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Letters From Iwo Jima on AMC tonight

 
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Letters From Iwo Jima on AMC tonight - 2/16/2008 8:07:57 PM   
Admiral Scott


Posts: 625
Joined: 1/8/2001
From: Syracuse, NY USA
Status: offline 		Letters From Iwo Jima airs tonight, Saturday Feb 16th on AMC at 8pm Eastern time.
Post #: 1
RE: Letters From Iwo Jima on AMC tonight - 2/16/2008 9:11:14 PM   
Terminus


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From: Denmark
Status: offline 		Good film, that one...

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RE: Letters From Iwo Jima on AMC tonight - 2/16/2008 9:12:57 PM   
joey


Posts: 1408
Joined: 5/8/2004
From: Johnstown, PA
Status: offline 		Excellent movie. Both of Clint's movies on Iwo were good, but Letters was the best of the two.

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Post #: 3
RE: Letters From Iwo Jima on AMC tonight - 2/16/2008 9:14:35 PM   
Canoerebel


Posts: 21100
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From: Northwestern Georgia, USA
Status: offline 		A few months ago I went to rent the "Clint Eastwood movie about Iwo Jima," intending to get the one from the American point of view.  But I didn't know the title and accidentally picked up the one from the Jap point of view - "Letters from Iwo Jima."  I thought it would stink.  I was wrong.   Good movie.

< Message edited by Canoerebel -- 2/16/2008 9:15:17 PM >

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Post #: 4
RE: Letters From Iwo Jima on AMC tonight - 2/17/2008 1:43:11 AM   
Halsey

 

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Status: offline 		Boooo....

Cruel, cruel Marines for disrupting the peaceful Japanese Imperial expansion.
In the movie you can see the real truth how POW's were treated by the Japanese.
They fed them, patched them up, and talked to them about the good ole days back in the USA.
Rubbish...

Enough said.
See the topic on the main forum from some time back.

Page 7, it's a locked thread now.




< Message edited by Halsey -- 2/17/2008 1:47:26 AM >

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RE: Letters From Iwo Jima on AMC tonight - 2/17/2008 5:34:29 AM   
Admiral Scott


Posts: 625
Joined: 1/8/2001
From: Syracuse, NY USA
Status: offline 		Clint Eastwood and Steven Speilberg should make a movie about the Bataan death march.

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Post #: 6
RE: Letters From Iwo Jima on AMC tonight - 2/17/2008 6:22:30 AM   
AcePylut


Posts: 1494
Joined: 3/19/2004
Status: offline 		My dad used to employ a old guy to work his land, this guy was IN the Bataan Death March, spent 3.5 years as a POW.

Didn't talk too much about it... except that he hated all asians until the day he died about 10 years ago (guilt by association).

He said the absolute worst thing about being a pow was the boat ride from the PI to Japan. It was a month long, and he said it was the worst part.

And, naturally, in typical military snafu, when he was freed at the end of the war, since he had enlisted and his time wasn't quite up yet, the military made him be an mp for a year and a half. His total arrests during his time as an MP? Zero, because he just couldn't care what they guys did.

PS Letters from Iwo Jima was a great movie. Flags of our Fathers sucked.


< Message edited by AcePylut -- 2/17/2008 6:23:11 AM >

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RE: Letters From Iwo Jima on AMC tonight - 2/17/2008 2:35:28 PM   
Mike Scholl

 

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From: Kansas City, MO
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Halsey

Boooo....

Cruel, cruel Marines for disrupting the peaceful Japanese Imperial expansion.
In the movie you can see the real truth how POW's were treated by the Japanese.
They fed them, patched them up, and talked to them about the good ole days back in the USA.
Rubbish...

Enough said.
See the topic on the main forum from some time back.

Page 7, it's a locked thread now.



I think the point was rather that not ALL Japanese soldiers engaged in atrocities, and not ALL US Marines were paragons of the Geneva Convention. Remember, the primary audiance for the film was American.
(Personally, I thought it was a bit far-fetched. You get an order to sit in a nice safe hole and watch two POW's after 3 weeks of terror and misery..., and instead you shoot them and head back into the line of fire?)




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RE: Letters From Iwo Jima on AMC tonight - 2/17/2008 3:02:43 PM   
Terminus


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Joined: 4/23/2005
From: Denmark
Status: offline 		Yeah, seemed a bit silly, didn't it?

BTW, it was a mistake to start this thread in the first place, given the massive catastro*uck that Halsey refers to above...

