When I see movies with actors carrying bags or suitcases or whatever and they seem COMPLETELY WEIGHTLESS it kind of bugs me. At least put a couple of bricks in them.
So for my nitpick.
When Reese (McQueen) throws the seabag/gunny sack/ whatever it's called it's like filled with tissue paper. Or newspaper. Whatever.
When I had to carry one, it about broke my back. And I was young.
Guess it has to do with how far you had to carry it.
Still one of my favorite WW2 movies.
One of my nitpicks has to deal with the waist ammo belts. Most of the time the belts are empty, and you can tell by appearance. Would it be too much to stuff some paper in the pouch to fill it out just a bit?
shareThat one I will have to disagree on, OC.
The only time you loaded up with ammo when was right before you went into combat. Or were in a combat "zone".
knowing mcqueen, he liked realism so he probably wanted to fill the bag...but i think ur right and he didnt have the bag full...
"I wish you was a wishin' well. So I could tie a bucket to ya' and sink ya'."
That is REALLY nit-pickin'. Jeez! My only nit-pick was the movie was too short. Could have used about another 45 minutes of character/comedy/combat.
The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get!
tomcat
You are probably right. It is nitpicking.
It's just an opinion, and you must know what those are worth.
As to OC, just to clarify.
You ALWAYS have your weapon with you.
Leaving it behind whether or not you are just going to chow or take a dump is a court-martial offense.
And no, you usually didn't carry ammo with you.
And a full seabag weighed about 70-100 pounds.
Most of us weighed about 150 pounds.
You do the math.
Not to detract from the movie, however.
It was, indeed, too short.
And, on second thought, that could be why it is so powerful.
I dunno.
Route 661,...you're right, it's power comes partially from the fact it is too short of a movie,....but WOW,....I saw it at the age 7 in 1962, and it terrified me. I guess mainly because it showed War more realistically than any other movie I had seen up to that time, and except for the graphic beginning of Saving Pvt. Ryan still to this day is unnerving in that aspect. I may just watch it again tonight. There is something very powerful in Steve McQueen's performance. He appear's as a fella' most of us wouldn't get along with under normal circumstances but is tough as nails when it comes to Combat. There is a scene in Hell Is For Heroes that predates a scene in SPRyan by decades and is more powerful. The scene where Reese/McQueen throws his helmet at the Nazi, then 'slicing' him up with a butcher knife. Tom Sizemore does this in SPRyan,
albeit minus the knife bit. Rock On!
The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get!
The scene where the mine goes off and it shows the guy with his glasses broken - that scared the *beep* out of me when I was a kid. Odd how broken glasses can convey more horror than pictures of wounds and such
shareWasn’t McQueen’s character just back from a court-martial and lost his stripes?
If so, when you are in custody, they take away all of your military possessions; ie; uniforms, web gear, ammo belts until the verdict is in, if found not guilty, everything is returned to you after you leave the stockade. If I remember correctly, McQueen was a Sgt busted down to Private, if that was the case, due to the circumstances of war, he’d be issued a partial set of gear and be sent up to the front lines as it appears in this movie, so the duffle bag could have been in fact that light, and the rest of his ‘issue’ would have caught up with him sooner or later.
Also, when patrols were sent out, they were usually told to leave most of their gear at the staging point, so as not to weigh them down, holding up the rest of the patrol.
I know a full duffle bag/seabag is heavy, I had to carry the son of a bitch everywhere at double time in basic training.
You were lucky, you weighed 150 pounds, I weighed 117 pounds when I went into the Army, at 5'9" inches tall, that’s pretty skinny...LOL
This is just my thoughts on your complaint.
trivfan
Wasn't a complaint.
Just an observation.
You're right, McQueen (as Reese) got busted.
I dunno about the rest.