The History Channel Presents Last Stand of the 300 - The Legendary Battle at Thermopylae

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The History Channel Presents Last Stand of the 300 - The Legendary Battle at Thermopylae

The History Channel Presents Last Stand of the 300 - The Legendary Battle at Thermopylae

Too commercially oriented

300 spartans, history, true story

Well Done Documentary

The History Channel Presents Last Stand of the 300 - The Legendary Battle at Thermopylae
Starring: Daniel R. Wolfe , J.B. Gardiner , Anton Burman , Orion Barnes , and Kenny Kilfara
Director: David Padrusch
Manufacturer: A&E Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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300 (Two-Disc Special Edition)

The 300 Spartans

Decisive Battles of the Ancient World (History Channel)

300 (Widescreen Edition)

Mel Gibson's Apocalypto (Widescreen Edition)

ASIN: B000OIOPPE
Release Date: 2007-07-31

Product Description

The legendary battle of Thermopylae is still acknowledged today for its brilliant military maneuvers and the well-trained and fearless soldiers who fought to the death. THE HISTORY CHANNEL® presents a detailed account of this legendary battle examinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DOCUMENTARIES/MISC. Rating: NR UPC: 733961772111 Manufacturer No: AAE-77211

Amazon.com

Last Stand of the 300 is an interesting 90-minute documentary from the History Channel explaining the details of the ancient Spartans' showdown with the Persian army at the battle of Thermopylae. It's long been a fascinating subject, but it hit popular culture in a big way with the 2007 feature film 300, based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller. Last Stand of the 300 helps explain the background behind the battle as well as many of the details not covered in the movie, including how the Ionian Revolt and the famed battle of Marathon led to Themopylae, the naval front led by Thermistocles, and what happened afterward. Numerous scholars and authors (including the writers of Gates of Fire and Empires at War) explain the rigorous Spartan training, military strategy, the Oracle at Delphi, the Persian technological advantage, different kinds of weaponry and vessels (the Spartan hoplon, dory, and xiphos, and the trireme), and how one of Miller's famous lines came from Herodotus ("Then we shall have our battle in the shade"). The maps are extremely helpful for showing how the geography affected the battle (one detour would have cost the Persians an extra two years of travel time), but the reenactments look kind of simple compared to the extremely stylized feature film. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews:

The History Channel Presents Last Stand of the 300 - The Legendary Battle at Thermopylae.......2007-09-09

Excellent resource for teachers and amateur historians - the real facts behind the theatrical release "300."

The acting is stiff and the narration is stilted, but it is a fascinating bit of history and a must-have companion to the film.

The History Channel Presents Last Stand of the 300 - The Legendary Battle at Thermopylae.......2007-09-06

Outstanding reference DVD and a great addition to any library about Ancient Warfare, weapons and tactics.

Too commercially oriented.......2007-08-27

Not completely worthless, it has more information that one would expect from a purely commercial and teenage oriented product. The few commentators give their views in typically bombastic words, but focus too much on the fighting itself. No time is dedicated too explain the historical context, the societies involved in this clash of civilizations. What was at stake? What were the choices? What were their cultures like? A lot is missing, the most important. They convey the importance of these 3 consecutive battles (Thermopylae, Salamis and Platea) but don't explain why they were so.

Still, if this if for your kids, it might still be worth watching as its better than nothing; I believe there's another documentary out there about the same and even worse.

Another lack was the real scenery and, instead, having to imagine or recreate the scenes with video-gaming technology; even the maps had a computer design touch. Awful presentation. One real view of today's landscape where the battle was fought would have been much appreciated. The History Channel should be history. Read a book.

300 spartans, history, true story.......2007-08-24

well done, an excellent look into the past at the greatest battle in the Western world.

Well Done Documentary.......2007-08-15

The History Channel did a great job in retelling the story of the 300. It brought in perspectives that you wont see in the screen version. The special effects are great. Its shows what leads up to and the aftermath of this historic battle and what it meant to us now. I would watch this before seeing the movie "300" because it will give you background and insight that will help you better understand the battle and the legend that surrounds it .

The World at War (30th Anniversary Edition)

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5 Stars Of Course! But.......Some Faults You Have to Admit!!!!!!
The Gold Standard for Documentaries
Volume problem on the World at War
Has Some Big Flaws...but still the best documentary on WW2
totally truncated don't BUY!

The World at War (30th Anniversary Edition)
Starring: Laurence Olivier , Sir Max Aitken , Vannevar Bush , Christabel Bielenberg , and Edward Butler (II)
Director: John Pett , David Elstein , and Hugh Raggett
Manufacturer: A&E Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0002F6AH0
Release Date: 2004-08-24

Amazon.com essential video

Sir Jeremy Isaacs highly deserves the numerous awards for documentaries he has earned: the Royal Television Society's Desmond Davis Award, l'Ordre National du Mérit, an Emmy, and a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II. His epic The World at War remains unsurpassed as the definitive visual history of World War II.

The Second World War was different from other wars in thousands of ways, one of which was the unparalleled scope of visual documents kept by the Axis and Allies of all their activities. As a result, this war is understood as much through written histories as it is through its powerful images. The Nazis were particularly thorough in documenting even the most abhorrent of the atrocities they were committing--in a surprising amount of color footage. The World at War was one of the first television documentaries that exploited these resources so completely, giving viewers an unbelievable visual guide to the greatest event in the 20th century. This is to say nothing of the excellent, comprehensible narrative. Some highlights:

A New Germany 1933-39: early German and Nazi documentation of Hitler's rise to power through the impending attack on Poland
Whirlwind: the early British losses in the blitz in the skies over Britain and in North Africa
Stalingrad: the turning point of the war and Germany's first defeat
Inside the Reich--Germany 1940-44: one of the most fascinating documentaries that exists on life inside Nazi Germany, from Lebensborn to the Hitler Youth
Morning: prior to Saving Private Ryan, one of the only unromanticized views of the Normandy invasion
Genocide: this film is one of the most widely shown introductions to the Holocaust
Japan 1941-45: although The World at War is decidedly focused more on the European theater, this is an important look into wartime Japan and its expansion--early 20th-century history that lead to Japan's role in World War II is superficial
The bomb: another widely shown documentary of the Manhattan Project, the Enola Gay, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki

The World at War will remain the definitive visual history of World War II, analogous to Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. No serious historian should be missing The World at War in a collection, and no student should leave school without having seen at least some of its salient episodes. Rarely is film so essential. --Erik J. Macki

Customer Reviews:

