Posted on May 27, 2016
What is the biggest military movie/TV goof, basically the military Movie/TV mistakes that annoys you the most?
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When Rambo plays possum then suddenly takes out the Russian officer's Hind Helicopter he uses an M72A2 light anti-tank weapon (LAW). When fired, the M72A2 has a back blast that can kill out to 100 feet, which means he would have either blown up his own helicopter or killed all the MIA's he had rescued..
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SSgt Terry P.
SGT Russell Beach That one seems to happen quite often in a lot of movies.
The only movie where anyone seemed to know about the back blast was a dirty harry movie where Eastwood movies his partner out of the way before she is incinerated. lol
The only movie where anyone seemed to know about the back blast was a dirty harry movie where Eastwood movies his partner out of the way before she is incinerated. lol
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35 year old 4 Star Generals....ribbon racks uneven....out of regs haircuts...bases that don't exist...
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SSG Pete Fleming
I can give them the bases, most people don't know the difference and it is a 'fake or alternate universe' (pardon my being nerdy)... but there are so many things that can be fixed, casting the wrong actor is big, and getting the look right.
I can't remember the movie but they cast an actor, that I like, as a Marine General. This actor must be 400 pounds!!! He wouldn't even have been a specialist in the guard back in the 90's... it was so unbelievable.
I can't remember the movie but they cast an actor, that I like, as a Marine General. This actor must be 400 pounds!!! He wouldn't even have been a specialist in the guard back in the 90's... it was so unbelievable.
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I know it's TV show and I haven't been watching it regularly, but I caught a few shows yesterday of "The Last Ship" and I am kinda impressed with the research they did on the lingo and proper use of it on a ship.
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SSG Pete Fleming
Well even a blind fox can catch a rabbit once in a while...haha.. I haven't seen or heard that show, will have to check it out.
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SSG Pete Fleming
I guess that is sign of toughness or something when they do it in the movies. Of course 'I am Legend' and others had it when it didn't make sense. Either the actors refused to shave or the production gets lazy
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SPC Roger Giffen
In the 70s , we had several people that would shave then splash lighter fluid on their face. Went on sick call and got a profile against shaving.
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SGT Randall Smith
When in Nam quite a few of us had hair on the upper lip. The First Sgt . made sure it was kept neat. The only guys we saw with full beards were the Sea Bees. Could not convince the 1st that we needed to look cool too.
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Yes. Every movie, tv commercial or photo advertising showing Soldiers in ACUs with the mandarin collar all the way up. We know that nobody uses that crap collar.
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SSG Pete Fleming
haha... I was out before they switched, but I was DOD contracting on base for several years, I never once saw it up...
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SGT (Join to see)
The only time I raise the collar is when I'm gunning in the Stryker with the hatch up. Those 50 call brass are hot and hard to get out of your blouse with an iba on.
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SSG (Join to see)
Aircrews are supposed to wear it up to protect against burns in the event of a fire.
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Cpl Mark McMiller
CSM (Join to see) - Nazi Germany did have a few helicopters but nothing like the one in the movie.
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LTC Gregory Bishop
My company works with tv/film/video games/advertising everyday and it's often a challenge due to a number of factors. Here's an article that may be of interest to you all.
http://allwarriornetwork.com/2014/11/so-you-want-to-be-a-hollywood-military-advisor/
http://allwarriornetwork.com/2014/11/so-you-want-to-be-a-hollywood-military-advisor/
So You Want To Be A Hollywood Military Advisor? - All Warrior Network
by Greg Bishop Getting to Hollywood About 25-years ago this Kentucky boy had a dream to go to film school…but Kentucky and film school were worlds apart. The path “from here to there” was simply insurmountable…until I saw a “Be All You Can Be” commercial on TV that changed my life. The commercial promised
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Cpl Mark McMiller
LTC Gregory Bishop - Thanks for the article, Colonel; Cool business to be in. I imagine some historical movies or TV can potentially take quite a bit of research.
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SSG Pete Fleming
Here's an 80's made for TV movie about an all female commando unit that flew helicopters in WW II... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081472/
The Secret War of Jackie's Girls (TV Movie 1980)
Directed by Gordon Hessler. With Lee Purcell, Ann Dusenberry, Tracy Brooks Swope, Dee Wallace.
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I suppose a lot of things are facepalm moments. I hate when they portray a senior officer as a nut case sounding like a drill instructor.
Uniforms issues can be annoying if they are way off target. This season of "Better Call Saul" they had a goof. The second to last episode they had an AF Captain in his blues wearing Army Pilot wings. Although I do know a major who flew in the Army in previous life and only has Army wings.
I worked on set doing a little advising. Its actually really hard to get the costumer to get it right even after you explain it to them over and over.
Uniforms issues can be annoying if they are way off target. This season of "Better Call Saul" they had a goof. The second to last episode they had an AF Captain in his blues wearing Army Pilot wings. Although I do know a major who flew in the Army in previous life and only has Army wings.
I worked on set doing a little advising. Its actually really hard to get the costumer to get it right even after you explain it to them over and over.
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Lt Col (Join to see)
CMSgt Donald Felch - It really depends. Budgets are weird things and it depends on where the director and producers priorities are. If the military is not the main focus of the show, but they have a scene with military people in it, they usually will not go get a mil adviser. The focus of that show is on the main character and is really out of the scope of the story. So most producers are not going to go out of their way. In some of those cases it gets a little easier as many crew on set are former vets, so they can grab one of those guys and ask if the uniform looks right.
