What Is The Last Movie/Show You Saw? (1 Viewer)

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I just got through watching "Wing and a Prayer" on Hulu. I really enjoyed this movie. Filmed in '44, it shows some real WWII era aircraft carrier ops. The story takes place right after Pearl Harbor up to Midway. Some interesting observations were that they were still maintaining secrecy regarding operations. The story was that a carrier was to cruise around the Pacific showing the flag to the Japanese and then avoiding battle to try to make the Japanese think the US forces were spread out and demoralized before Midway. The rationale used to defend Midway was that the Navy knew that Japans next goal was to take Pearl Harbor and had to go through Midway to do that. It had some real nice shots of TBM operations (of course they did use the available aircraft in the US for filming, meaning TBMs, F6Fs, and SB2Cs, instead of F4Fs and TBDs, but that was okay). Another interesting diversion of information was that the torpedo planes were the heroes of Midway, the dive bombers were never mentioned! One fascinating scene was the release of real torpedoes from two TBMs. When the torpedoes went into the water both came back up, one completely coming out of the water and the other almost did the same, amazing shots. Another cool shot was when a crew was abandoning a TBM after a crash. It showed an actual TBM, or a section of a TBM, in the water while the pilot, who had cleared his seat and was standing on the wing, opened a hatch and removed a life raft and the rear gunner opening his hatch and trying to get out. Well done filming. F4Fs did make an appearance as Zeros! I guess they couldn't find any real ones (like now). Also, I think I saw a Curtiss-Wright CW-21 dressed up as a Japanese fighter. You don't see that very often. Of course it had some typical Hollywood garbage but not too much. Also, I think the inside carrier shots were on a sound stage, which makes sense, since it appeared there was just too much room for a Navy ship.
 
Saw "The Expendables" today. Not bad for a willing-suspension-of-disbelief action-packed shoot-em-up movie. Dolf Lundgren's English has certainly improved.
 
SERIOUSLY???? That's awesome! Any idea how much extra footage they're putting back in?

Caught previews for "Tron: Legacy" yesterday. Man....I can't wait for that to hit the theaters!!!! I'll have to drag out the original before going to see "Legacy".
 
Saturday, on one of the TV channels, is John Wayne day. Watched "Rio Bravo", "The Shootist" and "The Cowboys"
yesterday. Great flics, all of them. I think "The Shootist" is perhaps the best western John Wayne ever made.

Charles
 
... of course they did use the available aircraft in the US for filming, meaning TBMs, F6Fs, and SB2Cs, instead of F4Fs and TBDs, but that was okay ...

It's quite amusing that only about two years after the event and still in the war, they couldn't get the right aircraft to fill the role in the movie: I'm usually critical when the wrong aircraft (or tank or truck etc) is used in making a film, but if they struggled to get the right type even during the war perhaps I should cut them some slack :lol:
 
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Saturday, on one of the TV channels, is John Wayne day. Watched "Rio Bravo", "The Shootist" and "The Cowboys"
yesterday. Great flics, all of them. I think "The Shootist" is perhaps the best western John Wayne ever made.

Charles

The Shootist is a great movie. Interesting that he plays a man dying of cancer and he was actually dying of cancer. I think the previous western he did was Rooster Cogburn (the sequel of True Grit). When he did that movie, he already had a lung removed and couldn't walk farther than 30-40 feet without loosing his breath.
 

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