5 Stars Of Course! But.......Some Faults You Have to Admit!!!!!!.......2007-09-06

Before you touchy Brit's go hitting off on the "not helpful" button. The World At War is the BEST!!!! OK???? Ok now that I have said that, I am not going to reminisce about every episode, I watched the whole series in pieces on PBS during the 70's and 80's and later, and now on DVD (it's wonderful).
However, one must admit that it is heavily biased in the UK's view, and it's abhorrent that in a 30th anniversary edition, that there are no CLOSED CAPTIONS!!!!!! I think you Brit's take it too personal dislike that others cannot understand you but you must remember, there are many Americans, Germans, Poles, French, Asians, and many more speaking in English. Is that not enough to offer in a 30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION, plain old closed captioning??????? How about this one, are there no deaf people who live in the UK?????? Give me a break A&E. I can only understand about 75% of the narrative in this series (including our esteemed narrator!), I also am no back woods hick from America, I have traveled the world and have to focus to understand a lot of the narrative, it makes for good repeat viewing I guess but c'mon, other Americans may get less than half, honestly. If you want to call me lazy so be it but I want to be entertained and whats more important, I want to have my children draw an interest, I wonder if they will fully (?), not really understanding what is being said with the thick Cockney accents? OK its still great, I guess for the price you cant beat it since it's much lower now than 5 years ago, and I absolutely was riveted seeing Karl Doenitz (who I understood better than many of the Brits interviewed! Still the CC would have been nice.) interviewed; that footage along with all the other aides and Generals and Admirals and Minister's was priceless! The last of the BBC's glory days to me.

The Gold Standard for Documentaries.......2007-09-05

I watched most of these episodes on public TV 30 years ago, and many of the interviews and footage were still vivid in my mind. Watching again makes me appreciate the brilliant job done by all concerned.

The documentary was made at precisely the right time in history -- when the war was distant enough for some perspective, but not so distant that the witnesses were dead. This work is the gold standard for documentaries.

The opening and end of the series keys on a massacre in France done by retreating Germans who were themselves killed a few hours or days later. The footage of the wrecked town preserved as a monument and Olivier's narration are pure artistry.

Visually, the most unforgettable clips are from the air battles and bombing runs. Emotionally, I was most struck by interviews of German and Dutch citizens dealing with the guilt from being forced to collaborate on some level.

The Holocaust is dealt with in one episode, which is structured perfectly to start with the Nazi racial theories, leading to wrenching interviews with survivors, and ending with the most affecting clip of the whole series (bulldozing the dead at a concentration camp). The subject probably should have been done, however, in two or three episodes. The bonus DVDs correct this by including two large segments with more survivor interviews and incredible use of German propaganda footage.

An entire episode is devoted to the atomic bomb and is extraordinarily well done. It does tend toward favoring the European perspective that dropping the bomb was unnecessary, though it includes interviews making the contrary case. I tend to agree that the bomb did not have to be dropped. But the editors miss the point -- after 6 years of total war, the world was so brutalized that no one was going to hesitate to use any weapon that could conceivably advance the war to any measurable degree. The editors miss the point that it was only after the bomb was dropped that even people like Truman started having second thoughts about all the dead children -- and the world, over the years, started coming to terms with the reality of total war in the nuclear age.

Not enough time is devoted to the war in Russia, which was the most determinative of the war's outcome and where most of the people died.

A lot of the bonus material is just extra footage spliced in with what you've already seen in the previous episodes. But the Holocaust segment in the bonus material does add to and improve the overall work.

This is a classic that is worth the time and money.

Volume problem on the World at War.......2007-08-31

The series is still priceless. I had a real problem with the DCDs themselves - being able to hear all the commentary. Sometimes it was so low that I couldn't even hear it with my ear next to the TV speaker. It may have been a problem emmanating from the VCR, but I still don't know.

I finally was able to solve the problem by hooking up my Bose radio/CD player via AUX cables. Then I used the volume on the Bose. That solved the volume problem and I have been able to enjoy the set tremendously - and learn a lot too.

I noticed the same problem with other DVD's made from old (probably) VHS. When I put a new movie on the DVD player, such as the Harry Potter movies on DVD, the sound is perfect. I think the problem lies with the old programs that are redone onto DVD.

Has Some Big Flaws...but still the best documentary on WW2.......2007-07-17

Jeremy Issacs has won all sorts of recognition for this series, and all the plaudits are well deserved. This is by far the most compelling work on World War Two and is well worth adding to your collection. Sir Laurence Olivier's narration coupled with archival footage and crude (remember it's the 1970's) but effective graphics make this a great primer on the most destructive war in history.

While the overall series is excellent, some notable highlights include:

* The opening three minutes of episode one, an incredible piece of filmmaking.
* 'France Falls' does an excellent job of showing how France was beaten long before the first shot was fired.
* 'Banzai: Japan Strikes' does an exceptioanlly good job of explaining why Japan took increasingly agressive action in Asisa throughout the 30s. Plus offers excellent insight into what Japan hoped to accomplsih with its attack on Pearl Harbor.
* 'Stalingrad' captures the brutality of the most brutal battle of WWII
* 'Whirlwind' explains how military leaders struggled to understand the application of an entirely new way of war, strategic bombing.
* 'Nemisis' brilliantly catalogues the final days of the Thousand Year Reich.

Some puzzling weaknesses are:

* The overall British point of view. Issacs produced this for an English television audience. I believe if Issacs knew beforehand the worldwide audience he would eventually reach, he would have made a more balanced series giving the Americans more due.
* The episode 'It's A Lovely Day Tomorrow: Burma'. There is no reason to devote a whole episode to a side-show of the war.
* Overall sketchy coverage of the Pacific war. Burma gets a full hour, but the battle of Midway gets 10 minutes. Guadalcanal gets less than that.
* 'Wolfpack' tries to explain submarine warfare, but once again leaves out action in the Pacific where submarines played an even bigger part than in the Atlantic.

I've watched these episodes multiple times. Even with some of the weaknesses, it's always compelling veiwing. A true monumnet to documentary filmaking!

totally truncated don't BUY!.......2007-07-16

While I enjoy the series,buyer beware this NOT a faithful reproduction.
Case in point the invasion of poland.That was a whole episode,and quite frankly it set the tone for the whole series of battles that followed,it totally truncated the conquest of poland.By my estimation about 20 minutes!.A truly great episode.I have not reached the the phony war episode yet....but if i don't get the song....."le boomb.etc" just before the germans attack this babby's goes back to COSTCO!

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tom selleck rides again
Last Stand at Saber River
Last Stand at Saber River
The first of Tom Selleck's excellent TNT Westerns
Well I'll Bow!....

