Does it have to be accurate? Or do you prefer a good story, regardless?
Zulu is always a winner for me!
Historical inaccuracies aside, you can't beat the Battle of Rorke's Drift on an Easter Sunday.
Barry Lyndon
Seven Years War and a Gainsborough painting come to life - Lovely!
Land and Freedom, a good dose of politics never hurts ;)
"Went The Day Well" for me!
There's some interesting choices coming out here, I've never heard of some of these! I'll have to get down to Blockbuster methinks...
I'm gonna throw in a vote for 'Saving Private Ryan'.
In no particlular order...
Zulu
Stalingrad
Das Boot
A Bridge Too Far
Jarhead
Band of Brothers [ok,it's a series...]
Generation Kill [ditto...]
We Were Soldiers
Black Hawk Down
The Deer Hunter
Apocalypse Now
Alexander
Tears of the Sun
Troy
Gods and Generals / Gettysburg
Full Metal Jacket
Hamburger Hill
Platoon
Waterloo
Casualties of War
Kingdom of Heaven
Enemy at the Gates
Aliens [whaddya mean that's not real... ;)]
There's probably more...
Quote from: nikharwood on 10 March 2010, 11:05:40 PM
Jarhead
Black Hawk Down
Apocalypse Now
Full Metal Jacket
Kingdom of Heaven
I enjoyed these as well, except Kingdom of Heaven, which is one that I keep missing whenever it's on.
Are you gonna be watching the new Spielberg/Hanks collaboration, 'The Pacific', when it starts next month?
Oh yes...it's supposed to be stunning...horrifc, but stunning.
Certainly will. However, its such a disappointment that they always do the Americans. How about a 'band of Brothers' for the British?
My favourites are Band of Brothers, Gettysburg, some excellent film about Napoleon I saw the other day and Blackadder goes forth 8)
Quote from: Leon on 09 March 2010, 01:09:19 AM
Does it have to be accurate? Or do you prefer a good story, regardless?
I liked Zulu, The Eagle has landed and (I think this is the name: The Immortal Battalion)
with David Niven. :)
Quote from: Pruneau on 12 March 2010, 02:17:48 PM
My favourites are Band of Brothers, Gettysburg, some excellent film about Napoleon I saw the other day and Blackadder goes forth 8)
Blackadder goes forth! How could I forget that?! SImply brilliant. ;D
Quote from: Luddite on 12 March 2010, 02:00:33 PM
Certainly will. However, its such a disappointment that they always do the Americans. How about a 'band of Brothers' for the British?
Nah, Hollywood would never fund that!
Quote from: Leon on 12 March 2010, 02:36:49 PM
Quote from: Luddite on 12 March 2010, 02:00:33 PM
Certainly will. However, its such a disappointment that they always do the Americans. How about a 'band of Brothers' for the British?
Nah, Hollywood would never fund that!
Sadly true. Even for WWI they had to do it about the Canadians...i guess Hollywood sees the British as the bad guys now...
On a wider note aren't all the films so far
war films rather than historical films?
For historical films i'll put foward;
JFK - a good stab at the festering wound in American history.
Charlie Wilson's War - similar to JFK but on a different topic. Enjoyable but not enough focus on US funding of what they now term 'terrorists'.
The Killing Fields - a hard watch but a brilliant protrayal of the insanity of the Khmer Rouge
Schindler's List - Another hard watch but a surprisingly unbiased protrayal of the unfolding of the Nazi 'final solution'.
The Longest Day (or as my wife terms it 'The Longest Film') - Probably the best of those 'docu-films' of the post-war period. Excellent again for its relatively objective view of D-Day...
Kagemusha - Kurosawa's masterpiece about the Battle of Nagashino. Perhaps more a war film?
The first reviews of Pacific I'm seeing from the US are mixed! The production and action are excellent but it's lacking the characterisation of BoB it seems.
Anyway, BoB apart, I like the general list from Nik except for Alexander which I found really dull. Also add in War and Peace by Sergei Bondarchuk; the battle scenes are tremendous.
Films often inspire, but whilst I love Zulu, I'd never in a million years want to play a game of it.
