MovieChat Forums > The Pacific (2010) Discussion > You Should Read Leckie's Book

You Should Read Leckie's Book

posted 8 years ago by FModerators
5 replies | jump to latest

For some reason they gave his story a very noble slant. The guy was basically a pain in the a$$ who seemed to go out of his way to be a f'up. Not even his time in Australia was accurate. There was nothing noble about his relationship with that girl. He was banging everything he could get his hands on and she was married. I haven't read Sledge's book yet, but I already know that it was not a heart murmur that kept him from joining, but instead it was his family's desire to see him go in as an officer and doing so in a way that would have allowed him to basically skip the entire war like a newly appointed West Point recruit.

[–] yusomad 8 years ago

I don't think Leckie is portrayed as being saintly or noble at all. He is portrayed as somewhat of a snarky guy, talking back to superiors on more than one occasion. He gets reassigned for his behavior. He offers the doctor in the mental clinic a bribe.

His relationship with the woman in Australia is a fabrication, but this is a television drama and if you want historical accuracy to the letter stick to the books and documentaries.

[–] FModerators 8 years ago

but this is a television drama and if you want historical accuracy to the letter stick to the books and documentaries.

I'm sorry, but this series does not need to change any of the story to create drama. What they showed of Leckie's disdain for officers and following orders was nothing compared to the truth. The series actually made it look like he had legitimate reasons for all his insubordination, but that's not true. The guy went out of his way to be a F up. He was the kind of guy who wouldn't care if he got a decent officer/NCO in trouble. The show could and should have kept it accurate, but I think they wanted his character to be heroic with only minor flaws. They really whitewashed what happened to Chuckler after the guard duty incident. That guy had to go to trial for what Leckie did. Leckie had no problem F'ing his buddy over big time because he was pissed at an officer. The same can be said about Sledge. Sledge could have joined the Marines immediately, but his family wanted him to only go in as an officer and the path choosen for him would have resulted in him missing the entire war. I'll give the guy credit because even though he initially went with the plan he eventually purposely failed out so he could serve. I don't see why this series needed to create an imaginary heart condition.

[–] yusomad 8 years ago

I'll admit I have not read the books. I will say that Leckie provided ostensibly engaging source material with which to frame part of the narrative of the miniseries and you can't write Leckie out of his own story--so the next logical step would be to simply soften his character if he was really as bad as you described. Again, it's a television drama. Leckie as you've described him wouldn't make for a very sympathetic protagonist on television.

As another example of softening things for TV (on Band of Brothers): according to the real Bill Guarnere, the sergeants did not just sign a resignation paper in reaction to Sobel. They actually cut off their stripes and threw them at him. Maybe exaggerated, we'll probably never know, but if that account is true, then BoB changed the narrative to make the characters appear more "noble".

That's interesting about Sledge. My guess is that they changed that due to time and budget considerations? Filming a whole sequence about Sledge in OCS and failing out so he could serve would have been longer and more involved than simply going with the heart murmur story.

[–] sfcwo2 7 years ago

The thing to remember is Spielberg and historical accuracy never go hand-in-hand. He's made a mockery of every "historical" story he's told. Not even Schindler's List was spared.

[–] FModerators 7 years ago

The thing to remember is Spielberg and historical accuracy never go hand-in-hand. He's made a mockery of every "historical" story he's told. Not even Schindler's List was spared.

I don't know who specifically is responsible for purposely presenting Leckie as someone he most certainly wasn't but reading his book diminishes this series. They even made his stint for enuresis more noble than it was. The guy purposely got himself sent to that island hospital and no he did not bribe the doctor so he could join his buddies. He never wanted to leave and in fact he was actually hoping they would send him home. The gun wasn't even his. The story of the gun and the officer who supposedly stole it was that of a different Marine. The reason Leckie had the gun was because the guy who stole it back asked Leckie to hide it for him. Clearly they felt that Leckie's true self was bad for the series so they pretty much put lipstick on a pig.

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