The Alamo, and notably, Daniel Boones Coonskin Cap and Davy Crocketts cap, are one and the same cap. ;-))

That is strange? on each of sasasone 1-4, I have extras on mine but too was disappointed that 5-6 do and apparently will not have any. I also noticed that season 5-6 are packaged a bit more economically (for lack of better words) than the first 4 seasons are.

I remember watching that particular Pat Sajac show (one of probably three I watched) and thought it was nice of them to give Klemperer a cased Monacle, as a gift.

 

Hey Carl. Well Season One does have the pilot episode. I don't know if that's considered an extra or not. But my Season 4 has no extras whatsoever. What do you have on yours?

After Season One, they put two discs to a case instead of one. Seasons 4-6 only have two cases because they have less episodes than the other seasons.

I'm sure you'll be pleased two know I watched a couple of Duke movies over the weekend. Rio Bravo and The Undefeated. I enjoyed both of them. Rio Bravo had a pretty good cast: The Duke, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson. Martin was very convincing in his role as the drunk. I think I enjoyed The Undefeated a bit more though. I subscribed to Netflix and I got a couple more Duke movies on the way.

 

Hi Col, yep, and is I remember, that pilot episodes was in GLORIOUS black & white -- making it "feel" more like WWII. Also, if you remember, Sgt Carter was not a bumbling dork in that episode and was a Lt. Also, do you remember the Russian member of the cast? Ahh, onew wonders why they dropped the Russkie from the cast? Glad they made Carter a nutcase. I can't remember what the extra feature was on season 4, but I THINK it was some radio ads or something like that? Ill try to remember to looksee this evening.

Rio Bravo and The Undefeated are two very good Duke Westerns and are favs of mine. Martin sure did play a very good Borochon (SP?) Hated seeing the Ward Bond character get killed off so early. Oh and Walter Brennan as Stumpy, is a hoot-to say the least. The Undefeated is another good un. Great cast and I always did like Ben Johnson (short grub)

If you have not seen it yet--get El Dorado--this is one of my upcoming all-time most favorite Duke Westerns. He plays Cole Thornton. Duke is opposite Robert Mitchum as the Sheriff of El Dorado. A young James Caan is Mississippi. Also, being a fan of Christopher George--who is one of the gunmen the Duke has to face--is also in a very prominate role in this movie. Arthur Hunnicutt is Bull, the sheriffs sidekick. Im not a fan of ed asner--and glad to see he gets killed in the movie--by a woman at that! ;-D

Oh and, I highly recommend you watch: Allegheny Uprising. This is a movie he did the same year as he did: Stagecoach--the movie that made him an "A" list star. 1939, was a good year--for hollywood movies that is.

 

Hey Carl. I haven't seen that pilot episode in a while but from what I remember it resembled the 1953 Billy Wilder film Stalag 17 quite a bit. I do remember that Carter was an LT. Didn't he also escape in that episode? I'm glad they dropped the Russian. I think that the cast they went with was perfect. And besides, you can't have the Russians portrayed as the good guys at the hight of the Cold War now can you.

I have not seen El Dorado. I'll have to add it to the list along with Allegheny Uprising. I have a couple of other Duke movies comming soon: True Grit, The Shootist, and The Searchers. My favorite John Wayne western--and one of my favorite westerns of all time--is still The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence.

In other news, Deep Discount just had a sale on Fox DVDs--buy 2 get one free. I picked up The Enemy Below, Run Silent, Run Deep, and Tora! Tora! Tora! for about 20 bucks. Plus I also got a two pack of Battleground and Battle Cry for only 6 something.

 

Hi Col, it's been several months since I last watched the pilot--I can't recall if Carter had escaped or not? I would not mind if the russkie was in a few more episodes--would have been interesting but glad he was not a permanent member of the cast. Heh heh, had forgotten about that being on in the heigth of the cold war. BTW, just yesterday, I finally got in season six of H's H, and will start watching it in probably a week. This one too has no extra features.

You will love El Dorado. The first time or two I saw it--I really was not very impressed. However, watch very carefully at how well the characters enteract with each other. Bull and his bugel, keeps stealing the chow. Also, see if you can spot their tribute to the Three Stooges scene. It's a quick scene but, if your talented enough, you will spot it. Also, you will not regret watching Allegheny Uprising. The Searchers and Man Who Shot Liberty Valance both are excellent Westerns.

Have not ordered from DDDVD in about a month--missed the sale. Im going to hopefully put together another order later this month.

 

Hey Carl. I agree, I wouldn't mind if the Russian was in a few more episodes throughout the series. I think maybe I'll order the 6th and final season one of these days. They have the complete series out now for 104.90 at Deep Discount. That's about 17 and a half for each season. Not bad. Maybe I should have waited. Quite a while to wait though considering it took them about two years to release the entire series.

I caught the sale at Deep Discount on this last day myself. I probably won't order too much from there until November because I heard twice a year they have a 20% off sale: once in the summer and once around the fall. I missed the one in the summer by a couple of days. There are a few boxed sets I am looking to get my hands on--Band of Brothers series, two Marx Brothers box sets, Clint Eastwood "Man With No Name" movie trilogy--and I figure that I could save a couple of bucks if I hold out a little. I'll definately give you a heads up when this sale comes around. That's probably the best time for you to pick up War and Remembrance and the Winds of War.