Blackhawk Down OTOH I'm painting up stuff for as we speak, in 15mm, as I would want to play the battles in Somalia. The recent TV mini-series Generation Kill has also fueled my interest in Modern wargames. Though I'm more likely to play this type of scenario using Battletech, but Humvee's And choppers, what's not to like? Tears of the Sun is also another excellent modern film about the wars in Africa, which inspired to get into AK47 Republic by Peter Pig.
Then there is The 9th Company (9 Rota), a Russian movie about Afghanistan, not to forget The Beast, which is the Hollywood take on Afghanistan.
Also, We Were Soldiers keeps my interest in starting an army for Vietnam, but I've always been interested in the period after my mum took me to see Green Beret as she liked John Wayne. I remember being over-excited by the running through the jungle scene as a child. Having rewatched the film since I can't imagine why now?! ::) Obviously, Apocalypse Now and Platoon are also up there in my DVD collection.
Lord of the Rings is also a great trilogy of films, but like Zulu, you will not find me basing an army on it.
I'll also mention Lawrence of Arabia, if only for the music, which is a bit unfair as it is a wonderful movie.
Starship Troopers always does it for me too. Not a good interpretation of the original novel, but a great pastiche of all those patriotic propaganda movies about war. The soundtrack is totally awesome.
Finally, Heartbreak Ridge. Clint Eastwood at his finest, superb dialogue and its all about being a Recon Marine, though the story is actually based on an Army Ranger unit, but they didn't want to support the movie. However, Uncle Sam's finest did. Totally outstanding film, with a high replay value.
I enjoy black and white British war films, things like 'Went the day well' and 'The gentle sex'.
Two of my favourites historics films are "mihaial viteazul" and "Ivan the terrible (Eissenstein)", they are also very inspiring for the hobby
Zulu - oh yes and due to being a 23 yr Queens Lancer - Charge of the Light Brigade ( just for the utter Englishness of it all (what what!! Hussar!)
God save the Queen
historical rather than war films ? i'll vote for A Man For All Seasons every time
How about Dunkirk and the Cruel Sea.
Old B&W historical war films? Try:
Theirs is the Glory: Para re-enactment of Arnhem done in 1945 using the original survivors and the bombed-out town as a back-drop.
Sea of Sand: cracking yarn about the LRDG
Hear, hear for Barry Lyndon. Not my favourite historical film - my favourite all-time film. But as a wargamer I must also put in a bid for Alexander Nevsky.
P.S. Can't stand Kagemusha myself, much as I love wargaming the period. Kurosawa didn't have a clue about what happens on a battlefield. Ran is a better movie, and even there it's annoying that not one shot from a matchlock ever misses. Did Momoyama armies emproy onry Annie Oakries?
And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself - a movie company films Pancho Villa and his battles
What Women Want - the only accurate historical film Mel Gibson has ever appeared in ;)
Alan
Quote from: Shedman on 20 April 2010, 11:24:46 AM
What Women Want - the only accurate historical film Mel Gibson has ever appeared in ;)
Mad Max might have been, we'll just have to wait and see. :D
David Niven - a matter of life or death, great 1940's B&W then mid way turns to fabulous Technicolour, about a RAF pilot who bailed out of his Lancaster without a chute, and survived!- thus a bit of a debate in heaven to get him rightfully popping his clogs ( coz thats what should have happened). Its a great Sunday afternoon movie.
Get the popcorn out.
Gettysburg
Zulu Dawn & Zulu (must watch one after the other)
Oliver Cromwell
Waterloo
Battlefield Britain (Boudica & Naseby... do these count lol)
Band of Brothers (okay, I know, doesn`t count either)
Deadwood (HBO series, but just had to include it)
Bridge Too far
The Great Escape
Battle of the Bulge (real family, pull the curtains, light the fire in the grate, and chill out movie)
Sobibor
Cross of Iron
Das Boot
Stalingrad
Downfall
Female Agents
Black Book
Inglourious basterds (querky, but kinda appealing)
Valkyrie
Cabaret
Hobson`s Choice (personal favourite)
The Wind That Shakes the Barley is a great film, never disapointed with a Ken Loach film. If you have not seen it yet, you should ;)
There's a lot of stuff here for me to wade through! I'll be starting with Band of Brothers once The Pacific has finished.
BARRY LYNDON
I quite enjoyed The Madness of King George.
As I've had a rant on the 'Worst Historical Film' I think it's only fair I join in this one.
