Thin Red Line

[temujin77]

Originally Posted by Klaus

Ok, that rings a bell.

"Rings a bell", that's it? :P In that case I'd highly recommend the book American Caesar by William Manchester, a biography on MacArthur by my favorite author. Incidentally I have just started reading Reminiscences which is MacArthur's memoirs just last week. His contributions to the Pacific War and and to East Asia in general cannot be described in simple words. One anecdote showing gratitude toward him that lasts even until today comes from the Philippines. Some Filipino Army barracks still call the name "Douglas MacArthur" every morning during roll call, and a sergeant always answered "present in spirit", so that the Philippines will never forget him. The Chinese people shared a similar respect for him as well, naming a road and two bridges for him (making him one of only three foreigners to have something named after them in the free Republic of China in Taiwan). The Japanese people's appreciation for MacArthur does not even need my mention; the fact that 250,000 Japanese lined up to say farewell to him, the leader of an occupation force, in the morning of 16 Apr 1951 speaks volumes by itself.

[cbstokes]

I remember being excited to see Thin Red Line in the theatre. 20 minutes into the film I kept thinking "OK, kinda boring, butI'm sure it gets better". It never did. I thought it was quite possibly the worste movie I've seen. Two and a half hours (days, whatever) of sheer boredom. I really should have walked out and found a good WWII discussion board to read for the evening - too bad this one wasn't around. Thin Red Line certainly is not on my WWII film collection list.

[Helmut Von Moltke]

This movie was very, very slow. I want my time back!

K

[Klaus]

@ temujin77: Of course I've heard of MacArthur but i don't have his picture in mind. As I stated before I'm not very much into the Pacific theatre. Because I am Austrian I am much more into the war in europe, especially from the german/austrian point of view. This history is much more personal to me.

[Spinechicken]

Good film, spoilt by its pretensions. It was too long, and that bloody internal narrative. It was just meaningless drivel and it got in the way of the affecting images on screen.

A bit meh, IMO

Cheers,

-SC

[Stacy]

I'm reading lots of "disappointing" and "Boring". Why? What specifically bothered you about Malick's movie? The philosophical questions it raised, the artsy cinematography, or the fact that it showed people with their ugly sides too?

[McCoy]

I'd say that it's one of my all time favourite movies with war as a theme. I liked it a lot more than Shavin' Ryan's Privates.

[temujin77]

People are entitled to their opinions, of course, but I very much wonder if all the negative comments on the Thin Red Line is unjustified. I think a lot of people are "type casting", for a lack of better phrase at 2am, that a WW2 movie must have fancy pyrotechnics and heart-racing action sequences. Thin Red Line is in a different genre, exploring the individual's place in the world war. Quite honestly, I wish more movies would be willing to sacrifice some action sequences for more philosophical issues like the ones posed by the Thin Red Line.

[gi-rene]

Originally Posted by temujin77

People are entitled to their opinions, of course, but I very much wonder if all the negative comments on the Thin Red Line is unjustified. I think a lot of people are "type casting", for a lack of better phrase at 2am, that a WW2 movie must have fancy pyrotechnics and heart-racing action sequences. Thin Red Line is in a different genre, exploring the individual's place in the world war. Quite honestly, I wish more movies would be willing to sacrifice some action sequences for more philosophical issues like the ones posed by the Thin Red Line.

I like it just because I like to say it does a great job showing the psychology and mental anguish of war... And personally I think the action scenes are perfect for Guadalcanal. Hair raising *because* you have no idea whats going on or where the Japanese are.

[TRDG]

To me, you have to be in a certain mood!! The first time, I liked it, but was'nt to sure what actually happened besides the obvious.

The 2nd and third time, I was loving it, not as much as SPR or BoBs, but good none the less, it gave me a different feel for the Pacific war, and a soldiers "unusual" or may I say, not really portrayed in war flicks, with some good action and acting as well......

Cheers, food for thought for me anyways.

Tom