Last Stand at Saber River
Starring: Tom Selleck , Suzy Amis , Rachel Duncan , Haley Joel Osment , and Keith Carradine
Director: Dick Lowry
Manufacturer: Turner Home Ent
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0007OY2OE
Release Date: 2005-05-17

Amazon.com

Tom Selleck shows a harder side of his persona as a disillusioned Confederate who returns home in the waning days of the Civil War in this adaptation of the Elmore Leonard novel. His wife, Suzy Amis, isn't ready to forgive him for leaving his family behind for the "adventure" of war, and his children hardly remember him. Haunted by his actions in the war and caught in a power struggle in the Arizona territory, Selleck's soul-scarred survivor makes a last stand to protect the only thing left that matters to him--his homestead and his family. The film has its share of gunfights, showdowns, conspiracies, and Civil War rivalries, and even a runaway stagecoach, but its power lies in the somber exploration of how misunderstandings and conflicts tear at a marriage during such a volatile time, when ideals are set against duty to family. Director Dick Lowry's lean style makes the most of the gorgeous landscapes, and he creates a strong dramatic tension in the bubbling undercurrent between Selleck, who leaves behind the jovial character of his Louis L'Amour Westerns for a man hardened and embittered by war, and Amis, an excellent actress who brings to life a woman who shoots, speaks her mind, and harbors resentment just as well as any brooding male hero. Keith and David Carradine costar as Union wranglers who hold a grudge against the Confederate veteran. One of the most mature TV Westerns ever made. --Sean Axmaker

Description

Tom Selleck rides into Western adventure in grand, gritty style as Paul Cable in Last Stand at Saber River, from the novel by Elmore Leonard (Get Shorty, Out of Sight Customer Reviews:

tom selleck rides again.......2007-06-19

my husband a big western lover really liked this film. in typical tom selleck fashion he leaves the civil war after witnessing a massacar of innocents. the resulting story will please ater fans.

Last Stand at Saber River.......2007-05-12

It is an outstanding movie. It goes back to what we grew up with. A hero who is fighting against odds, but wins out in the end. Tom Selleck and Sam Elliott are the top western "story tellers" of our time. You can tell they love it.

Last Stand at Saber River.......2007-02-14

The movie was excellent and is typical of a Tom Selleck Western. It's to bad he is type-cast as Magnum PI, because he is a great portrayer of the Westerns and I would love to see him star in more of them.

The first of Tom Selleck's excellent TNT Westerns.......2006-11-04

"Last Stand at Saber River" was the first of three excellent Westerns that Tom Selleck made for TNT between 1997 and 2003 (and I'm still hoping there'll be at least a fourth one some day). Selleck has starred in five made-for-TV Westerns total, three of which are based on Louis L'Amour stories. This one, however, is based on a book by Elmore Leonard, and the difference is obvious in both the lack of idealism and in the extreme violence.

Selleck is Paul Cable, a Confederate cavalryman who has come home from the Civil War (only slightly) early. He knows the war is lost for the South, he is worn out, and he only wants to take his family back to their homestead in Arizona to live a normal life. His wife, who was told that he was dead, is less than thrilled to have him back home because she is resentful that he left to fight in the war in the first place. Suzy Amis does an excellent job as Martha Cable. She is not the stereotypical beauty who runs around in a bustle under fancy dresses. She is a tough frontierswoman who has experienced many hardships and gets her husband out of some tight spots as the movie progresses.

While the majority of the movie is good at depicting the divisions between North and South that caused the Civil War and which the Civil War then exacerbated, the subplot of the inner struggles that Paul and Martha Cable face is far more interesting. It's a great movie until the end, when we get the additional time-worn subplot of a Confederate soldier who just can't give up the Lost Cause. No, it's not Selleck's character who has this problem, but Selleck already had covered this territory in 1982's "The Shadow Riders" (though it wasn't his character who wanted to keep fighting in that movie either); John Wayne's "The Undefeated" is another well-known film with the Lost Cause plotline.

In spite of the needlessly melodramatic ending, this is a strong Western. Selleck and TNT kept getting better and better with "Crossfire Trail" and "Monte Walsh". Check out all three, and you'll join me in wishing for number four.

Well I'll Bow!...........2006-06-26

Tom Selleck takes on a serious role in this made for TV western. He stars as Confederate soldier Paul Cable, realizing the war is lost, returning to find his wife and family...hoping to pick up the pieces of a life he left behind. His wife Martha(Suzy Amis) isn't so happy to see him..she had thought him long dead..and was trying to get on with her life. With family, daughter Clare and son Davis(Haley Joel Osment), they leave Martha's father(Harry Carey Jr.) in Texas and head for Arizona and their ranch home. Upon arriving in Arizona, they find that the Union sympathizers(Keith and David Carradine) have confiscated their land..everyone still thinking he was dead. This requires them to fight for their home and for their acceptance in the rebuilding of life after the Civil War.

This is a well put together movie with good continuity. Not only does it have the western action but it also effectively shows the rebuilding of the marriage relationship between Cable and his wife. Susy Amis does a great job in portraying a wife that is ready to make her stand for family and home. Selleck puts in one of his better performances and shows that he can seriously act. Well worth adding to any western collection.

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Captain Horatio Hornblower
Nothing Finer
Captain Horatio Hornblower
Excellent movie
movie review

Captain Horatio Hornblower
Starring: Gregory Peck , Virginia Mayo , Robert Beatty , Moultrie Kelsall , and Terence Morgan (II)
Director: Raoul Walsh
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
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ASIN: B000KJU18C
Release Date: 2007-03-06

Amazon.com

The much-loved novels of C.S. Forester come to life in Captain Horatio Hornblower, a solid, engrossing seafaring tale. Forester himself worked on the script for the 1951 film, which mines its plot from three Hornblower books. Set during the Napoleonic era, the movie kicks off by steering British captain Hornblower (Gregory Peck) into the middle of a nimble cat-and-mouse game with anti-Spanish rebels in the New World--only to find that in the months since he set sail from Old Blighty, national alliances have changed, causing a reversal in his original mission. The action later shifts to Europe, and throughout there is a love story involving a noblewoman (Virginia Mayo) who takes unexpected lodging aboard Hornblower's ship. The film has an intelligence that keeps it watchable, although it's definitely not one of the more buoyant films of the robust director Raoul Walsh. Perhaps the movie falls short of classic status because of the casting: its sober nature might stem from the personality of Gregory Peck, who looks marvelous but remains stolid throughout, while Virginia Mayo is, well, Virginia Mayo, a league away from British aristocracy. The sea battles don't have the technical dazzle of Master and Commander but they look acceptable for their time, and the movie's fondness for detail is gratifying. Forester's tales later became a series of British TV programs, with Ioan Gruffud as Hornblower. --Robert Horton

Description

Screen legend Gregory Peck brings to life C.S. Forester's classic nautical hero, Horatio Hornblower. Hornblower battles the French and the Spanish forces during the Napoleonic wars, but also finds time for romance in this story from director Raoul Walsh.