Tora, Tora, Tora. -
Unusual, at least for the time, to see both sides get a say in the making of the movie.
Das Boot. -
Always watch this with subtitles rather than dubbed.
Talvisota. -
Finnish war movie about the Winter War.
Gettysburg. -
Fix bayonets. Not as syrupy as Gods and Generals.
Gandhi, -
Inspirational film
The Alamo, (2004)-
Interesting and fairly accurate retelling (from Disney???). Except for the combat fiddle playing.
Windtalkers, -
Underrated film about the Navajo radio ops in the Pacific. Well worth a look.
Waterloo, -
No matter what anyone says about it, still visually stunning and a favourite.
Go Tell the Spartans, -
Vietnam war movie, set when the US were only there as advisers.
And here's something a bit different
Oh What a Lovely War, -
Dickie Attenborough's first directorial outing. The First World war as a musical. Very clever use of metaphor, allegory and war time songs.
Hum, well I really loved these ones :
"Letters from Iwo Jima" and "Flags of our fathers", by Clint Eastwood.
"Flesh and blood", by Paul Verhoeven.
"Fanfan la Tulipe", by Christian Maudet (1951).
And of course "Barry Lyndon".
Among others.
QuoteOh What a Lovely War, -
Dickie Attenborough's first directorial outing. The First World war as a musical. Very clever use of metaphor, allegory and war time songs.
I love this film but it is responsible for a lot of WW1s bad PR.
I also have a softspot for Kingdom of Heaven, the history is pretty ropy but the photography is lovely.
I also enjoyed the TV series ROME although the first series was much better than the second.
Colditz...does that count?
Waterloo... oh the charge of the greys - which is why I do cavalry re-enactment (or did) unfortunately I did take the part of the lancers (well okay they were the wrong ones in the film).
Cross of Iron ....
kingdom of Heaven especially the cavalry charge - bit of a theme here :)
Zulu Dawn & Zulu
Band of Brothers
Bridge Too far
The Great Escape
Das Boot
Cabaret
Downfall - I have a love hate relationship with this one
Letters from Iwo Jima
Sea of Sand
Long and the short and the tall
Lord of the rings (Not historical at all but I love it) Guess which is my favourite bit!!!!
Letters from Iwo Jima was far better than Flags of our Fathers in my humble opinion.
Barry Lindon
Most of what's been mentioned already plus:
'Hurt Locker',
'Generation Kill' (TV, I know),
'Come and See',
'All Quiet on the Western Front'
Top 3
The alamo(the new one)
Gettysburg 4+ hours of joy
A bridge too far, best ww2 movie made.
Others are Waterloo, the longest day, glory, the duelists, alatriste.
"The Light Horsemen" - I only saw it last night and most of the film up to the end was fairly average but the final cavalry charge (or mounted infantry) at the end made up for it. A dramatic scene and especially impressive as before the days of CGI
Barry Lyndon overlaps a few wars, but it's hardly a war film in itself.
Quote from: Dickie255 on 23 October 2010, 07:40:23 AM
"The Light Horsemen" - I only saw it last night and most of the film up to the end was fairly average but the final cavalry charge (or mounted infantry) at the end made up for it. A dramatic scene and especially impressive as before the days of CGI
oooh forgot about this one, yep very good charge :)
Most of the Historicals films are totally inaccurate but still great to watch.
Many of course are just great war films :D
The best recent one has to be Saving Private Ryan.
Zulu my old time fave. Just superb start to finish.
Cromwell the best of this period which seems to have almost nothing else about it although a huge part of our history. Once again the srcipt bears almost no resemblance to the truth. I mean, Setting off the guns at Edgehill, Do me a favour!
Finally, Waterloo, my favourite period and yes a good film to watch but could have been so much better. Apart from the wooden acting in parts, the stupid slow motions of that period and dodgy horse/car shots lol, and the most irratating bit, the anti-war drivel !.... the main sadness is that most of it ended up on the cutting room floor.. The first cut was about 7 hours, then reduced to about 4, and then hacked to death again to what we get now. They filmed Ligny etc and we see about 10 seconds of it..
