If you were a movie director, and were making a WWII film, what would it be about and why?

Regarding Cassino, I'm quite suprised the Poles didn't produce something on it in the Cold War era, concentrating on their role in the battle at least...there were quite a few WWII movies came out from behind the Iron Curtain over the years, after all...

 

Will second the idea of Otto Skorzeny. Could make a DC comic out of that story.

 

Would also avoid any "Hollywood" connections. Can we please just get rid of "Hollywood"? Use digital animation. Put the money into the writing and animation. Let Tom Cruise, Travolta, Will Smith and all those other freaks actually work for a living. Let's evolve.

 

Digital animation....GOOD digital animation....doesn't come cheap. Or it ends up looking like kids' telly. And to use it for an entire war film would be hideously expensive - the sort of expensive that NEEDS a big name to put bums on seats anyway. It's not a simple "out", sadly.

 

Tarawa. You could concentrate on one battle and cover it very well, and lots of savage drama to fill the two hours.

 

"Toy Story 3" & "Monsters' University" both had an estimated production budget of $200 million dollars (US), Disney's "Tangled" was up around $260 million.

 

 

 

The US Rangers were attached to No. 4 Commando and fought alongside them, not as a group of observers or a regular unit, but dispersed individually amongst the Commandos. The Rangers were being trained by the Commandos, and were invited by them to attend the festivities at Dieppe.

If I had some say-so about the subject matter of a WW2 movie, I would select a bio-pic of Col. Wendell Fertig. He was in Mindanao in 1942 and refused to surrender. He went into the hills with some others and organized a guerrilla movement against the Japanese. His accomplishments are nothing short of amazing. By the time Mac returned, Fertig's guerrilla army had taken control of 85% of Mindanao from the Japanese. His legacy is little known and all but forgotten. MacArthur went out of his way to lessen the accomplishments and contributions of Fertig and the other guerrilla leaders in the Philippines as to not take away from his spotlight. Fertig is ranked in the top 10 guerrilla leaders of all time by the US Army Special Forces Center at Ft. Bragg, NC,

 

Was that the beginings of the Rangers? They are at Commando level? Does the US have an SAS equivalent?

 

SeALs?

 

 

 

Rangers had their beginnings in the colonial days, as far back as the 1700s. Modern day Rangers were organized in 1942 along the line of British Commandos.

I guess the closest US equivalent of the SAS would be the Delta Force, and maybe the Navy Seals. Definitely not the Rangers. Maybe SF I guess.

 

Thanks for that mate...The US seems to have a range of SFs...i get confused sometimes.

 

Yes, I can see why. Actually it's called 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (1st SFOD-D). And that's just the Army's contingent. The unit patch they use looks a lot like the 1st SSF of WW2. There's a pretty good write up about it in wiki if you feel so inclined to look into it. Even the CIA has a anti-terrorist unit called the SOG (Special Operations Group). Seems that there is a lot of duplication of services here.

 

I figure Toy Story etc would have been equally successful even without the "star" voices. That budget could have been reduced by many millions, allowing even better cgi/story/advertising. I became pretty good at reading stories to my kid when he was kidlet. Sign me up.

 

The linked stories of Squalus/Sailfish/Sculpin would make a great miniseries.

 

I would like to see this, as well. I would like to be part of this production!

 

Awesome choices, Slip, it amazes me that the greatest naval battle in history, the Battle for Leyte Gulf, has yet to be on the big screen; the scale of this struggle between the navies of the United States and Imperial Japan, the sacrifices made by both sides, with the USN continuing its drive through the Pacific to bring Japan closer to her knees, while the IJN makes a brave, but futile, last ditch effort to win a decisive battle to force the Americans into negotiations that would set terms less harsh for Japan, truly makes Leyte gulf movie-material.

And the struggle of USS Franklin would certainly make a great film; for a ship to be so catastrophically damaged and yet, thanks to the herculean effort by her brave crew, to make it back to port, is a legend in itself that deserves to be shown on the big screen.

 

I can tell you guys would like Pearl Harbor 2 adding Nick Cage plus Justin Biebler for our Canadians friends !!! Maybe a musical??? Or a love story with a distant war as a dramatic background.

Poppy, I totally agree about big name stars. We should export then to Yemen . I thought "Band of Brothers" was all the better for using lessor known actors . Some are known, just not "celebrities". All were creditable , Michael Cudlitz, Donnie Wahlberg, Ron Livingston ( not looking excessively handsome), the venerable Dale Dye, David Schwimmer, whom I do not care for did an actual acting job as an ass, and the English actors Damian Lewis and Simon Pegg fit right in. And of all people Jimmy Fallon is in it!. The story comes out and not famous faces.

Technology in digital film is such that WW2 vehicles, planes and ships can now be well represented . It is very expensive to do well but better that using dressed up modern machinery. You could actually create a very good facsimile of say H.M.S. Exeter or a FW 190.

I would love to see a good naval battle, it would not have to be a famous one, just what sailors went through or Len Deighton's "Bomber" made into a film would be a fine choice. It's meticulous attention to detail, good and bad, it's careful character studies , and played by lessor known actors. That would be my choice..

Gaines

 

Lol. What have you against Yemen? Surely they have enough problems. Bieber cd's blasted through loudspeakers (and radio ), is worse than waterboarding. Perhaps beheading. ..Cheers Mr B.

 

At Saint Barthelemy (Mortain) the 1st Bn.,117th had two companies (A and C) on the line when the battle began in the pre-dawn darkness. At 0900 A company had 12 men left and C company had 33 men, and they were still holding the line. Only then were they ordered to withdraw to a new line a mile or so back. They didn't move an inch until they received that order. Further south, the (119th or 120th?) withdrew right back to the artillery positions - not a route, an orderly withdrawal - and then leveled the 105's and 155's for direct fire against the panzers and panzergrenadiers. Similar events were happening all along the line.

That's one US Infantry Division against the 1st and 2nd Waffen SS Panzer Divisions, the 2nd (Wehrmacht) Panzer Division, the 116th (Wehrmacht) Panzer Division and 5 Kampfgruppe made up of assorted infantry from a number of other Divisions. All of those German forces hit one US infantry division along a line that they had only occupied the night before.

The entire line held. Not only did they hold, but by the second day they were attacking. By the 4th day, German units were already withdrawing, leaving some unlucky units in place to slow the 30th Division advance.

That's a battle! And because it's so compressed in time and space, it would make an excellent film for even people who know nothing about warfare. The German strategy is simple - advance to the sea at Avranches and cut off the US 3rd Army (Patton) from the supply base at Normandy. To do that they had to go 36 kilometers/22 miles from Mortain to Avranches. One infantry division is in the way. They concentrate their forces and make a surprise attack. Chaos ensues.

In my mind, this is the US Army's finest hour, not just in WWII but in any war. The story should be told.