Since today is the anniversary of the invasion of Iwo Jima, I opening this up to anyone who wishes to comment about any Iwo Jima movie. It can be ones that were shown in the theaters like Sands of Iwo Jima, Letters From Iwo Jima and Flags of Our Fathers or they can be documentaries. Whatever you like just comment and say what you liked or disliked or your thoughts. My favorite of those three movies was Flags of Our Fathers.

Sands of Iwo Jima will always be my favorite. I saw one that had Tony Curtis in it playing Ira Hayes-but can't remember what it was called? Anyway, I did not care much for that movie. On Saturday, I got to see Letters From Iwo Jima and thought it was a very good movie and was very well made as is usually anything associated with Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg.

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

Letters was a good flick. I did not like 'Flags of our fathers'. Sands is always a favorite. BTW Carl, off track a bit, I saw the first 3 volumes of 'Baa Baa Black Sheep' on DVD. For some reason your name came to mind. Have you seen these?

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American by birth, TEXAN by the grace of GOD!

The Outsider

A Jewish man from the Bronx portraying a Pima Indian from Arizona...now that's acting!

The next thing you know they'll have Brooklyn Scot playing a Japanese neighbor....oh, wait, they did with Mickey Rooney as Mr Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany's.

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Best Regards,
JW

The one with Tony Curtis was called The Outsider and featured ascene that would be reused in Flags where someone pours jelly sauce over a miniture version of the flagraising. It maybe wierd that Tony Curtis played Ira Hayes but another actor who played Ira was ex-Marine Lee Marvin. He did so in The American. Personally, I don't know which is more unrealistic.

Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed with both Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima. I'm not sure what I expected, but I was still let down a bit.

However, I do think I need to watch Letters again and absorb it a bit more. I think it is an important film....

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Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of their leaders. All you have to do is tell them that they are in danger of being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger.
--Hermann Goering

I watched both the new Iwo Jima movies, and liked them both, but I liked Letters better because it didn't jump around as much and I found it very interesting in the fact that it was from the Japanese perspective. Flags, though historically accurate, could have been better in its excecution; it was VERY hard to follow the story until you watched the DVD several times and absorbed the details.

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"Live as brave men; and if fortune is adverse, front its blows with brave hearts." - Cicero

I liked Flags over Letters even though it could be a little confusing. I went to see it the second day it came out with my father and even though I was able to follow the story line since I had read the book, I felt sorry for him as I thought he would be confused. In not saying that Letters wasn't a good movie I just liked Flags over Letters. Is it just me or do movies that show the "enemies" (I use this term only because I am an American) perspective are really well done. I got a magazine that listed the 100 Greatest War Movies and of the top four, three showed the "enemies" perspective. They were
1. All's Quiet on the Western Front
3. Das Boot/The Boat
4. Letters From Iwo Jima
All of these are of course well-made movies and my hat is off to Clint Eastwood for making Letters. Its always nice to see the "other" side. Even though what there countries stood for was wrong these people had families. They had dreams and jobs. They saw "my" side as evil. In a way they were no different from "my" side. Both Letters and Flags are great movies no matter which side the battle is being told from.

Hi Ike, Thanks. Yep, i've seen Baa Baa Blacksheep out for sale on DvD. I've been tempted many times to buy them off the shelf but plan on buying them from DDDvD.com since it's cheaper. Im hoping that they also included the Pilot to the series in with the regular series episodes. I think the pilot for the series was called: "The Flying Misfits" or something similar. Anyway, I always liked the series and will eventually get it on DvD.

Currently im thinking of getting seasons 3 & 4 of Daniel Boone. Afhter that will be season 1 of: My Favorite Martian.

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

Volume one did include the pilot. That I know for sure

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American by birth, TEXAN by the grace of GOD!

I have that magazine too!

#1: All Quiet on the Western Front
#2: Paths of Glory
#3: Das Boot
#4: Letters from Iwo Jima
#5: Alexander Nevsky
#6: Lawrence of Arabia
#7: Grand Illision
#8: Saving Private Ryan
#9: Platoon
#10: Glory

...plus 90 others. Great edition too.

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"Live as brave men; and if fortune is adverse, front its blows with brave hearts." - Cicero

Sands of Iwo Jima is a classic. Both Letters and Flags where damn good as well. Unfortunately Letters brings out a problem. In the special features all the Japanese actors admitted to knowing absolutely nothing of the battle before doing the film. I know there is nothing we could do about it, but it still troubles me

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"When war does come, my advice is to draw the sword and throw away the scabbard." -General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson
"The conqueror is always a lover of peace; he would prefer to take over our country unopposed."-Karl von Clausewitz

C. Evans - the current issue of one of the popular warbird magazines (unfortunately, I forget which one; Borders or Barnes & Noble carries it) has a good article about the F4Us in the TV show: where they came from, how they were prepped for the show, and how the aerial sequences were filmed (they were filmed for the most part at the same time, and then the footage was edited into the various episodes as needed) - anyway an interesting article.

Thanks Ike. Knowing it's on Vol 1, I will be buying it.

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

Guys, I know y'all may be excited over Baa Baa Black Sheep but lets keep to the topic here.

One of the best documentaries ever filmed is To the Shores of Iwo Jima (1945). A twenty-five minute film of the invasion consisting of actual combat footage shot by Navy and Marine Corps cameramen.

This film was nominated for a 1946 Academy Award for Best Documentary, Short subject.

Highly recommended.

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"Angriff, Ran, Versenken!"-Onkel Karl
"Sink 'Em All"-Uncle Charlie

I saw this myself a while ago; it is very good.

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"Live as brave men; and if fortune is adverse, front its blows with brave hearts." - Cicero

Hi Fs, thanks for letting me know. I'll go see if they still have a copy on their newsstands. I remember having a model of both the Corsair as well as the "Meatball" Zero-both of which were snap-tight kits.

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

I just watched "Flags of Our Fathers" last week...Amazing. I found it rather confusing with things jumping back and forth, but eventually everything slid together. I liked the personal touches, and the ending was great. I think that James Bradley (who gave an interview) was right when he tried to explain about his dad.

He said his dad never talked about Iwo Jima or the flag-raising or anything else about the war, and when you think about everything he went through...

- 1. He's a medic. So he has to look after all the injured and dying people.
- 2. He had to put up with all the publicity when just a week ago he was at the front getting all hell blasted at him - that's a big change in surroundings and it's enough to make anyone uneasy.
- 3. He had all the pressure of acting like a 'hero', when all he did was raise a flag and raising a flag doesn't make you a 'hero'. Any idiot can do it. But he couldn't SAY that because then all hell would come crashing down...

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WWII-era pen-advertisement
P-51 Mustang fighter-plane.
Parker '51' fountain pen.

C. Evans - that magazine article is the March/April edition of Warbirds International

Does anybody have any info on how you can visit Iwo Jima? I know that it requires special permission from the Japanese government, becasue it is sacred ground to them and us; any details?

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"Live as brave men; and if fortune is adverse, front its blows with brave hearts." - Cicero