What a shame :(
Cudders
Quote from: FierceKitty on 19 April 2010, 06:40:38 PM
P.S. Can't stand Kagemusha myself, much as I love wargaming the period. Kurosawa didn't have a clue about what happens on a battlefield. Ran is a better movie, and even there it's annoying that not one shot from a matchlock ever misses. Did Momoyama armies emproy onry Annie Oakries?
Well I have just watched Kagemusha for the first time and enjoyed it. It has almost given me a yen (ahem) for a 10mm samurai army ... And I thought it was worth resurrecting this thread for.
Chris
Bloody Big BATTLES!
https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/BBB_wargames/info
http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.co.uk/
Zulu Dawn, Zulu
Stalingrad
Downfall
A Bridge Too Far
Gods and Generals
Gettysburg
Take care
Andy
Well I thoroughly enjoyed The Big Red 1 - the newly restored version. Fascinating to watch one US unit from the first gung-ho landings in North Africa and a brief fight with the French, before teaming up with them, through to the grizzled veterans coming across their first Death Camp. Apparently all based on Sam Fuller's wartime experiences, and a somewhat different outing for Luke Skywalker.
Cross of Iron
Saving Private Ryan
Lord of the rings trilogy - Even if the Orcs should not have pikes or crossbows.
If you have a favourite book, piece of music or film you need to read, listen and watch more :)
I have a favourite etc. It just changes. Constantly. Almost hourly.
I do have books etc that I constantly return to. Are they favourites?
The Last Valley (Michael Caine in spiky hat, what's not to like? )
Kingdom of Heaven (the Directors cut)
The Man who would be King
Waterloo
Gettysburg
Barry Lyndon
The Cruel Sea
Master and Commander
and if orcs can have Lord of the Rings as a "Historical" film, then I will go for Monty Python and the Holy Grail!!! :D :D :D
Mollinary
Jeez, Chris! 6 years between posts!* Anyhoo ....
Quote from: fsn on 03 October 2016, 11:16:02 AM
I have a favourite etc. It just changes. Constantly. Almost hourly.
It seems most people's favourite is constantly changing also (the heading asks for the singular but most folks are listing reems of favourites). So, in the spirit of popular opinion, here is my list ( .... er ..... which
might will probably change).
The Great Race
Young Frankenstein
(heading doesn't say it has to be a war film and these are set in the past)
Glory
Black Hawk Down
Zulu
Barry Lyndon
Das Boot
* on this thread.
Some current favourite military and/or historical films
Defiance
Flags Of Our Fathers
Windtalkers
39th Battalion
Saints and Soldiers
Days of Glory
Saving Private Ryan
Fury
Kagemusha
Red Cliff
The Warlords
Company K
Master and Commander
Unforgiven
Battle of Britain
Longest Day
A Bridge too Far
Waterloo
The Eagle Has Landed
Went the Day Well?
The Malta Story
Sink the Bismark!
They Were Not Divided
A Long Day's Dying
The biblical epic which contains the line, 'The king of the Israelites is outside his tent exposing himself to the Philistines.'
Cromwell which my Dad took me to see when I was about 10. Long war film, ice cream and just me and Dad!
Quote from: Ithoriel on 03 October 2016, 10:53:34 AM
If you have a favourite book, piece of music or film you need to read, listen and watch more :)
What's he on about now?
If I truss the chronockweir with chicken wire does that demonstrate my intellectual superiority sufficiently?
Quote from: mollinary on 03 October 2016, 11:26:57 AM
and if orcs can have Lord of the Rings as a "Historical" film,
Mollinary
Of course it's Bl**dy Historical. >:( ;D ;D
How are we actually defining 'historical' ? :-\
Anyway......
Dambusters.
The Great Escape.
Kelly's Heroes.
The Dirty Dozen.
I'm assuming if it took place before NOW then it's historical, so any James Bond film, but not Alien.
I find a lot of historical films have things 'wrong' which spoils them for me. I think the biggest disappointment was the trampetting Confederates in Gettysburg, not to mention the vastly overweight Confederate wargamer at the start of the film. He really looked like he marched a great distance on short rations - not! Second biggest was the entire Light Brigade in red trousers in the charge of. Didn't spot anything in the new version of The Alamo, but I expect some knowledgable person will be along soon to disabuse me.
