I See Why It's A Classic!! Reaction To Bridge On The River Kwai
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- Опубліковано 16 вер 2024
- I See Why It's A Classic!! Reaction To Bridge On The River Kwai
Join me as I react to the classic film, Bridge on the River Kwai.
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You’re using logic to try to understand the British upper classes…..the stiff upper lip only gets stiffer when the circumstances get worse.
Well, I failed in my summary to denote how that stiff upper lip, along with the sense of duty to his men and himself with the indominable British spirit won out to earn his men better treatment as well as accomplish the building of the bridge. The pride aspect almost prevented the blowing up of the very same bridge they had built. The words of the medical officer at the end are the best summation of the whole situation. From war, to holding men prisoner, to the violence and destruction ultimately in the name of war. Madness.
On the subject of arrogance, in the 60s, during a NATO exercise, the commander of an American ship signaled his opposite number on a British ship " What's it like being in the second largest navy?" He received the reply, "What's it like being in the second best?"
🤣🤣
I knew a bloke who was on that Royal Navy ship, or at least that's the story he told.
I think he said it happened on the aircraft carrier HMS Bulwark during the Suez Crisis. As the British task force went through the Strait of Gibraltar on their way into the Med they passed the American warship heading out into the Atlantic.
@@bluesrocker91 good to have that one confirmed 😁
Agreed. We are 'pr*cks and proud of it, supported by centuries of tradition, tried and trusted.
Nicholson was a good officer and a brave and honorable man who got lost in the sauce. Getting stuffed into a tin box for days in the middle of the jungle tends to do that to people. When everyone was losing their minds he kept his and saved countless lives.
Grandma's first Husband David Lloyd George York, died on the Railway. Her Cousin, George Boag Munro, worked on the Bridge, was transferred via a Hell Ship which was sunk by the US Navy. Luckily he was one of the few who survived the sinking. He had night terrors for the rest of his life. Grandma's other Cousin, Charles Joseph Gannon survived the jungle heldbin Thailand, but not sure of his captivity. You must remember, the army were ordered to surrender, many had only arrived in Singapore a few weeks before after a very long sea journey. The heat, jungle, malnutrition and disease were very difficult to deal with. Hard labour in these conditions plus extreme punishments including execution. The local population were offered large rewards for escaped POW, so all in all a near impossible situation to escape from.
On April 22 1951, 650 soldiers of the 1st Battalion, the Gloucestershire Regiment, were confronted by as many as 10,000 Chinese soldiers during the struggle to secure access across the Imjin River during the Korean War.
In the midst of the ensuing battle, with ammunition running perilously low, Brigadier Thomas Brodie took a radio call from an American Major-General, enquiring about the regiment’s condition. He described the situation as: "“A bit sticky, things are pretty sticky down there.”"
Taking Brodie’s colossal British-style understatement literally, the American chose to defer sending relief until the following morning. Only forty of the Glosters survived to tell the tale.
What you have to realise is that the officer that Alec Guinness is playing is unwilling to follow Saito's orders due to the image he has to maintain in front of his men. He believes that if he shows any weakness his men will lose respect for him and he will lose control over them.
This film is loosely based on the life of Lt Colonel Philip Toosey. His granddaughter Julie Summers, wrote an excellent biography of this very brave man.
@mikepinhorn1596 I read his autobiography about time in a Japanese prisoner of war camp.
He was an officer in the Royal Artillery captured when Singapore fell and transported like many thousands of P.O.Ws to camps deep into the jungle to carry out the construction on the Thai Burma railway. What made Toosey so remarkable is that he assumed command and negotiated better working conditions for his men.Not only that he also took severe beatings from the Japanese for his men.He was also a strict disciplinarian and pulled the camp and his men together stopping high death rates in his camp.
He truly was a remarkable individual.
One of my uncles was a POW working on the Burmah railway, he weighed 60 pounds when he was released in 1945.
Yeah, it's stuff like that, that makes the treatment of the POWs in this a bit of a stretch for me because nothing I've read about their treatment of POWs is anywhere close to this. Damn good yarn though.
@@TheEclecticBeard yeah, strangely enough the Bridge Stood the test of time!
POUNDS?! God, that's over half of me and I'm only average height and slim.
@@JoeThornhill well he was only 5feet 5 tall! He had to spend 2 months in hospital before he was demobbed.
