Were any of you an extra in a movie?

2021-02-20T02:33:19-05:00

I was lucky to be a movie extra in the 1998 HBO movie A Bright Shining Lie. This was the story of the John Paul Vann. The movie begins with him being buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

The movie studio recreated his burial at Arlington national cemetery substuting the Los Angeles National Cemetery.

In front of the casket, is a line of Officers in Dress Blues. I am the 3rd officer from the right with the short hair. Most of the people wearing the dress blues were civilians. There were a handful of former or current soldiers used for the rifle salute.

The full movie of A Bright Shining Lie is available on YouTube. It is also an excellent book. The full length movie is available on YouTube for free.

https://youtu.be/fafc0ThP7R0

A Bright Shining Lie 1998

John Paul Vann became an adviser to the Saigon regime in the early 1960s. He was an ardent critic of how the war was fought, both on the part of the Saigon r...

Response by SSG Laurie Mullen made Feb 20 at 2021 2:54 AM

2021-02-20T02:54:29-05:00

I was in two documentaries, but I was not the focus of them. They were both filmed in the jail where I work and I just happened to make it into a couple of scenes.

Response by SPC James Neidig made Feb 21 at 2021 1:14 AM

2021-02-21T01:14:03-05:00

I was in the movie God’s and General’s I was a civil war living historian in Gettysburg and was recruited to be an extra for a cavalry scene

Response by COL David Turk made Feb 21 at 2021 8:09 AM

2021-02-21T08:09:23-05:00

Yes. I was in some low budget dog movie that must have gone straight to video, and “Why do fools fall in Love?”, where I played a cop. I was supposed to be in “Independence Day”, but they got a bunch of NG guys and didn’t need me. Was supposed to be in a war movie that was filmed just across the border from San Diego, in Mexico (big name production which I forgot), but my short term (turned long) active duty orders came through three days before filming started.

Almost forgot, in Germany in the late seventies, our Combat Engineer company was training in a small German town (bought by the Germans for close combat training only) when we were informed that we would be in the background of some shots for a film. Loretta Swift (TV MASH) was in the scene. We only saw them from afar. And yes, combat engineers trained for fighting in the streets (at least we used to).

Response by LCpl Sidney Green made Nov 17 at 2021 8:15 AM

2021-11-17T08:15:06-05:00

Only as part of a massive crowd of people in the 1970s movie ‘Black Sunday’
The movie was a dismal failure btw.