Customer Reviews:

Captain Horatio Hornblower.......2007-09-17

A must see for Gregory Peck fans, or Hornblower fans for that matter. The credits cite original author C.S. Forester for the screenplay. He amalgamates the book version so very well within the time constraints of a film. Left out is the extended underground stay in France after the escape, where Hornblower finds a brief love affair and Bush loses a leg. In spite of these omissions, the movie is well-balanced in every way.

Nothing Finer.......2007-09-10

While Gregory Peck and Virginia Mayo rivet your attention to one line of interest in this movie, their destiny, the rest of the crew, all outstanding actors, give performances that match the excellent special effects in this movie where gun wales and cannon are thrown around like match sticks and huge chunks of the mast and rigging fall like boulders. What a class act! Even El Supremo dies well in this great swashbuckling
tale of the high seas. I loved it.

Captain Horatio Hornblower.......2007-07-20

As a long time fan of the Hornblower stories I am pleased with the job that the writers and producer did in condensing three Hornblower stories into a manageable time frame. My only quibble with the film is the choice of Gregory Peck for the lead. Peck is a wooden actor at best, and while Hornblower was always one to stifle his emotions I don't feel Peck got it right. There were plenty of fine British actors that could have filled the bill. I understand why they chose Peck, he was a proven box office draw, but because of his performance I will only recommend this film instead of highly recommending it. If you are a Hornblower fan be sure to catch the series of young Hornblower stories featuring Ioan Griffuld.

Excellent movie.......2007-06-08

Captain Horatio Hornblower is an already older but still excellent movie.
Historicaly is this movie more correct than the Hornblower series.
It is also a movie that you can watch relaxed,without the sometimes -to fast-present-day camera vieuw changes that gives you a headache.
For their time the ships have been constructed very nice.

movie review.......2007-05-26

Gregory Peck does a great job in projecting command authority as captain of a warship. Virginia Mayo is more than a pretty face. She is convincing as she falls in love with Peck and the movie's conclusion leaves you with a nice warm feeling. The battle scenes between the vintage ships were very well done. A good way to spend an evening.

Victory at Sea - The Legendary World War II Documentary (History Channel)

Average customer rating:

Nice improvement over VHS
Impressive!
Victory at Sea - The Legendary World War II Documentary
Dramatic Documentary
Is it just me, or

Victory at Sea - The Legendary World War II Documentary (History Channel)
Starring: Michael Lewis (XX)
Director: M. Clay Adams
Manufacturer: A&E Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0000AQS3X
Release Date: 2003-09-30

Amazon.com

A 26-episode World War II documentary, Victory at Sea is one of the most important series in the history of television. Made in 1952, the show was a huge success, winning many major awards and even spawning albums featuring the orchestral score by Richard Rodgers, best known for his musicals with Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II. Produced with the full cooperation of the U.S. Navy, each 26-minute program consists of black-and-white wartime film set to a narration by Leonard Graves. The two years leading up to America's entry into the war are dismissed in episode one, while the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor gets a show of its own, the raid depicted in a brilliantly edited montage that almost certainly contains "docu-drama" footage. Each episode contains at least one powerful stand-alone sequence in the tradition of Serge Eisenstein (Battleship Potemkin), these action-suspense set-pieces giving the programs an urgent, surprisingly modern feel. Indeed, the emphasis is at least as much on entertainment as information, the factual content delivered in poetic narration, the score transforming the war into a more than usually serious Hollywood adventure. The documentaries are nothing if not wide-ranging, covering parts of the land war despite the title, and including everything from the Atlantic convoys and U-boat "Wolfpacks" to war in Alaska, the South Atlantic, and the Far East, the Pacific War, and the Fall of Japan. There is an attempt to include other nations--certainly the D-Day episode acknowledges the British far more than Saving Private Ryan--but inevitably the focus is on America's war. The very dated narration gives a fascinating insight into how America saw WWII in the early 1950s, while the dynamic cutting and often genuinely remarkable wartime footage make Victory at Sea still gripping today. Twenty years later, Granada's The World at War would become the definitive television WWII history, but this release offers a unique opportunity to see a series of great importance from the very early days of television. --Gary S. Dalkin

Customer Reviews:

Nice improvement over VHS.......2007-09-10

I have loved the series since watching it as a child on TV with my father and uncles who had all served in that war. The subject matter and the wonderfully appropriate musical score strike an emotional chord in me. I have owned Victory at Sea in VHS format for several years and wanted to upgrade so in spite of some reviewers crabbing about the sound I bought the DVD set anyway. I love it. It is a huge improvement over the tapes. The picture quality is much better and any sound problems during narration that I've noticed are minor and not a reason to pass this up.

Impressive!.......2007-08-04

A must see for anyone interested in an accurate depiction of major events of World War II. Free from revisionist accounts of this history, Victory at Sea uses actual footage gained from both sides of the conflict to meld together an accurate picture of the battles. While the music is a bit too loud, the story is nevertheless clear and leaves the viewer with a profound sense of the magnitude of this war. Every American should see this series to understand the role and contributions of the "greatest generation" to our history.

Victory at Sea - The Legendary World War II Documentary .......2007-08-02

THis is all I hoped it would be. There are voulme change problems on the episodes, but the volume control on your remote is easy to use. The picture quality is great and the content is all that it ever was, which is to say archival footage from Japan, Germany and the US. In short, ifl you want to know the scope of US Naval and political action during WWII this is a must see. I grew up in the 50's and this isa trip down memory lane!

Dramatic Documentary.......2007-05-30

Since 1952, when NBC television first aired "Victory at Sea," the 26 half-hour programs have been repeatedly shown on television and finally released on home video. Admittedly, the sound quality of the narration, music, and sound effects is typical of television in the early 1950s, but the visual impact of the actual wartime footage remains quite powerful.

For those who want to enjoy a true high fidelity version of much of the music Richard Rodgers and Robert Russell Bennett produced, the RCA Victor albums (first released in the early 1960s) remain the best source. It is known that Rodgers composed the melodies in a piano version, then turned it over to Bennett to arrange and orchestrate. The albums take the 13 hours of music, which repeated themes, and present them in a cohesive and concise version. Bennett conducted the RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra, which was drawn from the Symphony of the Air, itself a reorganization of Toscanini's NBC Symphony Orchestra. Back in 1952, when the documentary was prepared, Bennett used the actual NBC Symphony, presumably with the blessings of the Maestro, who was a big fan of early television as well as Broadway musicals.

The main focus in the 26 episodes is on the American Navy's involvement in World War II. In editing millions of feet of archival footage, NBC assembled programs which captured not only the naval and aerial battles but the lighter moments when the sailors, pilots, and crew waited for the inevitable deadly combat to begin or resume. The most important elements of the war are vividly represented here in sharp black and white.

