MovieChat Forums > Ears, Open. Eyeballs, Click. (2005) Discussion > Forgettable

Forgettable

posted 18 years ago by ostojwl
17 replies | jump to latest

With an open ticket to film recruit training and display it without narration, bias, or interruption I'm amazed that Brumley couldn't have found more to present to the public than recruits cleaning for almost half of the film. I actually became quite pissed off a few times throughout the movie when the shot would just sit on some mundane detail for what seemed like minutes at a time. I don't care about the birds flying in unison over the platoon, show the actual platoon drilling. I don't want to watch the freaking guide and squad leaders spend 15 minutes trying to solve the mystery of the dirty pisser. I don't want to drop $25 on an movie to watch recruits CLEANING! Most of the footage in the movie is absolutely worthless and doesn't give you an idea of any of the TRAINING involved. How about showing MCMAP, classes, more drill, the pit, and the Crucible?! There are some parts that I enjoyed, however, they just don't make up for the rest of the movie.

[–] proffarm-1 18 years ago

umm cleaning is the one thing i remember doing the most while in bootcamp at mcrd. i always thought of bootcamp as the three months that got me prepared mentally and physically to become a Marine, not the place where i actually became one. and do they do the crucible anymore? it didnt look like it to me and in fact the way bootcamp was structured in the documentary was different than when i went thru it in 1998.

[–] razzy9578 18 years ago

From my understanding they do the crucible in the middle of training now. I think the only thing they showed of it in this movie was them hiking then going to the chow hall after with the war paint still on.

[–] becknelz 17 years ago

No, the Crucible is not in the middle now.

[–] warriors1124 17 years ago

I asked two of my buddies who got back from boot in the last two months when they did the crucible and they said that they did it in the second month not at the end. I'm guessing the end of the second phase but i didn't ask them specifically which one.

"I need you to make me ugly."

[–] klyncutie 17 years ago

THE CRUCIBLE IS IN THE MIDDLE OF TRAINING AT THE RECRUIT DEPOT IN SAN DIEGO. AT THE REAL RECRUIT DEPOT IN PARRIS ISLAND ITS AT THE END OF TRAINING. AT PARRIS ISLAND U DONT GET YOUR WARRIOR BREAKFAST UNTIL THE END OF ALL TRAINING AT BOOT CAMP. U MUST COMPLETE ALL TASKS AND TRAINING TO HAVE THE WARRIORS BREAKFAST AND RECEIVE THE EAGLE, GLOBE, AND ANCHOR. BUT THATS HOW THEY DO IT OUT WEST. HOLLYWOOD MARINES ARE EXACTLY THAT, HOLLYWOOD. PARRIS ISLAND IS WHERE REAL MARINES ARE MADE. EAST COAST MARINES HAVE IT MUCH HARDER DUE TO GOING THROUGH RECRUIT TRAINING AT PARRIS ISLAND. ITS KNOWN THROUGHOUT THE CORPS THAT PARRIS ISLAND IS NO JOKE AND MCRD SAN DIEGO IS NOTHING COMPARED TO PI. SEMPER FI.

[–] usmarine36 17 years ago

from what I heard they are no hills in PI.

[–] kdimmick 16 years ago

from what I heard they are no hills in PI.

No hills,just swamps.

[–] dambeh 17 years ago

Marines have the hard task of not truly being able to convey what it's really like in Marine Corps bootcamp, especially to civilians or members of other services who casually downplay what we've been through. Especially, as a combat veteran, is it ever so difficult to let others into the hearts and minds of those who served overseas in combat. Basically, nobody will ever know what it's like to be a Marine or combat veteran until they experience it themselves. It is also my understanding, from my own experience, that no matter how good the drill instructors, venue (be it Diego or PI), although our Corps is among the best in the world, there are also those who have proven to be completely inefficient. Some refer to them as *beep*

So, in understanding this, we should see that there is no way in hell anyone would know what it's like to have gone through bootcamp in San Diego unless they've been there, and also that we should not open our mouths unless it is proven that we are knowledgeable about the likes in the first place.

This *beep* about which side is better than which is utter nonsense. I don't recall bickering about this in Iraq. Only boots fight about this crap. Love to the Corps.

Cpl. Jacob Park
USMC
Semper Fi

[–] gilardes 17 years ago

"Real Marines", Thats funny. I was in MCRD San Diego back in 1995. I remember there were some Drill Instuctors in training in our platoon, there just to observe. When they came in the Sr. DI said these guys are from Parris Island, "Who do they train in Parris Island?" we all replied "Girls Sir". You should've seen their faces. Because Parris Island is where the women go to train also if you didn't know. But there is a friendly rivalry between the two training depots. When it all comes we are Marines no matter where we trained. Semper Fi!!

