I had to go to the IMDB to find out who the freak was David Ayer. -> http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0043742/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm I have no comments on Ayer. I was going to comment on Spielberg and Tom Hanks but since I would have to mention someone's name who I personally know who has worked alongside of Spielberg and Hanks and many more of the Hollywood Left who have made war movies, not going to say what he said about the Hollywood Left when it comes to war movies.
But you acknowledge your claim that the "Hollywood Left" would not make such a movie is utterly false, yes?
You can get thousands of bucks for submitting screen play plots, ideas, and basic storyline. My friend does that and ended up moving to LA. Sit down for a few weeks and write a story and send it out there.
Funny how the right wing hates the "Hollywood Left" even though they know it is those patriotic folks who created all the war movies.
It could be done but would the Hollywood Left get it right ? Look what they did with the movie "Pearl Harbor" that has to be one of the most historically incorrect war movies ever made. It would take years of research and how many who served with the 422nd are still alive today ? In America there are 10 million untold stories about the Second World War. American soldiers, sailors and Marines were not allowed to keep personal diaries or journals during WW ll. And like most combat vets they block out a lot of their experiences after the war and don't talk about it until they become old men like me. Doing a little research and came across another war movie dealing with the 422nd. "Only the Brave" -> http://www.onlythebravemovie.com/
What about the funniest war movies or TV series ? I grew up watching "Sgt. Bilko" aka "The Phil Silvers Show", originally titled "You'll Never Get Rich." That would fall under the Cold War era during the 1950's -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Phil_Silvers_Show Gomer Pyle USMC ended up being a good recruiting program for the Marine Corps. "McChale's Navy" was a WW ll classic. -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McHale's_Navy Before the all volunteer military and back when they had career privates there had to be at least one Sgt. Bilko on every military base. I've been told there are no more Sgt. Bilkos in today's military. Does anyone know if that's true ?
I know a Ph.D. who makes big bucks writing screen adaptations, storylines, etc. who has made obscene amounts of money, and has never had a movie get made at all in over 20 years. There's an entire industry of these guys out there, raking in hundreds of thousands, some make millions, a year and never had anything reach the screen. He says he would feel guilty about it if he didn't know what a bunch of con artists and crooks they mostly are, including the actors.
The irony of that is I actually worked with him on his first movie as an advisor, 1985's "Invaders From Mars". He seemed like a joke when I met him on stage, and the movie was a complete farce militarily, making all of the mistakes all movies of the time made (firing a DRAGON inside in the movie only topped by Sly firing a LAW from inside of a helicopter with POWs in the back). But he did get better as the years went on, and I blame that first movie more on the director then on him. Today, he has the clout to tell the director how it should be, or he walks. I as a general rule do not like "war films". The exceptions are the ones that try to maintain historical accuracy (We Were Soldiers, Band of Brothers), or at least keep integrity with the time they are trying to portray (Saving Private Ryan, Letters From Iwo Jima). Neither movie tries to make the warriors as either villains or heroes, but primarily people trying to survive one battle at a time. Interesting trivia here. If you have seen Full Metal Jacket, remember back to the scene where Joker is in the briefing room with the other reporters discussing what they are doing next. One of them was an older gentleman referred to as "Daddy D.A.". That character was created by Gustav Hansford based directly on Dale Dye.
Largely coincidence, but he is also the only real "Military Expert" in Hollywood. He was also the advisor for Starship Troopers, but I do not really consider that a "War Movie" (nor even a movie based upon the original book). Another I like is Full Metal Jacket, but it is of varying quality, depending on which part of the movie you are watching. But it generally got the feeling right for the most part. And I also did not care for Platoon at all, even though that was his first serious advisor role, and he also wrote the novelization. And in a period piece of the horrors of that war, I thought "Casualties of War" was much better than Platoon.
Re: FMJ The first half is considered the closest that Hollywood ever got showing what Marine Corps boot camp was like during the Vietnam War era. As for the second half. Some screw ups. When Joker and Rafterman are shown sitting on the streets of Saigon the hooker scene and when Rafterman's camera is ripped off, the city of Saigon was off limits to all Marines. More likely they would have been in "Dog Patch" that was located just west of the DaNang Air Base. After that scene you see Joker and Rafterman walking along Marine CH-34 Hussies at the DaNang Air Base. All Marine helios were stationed at the Marble Mountain airfield near the beach just east of the DaNang Air Base. I couldn't relate to the Battle of Hue scenes in the movie because I didn't participate in the Battle of Hue during Tet. But there were no ONTO's seen and in the scene which was suppose to be a M-49 tank which it wasn't the M-49 would have been teamed up with an ONTOS. Last night I watched "Hacksaw Ridge" only because a buddy of mine who was in-country 70-71 said it was a good movie. So before I watched it I went to the IMDB to find out how accurate was the movie on being historically correct and how many flaws there were. They sure didn't use Capt. Dye as the military adviser. A freaking Iowa class BB off shore armed with Tomahawk and Harpoon missiles !!!