Yes, "The World of War" was probably more comprehensive and utilized some of the rare color footage of the war, but this was the first television documentary to chronicle the historic events, complete with glimpses of the famous and infamous leaders -- Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Tojo, and Stalin. When you see the real figures, instead of actors portaying them, you recognize their unique and remarkable qualities.

The visual images remain quite powerful on the videos. To enjoy the brilliance of the music, listen to the CDs for the outstanding musical performances by the New York musicians.

Is it just me, or.......2007-05-25

...has the History Channel version been cut? I have been watching a version played on PBS that has scenes that my version does not possess, or so it seems. I am old enough to have watched the originals, and still enjoy each segment, and especially the Score. Sound being the weakest feature (IMO) cost it a star.

Average customer rating:

Great for a John Wayne Fan
This 2003 release vs May 22,2007 release
.....It's Time To Set The Record Straight.....
Superb War Film
One of John Wayne's Best Performances

Operation Pacific
Starring: John Wayne , Patricia Neal , Ward Bond , Scott Forbes (II) , and Philip Carey
Director: George Waggner
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
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ASIN: B000O599Z8
Release Date: 2007-05-22

Amazon.com

If not a seminal World War II submarine picture, then Operation Pacific is at least an entertaining one. John Wayne stars as "Duke" Gifford, first officer of the submarine Thunderfish. Patricia Neal is Duke's ex-wife, and when they meet again after four years, the couple tries to recapture "that old zing." Complications arise when Duke goes on a mission with dud torpedoes, and his best friend's younger brother goes after Neal. Fans will be pleased with Wayne's role, as the Gifford character is one of Wayne's simplest, but most honest performances. Wayne regulars Ward Bond and Jack Pennick are on hand as well; Bond plays sub captain "Pop" Perry, and Pennick the sub's Chief. The scene in which Pop tells his crew to "Take 'er down!" came from real life; a sub skipper uttered the famous command during a desperate surface action. --Mark Savary

Description

World War II rages across the Pacific and Lt. Cmdr. Duke E. Gifford is in the thick of it. He evacuates children from enemy-held islands. Oversees the development of torpedoes at Pearl Harbor. And prowls the depths in the submarine Thunderfish for a chance to aim his improved "tin fish" - torpedoes - at the enemy. John Wayne plays Gifford in Operation Pacific. "I'm no theory man. I'm a line officer," Gifford barks. He backs it up with lots of bite in several feverish sea battles. He's also a man of heart with a loving wife at home (fellow Academy AwardO winner* Patricia Neal). Vice Adm. Charles Lockwood, World War II commander of all U.S. Pacific submarines, was technical advisor for this adventure packing real you-are-there thrills!

Customer Reviews:

Great for a John Wayne Fan.......2007-07-29

This is one of John Wayne's best movies. I think any John Wayne fan will love it.

This 2003 release vs May 22,2007 release.......2007-05-04

I recently bought (on 4/09/06) this DVD which notes "standard version" and "presented in a format preserving the aspect ratio of its original theatrical exhibition." Amazon is now taking pre-orders for a new May 22, 2007 release, stating it's in widescreen. How can this be? Is part of the top and/or bottom of the film cut off?

.....It's Time To Set The Record Straight............2007-04-20

John Wayne's intrepid portrayal in this movie was taken from true life US Navy happenings that are skillfully blended for substenance for the backdrop of this story...John Wayne needs not to apoligize, either...there was...the raising of the USS Squaliss in 1939 just off the coast of Boston...there was...a US Navy rescue of Catholic Nuns and children from Guadalcanal before the 1st Marine Division's invasion of that island...there was...the sinking of the USS Corvina as noted in this film, as well as other disclosures stated by other Reviewers in here..."Operation Pacific" for whatever warts [imagined or not] is a monumental tribute to the Navy's Silent Service...I admit there were a couple of John Wayne moments, but that's to be expected, [pogey-bait time]...they didn't wrinkle my feathers one iota...I like the guy...the camera was very exquisite in the close/ups of Patricia Neal...wonderous close/ups of her adorable face in fadeout scenes...you can't tell me that these two [2] 'love/birds' maybe carried on/off screen??...Wayne and Neal generated plenty of 'steam' at those dockside scenes...look more closely...just read the know-it-all smirks [of envy] from the other male/stars at the dockside footage...that white-hot tidbit aside, a darn good Navy show and the intrinsic operation of submariner duty deep below the waves...Ward Bond was terrific, Scott Forbes made you notice his contribution, Martin Milner, as the young Ensign, came through with the impact of his declaration of sinking a Japanese submarine..."total silence on the screen"...only imprinted, what may be their lethal/fate along the way...Max Steiner's stiring music/score only adds to the heroic theme, as always...this is a well made Warner Bros' movie and a truly favorite of mine...in summation, I'm so glad we WON WW2...under the cruel sea our steadfast sailors of the US Navy's Silent Service sacrificed to preserve our heritage and the American way of life... 52 US Navy submarines were lost resulting in watery graves for 3,500 officers and enlisted men that marked the way back to Tokyo...God bless 'em all...SGGT CHRIS SARNO-USMC FMF

Superb War Film.......2007-01-21

I bought the DVD of "Operation Pacific" over a year ago, but have only just watched it. I thought it would be just an average war film which I could watch when I had nothing better to see. However, I was quite wrong. This is definitely one of the best films of any kind that I have seen in the last couple of years. Why, I wonder, has it been forgotten (I had never heard of it until I saw it advertised on Amazon)? It is convincingly realistic, both when the submarine and its crew are at sea, and when they are having a break in port. I found some parts of the film very moving, there is no "false heroism" or cheapness about any of it, and the action when it comes is extremely exiting. Why, I wonder, do people sneer at John Wayne, or at his supposed lack of acting talent? In this film he is superb. I have seen quite a lot of his films in recent years, and I think that this may be one of his very best. The same applies, I think to Ward Bond, who is also superb in this.
Just a note: to anyone who watches this, and likes it as much as I do, make sure you also watch "They Were Expendable", also set in the Pacific in WWII, and also absolutely first rate.

One of John Wayne's Best Performances.......2006-10-26

This post-war made film (1951) about WWII is rather retrospective and honest in its telling of the tale. Wayne is very good here in an uncomplicated role. Mixing, submarines, lurking enemy, and old flings or ex-flings with a lot of macho dialogue (without preaching) along the way, this film does not fail to entertain. George Waggner's direction give a lot of freedom to get his story across.

Average customer rating:

Worth seeing
Bogey at his Bogey-est
Bogie and Bacall at their best together
Bogart Meets Bacall
YOU KNOW HOW TO WHISTLE, DON'T YOU?

