Why on earth


do Marines go to the trouble of black face, camouflage, silencers, etc and then let Mitchum tromp through the jungle in a red baseball cap?

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It is a very good question, and yet the reality may be surprising.

There is of course zero reason to let someone wear a red cap. What is interesting though is what that cap will do in shadows or low light conditions.

Shadows are made of blue light. You learn this sort of thing in college photography classes. Blue light is at the opposite end of the spectrum from red, red being longer waves and blue, shorter. There is very little red light in shadows or dusk/dawn/night.

Now the other part of the equation is the red cap. Why is it red? It's red because the cloth absorbs all light waves except red, which it reflects, and we see. Now, if a red cap is in an area where there is only blue light, there is no red to reflect, and the cap will look black.

You can see this for yourself at home. get a red object, such as a shirt. blanket, pillow, or even a hat ant take it into your bedroom. Observe it when things get very very dark, at dusk or very early dawn, just enough light to barely see. The item will look dead black.



The thorn defends the rose, yet it is peaceful and does not seek conflict.

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Well I can't be for sure(i don't know if Marine airdales wore red caps back then) but he was an airdale and a last minute replacement RTO. Remember he wasn't infantry and had zero combat experience. But still he should have known to get rid of that RED hat,lol



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I will take your word on that, seems reasonable. But they tramped through the jungle in daylight as well when it would have been highly visible.

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"and then let Mitchum tromp through the jungle in a red baseball cap"

I thought the same thing...red ball cap, camo shirt unbuttoned to the navel, and khaki pants. All that was missing was the oversized clown shoes and bulbous nose.

The only reason I could think of for his outfit was so he would purposefully stick out to viewers of the film.

*** Spoiler alert *****

Frankly, I thought his character was pretty annoying so you can imagine how I felt by the end of the film given he was the only one to survive.

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RE: "Frankly, I thought his character was pretty annoying so you can imagine how I felt by the end of the film given he was the only one to survive."

Give him a break. As Mickey Rooney's character pointed out: "Six months ago he was stocking shoes."

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He was Robert Mitchum's son, so he was probably stoned. The hat camouflaged with his eyes.

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