L.A. Confidential
Quote from: Techno on 04 October 2016, 05:38:57 AM
How are we actually defining 'historical' ? :-\
Definition of Historical:-]
of, pertaining to, treating, or characteristic of history or past events: historical records; historical research. 2. based on or reconstructed from an event, custom, style,
I submit that Lord of the rings is a non-fictional work of past events, as written down by his holiness JRR Tolkien
La Reine Margot
Barry Lyndon
and, as a terrible warning, The Triumph of the Will.
Not a film as such but the French series Les Rois maudits was superb
"Triumph of the Will" is a masterpiece of cinematography.
Quote from: Leman on 04 October 2016, 07:23:13 AM
I'm assuming if it took place before NOW then it's historical, so any James Bond film, but not Alien.
I find a lot of historical films have things 'wrong' which spoils them for me. I think the biggest disappointment was the trampetting Confederates in Gettysburg
"Trampetting"???????
Yes, I also wondered (e.g., why worry about Johnny Reb tramping all over the grass?) but I think he means inappropriate use of the trampette* when explosions occur.
*a small square trampoline used in gymnastics. :-B
Indeed he does - boom boom!
I was going to ask if 'Debbie does Dallas' was allowed? But I've not seen it, so it is beside the point, really.
I'll throw 'All the President's Men' into the mix.
Has to be historical. Debbie DID Dallas might be allowed.
As i recall Debbie did Dallas sometime in the mid-70s. Thus it is completely historical, as she is now in a care home, just outside Austin.
Few things are sadder than seeing the sex-kittens of one's youth thirty years on.
I really enjoy the ones that draw you emotionally through the events and the action.
This is probably what rules writers mean when they aim to develop "cinematic" sets.
Anyhow, a bit of scriptwriting portraying the jepoardy of junior (and sometimes senior) command is worth a thousand explosions in my book:
For that reason:
4. Sink the Bismarck - most of us know the story, and particularly the ending, and there is so little action on the seas. Most of the drama occurs at naval command away form the action.
3. A bridge too far - I had to have one "blood and guts" epic in here.
2. Zulu - Rattles through the episodes, superb cast, doesn't allow the glory to disguise the gory - all together now "Men of Harlech stand ye ready ..."
1. Ice cold in Alex'. - Few explosions, but you feel every bead of sweat as John Mills tries to keep his ragtag crew, and mostly himself together, and make it to the pub. Watch it repeated on the telly, alone without interruptions, turn up the heating, and treat yourself to a cold one at the end.
All those plus
the Longest Day
battle of the River Plate
The Yangtze Incident
A Hill in Korea
Dunkirk (John Mills)
Battle of Britain
The Duellists
Malta Story
"Master and commander" seems to have been overlooked?
But "Went the day well?" Is superb. A full blown, no holds barred guide to how to spot a Jerry.
"I should think your wife and children are proud of you"
"I'm not married, but I have two sons" ;D yes, quite, I'm sure you do!
And who forget:
""Do you know what morale is?"
"Yeah, corse - that's what the wops ain't got"
I've got shelves of historical films -some more historical than others I hasten to say-but here are some of my faves, again as before in no particular order
Bridge Too Far
Waterloo
The Long and the Short and the Tall
Dunkirk -the John Mills one, the new version is pants!
Paths of Glory -Kubrick's excellent anti war film
Barry Lyndon -the review and the battle bits (I've actually worn one of the uniforms from the film, very, very hot as they were made of wool!)
Zulu
Shaka Zulu -bit mystical but good fun...as far as tyrannical fun goes.
Zuku Dawn
Kagemusha
Seven Samurai
Ran
9th Company
Myn Bala -Warrior of the Steppe
Big Red One
The Last Bullet
Kokoda
Windtalkers
The Duelists -uniforms are spot on
Napoleon -the silent version -they must have scored France for him, he's a dead ringer.
Red Cliff
Glory
Gettysburg
Gods and Generals
Mongol -bit shamanistic but okay
Fire and Sword -a dubbed Polish film about the Renaissance. (there are two others but names escape me.)
Alamo -both versions
There are more but I can't be bothered to have a look.
I would like to add a Polish film Popioly (The Ashes) from 1965. Traces Polish resistance from the Revolution up to 1812, through one family - the scenes set in Spain are especially noteworthy. :)
'The Lion in Winter', superb cast in top form.
