For Conservative Movie Lovers: John Ford, John Wayne, and ‘They Were Expendable’ Part 2

“I am really a coward. I know I am, so that’s why I did foolish things. I was decorated eight or nine times, trying to prove that I was not a coward, but after it was all over I still knew, know, that I was a coward.”

– John Ford –

June 4, 1942. The Battle of Midway. John Ford was on his back, covered in debris, unconscious. All around him bombs were dropping, buildings were erupting into monstrous fireballs, and young marines were dodging deadly lines of machine-gun strafing sent down by Japanese fighter planes. Ford and his assistant, young Jack MacKenzie Jr. (whose father was an RKO cinematographer) had been perched on the roof of a power station on Eastern Island, brazenly filming the morning attack by the Japanese and reporting enemy plane positions to headquarters, when a bomb landed a scant twenty feet from their position. The shockwave was so great that MacKenzie later recalled he was “bounced flat on my face by the terrific explosion,” adding, “we almost lost Commander Ford.” (more…)

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Tags: alfred newman, Anchors Aweigh, Donald Crisp, Dudley Nichols, Field Photo
Posted Oct 24th 2009 at 11:03 am in Classic Hollywood | 24718630 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/lgrin/2009/10/24/for-conservative-movie-lovers-john-ford-john-wayne-and-they-were-expendable-part-2/For+Conservative+Movie+Lovers%3A+John+Ford%2C+John+Wayne%2C+and+%27They+Were+Expendable%27+Part+22009-10-24+18%3A03%3A32Leo+Grin

Navigating the Gender Pass with ‘Gunga Din’

I have always thought that men and women are different. 

No kidding, professor.

No, really, they are. I don’t mean in all the right places, of course, but somewhere else, with movies, in enjoying the things we see in the movies. 

I remember seeing Gunga Din (1939) for the first time and knowing from the opening shot that this was my kind of film. This was a guy film. Not a wishy-washy movie filled up with dance numbers and kissing scenes, but a guy flick. Great guy stuff was in this movie, and I was sold on it from the first pounding of that thunderous mighty gong. When Alfred Newman’s score turned from playful to ominous faster than you can say, ‘trouble in Tantrapur’, I knew I was in for a good one. This was the kind of movie you watched on a Saturday afternoon with your dad or with your pals. This was adventure!  (more…)

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Tags: alfred newman, andrews, British, cary grant, chuck yeager
Posted May 21st 2009 at 5:58 pm in Entertainment, Politics | 1387383 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/smann/2009/05/21/navigating-the-gender-pass-with-gunga-din/Navigating+the+Gender+Pass+with+%27Gunga+Din%272009-05-22+00%3A58%3A22Schizoid+Mann