[–] J-D-Jones 17 years ago

You are wrong. The crucible is at the end of the 2nd phase. PI and San Diego follow the same training schedule, and have the same amount of T-days.

[–] fallujah-oh 16 years ago

MCRDSD moved the Crucible to 11th week recently.

[–] dhotter1775 18 years ago

First off I just want to try and explain (to the best of my knowledge) why the movie (which is a form of documentary and not an entire chronicling or a "How-To Guide" of basic Marine Corps training) had ended up not including certain things as such. It's only a movie and that's as much as it should be.

After living overseas in my current billet in the Marine Corps I've come to understand the power of American Movies on the rest of the world and the importance of information security. Especially when it comes to government and military issues. The whole world knows that Marine Corps boot camp is one of the toughest if not the toughest there is. That doesn't mean that the masses need to see every single bit of this training in cinematic form.

If someone really wants to see all of what USMC boot camp is all about and everything that it entails then go join up and find out for yourself. If that's not something you think you could handle then why not go and see if the Marine Corps will let you film a documentary of USMC Boot Camp in your own version. Go and see what you can do. Always try to remember, before you ever start complaining about something just try and do whatever it is that you're complaining about on your own accounts and maybe you'll find out why things happen or come out the way that they do. Thanks! Semper Fi.

P.S.
We said "Ears, Open! Eyes, Snap!" when I went through Parris Island but we should know that every single platoon, company and training depot is different in its own respects and the only thing that truly matters is the method of the training and not the exact words that are used that make the difference.

Cpl D. J. Hotter
Marine Security Guard
United States Marine Corps

[–] maranan 18 years ago

Kill!! well said Devil..I dont think i need to add anymore to your post.

SSgt Maranan J.B.
HOLLYWOOD!!!!

DRILL INSTRUCTOR 01-04
CHARLIE COMPANY

[–] brian-postal 17 years ago

A little more of the crucible would have been nice instead of showing us backing to go back down south as I belive that the crucible was some of the best times I had there. All in all though, a good flick.
(Formerly)
Cpl Pociengel
Plt 1041 C Co

[–] soldaten116 16 years ago

All this talk of "the Crucible" - my time has long gone. I graduated Boot on April 27, 1990. We had no "Crucible", only the Grim Reaper and Edson Range. Only later on in SOI did I get to meet Mount Mother Fu*ker. I went through Boot with Ivan and the end of the Cold War. We practiced out NBC warfare with the emphasis on the N. The B and C were a given.

I am a Hollywood Marine and proud of it. Being born in Charleston, SC (I moved to WI when I was 14, don't ask) I give props to my USMC brothers forged in SC. That couldn't have been easy but San Diego and camp Pendleton had their own challenges, I assure you. For me, when I left the USMC in 1997 and still working with Marines today - I could not tell the difference. I still can't. They are all equally hard - equally motivated. Thank God the Marine Corps has not compromised it standards. America sleeps with the knowledge that a few good Marines hold the eternal line between the light and the darkness.

Cpl Markwald (the former)
2/7 Fox
0311

FYI - I had lived and worked in Africa for the last two years.

[–] OCOKA 14 years ago

the public than recruits cleaning for almost half of the film.

People who have never gone through basic training have an unrealistic expectation that's it's going to be really exciting and action packed. Nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is a typical three month cycle, you'll be spending about 2/3 of your waking hours doing the most monotonous and mundane things, whether it be standing in line, waiting, cleaning something, doing maintenance, polishing, cleaning more stuff, doing various details, pulling some kind of really boring duty, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning etc. (By the time you graduate, you're not as much a 'killing machine' as a real 'cleaning machine'. Brumley, quite honestly by devoting so much of his footage to this reality of basic training, really hit the nail on the head by capturing the mundane existence and the monotony of recruit training, which consumes the largest portion of a typical recruit's day-to-day. Word to the wise: If you can't stand watching it on a DVD, you'll hate doing it even more.

[–] kdimmick 13 years ago

cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning etc.

Yep....and what they did not show was how sometimes after that whole big detailed field day that they did, a LOT of times you get to do it ALL over again if the most tiny,insignificant little thing is found by the DI's when they inspect what the plt has just done.

Hell, I can remember how on Sundays at Parris Island we would sometimes do a COMPLTE Field day like the showed in the film 2 and sometimes 3 times right in a row.
It just depended on how much the Di's wanted to FV<K with you on that particular day.