Quote from: SV52 on 16 June 2018, 09:11:00 AM
'The Lion in Winter', superb cast in top form.
Oh, yesssssss! Timothy Dalton or Katherine Hepburn would be welcome to leave their shoes next to my bed....
My all-time favourite is April 9th, and I don't even do WWII gaming.
"Cromwell" despite all the warts (sorry!) it got me (and a rather large number of others I suspect) crazy interested in the ECW.
Favorite line: Robert Morley as Manchester just prior to Edgehill, "Missed me breakfast- damned tricky things, stomachs!"
Quote from: d_Guy on 18 June 2018, 03:05:24 AM
"Cromwell" despite all the warts (sorry!) it got me (and a rather large number of others I suspect) crazy interested in the ECW.
Favorite line: Robert Morley as Manchester just prior to Edgehill, "Missed me breakfast- damned tricky things, stomachs!"
One of the greatest fantasy films ever.
I think when I saw it in a theater here in 1970 it had a disclaimer that said something like "based on actual events in England centuries ago - the ones with the feathers like the king - the one that look like pilgrims, not so much".
Ah yes, anything before 1776 is ancient history.
Thought the idiots did actually recognise 1492 ?
Growing up in a small WV town in the 1950s the essential dates we had to know in elementary school (to the best of my recollection) were:
1066, 1215, 1492, 1517, 1607, 1688, 1776, 1789, 1863, and 1941. I have no idea what dates are now required, if any.
Battle of Hastings, Magna Carta, Columbus joins the long line of people who "find" America, Martin Luther starts social media with a note on a cathedral, death of Mary Stuart, William of Orange?, Publication of Gibbons "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", French completely lose it, Red Cross founded, Barbarossa.
Quote from: fsn on 19 June 2018, 04:52:07 PM
Publication of Gibbons "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire"...
;D
None of those dates are from Ancient History. Funny how the word ancient (I know DG didn't actually use it above) means totally different things depending on which side of the Atlantic you are.
fsn you were doing extremely well until you began to diverge (from an American POV) at 1607 - not too bad however. ;)
Leman - we did not get to ancient history until Junior High School (now called Middle School), IIRC. Until then any formal education in ancient history was handled by the churches. :)
The major courses through our secondary education at that time were Ancient and Medieval (often lumped together unless you were doing honors), Renaissance and Reformation, Modern European, and United States and State history. I am ignorate as to when ancient history ended, currently it seems to be around 1992.
Does no one like The Last of the Mohicans? I remember seeing it in London immediately on release and being blown away by it. Gladiator probably also deserves a mention, if only for the 'Zulu' tribute, and its ancient predecessor, 'The Fall of the Roman Empire' with Alec Guinness as Marcus Aurelius, and Christopher Plummer as a magnificently bizarre Commodus,
had a certain je ne sai quoi. Even Anthony Quayle, James Mason and Omar Sharif got bit parts, not to mention Sophia Loren!
Talking of sword and sandals movies, does anyone remember Anthony Quinn in Barabbas. It came out not long after Spartacus. I was taken to see it as a boy and was really frightened by the scene in the mines.
Re. ancient above, in a fair number of American films it is used simply to mean a bit old. I always imagine Dead Sea Scrolls when someone in the film says, "We found it in these ancient writings;" and it turns out to be a book from 1807! ;D ;D ;D
I remember another occasion when a friend of mine was looking after an American visitor and suggested he visit Chester, only about 40 minutes on the local train from Liverpool.
"What's so special about Chester?" he asked.
"It has a lot of shops older than your country," was the reply.
Quote from: mollinary on 19 June 2018, 07:46:59 PM
Does no one like The Last of the Mohicans?
I remember the TV series in the 1970s in which that very Welsh actor Philip Madoc played Magua.
In a line that has passed into family myth, Magua, disgruntled by something uttered the immortal line "I spit on your wigwam."
And he did.
In answer to the question, can't abide Daniel Day Lewis, so never watched that variant.
How about "Northwest Passage" with Spencer Tracy leading Roger's Rangers? Can't remember the name of the character he played.
