Posted on Oct 13, 2014
What ONE incorrectly depicted thing pisses you off most about military movies?
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My question is really no more complicated than that.
For me, it is the rendering of the salute. Hands down. No second place. This pisses me off to no end!
In my opinion, this is THE most important of all military courtesies, and it should always be given with the most possible precision and exacting attention to detail.
FFS! It is something that is taught to every 'cruit in week 1 of basic training! It is perfected throughout training! In a military movie, this should be the EASIEST thing to get right!
It seems to me, that if an actor or actress can spend weeks or months learning hundreds, if not thousands of lines of dialog for a movie, they can at least spend an afternoon or a day, practicing with the advisor (there is ALWAYS an advisor who is a Vet or SM) on the set until they get it right.
I know there are bigger, or more obvious problems with some military movies. Weapons or uniforms or lingo that is anachronistic to the time period of the battle on screen...but DAMMIT, getting the salute wrong in any time period just frosts my shorts!
Usually, it's a fail with what I call the, "I'm shading my eyes from the sun" salute. Your f'n hand doesn't belong on your forehead like you're trying to watch the right fielder shag the fly ball! It belongs where you were TAUGHT to place it!
I find myself commenting out loud to friends, while watching movies that jack this up...they don't seem to understand why it pisses me off so much.
What does it for you?
For me, it is the rendering of the salute. Hands down. No second place. This pisses me off to no end!
In my opinion, this is THE most important of all military courtesies, and it should always be given with the most possible precision and exacting attention to detail.
FFS! It is something that is taught to every 'cruit in week 1 of basic training! It is perfected throughout training! In a military movie, this should be the EASIEST thing to get right!
It seems to me, that if an actor or actress can spend weeks or months learning hundreds, if not thousands of lines of dialog for a movie, they can at least spend an afternoon or a day, practicing with the advisor (there is ALWAYS an advisor who is a Vet or SM) on the set until they get it right.
I know there are bigger, or more obvious problems with some military movies. Weapons or uniforms or lingo that is anachronistic to the time period of the battle on screen...but DAMMIT, getting the salute wrong in any time period just frosts my shorts!
Usually, it's a fail with what I call the, "I'm shading my eyes from the sun" salute. Your f'n hand doesn't belong on your forehead like you're trying to watch the right fielder shag the fly ball! It belongs where you were TAUGHT to place it!
I find myself commenting out loud to friends, while watching movies that jack this up...they don't seem to understand why it pisses me off so much.
What does it for you?
Saluting
Movies
Posted 11 y ago
Responses: 264
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So many of mine have already been covered, how about the kill shot from a pistol from an outrageous distance?
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When they say each individual letter of the acronym... The F. O. B. Endless ammo, uniforms. I know the uniform use is restricted, but when the collar is flipped up on the ACUs, it bugs me
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SGT Jeremiah B.
Uniform use actually isn't restricted. They make errors because the costume designers think it looks cooler and there's no one to tell them to get their crap together.
Why can't Hollywood get military uniforms right?
An urban legend is Hollywood can't accurately portray uniforms because doing so would be against the law.
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Everything on Army Wives. I want to smoke everyone on the show!
"No Col, you can't drive Humvee at 80 mph all over the base." "Oh! It is an emergency! This is the 30th time this week, you ever thought about getting your shit together so these, emergencies stop?"
"Oh and fix your cover mushroom head! Now get on your face!"
They could hire a PV1 from the National Guard to advise and get somewhat realistic.
Now the answer everyone wants to know. My girlfriend watches it and I can't get off the couch fast enough.
"No Col, you can't drive Humvee at 80 mph all over the base." "Oh! It is an emergency! This is the 30th time this week, you ever thought about getting your shit together so these, emergencies stop?"
"Oh and fix your cover mushroom head! Now get on your face!"
They could hire a PV1 from the National Guard to advise and get somewhat realistic.
Now the answer everyone wants to know. My girlfriend watches it and I can't get off the couch fast enough.
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I generally cringe at inaccuracies in movies but I can't STAND it when it seems like they didn't even try to get it right. You can tell when they tried to be up to speed on everything from weapons to tactics to uniforms but some movies it feels like they didn't even have an adviser on set to tell them to fix themselves!
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This may seem minor but...
In "Good Morning, Vietnam", Robin Williams is playing regular, commercial records. If they wanted to be true-to-life, they would have used real, official AFRTS discs.
In "Good Morning, Vietnam", Robin Williams is playing regular, commercial records. If they wanted to be true-to-life, they would have used real, official AFRTS discs.
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SN (Join to see)
How about in the same film he keeps getting saluted and called sir by Garlic? At one point Garlic is called on it because Adrian Cronhower was an Airman - not an officer.
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I use to enjoy the show "JAG", but they always seem to represent enlisted as idiots. The same can be said for crimson tide, battleship, last resort, and last ship. One of the best representation of actual enlisted officer relationships would be Generation Kill.
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This may not be what you were looking for with your question but for me it's the "crazy veteran" character you often see. They're always one loud noise away from flying off the handle and shooting people. It just perpetuates the myth in society that veterans are victims (some absolutely are) to be pitied for having been overseas.
Example: The retired Marine in True Blood. He's the only major character representing the military and he's crazy.
Example: The retired Marine in True Blood. He's the only major character representing the military and he's crazy.
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SGT Michael Glenn
realistic actions or moves, if I hit you in the head with say a shovel, you are going down and will stay down, not roll on the ground and come up not dazed and still swinging. also unlimited ammo. Uniforms being raped, watching a PVT with more awards than a pentagon Officer is ridiculous! and last but not least (for me) is the amount of lead that flies at our (hero) and doesnt hit, but yet every single shot he/she makes hits its target. Gotta love Hollywood !!!!
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SGT (Join to see)
That's exactly the reason I will never watch Non-Stop. The bad guy is portrayed as a former Soldier who served overseas and his PTSD drove him to be the terrorist.
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PO1 Robert Wikert
SGT Michael Glenn - Gotta agree especially your last comment, about how good a shot the hero always is. Except when it comes to the final gunfight and then all his skills disappear until the very last shot when he(or she)inevitably hits their target while flying through the air upside down and sideways, and without aiming.
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My biggest pet peeve extends beyond movies. Its the term fighter jets. I may be the only person who noticed that Wolf Blitzer coined the term during Desert Storm. Prior to that they were: Fighters or Fighter Planes. Is the P-51 a Fighter Prop? Is the B-2 a Bomber Jet or C-13O a cargo prop? It sounds stupid. Its too bad because this ship has sailed. The term was adopted and now everyone uses it. I still believe I’m the only one who realized that dirt bag Blitzer coined it. I had a friend who carried Wolf in his USMC CH-46. He says Blitzer refused to wear a cranial. The Crew Chief said it was a regulation. Blitzer threatened him and said, “Do you know who I am!” He didn’t want his comb over messed up. Tool.
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