One of my uncles too. My dad's youngest brother Jim. Apparently he died of cholera. He was only 19 years old.
One final comment before I go sleep, this one may get me some hate from some Americans, but it is a true story.
My dad served in the middle east from 1940 to 1942, with a brief trip to Crete in May of 1941. (return trip courtesy of the Royal Navy). Sometime in early1942, while on leave in Cairo he met up with two American soldiers, also on leave, having recently arrived in theatre.
One was somewhat drunk and started to get quite obnoxious towards my dad and his two mates, the other kept apologising for the first one. Dad being dad did not get into the fight the drunk was so obviously wanting, but instead kept the drinks flowing until the drunk finally passed out. They then got him a memento of the evening that he could treasure for the rest of his life. They took him to a tattooist and had a large Union Jack tattooed on his chest!
Don't get mad, get even!
Lmao, fair play on that one, that's pretty funny.
My grandfather was an Army boxing champion in 1941, yeah, when it was probably at its largest...
He got busted down from Sergeant three times during his service, one of those times was returning to his barracks from the local pub one night. 10 GI's jumped him, no idea of the reason why as he never openly speculated, and he put all of them in hospital then carried on back to his barracks. Charged and demoted the next morning.
Lmao.No laser removal then.
@@bwilson5401 in 1942?
Noooice. That is the beeest momento for that guy EVER. LMAO Perfect
You can sort any problem with a cup of tea 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂🏴
It was in the film 'A Bridge Too Far.'
Oh dear. Despite all those years trying to understand the British, you still have a long way to go.
This movie holds up really well today. Filmed on location in Ceylon (modern day Sri Lanka), it's a gorgeous looking film. Fantastic acting and a well written story with a tense and exciting ending, it is a classic and easily one of my favorite films of all time. William Holden is the man and his character of "Shears" is probably my favorite character all time. The "smartass", reluctant anti hero who in the end sacrifices himself to get the job done. He's a realistic character and for me, the best of the film. Thanks for checking it out.
One of my favourite movies. Based on true events.
A really good true story is reach for the sky. The story of Douglas Bader
Yes but so little on what really happened building the railway and so wrong how the bridge was destroyed
The Douglas Bader Story is great and a true story!
@@stuartmenziesfarrant Its sort of true but only from the Douglas Bader point of view. The other view put forward is that the big wing idea didn't work and just used up planes and pilots that could have been used more effectively earlier on ,it was too little too late.
Same here. One of my all time favourite war movies.
You are applying a lot of modern day mentality to your rational thinking when watching this. There were very different principles back then. You only need to look at the British and Germans having a game of football in no mans land during WW2 on Christmas day to understand that. With your modern day thinking that wouldn't be something you would believe would happen either. It was a different time. Peoples principles and behaviours were different.
The Christmas Truce was during WWI.
@@szlonkobusjbusj3819 Thank you. But the point remains the same.
@@Tass... No.
Well the officers did work in the Japanese pow camps along the railway(as the film itself acknowledges). And like most pow camps the officers were kept in seperate camps precisely so that enlisted men did not have leaders.
WW1 btw
A friend of mine, worked on the filming of this film. They had one and only one chance to destroy the railway engine. It worked out really well.
It's set in Burma and filmed in Sri Lanka. A true classic. Forgive my arrogance and presumption, did you know it's in the Library of Congress?
Great story from the film was the casting of actor Percy Herbert.. David Lean told him he would never get a part in the film because he didn't look the part.
Percy apparently grabbed Director Lean and put him up against the wall, saying "what do you fucking know. I built the fucking bridge and it's still standing.. Percy had spent 4 years as a Japanese POW. He did indeed build the railway and the bridge. Lean gave him a part and made him technical advisor on the film.. The whistling on cornel Bogey came from Percy. He said they would whistle it as an act of passive aggression.. Percy maintained that the Japanese were brutal, but the British officers could be worse. After the war Percy and some of his comrade's pressed charges against there own officers. Percy went on to have a great career in British movies. James bond actor Roger Moore thought the world of him and always tried to get him work..
This film is about the building of the Burma railroad and specifically the bridge in the title. Sleepers, as you probably know, are the wooden rail supports. There is a book about this Which is called "a life for every sleeper."
Sections of the bridge they built, still exist! And the River Kwai, is in Thailand.
An absolute classic. Its ine of those films that I've seen a thousand times, yet will always want to watch again.
