Jim Backus

From playing General Curtis LeMay to Thurston Howell III on Gilligans Island in less than 10 short years !!

** I can not understand the lack of comments/discussion of this film on
this board.Such a momentous occasion world history - depicted as it went down and there is more commentary on the 'Star Wars' pages !! I know this site is more for discussing film than subject matter but dang, no comment on how well the actors played their respective parts in a film about people with the weight of the world on their shoulders ???? It struck me for the 1st time tonight, after watching on TMC, that the weather forecast literally decided in which city 80,000 people would be instantly vaporized ! Cloud cover ? You lived to see another day. Sunny, blue skies - what most of us relate to as a 'beautiful day' and this 'news' (forecast) was the deciding factor ! No one knew which of 4 cities was going to be the recipient until minutes before - like watching a roulette wheel spin to its final revolution. "The bomb" has been around now for over 60 years and yet it has been used only 'once' (yes, 2, but both part of one war strategy only days apart, same war). As Todd Beemer and company realized after hearing of the 2 jets hitting the World Trade Center and 1 at The Pentagon, it must have occurred to someone in Japan that the weather would decide where the next attack (should there be one) would most likely occur. I wonder how many walking the streets of Nagasaki had the thought but didn't act on it ? It was obvious that the 1st target was initially decided on because of its (the city) industrial base. So, if you lived/worked in another Japanese city of same industry and your forecast was 'Sunny' for the next week or so while others were experiencing rain/clouds (as the other targets were during the 1st bombing) you could conclude that if there was to be another, it would be your home town ! I don't know how many cities were industrialized in Japan during the 40's but there were at least 4 (the original 4 targets). I'd like to think this would have occurred to me had I lived there at the time and I would have gotten my butt on a donkey if need be and off to the countryside ! I'm not criticizing anyone here - just that the thought hit me while watching and I was reminded of 9/11 and how the passengers on the 4th plane reacted once they realized the M.O.
The other thought that hit me - 'the bomb', used once, solely by the USA and never again (to date). 60 years or so ago. In the scheme of things 60 years ain't very long. Odds-wise, the USA being the only country to ever use the bomb.... hmmmm.... see where I'm going with this ??? It wasn't 'a fluke'. Other countries have their own, still others have the technology. Theres lots of hate in this world - greed and possibly the lack of natural resources needed to sustain a countries soverinty, pride, insanity individually (like Hitler/Stalin)
or collectively (pick a fundy group) and the odds are its going to happen again.

What really struck me about this couples story (The Tibbets') was he had to be prepared to sacrifice his family for this mission. Family suicide - but no gun to his head. He asked 'how much more can they expect from me ?' and he just got a long, silent stare in return to his question from the other officer (forgot his name !). I took the stare to mean 'You ? Your wife and kids ? How many guys are off in the jungles right now dying for the same cause, some blown to bits, some bleeding to death from wounds, others held captive and suffering torture
at the hands of the enemy.... and you want to know 'how much can they ask from YOU ? No more than is being asked of those poor slobs risking their lives for the same objective'. With the objective of this mission it was hoped that more men would be spared this same fate. His reaction to the long stare was to buck up and do his part. There were no more words exchanged between the 2 officers other than Tibbits saying something to the effect of 'Right, I better get back to work'.
How about the crew of the 'Enola Gay' that had know idea what their mission was until shortly before detonation ? Imagine your 6 miles in the air over the ocean and you are told ou are about to participate in the incinerating of who knows how many people ? And they really didn't know - tens of thousands or millions, the outcome was a guess. How would that 'hit you' ? And to realize you have no choice in the matter but to participate ? If you were dead against it, I suppose you could take your life prior to the attack. There were people that had various degrees of participation in the 'Manhattan Project' that were never 'right' in the head again after the bombings.
I have no qualms about the bombing(s). Japan or Germany would have got us first if they beat us to the punch - and Japan was feverishly working on just this. Anyhow, no use in me talking to myself here - I'm not paying much attention to spelling, grammar or organizing my thoughts here other than to put some of this out there and see if anyone is interested in talking about their experience/thoughts while watching this movie - I have the feeling though this is going nowhere so I'm just going to hit 'Post Reply" LOL !! To those that subscribe to the old saying "better to keep ones mouth shut and let others wonder if you're a fool than to open ones mouth and erase all doubt' I say Hey !
This is antonymous, we will never meet (or at least if we do, we will not know it !) so what the hell....life is short and I can always come back and delete the post, no ???

I never thought of Jim Backus as the "Gen. Lemay" type but he does kind of look like him in this movie. I usually think of Jim Backus as the drunk pilot in "It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World".

Quite a jump from Curtis Lemay to James Dean's wimpy dad in "Rebel Without A Cause" just 2 1/2 years later.

"Don't worry Dutch, Espy's going to tell her."