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RE: Letters From Iwo Jima on AMC tonight - 2/17/2008 4:18:35 PM   
Joe D.


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quote:

ORIGINAL: Terminus

Good film, that one...


I enjoyed the film, but I couldn't say it was good; Eastwood went to such incredulous lengths to make some Japanese -- esp. the commanding general -- seem sympathetic that it stretched the film's credibility.

I think the intended audience of Letters was Japanese, so between that and Flags of our Fathers, Clint really cleaned-up at the (international) box office.

IMDb link to "Letter from Iwo": http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0498380/#comment


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RE: Letters From Iwo Jima on AMC tonight - 2/17/2008 5:34:40 PM   
Mike Scholl

 

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Joe D.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Terminus

Good film, that one...


I enjoyed the film, but I couldn't say it was good; Eastwood went to such incredulous lengths to make some Japanese -- esp. the commanding general -- seem sympathetic that it stretched the film's credibility.



I don't know..., it wasn't as if he made a vary large percentage of them sympathetic. Most Japanese officers were potrayed as fanatics, bullies, and downright stupid. Somebody had to be a sympathetic charicter, or you wind up with "Barry Lyndon"---4 hours of "I don't give a **** about anybody in this picture."

(in reply to Joe D.)
Post #: 11
RE: Letters From Iwo Jima on AMC tonight - 2/17/2008 9:22:01 PM   
Joe D.


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quote:

ORIGINAL: Mike Scholl

quote:

ORIGINAL: Joe D.
I enjoyed the film, but I couldn't say it was good; Eastwood went to such incredulous lengths to make some Japanese -- esp. the commanding general -- seem sympathetic that it stretched the film's credibility ...


I don't know..., it wasn't as if he made a vary large percentage of them sympathetic. Most Japanese officers were potrayed as fanatics, bullies, and downright stupid. Somebody had to be a sympathetic charicter, or you wind up with "Barry Lyndon"---4 hours of "I don't give a **** about anybody in this picture."


Artistic license aside, Japanese officers don't get to be generals/admirals by being nice, especially under the Code of Bushido.

Ken Wantanabe was more believable in "The Last Samurai" than this flik. Frankly, I prefer my Japanese officers as portrayed by Sessue Hayakawa (Hell to Eternity, The Bridge on the River Kwai); he must have committed seppuku more than any actor in Hollywood.



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Post #: 12
RE: Letters From Iwo Jima on AMC tonight - 2/17/2008 10:38:25 PM   
Feltan


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Joined: 12/5/2006
From: Kansas
Status: offline 		Slightly OT.

One of the things I found very interesting was the opening and closing scenes of the movie. For some odd reason, I have always been intrigued by battlefield archeology.

While I found some references to the bag of letters being found in 2005, I could find no indepth web site talking about battlefield archeology on Iwo Jima. Apparently there are thousands of Japanese soldiers still entombed in caves, with little effort to recover their remains.

That could be a life-long career for me. Too bad you can't make a decent living doing that.

Regards,
Feltan

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Post #: 13
RE: Letters From Iwo Jima on AMC tonight - 2/18/2008 12:10:21 AM   
hgilmer

 

Posts: 184
Joined: 6/2/2007
From: Birmingham, Alabama
Status: offline 		I think we all understand that there were regular guys there, just wanting to go home and not be killed, on both sides.  And there were also atrocities committed on both sides.  I had a history teacher once who basically told us they killed some Japanese guys who snuck into their camp on some island.  Of course, you never knew with him.  He was a veteran but he liked to pull our legs, too, on some of his stories.

What I didn't like is that it was subtitled with text at the bottom so I couldn't play WITP without having to miss a lot of the lines.


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RE: Letters From Iwo Jima on AMC tonight - 2/18/2008 12:19:17 AM   
witpqs


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From: Argleton
Status: offline 		The subtitles were rotten quality, too. They were too small, and had no background of their own. When the movie background was white or very light they were impossible to read.

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RE: Letters From Iwo Jima on AMC tonight - 2/18/2008 1:03:09 AM   
Joe D.


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quote:

ORIGINAL: Feltan

... Apparently there are thousands of Japanese soldiers still entombed in caves, with little effort to recover their remains.


They should be treated like the remains of sailors in sunken ships; and didn't the Iwo CG tell his men that their fighting positions were their tombs?


