forrest tucker: 3 cool scenes/takes
always have admired forrest tucker's acting in this movie
i mean he came across pretty damn believable as a hardcore gyrene
three scenes in particular just single line deliveries but theyve
stayed in my movie memory since the first time i saw this thing wayyyy
many years ago now
first the tarawa beach landing scene pfc thomas (tucker) and another
marine are pinned down behind a retaining wall of coconut tree trunks
under frightening fire (is there any other kind?)
the other marine starts to panic and get up but thomas grabs him by the arm
and says the line 'take it easy ... this is a nice place'
ha this line of dialogue has always stuck in my head and comes to mind
whenever i myself start to go panic mode as almost my own 'cool it a minute'
calming device
the second line is the scene thomas has left his mates to get some rifle reloads
and spots some mortar guys who've brewed up some fresh coffee
tucker's 'ah ...fresh joe' comment again always stayed in my brain and
to this day i refer to coffee as 'joe'
and enjoy saying 'ah ... fresh joe'
the third last - and best - line is from the scene at the grenade range
where the marine on the firing line mishandles the 'pineapple' and it rolls down
the hill right beside a daydreaming john agar sorry forget his character's name right now
who's dreamily rereading his newlywed's letter to him
stryker sees it and yells bloody murder the squad 'hits the dirt' but
agar off in the clouds somewhere is oblivious stryker takes him out like
an oncharging defensive end with a clear shot at the qb
then proceeds to tell the agar character to - in effect - remove his noggin
from his rectum if he wants it to remain attached to his shoulders for
the forseeable future
the squad regroups and walks away (stryker w/ a shoulder blade shrapnel wound
for his trouble)
sorry long build up to tucker's (pfc thomas') memorable line
thomas stops beside agar and says disgustedly : 'you may not
notice it but you just had your life saved'
man a killer line read that one
and this of course only reinforced by the thomas/stryker backstory their
head-to-head over past differences but now stryker's leadership and courage
has set that bs aside for what it is minor-league compared to life&death
as all - thomas stryker and the agar character - have just witnessed again
thomas has 'gotten with the program' so to speak not out of any
indoctrination @#$%
but because stryker has earned his - thomas' - respect
and he - thomas again - is going to willingly and willfully back his
sgt up as he does so memorably here w/ agar who has to this time been
thomas' ally against stryker's 'super marine' persona
just some really top notch acting by a guy forrest tucker i always thought would go on
to more success in the movies but not so much it seems
well anyways just wanted to type some props for an acting job well done
t/y for reading to here if you have ...