What have you been watching?

I saw 'This Man's Navy' on TV the other night - and it was real interesting. It was basically about the US Navy's Lighter Than Air (LTA) Corps [blimps] in World War II - and, to be honest, it took me by surprise that there were even ANY manned blimps in World War II - I mean, talk about a sittin' duck target! -

But the film was real interesting in demonstrating ground handling, docking, launching and flying operations - they were doing bombing runs, ground strafing, they even had a scene of one crashing in the water, for Pete's sake. It was fun to watch... you could really tell it was a Navy operation...there was a 'helmsman' that basically 'drove' the blimp and took directions from the captain, (who evidently had better things to do than drive a blimp - but I sure wasn't seeing it). They had gunners in turrets, which conceivably could have been pretty effective for any attacks from underneath...but, I dunno, it just seemed to me that there was a whole lotta' big, fat, juicy grey target overhead with not a whole lot of protection from high-side fighter attacks.

It was an interesting show, and well worth watching just for observing all the blimp operations.

But 'combat' and 'blimp' should NEVER be in the same sentence....

....ever.

-whatever

-Lou

 

Just got around to watching Ocean of Fear which I taped last night, it's the true story of the USS Indianapolis that sunk in the Pacific. Out of nearly 900 who survived the sinking only 321 would survive the next five days of shark attacks.

The hell these men lived and died through in those five bloody days is a harrowing story of a fight for there very lives.

 

Hi Lou, did the movie you list above have James Cagney and Pat O'Brien in it? If so, I was able to catch part of this movie when it was played about a week or so ago on TCM. It was a good early movie with the both of them in it.

Dang, you just gotta love Cagney and his wiseguy antics. Also, as you can tell, not only am I a fan of Duke but, also a fan of Cagney and Pat O'Brien.

One of my favorite Cagney lines comes from: The Fighting 69th. This is the scene where sometime after his Dividion was shipped to France, they were stationed in some French town. And as was usual for the Cagney character, he was doing somekind of punishment duty and was cought by his sergeant Sgt Wynn (Alan Hale Sr.) goofing off at a French cafe drinking beer. Sgt Wynntells him to get on his feet and get back to duty-while he grabs Cagney by his lapels and hauls him to his feet. Cagney says: "Take your big hands off me you son of a Banshee or i'll knock your teeth down your throat" which for many years, I had thought he had said "son-of-a-bitch" instead of: son-of-a-banshee. ;-))

 

Hi Richard, if you ever get the chance to watch a made for TV movie called: "Mission of the Shark" this is an excellent and accurate rendition of what happened to those men and Captain McVey (SP?) who were on the USS Indianapolis. This movie stars: Stacey Keach (as the Captain) and Richard Thomas as one of his officers. I don't think it has ever been released to DvD but I do think it's available on VHS. Anyway, this movie was excellent.

 

Hey, Carl -

I'm a bit of a Cagney fan, myself.... he's got a whole lot of 'attitude' in a little package!...but, no, neither Cagney nor O'Brien were in this particular flick ... it was Wallace Beery.... he was the only one I recognized. But it WAS on TCM ... they were doing films directed by William Wellman, and 'This Man's Navy' happened to be one of them.

-whatever

-Lou

 

Thanks for the heads up Carl, I shall indeed keep an eye out on this one.

 

I have been watching the "victory at sea" series that I received as a Christmas gift. I also received "Stalingrad". Woo hoo.

 

Hi Richard, glad to be of service Mate.

PS, forgot to mention that im now watching Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, trilogy. Next-who knows? Blue Thunder? maybe?

 

The last film I saw was The Wind That Shakes The Barley. It won the Palme d'Or - the top prize at the Cannes film festival.

It's about the Irish War of Independence. I have to admit that dispite the subject matter being difficult I really found it extremely interesting and worthy of the awards the film recieved.

 

Saw: Blue Thunder, last night. That was a nice "gem" I haven't seen since sometime in the 1980's. A sad fact about this movie that it was the last movie that Warren Oates made. He passed away a matter of a few weeks or so after the film was completed. :-(

 

"Showbiz goes to war" later tonight

Amazon.ca: Showbiz Goes to War (Full Screen): DVD: Norman Sedawie,Gail Gibson Sedawie,David Steinberg

And also got

Last mass execution ( History channel )

History Channel Classroom:

 

Episodes 7 thru 12 of "Crusade in the Pacific" on DVD.

 

last night i watched one called . tarawa beachhead.and. none shall escape
quight good for a wet night in frunt of the box
all the best from . down.under... sam

 

Been watching many classics lately. Purchased and watched 4 of 5 more John Wayne movies including: They Were Expendable, The Shootist, Blood Alley, The Sea Chase (Duke is a German Handelsmarine Kapitan who hates the nazis ) and ending last night with Hatari. Red Buttons was a hoot!

 

watched one old classis the other day a .uk. film called . tarnished heroes .. i must say
old chap quight good ... sam

 

Last night watched: Enemy at the Gates and today watched Duke in: Rio Bravo.

 

ar what will we watch tonight maybe the rinemann exchange . will do
best sam

 

Watching Band of Brothers right now, watched Letters From Iwo Jima last week and The Downfall again right before that.

incredibly intelligent man.

 

what did you think of the film called . yamoto .?

 

gotta see that one!