I don't know if you remember me mentioning that Korean War movie a little while ago, Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War. Well anyway, I finally got to see it last night. The battle scenes were very gritty and intense. Very well done although nothing really new as far as battle scenes go. The only gripe I have with the combat scenes was in the final battle they showed what appeared to be a couple of Corsairs strafing the ground postitions. These Corsairs didn't even look remotely real. I don't know how a movie with such a big budget wouldn't be able to get their hands on a couple of real Corsairs or even just other planes mocked up to look like Corsairs instead of using CGI computer animation. I hate when movies use all this CGI stuff. It doesn't look real at all. The story itself wasn't bad. One brother is drafted into the South Korean army and his older brother volunteers to join up too so he could keep his brother safe. I don't want to give too much away in case you want to check it out. I'd say that it's worth at least one look if for nothing else but the battle scenes.

 

Hi Col, yeah, I don't think the russian could be used too much--but would probably still have been funny.

I saw that too-the compleate series now offered. I almost bet that these do not come with extra freatures like at least the 1st three seasons did.

I've been waiting for Winds of War and War and Remembrance to get cheaper--tis been a few years waiting and it's finally starting to come down to a more respectable price--still is almost more than I want to spend but will probably have to do so anyway for fear of them soon to not be available.

You did mention that movie to me. I still aint seen it yet but want to. I have seen it for sale at Wally World (aka) Wal Mart--but probably will never buy a copy. I too hate CGI crap--300 could have been a much better movie with out it.

 

Was able to catch most of: Reunion in France which is an earlier John Wayne movie. Not bad at all tho he does not appear in the first 40 minutes or so of the movie.

 

Hey Carl, I do remember a few episodes where Russians were featured. There was that Russian woman that made serveral appearances throughout the series. I couldn't stand her. Then there was an episode where they helped a Soviet flyer get back to Russia.

Yea, I think you are better off renting that Korean War movie. How did you like 300? I wanted to see that one. I heard it just came out on DVD.

As for watch I've been watching, the other day I watched On the Waterfront with Marlon Brando. Excellent, excellent movie. I also watched a documentary about American POWs in North Vietnam. It was called Return with Honor. What those brave men endured for as many as 8 years amazes me. They are all heroes in my eyes.

 

Hi Col, yeah, I also remember the episode with the Russian flyer and also with that Russian Woman--I could not stand her either. BTW, speaking of this woman, I do not recall her name but, she is in a season 2 episode of Daniel Boone--and actually is a very pretty woman. ;-))

For the most part, I thought 300 was good. However, it could have been much better with out all that CGI crap that is in it. As well, I thought it was not necessary for them to also have Hunchback Lepers (for lack of proper terminology) nor that mystical crap either. As far as the actors and the look of the armor, battle scenes etc--all that was excellent and the look of the armor--was spot on. I have actually handled armor and weapons from that period--when I was volunteering at the museum. Overall-I went in paying $1.00 and left feeling like I was robbed of .50 cents. I hate computer generated images for the most part-and this is one movie that should not have had it in there.

Finally got in and started watching my 6th season of Hogan's Heroes. You can definately tell that the show was taken in a new direction, for it's last season. For one, in an episode, you actually see someone get executed by the Allgemeine SS (Gestapo) at the prison camp. Ivan Dixon's last season was season 5, and he was replaced by Kenneth Washington, who really does much of nothing. There are other different things notacable as well--just hard to describe unless you watch the final season.

Fewer episodes are very good and some stupidity jokes are really tired. However, SChultz and Klink can still pull it off. You will also notice that Bob Cranes hair now had streaks of grey in it and some of the actors look tired. All in all--the 6th season is still pretty good.

I also noticed that Col Klink has not done his "signature" Mmmmmmuph, (when he gets insulted/one-upped) since season 3. Also last season (so far) less of both Klink and Sgt Schultz and the Germans are getting even ""dumber.""

 

Hey Carl, I checked up that lady's name for you on the Internet Movie Database. It's Nita Talbot. Looks like she guest starred on quite a few different TV series.

I only saw some of the previews for the movie 300 but it looks like it could have been great if it was a little more historically accurate. I'm not much for CGI or mystical stuff either. But CGI can be used very effectively at times. They did an excellent job using it in Forrest Gump--including Forrest in historic footage and removing LT Dan's legs. But some movies just over do it with the CGI.

I heard that Ivan Dixon left Hogan's Heroes after the 5th Season to concentrate on his directing career. He played a great part as Kinch. What always made me chuckle was when they gave him a uniform and tried to pass him off as a Kraut even though he was black. I didn't think Washington was too great.

 

Hi Col. Thanks for her name. It's one I recognize when seen but quickly forgotten about.

I don/t mind CGI-as long as it is minimal-in 300 it's rampant and way over used.

I heard that about Ivan Dixon and for his reason of leaving the show. It must be true, because every now and then, I catch his name as a director-on shows and movies-so at least he's still pretty active. Clary is very active making music and lives in New York. Dawson seems to have become a hermit.

Yup, I think Washington (in the show) had the personality of drying paint.

Oh and speaking of the last season--it IS worth buying as the show really gets better with disc 2-3 and 4. Disc 3 was particularly good and 4 seems to be just as good.