Hi Alan, good reaction. Good film directed by David Lean who did Lawrence of Arabia.
The Japanese didn't sign any of the Geneva Conventions.
It has been said that there was a body for every sleeper(railroad tie) along the length of the Burma railway. Not only allies but, local Thai & Chinese also many Japanese soldiers died working on the railroad due to accidents, sickness including Malaria, Beri-Beri, dysentery & malnutrition.
Other films are King Rat with George Segal (based on the novel by James Clavell who wrote Shogun & was a POW of the Japanese), Empire of the Sun (From the book written by J G Ballard) stars a young Christian Bale as Ballard, The Railway Man for a more contemporary take.
Willian Holden was also in Stalag 17 an excellent POW film directed by Billy Wilder
American movie great Robert Mitchum Said that William Holdens performance in this film was faultless , he received a Oscar for best male actor at the following Oscars. The film was filmed in Ceylon now known as Sri Lanker .
The token American was just for box office as there were no Americans in the building of this Bridge.
On a side note, I love that Saito's opening speech to the POWs is used (mostly) in 'Star Trek IV' when Kirk and Bones are sent to the penal colony.
The setting is Burma (Myranmar) during WW2 but filming was actually done in Sri Lanka (Ceylon.)
Of the 3,663 POWs who worked on the railroad, 1,060 died. Their weight at the end averaged only 80 pounds.
Also 60,000 civilians died from the 150,000 used to construct the railway; these civilians were composed of Burmese, Tamils, Javanese, Malayans and Chinese.
Sadly, your numbers for the deaths on the Thai Burma railway are way too low .130,000 British and Australian troops became captives after the fall of Singapore Feb 42 .Thousands of these men were used as slave labour on the that huge railway project.
After 3 and a half years of brutal captivity between 12 and 13,000 men had died the Japanese also pressed local people into the construction. Thier deaths were never recorded but estimated numbers put it between 90-100,000.
I would suggest you do some more research.
and thousands of Thais
@@chrisholland7367 yep sorry, a major cut and paste error as missing part referred to the toll for just a short stretch. Good news is I did the dodgy paste and posted message quickly when got phone call about a project which if successful will directly benefit a filming locations used for the 'The Railway Man' which will no doubt be mentioned in other posts as required viewing as an antidote to Hollywood portrayals of the real events.
My old headmaster was at this camp .....or the real one I should say. This was in Thailand at the time ...the river kwai was in Thailand at the time. Until borders moved
The camp, river and bridge are still in Thailand. Kanchanaburi province.
best last words of any film Madness, sums up the film perfectly
Bridge OVER the River ...
Alan,i remember as a young lad of 6 or 7 going to the cinema with my pal& his father it was already an old film.i remembered travelling back in the car 🚗 saying nothing, getting back home my parents asking me about the film & me just bursting into floods of tears.thinking back now it must of been because i wasn't use to the heroe dying..
Ive been to Sri Lanka and i saw the bridge used in the film. And stayed at the hotel in Colombo (the capital) that was used as the Military hospital ' plus the Gardens where you see the soldiers training.
Its a beautiful country
Alex Guinness was brilliant in this film His biggest pay day was Star Wars he negotiated 2.25 % of the the films goss for his role as Obi Wan He made over $500 million not bad for a film he described as fairy-tale rubbish !!!!
The Actor playing the colonel in charge of the demolition of the bridge, Jack Hawkins also starred in the best movie about the battle of the Atlantic "The Cruel Sea" 1953, please check out its scores on IMDb and rotten tomatoes.
Also, not wanting to appear arrogant, but do check out "Battle of Britain" 1969 old boy!
Totally agree, 100% should react to The Battle of Britain and The Cruel Sea.
Make sure you watch a version of Battle of Britain that has subtitles, roughly half of the film is in German as they cover the Luftwaffe's efforts, too.
I bought the first DVD release of it and they forgot to include subtitles on it, they absolutely refused to issue replacements...
An island in the jungle of Burma, not an island in the Pacific Ocean.
Kinda, but they are in Thailand " Siam " at kanchanburi, building a rail to supply forward japanese troops heading into India via Burma. Thai locals still keep the cemeteries imaculate there, and every November, a ceremony is held on the bridge. the ceremony ends with the whistling the troops do in the movie gently going silent as they march up the rail track into the distance that choked me up on my visit. It's well worth making the trip to the bridge if you ever visit thailand.