To Have and Have Not (Snap case)
Starring: Humphrey Bogart , Walter Brennan , Lauren Bacall , Dolores Moran , and Hoagy Carmichael
Director: Howard Hawks , and Robert Clampett
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
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ASIN: B0000B1OGH
Release Date: 2003-11-04

Amazon.com essential video

Yes, it's true: you can virtually see Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall falling for each other in this Howard Hawks variation on Casablanca but adapted from--as legend has it--Ernest Hemingway's self-declared "worst novel." (The story goes that Hawks told Hemingway he could make a movie of the author's least work, and Hemingway gave him the rights to this story.) The script by William Faulkner and Jules Furthman actually makes this one of Hawks's and Bogart's most interesting and often exciting films. Bogart plays a boat captain who reluctantly agrees to help the French Resistance while wooing chanteuse Bacall. Hoagy Carmichael, wry at the piano, adds a delicious accent to an already wonderful mood. --Tom Keogh

Description

Help the Free French? Not world-weary gunrunner Harry Morgan (Humphrey Bogart). But he changes his mind when a sultry siren-in-distress named Marie asks, "Anybody got a match?" That red-hot match is Bogart and 19-year-old first-time film actress Lauren Bacall. Full of intrigue and racy banter (including Bacall's legendary whistling instructions), this thriller excites further interest for what it has and has not. Cannily directed by Howard Hawks and smartly written by William Faulkner and Jules Furthman, it doesn't have much similarity to the Ernest Hemingway novel that inspired it. And it strongly resembles Casablanca: French resistance fighters, a piano-playing bluesman (Hoagy Carmichael) and a Martinique bar much like Rick's Cafe Americaine. But first and foremost, it showcases Bogart and Bacall, carrying on with a passion that smolders from the tips of their cigarettes clear through to their souls.

Customer Reviews:

Worth seeing.......2007-09-05

Another old Humphrey Bogart movie. And once again he stars opposite Lauren Bacall as in "The Big Sleep" and "Key Largo". But actually I'm watching these out of order. This was the first movie that paired Bogart and Bacall up against each other and started the trend.

Also like "The Big Sleep" the screenwriting credits to this film go to none other than William Faulkner himself. And since the original book on which this film was based was written by Ernest Hemingway, I read somewhere on the internet that this is the first and only time in film history where a Nobel prize winner adopted the work of another Nobel prize winner for the silver screen.

Humphrey Bogart is once again playing his usual shtick as the reluctant hero who doesn't want to get involved in any trouble but is eventually forced by circumstances to act. It is more or less the same character he played in "Key Largo" and "Casablanca". By the third time I'm finding this role is wearing a bit thin, but I suppose it is my own fault for watching all of these Bogart movies together. I should probably have spaced them out a bit more.

Also like "Casablanca" this film takes place in a French colony and revolves around the political vacuum left by the capitulation of Paris and the struggle between the Vichy regime and the Free French Forces. Finally add to that the fact that one of Bogart's co-stars, Marcel Dalio, is the same from both movies, and it is easy to see why this film is often compared to "Casablanca". Which is unfortunate because "To Have and Have Not" suffers by the comparison. It is a good movie, but it is not in the same league as "Casablanca".

A few random thoughts about this movie
1)Like most people my image of Faulkner's screenwriting years is based off the movie "Barton Fink" (which, while I'm throwing movie recommendations around, is another movie worth watching, but that's a different subject for a different review). And although I know I shouldn't use satire as my primary source of information, I do remember a line from that movie when the mistress said the studio usually insisted Faulkner's screenplays include someone for the hero to protect, either a child or a mentally impaired man. (Or something like that, it's been a few years since I saw the movie. Does anyone out there remember the exact quote?)

Whether that line is based on fact or not I don't know, but there is a character in this movie, Eddie, who fits the bill exactly. He is referred to as a "rummy" by the other characters, but portrayed more like someone with autism. For one reason or another, Bogart's character has taken Eddie under his wing, and is constantly having to get him out of trouble or protect him from others.

I have nothing against autistics, but I always cringe a bit when they're played for comic relief in movies. Not only is it embarrassing to watch, it's just plain not funny. The character of Eddie functions similarly to Jar Jar Binks. He's not quite as bad as Jar Jar, but it's the same principle. There will be a dramatic scene, and Eddie will come in and just take it over with his child-like ramblings.

2). According the DVD extras "Making of" segment, the original Hemingway book dealt not with the conflict between Vichy and Free France but with the Cuban rebels. President Roosevelt was horrified about the studios making a film about rebellion in our ally Cuba, and so the Studio was threatened with having its export license revoked until they changed the setting of the movie.

I don't think artistically the movie suffers at all from this change, but it is disturbing to see these examples of government censorship. One wonders how many movies never got made because of this kind of pressure on the studios. One also can't help wondering how much of this is going on today.

3). According to Wikipedia (and every other review of this movie on the Internet) this movie is the source of one of the most famous lines in film history:
"You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and... blow."

...Hmmm, when I heard it I thought it sounded vaguely familiar, but I really can't think of any instance where I've encountered this line outside of the movie. Maybe I'm just a little out of it.

It was certainly nowhere as near familiar as "Badges? We don't need no stinkin' Badges!"

Bogey at his Bogey-est.......2007-08-23

I realize that it's almost sacrilege, but this movie outshines Casablanca and, perhaps more than any other, defines the Bogey persona. Harry Morgan sets the standard for the reluctant hero, the perfect balance of cynical, selfless and cool. Lauren Bacall makes her theatrical debut and, at only 19, she is already the master of stage presence and sultry appeal.

If you're a Hemmingway fan, you may be disappointed -- this is not your typical Hemmingway. If you want to see Bogart and Bacall doing what made them legends of American cinema, this is your movie.

Bogie and Bacall at their best together.......2007-08-09

This was billed as "Hemingway's To Have and Have Not," but if there is one thing it isn't, it isn't Hemingway's novel. It is a fine quasi-remake of Casablanca (1942) with Humphrey Bogart playing essentially the same kind of character he played in Casablanca, a worldly wise, cynical America ex-pat who doesn't want to get involved in politics as the storm clouds of World War II gather. Instead of a saloon in Casablanca Bogie has a fishing boat in Martinique. Instead of Ingrid Bergman he has Lauren Bacall. Instead of Claude Rains as perfect of police, he has Dan Seymour as Capt. Renard working for the Germans. Instead of Dooley Wilson to play the piano and sing, he has Hoagy Carmichael. Instead of Peter Lorre as a sniveling lowlife, he has Walter Brennan as an alcoholic friend. In either case, Bogie ends up helping the Free French even though he'd rather not get involved.

This was Lauren Bacall's debut. She was 22-years-old and legend has it that she and Bogart, who was in his forties, fell in love during the filming. She plays a sultry babe with a hard edge, and she does it very well. Her famous line, "You know how to whistle, don't you Steve? You just put your lips together and blow" more or less defined her character.