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RE: Letters From Iwo Jima on AMC tonight - 2/18/2008 12:41:48 PM   
Hortlund


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quote:

ORIGINAL: Mike Scholl

Somebody had to be a sympathetic charicter, or you wind up with "Barry Lyndon"---4 hours of "I don't give a **** about anybody in this picture."



LOL thats exactly how I felt after/during watching Fargo. Man that was a waste of two hours.

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RE: Letters From Iwo Jima on AMC tonight - 2/18/2008 4:14:40 PM   
Joe D.


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quote:

ORIGINAL: Panzerjaeger Hortlund

quote:

ORIGINAL: Mike Scholl
Somebody had to be a sympathetic charicter, or you wind up with "Barry Lyndon"---4 hours of "I don't give a **** about anybody in this picture."


LOL thats exactly how I felt after/during watching Fargo. Man that was a waste of two hours.


Almost all the characters in Fargo weren't supposed to be sympathetic, save for the pregnant police chief. It was like the last Seinfeld episode w/Jerry and his friends in prison for "failing to help"; in the Seinfeld series, these NY'ers only helped themselves, w/hilarious results.


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Post #: 18
RE: Letters From Iwo Jima on AMC tonight - 2/18/2008 8:57:07 PM   
ilovestrategy


Posts: 3611
Joined: 6/11/2005
From: San Diego
Status: offline 		Well, I enjoyed it. A lot. And if that means that I'm an uneducated miscreant, I'll remain one and enjoy it.
And I watched it twice on AMC, back to back!
To be honest, I wanted to make a post last night saying I watched it, but I'll never forget how my posts about movies got hijacked and locked in the past.

Ahh, the main character was on the Last Samurai, thats where I saw him before! And one of the officers was the Japanese fighter on Jet Li's Fearless too!


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RE: Letters From Iwo Jima on AMC tonight - 2/19/2008 2:17:37 AM   
Joe D.


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quote:

ORIGINAL: ilovestrategy

... And I watched it twice on AMC, back to back!


Was it any better with the commercials?


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RE: Letters From Iwo Jima on AMC tonight - 2/19/2008 4:14:27 AM   
hgilmer

 

Posts: 184
Joined: 6/2/2007
From: Birmingham, Alabama
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Panzerjaeger Hortlund


quote:

ORIGINAL: Mike Scholl

Somebody had to be a sympathetic charicter, or you wind up with "Barry Lyndon"---4 hours of "I don't give a **** about anybody in this picture."



LOL thats exactly how I felt after/during watching Fargo. Man that was a waste of two hours.


I'll go you one better. It was exactly how I felt watching The Talented Mr. Ripley. I wanted to cheer whenever any one of those spoiled brats were offed by Ripley. The only thing that would have been better would have been that boat he was on at the end getting sunk by a Japanese car carrier or a misplaced iceberg.

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RE: Letters From Iwo Jima on AMC tonight - 2/19/2008 4:24:08 AM   
ilovestrategy


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quote:

ORIGINAL: Joe D.

quote:

ORIGINAL: ilovestrategy

... And I watched it twice on AMC, back to back!


Was it any better with the commercials?



It was commercial free, uncut

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After 16 years, Civ II still has me in it's clutches LOL!!!
Now CIV IV has me in it's evil clutches!

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Post #: 22
RE: Letters From Iwo Jima on AMC tonight - 2/19/2008 4:39:30 AM   
Joe D.


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quote:

ORIGINAL: ilovestrategy

quote:

ORIGINAL: Joe D.

quote:

ORIGINAL: ilovestrategy

... And I watched it twice on AMC, back to back!


Was it any better with the commercials?


It was commercial free, uncut


Not the second showing on AMC; only the first Prime Time showing was commercial free.


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The best fighter-bomber of World War II

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RE: Letters From Iwo Jima on AMC tonight - 2/19/2008 9:09:56 AM   
ilovestrategy


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Status: offline 		Dang, I had forgotten about that. Sorry for not understanding your post.
Actually, it was better WITH the commericals because of wife and kid saying "Dave!, Dad!"


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After 16 years, Civ II still has me in it's clutches LOL!!!
Now CIV IV has me in it's evil clutches!

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Post #: 24
RE: Letters From Iwo Jima on AMC tonight - 2/19/2008 6:15:54 PM   
Feinder


Posts: 6589
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Status: offline 		I thought Letters was pretty good.  I liked it more than Flags of our Fathers, simply because it was more about the battle, than in Flags, half of it was about the demons they faced afterwards.  Not to minimize either of those points.  But I thought Letters was good, because it's -very- difficult to do a different perspective, no matter how hard you try. 