Both men are trying to be impeccably honourable, in their own contradictory ways. And by the end, I think they bridged that gap.
I think so as well, at least to the point of a mutual understanding and respect.
my Grandfather and 2 of his brothers fought in Burma in WWII. they are/was known as "the forgotten army", as they fought on after VE-Day alongside the Americans.
a good WWII movie to watch is "Went The Day Well"(1942). it is a fictional story of what could happen if German Paratroopers landed in an English village.
One of best interactions in the movie is where both Colonel Saito and Colonel Nicholson , in conversation with the camp’s doctor , think that each other is ‘ quite mad ‘ !
At school the words to the tune whistled was "Bollocks they make a dam good stew, bollocks there very tasty too. The lyrics go way back and differ and had different words before WW1 and acquired a Hitler version in WW2 suggesting Hitler only had one bollock . So strange that i still sing those words in my head when i see this film.
My beloved Dad, Normandy Veteran, Belgium and Malaya saw his school friends killed and was a pure Gentleman, Norman Charles Hargreaves,
I have thought the same re POW/Concentration camps. Overpower the guards! But there must be a reason or reasons why this didn't happen. After all, you don't stop being a soldier at war with the country of the guards just because you"re a POW. This was something I had never thought about until I saw The Password Is Courage, the true story of Sgt. Charles Coward in WW2. When he was organizing an escape in Germany, half the camp was against it, for fear of reprisals and death if captured. And Dirk Bogarde (as Sgt. Coward) made that speech. "Of course we might die. We are soldiers and we're still at war, from this camp..If you don't agree, then renounce your status and rank and go tell the commandant that you are no longer a soldier in the Royal Army. And when we're liberated, renounce your pay for the time you were captive. But for the rest of us, we're soldiers and this camp is the front."
I had never once thought of that, of looking at being a prisoner as a soldier with a new front. And being killed as a POW trying to escape is the same as being killed in combat. Only The McKenzie Break, about a POW camp for Germans in England even HINTED at this concept. But that movie pitched it as being about a campful of ardent Nazis always causing trouble. And in this movie, U-Boat sailors were virulent Nazis. Luftwaffe airmen though were simply at heart guys who liked to fly.
Treblinka is the only case I know of where several hundred detainees rioted and slipped off into the woods and forests.
Maybe each POW camp had a garrison stationed there just in case. I know the POW's must have thought that (trying to attack en masse) same thing. And they didn't try it. Maybe too many prisoners were content to ride the war out. I have no idea. But they were still soldiers. Yet no POW camp had an attempt to overcome the guards. Too weak from hunger? Watched too closely? No idea. But thanks for even bringing the subject up.
There must be a reason.
Don't make them like this any more. Thought provoking.
My metal work teacher at school was tortured by the Japanese & a p.o.w , they were cruel & still are , i never liked them because of that! Unknown to most Americans is that the biggest battle involving the Japanese was with British & Indian auxiliaries forces on the borders of India called Imphal. I'm glad to say the Japanese was defeated & after that they were in full retreat. The rules were called the Geneva convention, a treaty to prevent atrocities, unfortunately the Japanese were not signatory.
Your quite wrong ,the Colonel was completely justified & passive resistance has been successful throughout history.
When I was holidaying in Thailand we took one of those motor boats James Bond uses up the river Kwai, staying on a raft for 2 days. We visited a graveyard of those that died building the railway and took a trip on an old train. No lie, it was so boring I ended up having to talk to my wife. I do remember though, that for every soldier that died building the railway and bridge, many locals also died working alongside them.
The US president "leader of the free world" need I say more.
Still Game’s Paul Riley has hinted the sitcom could make a comeback - as a feature-length film.
More likely it will be Still Game as youngsters in the 1950s.
What everyone is failing to understand is it was the unsaid duty of Allied POW,s to disrupt the enemies plans and to make as much trouble for their captors as possible weather that meant escaping or to only do the minimum to assist the enemy !
My late father in law was living in Sri Lanka, while this film was being made. He starred as an extra in the film. He filmed behind the scenes with his 8mm film camera in colour. I recently sold the film, but did not get much at all for it!
I hope you kept a copy of it.
Another film which would put this film into perspective is The Railway Man.
The ex POWS were very angry at not showing the brutality of the "death railway" and a treasonous British Officer. The Japanese were unhappy to be shown technically incompetent.
