Heartbreak Ridge

[freedom lover]

Anyone ever watch it? I did a few days ago. I didn't think the combat was realistic, but I liked it. It was funny. Eastwood did a good job. He played a Marine Corps gunnery sergeant who is tasked with whipping a "recon" platoon into shape.  I think some of you guys would like it. There's lots of swearing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heartbreak_ridge

Do we have anyone here who served in Grenada or in Korea during the war?

"Model A Ford and a tankful of gas..."

[vaskidmark]

Gunny Highway would never be allowed to remain in service with the lack of voice he has in that flick.  Recon Marines are a strange, stick-to-themselves bunch but they are anything but in need of being whipped into shape physically or for a combat mindset.  If anything, they need a leash and a muzzle when on base or in town.

As for the combat scenes - let's just say there was a reason you did not see a credit for a military adviser/consultant.  The Marines refused to have anything to do with the production and tried to get all reference to the Corps deleted, but alas, the courts disagreed with them.

Like many of John Wayne's (pbohn) films, this was a "feel-good" flick that had little if any connection with reality.  Remember, the USA was 2 - 1 -1 at the time, and losing rapidly in the polls both internationally and at home.

There were two scenes that deserve positive note - Marcia Mason's "I can say 'Marine' any way I want to" speech, and Gunny Highway trying to come to terms with the end of his military career.

I had several young gentlemen who wore uniforms ask for a translation/explanation of "crossways breezer."  Let us just say many of them remained just as confused after having it explained.   I guess that's what happens when we gave Subic Bay back to the Phillipines.

Way too young for Korea, and too old and back in civvie street by Grenada.  However, I've got an M-16 for sale that's only been dropped once.  (Now there was a movie!  I swear the first half caused worse flashbacks than the second half.

stay safe.

skidmark

[grislyatoms]

Gunny Highway had some great lines in that movie.

"Get that contraband stogie out of my face before I shove it so far up your ***bleep*** you'll have to set fire to your nose to light it."

"Go hump somebody else's leg, muttface, before I push yours in."

"This is the Ak-47, the preferred weapon of your enemy, and makes a distinct sound when fired at you, so remember it."

I drag it out every now and then and watch it.

[Monkeyleg]

I wasn't in the military, so I can't comment on the reality of it, although I'd guess that it's not very real at all.

It's also one of my least favorite Eastwood movies, not counting the ones where he co-starred with a monkey. I still can't figure out why he did the movie, other than perhaps he needed the money.

[MechAg94]

I just thought it was typical of a lot of movies.  All the combat occurred at less than 100 yards and no one can hit anything beyond 20 yards unless they are sniper or they burn a whole belt of ammo.  No one seems to carry any weapons heavier than an M16.

[RoadKingLarry]

I guess that's what happens when we gave Subic Bay back to the Phillipines.

In a strange and maybe a little sick sort of way it is sad that we now have pretty much a whole generation of West Pac sailors that have never had the singular experience of Magsaysay St.

[Dannyboy]

I just thought it was typical of a lot of movies.  All the combat occurred at less than 100 yards and no one can hit anything beyond 20 yards unless they are sniper or they burn a whole belt of ammo.  No one seems to carry any weapons heavier than an M16.

The Swede carried an M60.

[Pach]

I was there as a straphanger.  Got a PH that I still don't think I should have got.

[Myself]

Back in the Granada era we used to get Aviation Leak at work.  The story of calling the base back in the US on a credit card for air support was an actual occurrence in the Grenada champaign.  My fav. part of the movie.

[geronimotwo]

i found the movie to be entertaining. (perhaps because i have no first hand knowledge of the content, besides the whole ex-wife thing and hot wiring heavy equipment!)

[T.O.M.]

First military movie I saw after I finished my first semester at West POint, and I laughed my butt off.  Yeah, the combat was crap, but the training, and the language, were pretty spot on.  I also loved Eastwood's boonie hat with the starched brim.  I always wanted my boonie to look that way, but never got one to look right.

[Clem]

I was a Marine F-4 pilot in the '70's, too late for VN and to early for Granada. The whole thing is a little funny. The Recon Marines I knew were typically small, wirely guys who could run all day and were pretty squared away, nothing like the band of misfits that Eastwood gets.

I, too, think the best part of the movie is calling North Carolina with a credit card to call in an airstrike. It was one of the funny stories coming out of Granada.

As an aviator, one of the significant things to come out of Granada was the validation of the survivability requirements the Army put into the H-60 series helos. Each of the 6 combat damage/failure modes occurred in combat to different H-60 helos. They didn't loose a one. When the same modes hit the older helos, they typically went down.

[buzz_knox]

I had heard the actual incident involved calling for naval gunfire.  The problem was that each branch's radio equipment was rigged for different frequencies and was incompatible.  So, the Marines could have contacted the Cobras but couldn't have contacted a nearby destroyer.

[freedom lover]

Where are you Carebear? What do you think of the movie? Did you fight in Grenada?

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

my son was a ranger in granada  he says that no marine should ever want for a drink if he(or i) are in the ao.  he says he never imagined a man could look so good much less a dirty marine.

[freedom lover]

my son was a ranger in granada  he says that no marine should ever want for a drink if he(or i) are in the ao.  he says he never imagined a man could look so good much less a dirty marine.

Who was he reffering to? A friend of his?

[Balog]

my son was a ranger in granada  he says that no marine should ever want for a drink if he(or i) are in the ao.  he says he never imagined a man could look so good much less a dirty marine.

Sounds about right for the Army.     

But hey, at least as a Ranger he was about as well trained as a Marine grunt. :D

[Pach]

On a related note, just finished watching "Saving Private Ryan".  People who have neverbeen in uniform, let alone combat, cannot understand what the troops went through.  Whether it was world war 2, Korea, Viet Nam, Asscrackistan, or Iraq they put their lives on the line and for what?  Politicos who call them murderers, would be extremists?  Personnaly, I thank God everyday for the men and women who answer the call to duty. 

[freedom lover]

In the end they put their lives on the line for their comrades that fight next to them. Politics doesn't keep them alive. The people who fight for ideals alone are usually fanatics. Soldiers in a unit have to look out for each other.

[El Tejon]

My roommate, and I swear that's all he was, in undergrad was in Grenada.  "Ranger Brade" was typical Ranger, white kid from the 'burbs.  He never talked about anything outside of "Ranger Battalion" and I did not ask.

We did watch "Heartbreak Ridge" once and he thought it was hysterical from an entertainment stand point.

I never saw combat, not counting our war with Acacia House at Indiana University (waterballoons vs. potato guns--very little police involvement), but I did push a lot of paper and answer phones.

[Jamisjockey]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Grenada




Pure 80's cheese flick, but there are some funny lines, and Eastwood is always entertaining.