I think Eastwood actually did do a good job of creating (mostly) sympathetic characters.  My thought on it was, "You guys are bastages.  Your situation sucks.  And I understand that you're trying to live by that whole Code of Bushido thing.  But our guys aren't Code of BS, and if you look down on us for it, then so be it.  And when your world collapses on you, don't ask me for sympathy (and I understand you won't give me any either.  So that being the case, there is no "agree to to disagree" and our guys are just going to have to kill you.  Sucks to be you."

But from perspective, I think it did well as Japanese perception.  I also think it was valuable to raise awaremenss in Japan.  I actually found the commentary -after- the DVD very disturbing, that most of the actors and youth of Japan had no idea that there was even a war with the US.

-F-

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RE: Letters From Iwo Jima on AMC tonight - 2/19/2008 6:54:05 PM   
bradfordkay

 

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Status: offline 		How many of today's american kids know that there had been a war with Japan? I'm not trying to be argumentative, just wondering if it's more of a "kids ignoring history" situation than the (well publicized) japanese national amnesia when it comes to their actions in WW2.

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RE: Letters From Iwo Jima on AMC tonight - 2/19/2008 8:10:06 PM   
Feinder


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quote:

How many of today's american kids know that there had been a war with Japan?


I think that's a partially valid point.  But I do think that teens today are at least aware that WW2 occurred.  I was recently surfing the web, and found a syllabus for an American History class (maybe 4 months ago).  I was kinda surprised (and then not) by what I read.  Given the greater PC climate, the syllabus was more to the tune of...

Primary talking point - Freedom of Speach, No taxes without representaiton.
Secondary talking point - Revolutionary War.

Primary talking point - Slavery.
Secondary talking point - Civil War.

Primary talking point - Technology and imperialism.
Secondary talking point - WW1

Primary talking piont - Holocaust, A-bomb, Nisei internment. 
Secondary talking point - WW2

Primary talking point - Civil rights.
Secondary talking point - Vietnam War.

Not trying to cause a fire-storm (given that most of us in this formum have both a considerable appreciation and application of history).  Obviously, I would reverse the order of importance, but like it or not, that -is- the current PC culture.  But at least WW2 gets talked about here (alhto High School student may remain asleep).  But in interviewing the Japanese actors (esp the young ones, not Watanabe), they were surprised to find out that there was ever a war with the US, "why are we even fighting them?"

-F-

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RE: Letters From Iwo Jima on AMC tonight - 2/19/2008 11:03:58 PM   
bradfordkay

 

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Status: offline 		Yeah, I've been reading  John Toland's The Rising Sun, which has been acclaimed as "an unbiased look at the war in the Pacific" and am aggrieved to note that  it has page upon page describing the horrors of the hiroshima bombing (I'm just getting to the point where  the bomb is going to fall on Nagasaki). amd only two paragraphs on the Nanking incident - where more people actually died. Doesn't seem  "unbiased" to me, but maybe I'm too old to understand...

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RE: Letters From Iwo Jima on AMC tonight - 2/19/2008 11:07:16 PM   
Joe D.


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quote:

ORIGINAL: bradfordkay

How many of today's american kids know that there had been a war with Japan?


In many modern college history courses, WW II/VN/DS are all at the end of the book, and most classes rarely make it that far; if you're lucky -- no snow days, etc. -- you might touch upon these topics before the end of the semester, but by that time everyone is thinking of finals.

Same thing for US Hist 1 and the Civil War; you're lucky if you get there, then US Hist II starts w/reconstruction.


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Post #: 29
RE: Letters From Iwo Jima on AMC tonight - 2/19/2008 11:27:32 PM   
Gem35


Posts: 3420
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From: Dallas, Texas
Status: offline 		Speaking about unbiased as you describe this book, does it describe the atrocities Japan put upon the Chinese or the American PoWs?
Having been born well after WWII, I am 38 yrs old, I was not there to gage the events that took place myself but can only go on what history has recorded. Being American I am admittedly biased.
One thing in particular I notice is that in several Three Stooges episodes the boys really have "fun" with Germany and Japan.
Sure, Hollywood is not a very good example of truth in history but I always have found it interesting how much hatred was shown towards the Axis powers in several of the short films.

< Message edited by Gem35 -- 2/19/2008 11:32:50 PM >

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