Interesting to hear the military take on things, especially jungle survival, from The Beard who seems to have forgotten the USA's army's record in Korea and Vietnam and Africa. He should then compare that to the British Army's record of terrain fighting across the centuries.
Wait. Those have relevance how? Especially since they were AFTER WW2.
@@TheEclecticBeard Sh*t, you read my comment. Dang ! Okay Mr Beard. At the start of the film/movie, you seemed bemused by the POWs not making a break for it with or without overpowering the Japanese Guards and high-tailing it into the jungle with no food, clean water, anti-malarial drugs etc, in hostile territory. As Col. Saito declared, running away is futile. At that time and into the 1960s/70s, US military psychology held that in the jungle, the combatant has two enemies; the opponent and the environment, whereas the Brit military thinking and practice held an increasingly opposite view from experience with the jungle providing cover, food and medicinal plants - see the Brit Chindits and Orde Wingate vs the Japanese. Wingate was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in the USA. So, the Brits wouldnt have run away, at that time. Is your question expedited? 😇
For your next film I would recommend 1969's The Battle of Britain. It was the film showing Britain at its very best during WW2. As Winston Churchill said Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few..
Now you have to listen to. "The Bridge over the River Wye."😉
The American Officer was taken to Ceylon or Sri Lanka as it is now, in the Indian Ocean.
The thing is, what Germany and Japan were doing to Europeans was treating them the same way that the European empires were prone to treat Africans and Asians, in terms of working people to death to try to achieve rapid development of colonial infrastructures etc, and starving people to use their food for themselves. It only looks shocking without that perspective. But it was just extending the logic of imperialism to either Slavic and Jewish Europeans in Europe, or to European-origin prisoners in the Pacific theatre. Yes it was racism, but so was European and US imperialism and colonialism. That being the case, Colonel Nicholson struggling for the Geneva Convention to be enforced, was a survival strategy, and prisoners and occupied people everywhere have the duty to resist their treatment by prison guards and their occupation by occupying forces. It was necessary to fight to be respected and treated as equals, or near equals, of the Japanese, even though at one level what he was standing up for was literal white privilege, to be treated as better than the local occupied people, and as the American and Commonwealth soldiers were used to being treated by their colonial subjects.
Take this film with a pinch of salt ITS Hollywood and is entirely fictional it is based on the actual railway bridge built by british prisoners of war in Burma 1942 and is more brutal and savage than hollywood would ever allow to be shown to an audience in the 1950s.
The horrors of WW2 were only 12 years old, korea had been and gone and is understandable not to depict such savagely real otherwise japan did not sign up to the geneva convention in relation to the articles of war and treatment of prisoners of war as a result japan treated prisoners of war as it saw fit one, can understand the veterans that survived the brutal hardships and inhumane treatment inflicted on allied prisoners of war.
When this film was released the betrayal felt by veterans of that war what the japanese did to british and american prisoners of war has Never been forgotten ,however it pales what Japanese soldiers did to the Chinese people during japanese occupation of china the notorious chinese city of Nanking known as the massacre of Nanking is beyond comprehension and the aftermath and legacy is still felt
amongst the Chinese people today even though the survivors have probably long gone .
No Official apology or acknowledgment. has ever been admitted by any Japanese government to this day . the japanese authorities have failed to properly acknowledge its part in ww2 and during the horrific goings on under Japanese rule the city of Nanking. the 1930s the wound has never healed
Great story from the film was the casting of actor Percy Herbert.. David Lean told him he would never get a part in the film because he didn't look the part. Percy apparently grabbed Lean and put him up against the wall, saying what do you fucking know. I built the fucking bridge and it's still standing.. Percy had spent 4 years as a Japanese POW. He did indeed build the railway and the bridge. Lean gave him a part and made him technical advisor on the film.. The whistling on cornel Bogey came from Percy. He said they would whistle it as an act of passive aggression..
Read the book's 1/14th of an Elephant and the Railway man , about British and Australian POWs
2 of my favourite war films - both bridge-centric ('A Bridge too Far' being my top war film). On the topic of POWs, 'Escape to Victory' is a popular WWII film over here in the UK (because it's football related)!
You mentioned classic warfare you should watch Waterloo and as a off shoot the Duelist by Ridley Scott.
The Duelists is my favourite RS film.
Obi Wan
My great uncke died at the hands of the Japanese in Sandakan pow camp.