I found Walter Brennan's Eddie annoying, but then I never liked lushes. Dan Seymour is memorable as the portly man with a scar who speaks with weighty precision as he works for the Vichy government. Hoagy Carmichael warbles a tune or two and Dolores Moran looks good enough to eat. Howard Hawks' direction is sharp and focused, although supposedly he was eating his heart out because Bacall preferred Bogart over him.

Clearly this is all about Bogart and Bacall, probably their best work together. They seem delighted with one another. And they were.

Bogart Meets Bacall.......2007-08-01

In their first film together the chemistry between these iconic actors is undeniable. Based on a very loose adaptation of a Hemingway novel, the story is tense and gripping. Some similarities between this movie and Casablanca made a few years earlier--European patriot in danger; needs Bogie's help to reach safety etc. Bogie's character here is, however, not the urbane Rick, but a grittier but equally admirable working man. Of course, where the the Bergman-Bogart interaction was bittersweet: the Bacall-Bogart interaction is positively spicy hot!
Great extras including a cartoon incorporating animated versions of scenes from the movie.
Walter Brennan as the ever thirsty side kick of Steve(Bogie's character) is wonderfully cast in the role.

YOU KNOW HOW TO WHISTLE, DON'T YOU? .......2007-04-19

A story based, very loosely based I might add, on Ernest Hemingway's short novel. A screenplay written in part by William Faulkner. The lead roles played by the charismatic Humphrey Bogart and the dishy Lauren Bacall with able assists by Walter Brennan and the legendary songwriter Hoagy Carmichael. Some classic Hollywood lines. What is not to like about this 1940's black white film that still plays well after over fifty years. Only if you naively expected faithfulness to the author's novelistic intent by those who bought the film rights. But, don't be silly it happens all the time. If you want Hemingway's gritty tale of a down and out sea captain scratching out a living for his family anyway he can go read the book. Here we are talking about the film adaptation. And on those terms what a seamless piece of cinematic art.

As is the case in most of the early movies the story line is simple. Jaded boy meets slightly world-weary girl in the throes of Vichy-administered Martinique during World War II. Naturally, given the times, the local variant of the French Resistance is in need of help and a skittish, but in the end courageous, Captain Morgan (the Bogart role) is dragged into the middle of it. Some of this is an echo of the story line in Casablanca but this time Bogart, thankfully, does not let the dame go. All the politics and heroics aside this film is all about the romance. For a 1940's film the sexual tension and resolution between Morgan and Slim (Bacall's role) is as steamy as it gets with two people who still have their clothes on. It probably does not hurt the romantic buildup that Bogart and Bacall were becoming an item off-screen, as well. If you want classic Bogart and Bacall this is for you.

The War at Home - The Complete First Season

Average customer rating:

Love the show.
A fun show...
Great show
Great show, great cast!
The War at Home

The War at Home - The Complete First Season
Starring: War at Home
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
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ASIN: B000MTEFVE
Release Date: 2007-05-15

Description

When Dave and Vicky were growing up, their parents had it easy. Back then, there were no "time-outs," no one had any "boundaries" and their parents had no idea what their kids were really up to. Now Dave and Vicky have teenagers of their own, and anything their kids might even think about doing, Dave and Vicky have already done at least twice. But knowledge isn't power; it's a giant pain as every day is a battle to keep their kids in line. Fifteen-year-old Larry isn't exactly a frequent diner at the 'cool kids' table in the cafeteria, while 16-year-old Hillary is a know-it-all and is just emerging onto the dating scene. Meanwhile, thirteen-year-old Mike is all hormones and video games. Dave and Vicky figure if they can send these three off to college without a police record or kids of their own, they've done their job. This witty, irreverent show goes inside the heads of a modern family through the use of a confessional space where the characters reveal everything they could never actually say to one another.

DVD Features:
Deleted Scenes
Deleted Scenes
Featurette:Living Room Confessions ? All new featurette with cast and crew
Gag Reel

Customer Reviews:

Love the show........2007-08-25

I love this show since the first episode. I am mad as hell that fox canceled it after only two seasons. Does anyone know when season two will hit shelves. i realise that the first season came out not too long ago, but, i love the show and would like to know if it is possible.

A fun show..........2007-07-25

This show has grown on me. Fun to see a show that says what is really going on in everyone's mind during family situations. The first season DVD is well done, can't wait for season 2 to come out as it was even better than the first.

Great show.......2007-07-09

I really liked this show sucks FOX canceled it after just two years. This DVD set was over $30 at Wal Mart and I got it for less than $10 brand new on here talk about a steal. Can't wait to get Season 2.

Great show, great cast!.......2007-05-27

If you really have to watch a sitcom... it should be this one. It's hillariously funny, realistic, not always ( so boringly) politcally correct, has a great cast, a great lead in Michael Rapaport (one of the most underrated actors ever). Normally I'm more into shows like Galactica, Lost or Heroes... but this one really rocks!

The War at Home.......2007-05-08

Need your do for a humorous, fun-loving sitcom? If so, The War at Home is the show you should be watching! The War at Home (Fox, Sundays, 6:00) tells the story of a mother and father that have no idea to raise their three kids. This is currently the most rapidly growing sitcom on TV with its unique characters, well thought writing, and outstanding plotline.
The plotline of The War at Home is "Parents struggle to raise their teens".
They have no problem expressing that! The War at Home stars Michael Rappaport as Dave Gold, a working yet very lazy father. His wife, Vicky Gold (Anita Barone) is the neighborhood "hot mom". Together, they have three kids. Sixteen year old, Hilary (Kaylee DeFer) is just emerging into the dating scene, Larry (Kyle Sullivan) doesn't exactly sit at the "cool table" in the lunchroom, and last thirteen year old Mike (Dean Collins) is all hormones and video games. All together the make up an extraordinary cast.
The writing of The War at Home is the best that I have ever seen in a sitcom. The writers should be proud! In this sitcom, everyone can express their personal feelings in their own confessional space. I think that this way is a great way for all of the characters to express what they feel on the inside, rather than what they pretend to be on the outside. The writers make each character so unique that you couldn't believe they are a family.
Since all of the characters are so different, put together they make up a very dysfunctional family. It is humorous to see how all of the opposites get along in a TV show. From the first to the second season, all of the characters changed drastically. Dave quit his job and is planning on starting his own business. Though we all know that wont work out. Hilary has become more mature, and became a lot more serious with her boyfriend. Dave and Vicky put Larry on depression pills thinking that he would open up and make more friends. Mike finally has a girlfriend though now he is barley one the show.
The War at Home is a humorous heart-warming comedy that everyone should be watching! From its outstanding plotline, to its fun-loving characters, the war at home is the best show on TV! Fox would be wise to keep the show running as long as Malcolm in the Middle.

