Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Dunkirk

I have read where Hitler was astonished that Churchill didn't want to consider an armistice. After all, that's the way the French, Germans, and English had done business for Centuries. "I won this time, so you give me Alscase and some cash, and you can try again to get it back next generation. See you in 20 years or so."

I went and saw it again. I liked it better the second time around because I wasn't looking for flaws.

This is an extraordinary movie.It shows heroism without preaching or apology. The Germans are anonymous entities who were all trying to kill you which is likely the way it was at the time. The shots of the Spits are uniformly wonderful.

I hope it wins an Oscar, it's a work of art.

Finally, Tom Hardy's Spitfire. I estimated thirty five seconds of firing total, I dunno how this compares with the amount of ammo a Spit of that period actually carried.

Birdwatcher

We were Soldiers Once was great for a number of reasons not the least of which being that Col. Moore and Sergeant Plumley advised on the set from what I understand.

Add me to the list of those who saw the movie and were disappointed.

Please advise as to why

Yes it is damn good when a director will listen to the people that are hired for these things. I believe Randall Wallace is one of those types of people. Roland Emmerich, ( The Patriot) not so much. But there were serious clashes of professional personalities with the hired help in that flick.

Gizzard,

Not enough butter on your popcorn or didn't the movie have enough sex scenes. Looking forward to your " thoughts ".

Somebody just explained to this befuddled old duffer what the three flash scenes in the beginning meant. "The Mole. One week", "The Boat. One Day" and "The Spitfire. One Hour" refer to the time length of each of those sequences. What happened on the mole took a week, and so forth.

So somebody had to explain the bleeping explanations to me. I think Nolan should have explained the bleeping explanations.

Some of the guys on here probably know more about what it was like to be at Dunkirk than the guys who were actually at Dunkirk, as usual.

No, sir. You are being temerarious. There are guys here who, with the benefit of hindsight and historical perspective, know more about what happened at Dunkirk than the guys who were there, but none of them would ever claim to know more about what it felt like.

War is experienced behind your own eyes and between your own ears, and almost never at more than arm's length. There is no such thing as "the big picture" in combat. There is only you and right damn now.

Now that was funny!

Doc, if you are still reading, here's another tid-bit that adds to the story: The halt order, which was approved by Hitler and issued by the German High Command on May 22, 1940, was rescinded four days later on May 26 and Operation Dynamo, didn't officially start until 27 May, ending on four June. Another reason so many Allied soldiers were able to make it off the beaches around Dunkirk was because of 40,000 soldiers of the French First Army, who were able to delay the Germans at the Siege of Lille from May 28-31. They battled seven German divisions, including three armored divisions. Winston Churchill called the First Army's effort a "splendid contribution," which hardly summed up its significance in allowing the British Expeditionary Force time to evacuate the beaches. When food and ammunition ran out, a surrender was negotiated and 35,000 men marched into captivity.

Other British and French rearguard units assisted in holding other areas of the perimeter as well, and in the end, it was mostly French soldiers who surrendered after covering the final Dunkirk evacuations.

This was gleaned off the net. I'm too lazy to look in my books at home!

G, you have confirmed my comments. Thank you. I rest my case.

We saw it in IMAX-vibrate-the-seat-deeply-felt experience. Enjoyed the fabulous photography and always love Spits in flight and did not expect nor demand much historical info nor accuracy of detail. I was merely hoping for a good story rather than the standard blips intended to goose my feelings. As I said, mildly disappointed because the fabulous material was presented in such predictable cliché that it was boring at times.

Communicating some factual content is not mutually exclusive from feeling, for me and for millions who appreciate Shakespeare, Saving Private Ryan, etc. Apparently however, there are growing millions of us weaned on flash feeling commercials who disagree and claim that any input of facts along with the feeling detracts from the feeling.

Both perceptions are legitimate. They reveal a deep and growing change in Americans, which politicians are exploiting, especially leftist politics where feeling trumps facts and reality.

Thank you. I spent a minute or so after it showed on the screen trying to figure out what "The Mole. One week" meant and gave it up lightly as another item that was incomprehensible as presented, and just continued to flow with it as the movie washed around me.

Just saw it and considered it well worth the price of admission... One of those movies that will stick with ya for a bit also.

The Patriot is one of my favorites and a definite "desert island movie".

Just returned home from seeing it with the family. Enjoyed it very much, even the wife liked it.

Thought the older gentleman piloting the yacht was a "warrior" along with his young son.

a military disaster

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMZbfw0gXHc

Saw it today and enjoyed it. The foibles are mentioned in this thread but keeping in mind the directors desire to avoid CGI and the scarcity of 109 "Emils" and such I thought it was well done.