The thing the film can never really show is the brutality of the guards the conditions they were kept in and the state of the prisoners due to poor sanitary disease and the little food and water they were given.
The worst thing was most of the Japanese war criminals escaped justice.
Likely they could have overpowered the Japanese and escaped but where would they go ? Surrounded in every direction by enemy and with Singapore , Hong Kong , Burma , Malaya etc all under Japanese control the chances of survival , let alone escape from the East would be impossible .
The commander says they were ordered to surrender. The truth is Churchill told them to fight to the last man.
Could you please react to the film Battle of Britain (1969) ?
They've hit the rose & crown!?.
This is a classic movie, but It's not as good as the book. Because in the book
SPOILER
the colonel doesn't have that epiphany and is killed off without changing his attitude. So that bit in the film, as good as it is, always strikes me as a bit of a cop out. The kind of thing movies go for as they think the audience won't like it otherwise.
You know what's a great war film that I can't find a single reaction video to? 633 Squadron. Amazing last act, and the greatest theme tune of any film ever. Bar none.
Its a excellent movie One of my fav British movies is Sink The Bismark as a teenager I saw in in 1963 a true story and it also a excellent movie.
Another couple for you , "The Bridge at Remagen" , "A Bridge too Far", (both ww 2)and "Gallipoli"(ww1) and of course, "Breaker Morant" (Boer War)
A far better film on the subject is.
“The Railway Man”.
Far better? I’ve never seen a far better film than “this one” on any topic, fictional or otherwise. But it could certainly be good. I’ll have to check it out. : )
I normally agree with this guy, but on this one he has toally lost the plot.
Alan,they say it was the big 6foot 2inch strapping soldiers who copt it first with diseases etc,the guards were harsh I'm led to believe there was a large proportion of Korean guards. Many years after the war ex service men wouldn't buy any products from Japan, my opposite neighbour was a pow in this conflict in Asia. Alan not liking your certain comments about us brits come & walk a mile in our shoes.this comment has flash backs to hardnuts still game vibes when you didn't get the concept with your ignorance getting in the way.we appreciate Americans..
The character played by Alec Guinness bears no resemblance to the real commanding officer who was a very brave and honourable man.
This is just based on a time period, not so much any one person from what I gathered by seeing if it was based on a true story. Movie is based on a historical novel. There was a bridge built by British POW's but not in the area the movie portrays.
Yeah. If William Holden was running the show, this wouldn't have happened.
i used to know someone who was there, and built that bridge. if anybody remotely Japanese came on TV it went off.
Geneva convention rules did not go out the window. women and children and civilians are not targets. Torture is out. Americans dont understand that. Islamic militants are not bound by those rules -- regular soldiers are.
When war happens, who suffers most? Civilians. They wind up casualties. If their wasn't the risk for that, there wouldn't be bomb shelters and kids wouldn't have been sent to the countryside there in England or other countries. So conventions are not, whether they are off limits due to conventions or not, it's freaking war, plain and simple. You try to minimize casualties, or most civilized nations do. I don't remember that being the case amongst the axis nations fighting during the World Wars. Don't understand? Gtfo with that. It's war, time and again, war has proven that regardless of "rules", in the thick of things, for one side they don't mean shit. I love the fucking disdain and looking down of the nose cause I'm an American when I say shit that folks don't like. The default. Nah, I understand, 100%, I also have read horror stories. Civilians aren't targets. For one side. In every war. But yeah, spell it out for me in your kindness please since I don't get it.
I resisted this movie for a long time until TCM put it on demand. I knew it was based on a novel by the guy who wrote the novel on which Planet Of The Apes is based. I think he was briefly a POW.
But in the novel, Shears and Joyce were only wounded; shrapnel from the mortar killed them all. Nicholson was killed but found the last bit of strength to fall on the plunger.
I resisted because Hollywood always uses actor too old and too well-fed. Saving Private Ryan is the worst. That movie also defied physics every chance it got. After landing on Omaha, it turned into The Fighting Seabees. Every movie made during the war went to great lengths to show a Why We Fight cross section of America. AND the griping! These guys were supposed to be Rangers!! Rangers only gripe when they hear of a dangerous assignment no one included THEM in.
The biggest WTF moment is John Wayne in The Longest Day. He was in his early 50s. The guy (an Airborne Colonel) he was playing was 27 years old.