Average customer rating:

im satisfyed but............
1950s paranoia just misses the mark
Dead Man, Haunting
A great movie to relax and watch
Tracy's one-armed lawman against one of Robert Ryan's inimitable villains...

Bad Day at Black Rock
Starring: Spencer Tracy , Robert Ryan , Anne Francis , Dean Jagger , and Walter Brennan
Director: John Sturges
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
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ASIN: B0007TKNH4
Release Date: 2005-05-10

Product Description

Spencer Tracy stars with Robert Ryan Lee marvin Ernest Bornine and Walter Brennen in this offbeat and chilling tale of a man pitted against an entire town. Year: 1954 Director: John Sturges Starring: Spencer Tracy Robert Ryan Anne Francis Dean JagFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 012569690226

Amazon.com essential video

One of the first Hollywood films to deal openly with white racism toward Japanese Americans during World War II, this drama directed by 1950s action maestro John Sturges (The Great Escape) stars Spencer Tracy as a one-armed stranger named MacReedy, who arrives in the tiny town of Black Rock on a hot day in 1945. Seeking a hotel room and the whereabouts of an ethnic Japanese farmer named Komoko, MacReedy runs smack into a wall of hostility that escalates into serious threats. In time it becomes apparent that Komoko has been murdered by a local, racist chieftain, Reno Smith (Robert Ryan), who also plans on dispensing with MacReedy. Tracy's hero is forced to fight his way past Smith's goons (among them Ernest Borgnine and Lee Marvin) and sundry allies (Anne Francis) to keep alive, setting the stage for memorable suspense crisply orchestrated by Sturges. Casting is the film's principal strength, however: Tracy, the indispensable icon of integrity, and Ryan, the indispensable noir image of spiritual blight, are as creatively unlikely a pairing as Sturges's shotgun marriage of Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen in The Magnificent Seven. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

im satisfyed but...................2007-05-21

hi thanks for your best services i recived my dvd cd of BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK within time in mumbai india, but sir the money is didected from my 2 credit cards for 2 dvd cds. and i got only 1 dvd cd. so plz try to send another dvd cd of the same as soon as possible

im happy with your services and thinking to place some more orders
thanks SUBHASH JADHAV

1950s paranoia just misses the mark.......2007-04-19

an interesting take on small-town paranoia, as an entire community is subsumed by the attempt to cover up an old murder in the mistaken belief that they are about to be found out. spencer tracy plays the unwitting investigator, with robert ryan his principal antagonist and dean jagger, walter brennan, lee marvin, and ernest borgnine among a cast of familiar faces either proactively or tacitly hiding the truth. sad to say, director john sturges (whose work on films like "great escape" or "gunfight at the ok corral" i admire) was not up to the themes involved here, and what could have been a great political thriller instead is merely a good adventure pic -- but hey, thats not bad either ...

Dead Man, Haunting.......2007-03-02

I've tried to find a copy of Howard Breslin's short story to round out the sense of dissatisfaction I found with this film. Thus far, BAD DAY AT HONDO appears to out of print, but the next best thing is the shooting script which is available online. A side-by-side comparison of script and film reveals a great many omissions and revisions that make for a kind of open-source experience, and many of the peculiarities in the film are justified in the script. I believe the longer film would have been significantly better, but the one we have is Plenty-stimulating.
Dore Schary also produced GO FOR BROKE, a 1951 film that tells the very poignant tale of 442nd RCT Japanese-American volunteer GIs in Italy and France, and works as a fine prequel to BLACK ROCK by grounding Macreedy's rationale for coming to a hostile, flyspeck cowtown (where you'll never see a horse) and probing buried animosities until they gush with fresh blood.
The very literate script for BLACK ROCK also brings a satisfying roundness to the dimestore loafers (Marvin and Borgnine), while making Francis necessary and every other speaking role more plausible and real, most especially Macreedy.
It WAS explosively subversive, and it still is, despite the fact that this film that bristles with subtext was meant to contain much more than was shot (or much more that was left on the cutting room floor).
I also think the score is tremendously manipulative, instructing us when and what it insists that we feel. All in all, it's a truly fascinating Grade B Cinemascope launchpoint with a shower of rising and radiant stars
(how many oxymorons can I pack into this sentence?)
for thought about film, politics, culture and pretty much everything!

A great movie to relax and watch.......2007-01-10

I loved this movie and had waited for the dvd to finally come available. It is clear and a wonderful copy of the first reel that ran in the movie houses. The action is strong and never dull and ofcourse the actors are some of the greatest in Hollywood at that time. I don't believe the movie is based on a true life fact , however it could have happened and that is what I liked about it. It is easy to put yourself in Macreedy's {Spencer Tracy} position and then ask yourself "what would I do". It is a class A movie in every detail. I watch it offen . Hope you enjoy it as well. Wiley

Tracy's one-armed lawman against one of Robert Ryan's inimitable villains..........2006-12-18

John Sturges' "Bad Day at Black Rock" is a great contemporary Western nominated for three Academy Awards, and set on one sunny morning in 1945, when the Santa Fe train pulls in and John Macreedy (Tracy) gets off...

Macreedy is a challenging fellow with only one arm... He is looking for a Japanese farmer in order to give him his son's posthumous Congressional Medal of Honor for heroism... The miserable-looking town is under the thrall of an ungracious boss-man (Ryan) and his two rough henchmen (Borgnine and Marvin).

Brooding silences, with intimidations of an explosive climax at any moment, characterized Tracy's performance and the movie itself, keeping audiences in suspense and exhibitors out of the red... Sturges imposes cool, hard, detached style, emphasizing action, excitement and the rugged environment of the unequivocal title, endorses the point...

Average customer rating:

OK
ALAN HALE WHO?
Good Sunday Afternoon Movie
UP PERISCOPE
Up Periscope

Up Periscope
Starring: James Garner , Edmond O'Brien , Andra Martin , Alan Hale Jr. , and Carleton Carpenter
Director: Gordon Douglas
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00005JN9P
Release Date: 2006-12-19

Amazon.com

Anyone with a fondness for the conventions of the submarine picture will be content with the modest pleasures of Up Periscope, a World War II melodrama starring James Garner in one of his early Maverick-era roles. Pulled away from a week-long romance, Garner tags along with the sub to a Japanese-held island, where he will SCUBA ashore and copy a secret radio code. On top of the reliable suspense of a man alone behind enemy lines, the film also offers captain Edmond O'Brien, whose previous mission has his crew suspecting him of cowardice. Will he cut and run before Garner returns to the submarine? Director Gordon Douglas made a batch of entertaining pictures over the years (a bunch of Sinatra titles, the giant-bug classic Them!, In Like Flint) and he coolly finds some effective ways to photograph men in the close quarters of a sub. The main draw is James Garner in his youthful prime; even if the movie doesn't exploit hi