Quote from: d_Guy on 19 June 2018, 06:41:15 PM
(from an American POV)
The who? :P
I think I have opined on American history programs. "long time ago the Chinese invented something then king Arthur Probably used it so we can show some c15 armour, and the French did something really cool. Then on the 29th August 1874 in Bumkiss Missouri , Abe Abeson painted one blue and the history of the world changed forever."
It's true, Leman, unless Washington slept in it or a battle was fought on it, we tend to bulldoze things every twenty years or so. :D
There is not twenty miles from where I write a large Hopewell burial mound that is at least a thousand years old (and likely much older). The various mound building cultures have left mounds and artifacts strewn all over the landscape some dating back to 3500 BC. Of course we didn't build them do we generally ignore them.
I also like the last of "The Last of the Mohicans" which followed the book well and whose uniforms, costumes and weapons use met re-enactment standards (at the minimum). I had forgotten "The Fall of the Roman Empire", saw it when it was released but can now recall little. Did it have a chariot chase on a mountain road?
Quote from: fsn on 19 June 2018, 09:34:35 PM
How about "Northwest Passage" with Spencer Tracy leading Roger's Rangers? Can't remember the name of the character he played.
=) :)
The rangers looked like Interwar US marines with fringe.
I enjoy "Time Team" which is an archaeological program fronted by Baldrick from Black Adder.
In Britain the trick seemed to be "hmmm ... bit of discoloured grass ... send in the digger!" In the US it was "bit of discoloured grass ... let's remove the top layer by hand and then used trowels to dig down the next 3 feet." *
Shows how aware the US is of its historical legacy.
*One of the things the US does right is to retain the Imperial system of measurement.
As a kid I loved the old black and white TV series of Hawkeye. It was not until I was a teenager and saw Northwest Passage that I realised the burning of the fort in the opening titles of Hawkeye was lifted directly from Northwest Passage. Given how tense the situation could be in the Eastern woodlands at that time, the ferocity of the Iroquois and the sheer frontier feel of the period, I'm surprised the FIW is not used more frequently as a setting for feature films.
Quote from: Leman on 19 June 2018, 09:14:23 PM
I remember another occasion when a friend of mine was looking after an American visitor and suggested he visit Chester, only about 40 minutes on the local train from Liverpool.
"What's so special about Chester?" he asked.
"It has a lot of shops older than your country," was the reply.
I once told an American tourist in Edinburgh "We have public toilets older than your Constitution". Not sure it's true, mind you, but it made him think a bit.
Public toilets - IN SCOTLAND !!!!! ;)
Quote from: Wulf on 20 June 2018, 10:16:03 AM
I once told an American tourist in Edinburgh "We have public toilets older than your Constitution". Not sure it's true, mind you, but it made him think a bit.
So that was you!
Quote from: fsn on 20 June 2018, 07:00:37 AM
*One of the things the US does right is to retain the Imperial system of measurement.
Thanks, but truthfully it is a bit of a pain. Still like F for C (if not working in a lab), however :)
One problem is this
http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,17453.0.html
Simple calculations are difficult - pick a peck of pickled peppers - we can do that (once converted to metric and back again)
But the bigger problem is most of us need two sets of tools!
I do honestly appreciate a positive comment about the States - gold star! ;)
I've seen a Scottish public toilet in Trainspotting :-& X_X
Quote from: d_Guy on 20 June 2018, 02:23:15 PM
Thanks, but truthfully it is a bit of a pain. Still like F for C (if not working in a lab), however :)
One problem is this
http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,17453.0.html
Simple calculations are difficult - pick a peck of pickled peppers - we can do that (once converted to metric and back again)
But the bigger problem is most of us need two sets of tools!
I do honestly appreciate a positive comment about the States - gold star! ;)
Kubrick, Fitzgerald, Altman, Wilbur, Wyeth, Steinbeck, Wright, jazz, contract bridge, Manhattan clam chowder, rather good ice cream, easy women...I can easily think of quite a lot of things I've learned to enjoy and admire about the US, despite an odd attitude to the present perfect and to the meaning of "I could care".
Quote from: Leman on 20 June 2018, 03:32:39 PM
I've seen a Scottish public toilet in Trainspotting :-& X_X
That wasn't public, it was in the bookies.
I understand Renton holds the record for the world's least pleasant McShite*.
* In which the hero/protagonist goes into McDonalds, avails himself of the conveniences, and leaves without making a purchase.