This is always the case. The 2 Best war movies are the little-seen British movie from 1975 called Overlord. And MASH.MASH the movie, not the defanged TV series. The leads in the movie are arrogant a-holes and both the writer and director knew that outside the O R,these guys were callous and cruel, seeming to be in a fraternity.
Yet ALL doctors have God complexes. Especially surgeons. Only what the are able to do in Surgery justifies or excuses their behavior. And Overlord cannot be summarized. I think it is on UA-cam.
Thx for the video.
You gotta have a cuppa!
😂 not finished watching yet but i had to comment... 😂 I won't say Yank because i know you're from the South...but an American calling the British arrogant😂 talk about the pot calling the kettle black... priceless😂. You learnt from the best though!! 🇬🇧🇺🇸😂👍
It should be remembered that this was based on a novel by a Frenchman that was never present in the country. Two bridges were built over the river Khwae Noi which merged with the Khwae Yai to become Mae Khlong. The name river Kwai did not exist until 1960 when it was renamed to cash in on the success of the film. The wooden bridge actually survived for two years until destroyed by bombing, the iron bridge was mainly built by the Japanese with foreign labour (not only prisoners).
What a fantastic film this is, almost on an epic scale. The whistling as they march into camp is iconic. Excellent casting, set design is amazing (the bridge alone!) & the character dynamics keep you intrigued. One character arc which I enjoy is the Major. Goes from nearly 100% self-serving to making a sacrificial act without hesitation. (Have a question, I was looking forward to your "Band of Brothers" reactions, what happened? You have a unique way of analysis, hope you return to that series)
The "We are on an Island" was referring to an Island IN the Jungle, With the Jungle being the "sea". Just for clarity about 90,000 people died building that railway, about 12,000 of them were Allied POWs. You do seem to have an exceptionally odd view of why & whether the laws of war shoul or shouldn't be adhered to. They aren't an option, even if the USA refuses to abide by them.
PS Thank god Americans have never been arrogant enough to claim they are the best at everything eh.
Other words were Bollocks they make a damn good stew bollocks their very good for you etc: I believe the music goes back to 1881 and the band master of the Royal Marines. This was one of the films shown to the boys at Christmas along with the Dam Busters such films i doubt very much would be shown to school boys of today at Christmas taking into account that the Guy Gibson black Labrador was named with the N word which has been dubbed for later versions.
A very good book and film in my opinion is called The Railway Man, well worth a watch or a read.
Well acted and as you say tense . Perhaps another film showing the insanity of war or as the last words of the film said "Madness" . In a strange way the introduction of the Geneva Convention which all sides put to one side when convenient [some more than others] was just another expression of authority to justify the insanity of war, which this convention is still being abused today in Ukraine and the Middle East . The ultimate aim of war is to win though we may have reached a point in the insanity where there is no winner in the ultimate nuclear war .
Yes we Brits are a very stubborn race,
That's why we made the worlds biggest most technical advanced powerful longest lasting top trading and famous Empire ever in earth's history!
We had a hard nose attitude and would never give up.
Most Countries whom were not in the British Empire respected us. ( including the Japanese, they drive on the left even now after the 60 years of US control after the war )
Many countries not in the Empire wished to be in it. Was it perfect hell no... But it was far better than the evil ones that came before which no one wished to be in?
Only the Americans did not seem to respect what made us and the Empire so respected,
Most likely the left overs of their war to be a non British Empire member 1776.
We made the modern world possible, the tech we all enjoy now came from Britain Not Japan or America.
We maybe a load of hard headed souls,
But if we just rolled over and gave up like the people of Europe did when the Nazi's were invading and beating them so easy,
Then the world now be Nazi controlled. Even the USA would have been invaded by them and Russia too.
We saved the Russians by supplying them even though we needed those ships and men and goods,
So yes are we Brits hard headed you bet we are.
Without that all would have been lost.
That is the very thing, the spirit of being a British Person, never let anyone no matter how big crash you! Many have tried and all have failed.
You need to watch the history chap. The real hero of the bridge on the river kwai
My favourite line after Alec Guiness was tortured by being put in a tin shack in the sun,had said to the camp commander"Yes well if had let me get on with this instead of wasting time we could have built the bridge by now"The wording I have typed is incorrect but it is close
Have you heard of 'Hellfire Pass?' It's a very poignant place for many, especially Australians.
Ain’t trying to kill you, but I might not like you…tea?