If the show does focus on military subjects. Its up to the director to decide how accurate they want the look to be. Some directors want 100% accurate. Others will say they want it some what accurate, but they are not too concerned if its perfect. Some of them will say "well the importance of them looking exact, doesn't really have bearing on my story." Of course at the end of the day it all boils down to if the producer has money in the budget.
Producers are real persnickety about where they spend the money. They have a threshold to meet in order pay for contingencies, like if they have to do a re-shoot. The producer has a real tight clinch on the purse strings. Sometimes they may only have the budget to bring in an adviser just during the pre-production phase and maybe one or two days on set with the characters.
As for high budget movies, a lot of the money goes to the talent if they have an A-list actor in the show. A bunch of money goes to other production functions. If it is an action flick a huge portion goes to VFX and editing. Unfortunately a military adviser is more of a luxury position on set. Based on union contracts there are is set minimum crew that have too be there for the scope of the work being done. One shooting day minus the talent can cost over hundred thousand dollars.
Ideal situations if the movie puts the military in a good light. They can sometimes get support by military film liaison offices. What this gets the production is, tech advisory support and DOD instillation use.
So it really depends in a nutshell.
If the show does focus on military subjects. Its up to the director to decide how accurate they want the look to be. Some directors want 100% accurate. Others will say they want it some what accurate, but they are not too concerned if its perfect. Some of them will say "well the importance of them looking exact, doesn't really have bearing on my story." Of course at the end of the day it all boils down to if the producer has money in the budget.
Producers are real persnickety about where they spend the money. They have a threshold to meet in order pay for contingencies, like if they have to do a re-shoot. The producer has a real tight clinch on the purse strings. Sometimes they may only have the budget to bring in an adviser just during the pre-production phase and maybe one or two days on set with the characters.
As for high budget movies, a lot of the money goes to the talent if they have an A-list actor in the show. A bunch of money goes to other production functions. If it is an action flick a huge portion goes to VFX and editing. Unfortunately a military adviser is more of a luxury position on set. Based on union contracts there are is set minimum crew that have too be there for the scope of the work being done. One shooting day minus the talent can cost over hundred thousand dollars.
Ideal situations if the movie puts the military in a good light. They can sometimes get support by military film liaison offices. What this gets the production is, tech advisory support and DOD instillation use.
So it really depends in a nutshell.
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SGT Richard H.
Budgets can be such a simple thing to manipulate if you exercise a little creativity. You could probably hire a vet that got out as an NCO if you knew where to look and spend no more than a few thousand dollars over the course of filming. It seems like a small price out of a hundred million dollar budget to not end up with a movie that has a million Vets rolling their eyes.
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Lt Col (Join to see)
SGT Richard H. - Its not that easy. There are union contracts with Screen Actors Guild (SAG). Anyone who has a role with a speaking line has to have a SAG card, even if they say one word on screen. Anyone who does not have a SAG card a producer can use them, but the person being selected for the role will get Taft-Hartley'd into the union as a SAG eligible. The production will pay a fine to the SAG.
They can use people in a background non speaking role. SAG does not control background extras as they are not considered actors. In fact they will do that a lot of times. There have been some movies like "Transformers," where the production does casting calls for veterans and current military in speaking roles. I worked with a DAF-CIV/ retired AF Major who got a line in "Lone Survivor." He got Taft-Hartley'd into the union. In this case the Production will either pay the fines or they may negotiate with the union and pay an upfront fee for the permission to bring in non-SAG actors.
Believe me, I know producers, some of them are very very cheap. If they could get away with it they would hire all non crews and actors, and most likely there stuff would look like crap.
They can use people in a background non speaking role. SAG does not control background extras as they are not considered actors. In fact they will do that a lot of times. There have been some movies like "Transformers," where the production does casting calls for veterans and current military in speaking roles. I worked with a DAF-CIV/ retired AF Major who got a line in "Lone Survivor." He got Taft-Hartley'd into the union. In this case the Production will either pay the fines or they may negotiate with the union and pay an upfront fee for the permission to bring in non-SAG actors.
Believe me, I know producers, some of them are very very cheap. If they could get away with it they would hire all non crews and actors, and most likely there stuff would look like crap.
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SGT Richard H.
Lt Col (Join to see) - Understood. As with many things, it's a matter of people choosing to or being forced to think inside the tiny boxes that they create for themselves, and then being stuck with only the options that they brought into the box with them.
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Virtually any modern movie with the internal view of a modern Submarine. The show almost always show enough room for "A basketball court" when in reality there is barely room to "swing a Cat". Real modern subs have passageways not a lot wider than 2 people can fit thru at the same time chest to chest or back to back.
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PO1 Charles Babcock
That was why I phrased it like I did. For the few older movies showing reasonably modern subs do, occasionally, show how cramped the space is.
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PO1 Charles Babcock
Ice Station Zebra was fairly close altho even it doesn't give a full indication of cramped spaces in Nuke Boats. If you ever find an internal photo of an OHIO class boat, for instance, a common theme was a luxury suite description. :-) the older nuke boats make the Ohio's look like a cruise ship.
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SSG Pete Fleming
PO1 Charles Babcock - Cool thanks for answering. But can you tell what was the point of going red?
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PO1 Charles Babcock
The red light helps your eyes get dark adapted while still having enough light to see.
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For some reason, hollywood is fascinated by the rank of "Major". "Majors" are briefing the President, running command posts, conducting combat operations on the ground, go direct to generals instead of a chain of command, etc. What is it with the gold oak leaf that is so alluring to the producers?
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