HBO's "The Pacific"

Have you read anything about the production that he said about it yet? I am still holding out on it. Maybe they will pull it out on the way up Suribachi. After watching those youtube clips you provided, I am going to have to bump "Wake Island" up to #1 on my Netflix que.

Personally, I think that the subject matter of Ira Hayes would've been more interesting. After all, he was a paratrooper too....

 

I think they could have adapted "Battle Cry" and it would have been a better mini series.

I think the Marine Corps is going to have some harsh words for this when every thing is said and done....it's kind of "Jarhead goes to Heartbreak Ridge".

 

Always with the negative waves. Have a little patience, baby....

 

No, he just said he'd been away for several days. Me, I've been in the cooler, and I did it all on my own, without any help from my mentor, the evil Formerjughead!

 

If you can find it, there was an old Tony Curtis movie called the "Outsider" that was about Ira Hayes. IIRC, it was pretty good.

 

I was *away* from the cooler...on vacation

 

Well atleast there was some action in the 5th episode, but whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy did they have to throw in another sex scene, no one is watching the show for that!

 

Yeah the load moaning and gasping is quite uncomfortable to listen to when my dad is viewing the show with me.

 

lool! that's funny, talk about awkward

 

I am liking the show better with each episode, I thought episode 5 was really well done. I have read the books though. I am glad that they are really remaining faithful to them. I was really stoked that they included Gunny Haney. He was one of the more memorable characters in Sledges book.
Here's a short synopsis on him from another web site:
He fought in France with the 5th Marines during WW I. Between the two world wars, Haney taught school in Arkansas. Rejoining the 5th Marines during WW II, Haney fought on Guadalcanal, Cape Gloucester (where he earned a Silver Star), and Peleliu.
Haney was more than 50 years old when the 5th Marines assaulted Peleliu and, while a Gunnery Sergeant, he held no official position in his Company’s chain of command. In the field, he seemed to be everywhere at once, correcting mistakes and helping out.
Haney bathed by holding his genitals in his left hand, while scrubbing them with a GI brush, the way one buffs a shoe. Considering the GI brush had stiff, tough, split-fiber bristles, embedded in a stout wooden handle, and was designed to scrub canvas, dungarees, floors, and anything else Marine, Haney’s method of maintaining personal hygiene was truly amazing.
Haney transcended the condition known as “going Asiatic”. He was in a world and category by himself. Eugene Sledge, writing in his exceptional WW II memoir With the Old Breed said he felt Haney was not a man born of woman, but that God had issued him to the Marine Corps."

I really think the problems people have with this series when comparing it to "Band of Brothers" is one of perspective, and that relates back to the source material used. The Pacific is based upon the personal memoirs of two Marines, Leckie and Sledge. They tell the story with a "grunts" eye view. It's all feelings, impressions, smells, sights and sounds, what the Marine actually saw and experienced, therefore it is somewhat chaotic and very narrow in it's presentation of the events depicted.
Now, "Band of Brothers" was based upon the book by Stephen Ambrose. Therefore it's perspective is of that of the historian. It tells the bigger story, organized for clarity, all the details meticulously researched, with personal vignette's thrown in to draw the reader in. We, most of us, are avid readers of history, so this is the perspective we are most comfortable with. A story filmed from this perspective meets our expectations.

Totenkopf wrote:

I can understand your feelings. It was a good way to illustrate Basilone's celebrity status though. That movie star wouldn't have given Basilone the time of day if it hadn't been that he had "The Medal" and was a famous war hero.

 

Enjoying the series, a little slow at times... but worth the anticipation.

All the best,

Jem

 

My biggest complaint is the length of the episodes like someone sort of made reference to. We are getting forty minutes per episode. So far this series lacks heart and soul. The characters lack charisma in a major way. I thought the most recent episode was one of the better, though. Agreed that the sex scene was not needed. They could have made the scene in a manner which implied there were sexual relations between Basilone and that actress.

 

Loved Haney.

 

This has just come on Australian TV tonight and I have watched half of it and to say the least, it so far is no where near the Band of Brothers series in the way the story is portrayed, sure the visuals and what not are like the BoB series are great, but so far I am not really that interested in it unlike BoB.

 

Still I think it's on par with BoB. I know what happened on Guadalcanal, I know what happened on Cape Gloucester, I know about the battles. I have read it, watched all the movies from the 40's til today. Just like in BoB. No matter how they shoot that they aren't showing you anything new. What I like is the back story. And I think they are doing a hell of a job showing that. I said before, I wasn't going into this expecting a war movie. I was expecting realism. The war in the Pacific was intense battles followed by time to reflect...they are showing that. I might be seeing it different than others...that's what makes us individuals. I think I'd have been very disappointed if it has been 30 minutes of battle scenes and 10 minutes of other. I hope they keep up the trend.

 

And that is a great example of why it's great we are individuals. I love Band of Brothers. I have let my 10 year old watch it (edited!) and explained to him what it actually meant. I will do the same with The Pacific. I, personally, think The Pacific is serving the men who served there just as well as BoB did for the paratroopers in Europe. My grandad served in the pacific too...I think he'd approve. I like the soundtrack better with Pacific and I have never, ever, taken David Schwimmer as a serious actor, ever.

 

There is no denying that Schwimmer did a good job in BOB.

 

He did do a good job in his minimal role. But I still don't take him as a serious actor.

 

I felt that Band of brothers honored the veterans of world war 2. Bill Guarnere was a womanizer but we never saw it. The only evidence was in the episode where Guarnere asks the doctor for something because he is peeing razor blades. The Pacific is a different story. One episode made the marines look like psychopaths. One marine strangles a dead Japanese corpse. The sex in The Pacific is just there for shock value to grab the audiences attention. BoB also seemed to have more airtime. Some episodes were over an hour in length. Many of the episodes of the Pacific so far have not made it past one hour. I also liked the narration of band of brothers by one character or another. It helped the story along. The Pacific would have been helped by having one or more of the characters narrate. One can also see why Basilone wanted to go back to combat. The bond tours were ridiculous at times. Phrases lie "Back the attack" followed by humping a famous movie starlet had to get boring after awhile.

 

Wow tonights episode is finally what I've been waiting to see. Too bad they couldn't build it on that quality for the first 5 episodes. And I'm still annoyed it was only 50 minutes long.