Your too simplistic, the Mentality of the Japanese was completely different to the Allies. They thought themselves a Superior Race. The Japanese Emperor was considered a God.
The whistling tune was Colonel Bogey March - a slight on all the enemies of the British - look up the words 😂
The Japanese code of honour no surrender against British class and officer system - very similar - not so good for the normal soldiers
You should read, "the forgotten highlander" 😊
I Think there were a total of twelve 12 american pow's in Kanchanaburi.
Thinking of Connolly and Allen. You might like Tommy tiernan.
It was not a Pacific island, nor was it an island; it was the famous Burma Death Railway built by British and COmmonwealth PoW's in Burma (Malaysia-Thailand). Very little of the film is accurate - the bridge was only blown later by the air forces. It's understood that the Japanese Commandant later became Christian, but the truth of that is sketchy. The real Major was an adviser on the film, but was so disgusted with what was done he washed his hands of it.
Forget the storyline about the demolition expert and his party, that was all fabricated nonsense and never happened.
As with so many so-called British films of the period, they could only be made with American money and with an American film star, hence the added fictional storyline Like The Great Escape and so many other famous "Britrish" films, they all had American actors in the leading parts, when the real events had no Americans involved.
What could be more British than the Bond films, the main character was British, but all the other leading players were American - simply because i=they were all financed by the US.
Unfortunately, and like so many of your countrymen, you make these videos amd make your own pronouncements without seeing ther film or understanding anything. Why do you have to continually explain what is self-evident to anyone.
So after all your "knowledgeable" comments about what works and what doesn't, I take it that you had to eat your words, for in real life the Major actually succeeded in achieving the principles that you poo-pooed! If you were twice as clever as you think you are, you still wouldn't understand. American and British attitudes and principles are very different, and you're not a military man! But you think your opinion is tops. Why are Americans such a-h's?
They are stubbrn defending the princples their nation carries and spreads,, The founding fathers of the US developed the principles for the US in the intelctual atmosphere of Britain
very true Britain has had some arragant bastard in charge you should watch the film "the charge of the light brigade " another true story dramatised really well with many a arragant bastard ....
Great film. Alec Guinness character lost sight of the bigger mission.
Yes, why have principles when you can take the easy way and just surrender.
They already had. Surrendered. So yes principles are necessary but so is common sense and reading the room, especially in the face of times when those principles are born of a system that at that moment, doesn't exist. IF it were a factual depiction, the treatment would've been much harsher, more than likely death of not only him, but all the officers and then more of the prisoners. Principles can only be followed if you're alive and shouldn't put anyone but yourself in danger of harm.
As a matter of fact the troops and most of the officers did not formally surrender to the Japanese. It was the senior officers under the direction of the British military and government who were ordered to surrender and gave the orders to surrender to the men under them. The issue of the orders were a point of contention for many years after the end of the war. It’s only because they were disciplined troops that they grudgingly accepted the orders from their own officers. There were many who wanted to keep fighting and escaped from the jungle to be returned to combat and also there were many who did not get back, falling not only to enemy action but also to disease and starvation. Some returned to Burma having been enrolled in to the Chindits who started the fight back against the Japanese forces by learning how to work with what they could carry or extract from the jungle and to use guerrilla tactics which they learned from the Japanese army and the Gurkhas.
Alan, most of the men in this story would have been captured in the Malayan peninsula, or the subsequent surrender of the garrison at Singapore.
They were tasked with driving a railway through hills and virgin jungle between Thailand and Burma, about 250 miles long, constructed with manual labour.
The film is fairly tame compared to the reality of starvation, ill treatment and neglect, the people who implemented this were just sadistic bsterds.
the whistling was to the tune of Hitler has only got one ball, it goes Hitler has only got one ball, Göring has two but very small, Himmler is somewhat sim'lar, But poor Goebbels has no balls at all. Hitler: he had but one left ball, Mussolini: he had none at all, Stalin: he was three-ballin', And that's the dictator's rise and fall!
I know that it isn't a major plot point or anything, but I always feel that anyone who is foreign or younger than Gen X should watch the Armstrong & Miller sketch on the writing of _Hitler has only got one ball_ prior to seeing this film.
At the time everyone in the audience would know that the POWs weren't whistling because they were jolly, but that they were providing their own marching band accompaniment, and that they had chose a tune that had mocking propaganda attached to it.