It's called the Battle of Britain for a reason, Hollywood!

[lyore]

From Variety magazine, about the new Tom Cruise movie The Few -

"In 1940, expert German fighters had decimated the Royal Air Force to the point that there weren't enough pilots left to fly the Spitfire planes sitting idly in hangars," it said. "Unable to rouse the US into action, a desperate Winston Churchill hatched a covert effort to recruit civilian American pilots to join the RAF. Risking prison sentences in the then-neutral US, a ragtag bunch of pilots answered the call." The magazine also looked forward to "ferocious dogfights between the overmatched American pilots and the German ace fliers"

Wow. Isn't it lucky for the Brits that Tom Cruise came to save the day *gag*

For the record - according to the official records, there were 2986 guys who served in the RAF during the period known as the Battle of Britian. 9 were American. Which, if my calculations are correct, is about 0.003065% of the 'good guys'. Those American aces must have been really great - except for the minor detail that the real-life version of the Billy Fiske (TC's character) didn't shoot down a single plane. For that matter, they didn't even get the type of plane right.

I guess Winston Churchill really meant it when he said "Never was so much owed by so many to so few."

For a UK perspective of the new movie, try this article - http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/film/news/article55566.ece

My favourite bit - Hollywood's version of the Second World War has already shown Americans capturing the Enigma code machine in U571 (they didn't) and leading The Great Escape from a German prisoner of war camp (also not true). Pearl Harbor even suggested that the RAF only thwarted the Luftwaffe in the summer of 1940 because US pilots popped across the Atlantic to help out. Now Mr Cruise looks set to expand on that with his own version of what Churchill called our "finest hour"

That sound? Is me banging my head against the wall.

Comments

[ashavah]

But doncha know no war story's worth telling if the Americans weren't the stars and didn't Save the World? And if the story's not worth telling by that criterion, then darnit, Hollywood won't let truth get in the way of a good story, what?

Pchah. (That's me making a dismissive noise.) Hollywood, plz to keep out of my area of interest. You've already messed up my major. *coughGladiatorcough*

[redbyrd-sgfic.livejournal.com]

Pfft! There's a reason why I don't see many movies. And when I do, I prefer action and SF. But it's still times like this when it's embarrassing to be American. (For the record- I didn't vote for him!!!)

I *do* highly recommend the book "The Great Escape" though- if you haven't read it, it's a fascinating story. Um, by Paul Brickhill, if memory serves.

[ashavah]

Yep, Paul Brickhill.

*loves him*

[lotusflower85.livejournal.com]

If it wasn't for Tom Cruise we'd all be speaking German right now :P

[amethyste5.livejournal.com]

You know if they desperately wanted to write about American pilots fighting in a foreign country before America officially entered the war there's always the Flying Tigers, but noooooo. They had to go and make up their own story.

Bah.


http://www.flyingtigersavg.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Tigers

[aizjanika.livejournal.com]

But...but... Didn't the Americans save the entire world? *g*

I know they take liberties with history in movies and such, but it bothers me more when they do in history books.

[lyore.livejournal.com]

Hollywood won't let truth get in the way of a good story

Which reminds me of my favourite line from.. well, somewhere, I don't remember "Never let the truth get in the way of a good opinion." Or, in this case, never let Historical Accuracy get in the way of a good movie. With the value of 'good' being debatable, in this case.

And you should see my reactions to some of the scientific bullshit people come out with in movies. Not a pretty sight :)

But I liked Gladiator, dammit!

[lyore.livejournal.com]

I prefer action and SF

And when I watch those, I spend my time complaining about the scientific accuracy and/or the fact that they didn't have that specific type of weapon at that time, or that it really can't fire continuous burst of fire for 10 minutes... Hey, I'm a tough audience :)

For the record- I didn't vote for him!!! No worries - I feel like apologising for John Howard fairly regularly (who I did NOT vote for), but no one outside Oz knows who he is, which limits the embarrassment factor :)

[lyore.livejournal.com]

Hallo, haben Sie nicht rund hier für eine Weile gesehen!

If it wasn't for Tom Cruise, I wouldn't have had to resort to Babelfish for that

[lyore.livejournal.com]

But that may have actually required doing some research or something.

Interesting links - I hadn't heard of the Flying Tigers before, thanks for the info.

[lyore.livejournal.com]

I guess it depends what they are taking liberties with - if they want to mess around with Pearl Habour or something, then I'll groan, but it won't annoy me to much because it's their/your history to butcher. But this is a little too extreme for me - like an Aussie movie saying that the North only won the civil war because of an Aussie bloke who happened to be fighting it it at the time or something :)

But about the history books - definitely. Although I guess the argument could be made that movies are probably more damaging to the knowledge of the general public, who may never pick up a history text, but who do go to the movies. But that definitely depends on the specifics of the book in question - and widespread historical revisionism makes me want to scream.

[(Anonymous)]

RE: John Howard- well, I must admit I had to look him up. But the three top headlines referencing him this AM were:

1. Howard sends more troops to Timor -
2. Australia Increases Politicians'
Pension Payments, Howard Says -
3. Howard prepares clemency appeal for Bali drug smugglers

So I think I can understand where you're coming from. Just out of curiosity, is he also a religious whacko and the pawn of powerful corporate interests more interested in feathering their pockets than the good of the country (like ours)? Just curious...

[redbyrd-sgfic.livejournal.com]

That was me, of course.

[lyore.livejournal.com]

Is he also a religious whacko and the pawn of powerful corporate interests more interested in feathering their pockets than the good of the country?

Well, not really. We have a few religious nutters (Tony Abbot comes to mind) but Howard isn't too bad on that point - or at least, if he is, he has the sense to keep his mouth shut. Except when he's busy putting his foot in it about Islam/Muslims. And we don't seem to have the same problem with... um... corporate influence... as you do, but that's probably because we have a no-donations-from-companies/people rule when we run our elections. And the fact that we don't have a big enough industry base over here anyway :)

But dear old Johnny has a tendency to blindly follow Bush wherever he leads, without (imo) considering the consequences. He also has only a passing acquaintance with the truth, especially around election time - try looking up 'Children Overboard' in connection with him, if you're interested. Basically, he's just a brilliant example of a slimy, smarmy, self-serving politician who keeps getting elected because a) he's damn good at lying his way out of trouble when it counts, and b) the opposition hasn't managed to put up a decent candidate for years.

And all that was JMHO, of course :)

[amethyste5.livejournal.com]

My dad's a history buff, took me awhile to realise not everyone had heard of all things he talked about.

(Besides which, I live very near the CAF, you could pick up most of this just by asking one of the guys out there about the markings on the right plane.)

[necromage.livejournal.com]

For everything you just said: so true.

Goddamn labour - find someone decent so the oldies vote for you, too!

[necromage.livejournal.com]

At least the ways the Americans write history books isn't as infuriating as the ways the Japanese write their history books.

Um, is the civil war you're refering to the American one? Because if so, it's the Civil War ;) Liek, rly :DDD

Can we just boycott this movie? Please? I'm tired of Cruise screwing with history (The Last Samurai) >_<

[ashavah]

So did I, to an extent. But historically accurate it ain't.