Do military mistakes drive you nuts in movies/TV shows?

[bagdropper]

No.

One movie that used to bother me to no end was the 1970's "Midway". They used a lot of actual WWII color combat footage which was shot much later in the Pacific war...which meant none of the planes were correct. There'd also be footage from "Battle of Britain", "Tora Tora Tora", etc.

But as I've aged, I've simply accepted that we're talking about movies here, be them modern or not - and my knowledge of much of the facts/minutia was detracting from whether or not it was a good movie or not regardless of exacting accuracy.

So...I got over it.

 

[IIowaFarmBoy]

Military mistakes happen in the military all the time.

That said, Easy 506 had tge least direct contact with the enemy of any rifle Co in the 101 in Ww2. Movies of ww2 with blacks intermingled with non black units.

 

[Whiskeydeltadeltatango]

I don't know enough miltary to notice the military flaws but i do notice gun flaws. Like if there is a shootout where nobody reloads. One that was kinda dumb but whatever, in like the first 5 minutes of Yellowstone Costner hugs a horse that has been wounded and puts his head next to the horses, and then fires a 357 up through the horses head, I don't care if the bullet hit him that dude is going to be deaf for a month.

 

[ping72]

I feel the same way when I watch porn. The guys always have small dicks, can barely last 30 minutes, have tiny loads, and the women have to fake moan the entire time.

Totally opposite of my personal experience with OP’s mom.

 

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

I can think of only one war movie without any inaccuracies.

 

[Finance85]

Just got back from watching Land of Bad and the USAF Staff Sergeant (wearing USAF name tapes) was wearing a US Army Staff Sgt OCP insignia. AND her pants weren't bloused...straight all the way to the ankles.

Vs

And while I love Monarch: Legacy of Monsters if Capt Shaw salutes with his hand over his eyebrow one more time...

Yes, basic military mistakes get a reaction from me. The most obvious is when they are able to keep shooting well after their magazines should be empty, or their barrel should have overheated.

 

[binsfeldcyhawk2]

I can think of only one war movie without any inaccuracies.

 

[ping72]

 

[Hoosierhawkeye]

Probably depends on the level of mistakes but I would say that if it's a bad enough mistake that lifetime civilians are catching it, that's pretty bad.

 

[ISUBryceC]

Nope.

I try to suspend disbelief in a movie. Honestly nothing drives me more crazy than people nitpicking stuff in movies.

Yeah, I know the time travel stuff in Interstellar isn’t right. That’s not why I’m here.

 

[IIowaFarmBoy]

I try to suspend disbelief in a movie. Honestly nothing drives me more crazy than people nitpicking stuff in movies.

Yeah, I know the time travel stuff in Interstellar isn’t right. That’s not why I’m here.

Some of b it is serious though. Aside from changing history it impacts lives. For example from Band of Brothers Lt Sobel was nothing like he was portrayed

The Eay Co leader at Foy was known by most as a good leader and was shell shocked leading the attack causing his inaction. Easy had a minor roll at Foy and as portrayed won the day. At Carentan they never made it past the first few buildings.

Accuracy is important.

 

[hawkifann]

I don't actually care what you think of the military movies. There are mistakes in them that I don't care about and mistake that I can't get past. I'm sure there are movies about whatever area of expertise you have that have mistakes you ignore and ones you can't.

Ex. the lack of dude on dude rape in prison movies has to drive you up a wall.

I think this applies in a lot of areas for people with different types of expertise. War stuff mostly doesn’t bother me unless it’s hilariously, obviously terrible because I never served and don’t know all those details. Similarly, I’m not medical, so I can look past a lot of ER/surgery/medical response flub because it’s not my expertise, but there are plenty that make my no-pic wife annoyed to the point of not watching sometimes.

I’ll get frustrated by terrible sports scenes by actors who clearly have no idea what they’re doing or in scenes with hackers/AI/fraud stuff that’s completely unrealistic that may not bother others that don’t have expertise in the field or watch much of whatever sport it is.

I think we all have those spots.

 

[hawkifann]

This is pretty much every movie and show for every discipline. Doctor dramas, lawyer dramas, police, romcoms, sports movies. None of them are accurate. Accuracy makes for boring movies.

I think there’ accurate, inaccurate, clueless and lazy. Lazy annoys me and clueless also sometimes does. Somet a you have to be a little inaccurate just to move a story along or to make a scene work. No issues there for me.…but don’t get something wrong simply by not bothering to research it or making the lazy choice.

All that said, I’m not that much of a critic and can suspend disbelief the vast majority of the time.

 

[Moral]

IT or hacking in movies cracks me up. It's worse than the military mistakes I have seen in movies.

 

[hawkfan0319]

IT or hacking in movies cracks me up. It's worse than the military mistakes I have seen in movies.

You mean this isn't accurate

 

[Moral]

You mean this isn't accurate

That one is accurate.

 

[Sharky1203]

Just got back from watching Land of Bad and the USAF Staff Sergeant (wearing USAF name tapes) was wearing a US Army Staff Sgt OCP insignia. AND her pants weren't bloused...straight all the way to the ankles.

Vs

And while I love Monarch: Legacy of Monsters if Capt Shaw salutes with his hand over his eyebrow one more time...

I used to get pissed off. I guess over time I've come to realize that it's just Hollywood and a fictional story. If it was a documentary, that'd be different.

Let's face it, 90% of our military time is boring and uneventful. It'd make a boring movie if it was about getting ready for a General's inspection and getting everything in perfect order.

 

[sober_teacher]

You mean this isn't accurate

90s movies more than almost anything hilariously frequently didn’t know how to depict anything involving computers.

That said, is it wrong I still weirdly like this movie?

 

[Moral]

I used to get pissed off. I guess over time I've come to realize that it's just Hollywood and a fictional story. If it was a documentary, that'd be different.

Let's face it, 90% of our military time is boring and uneventful. It'd make a boring movie if it was about getting ready for a General's inspection and getting everything in perfect order.

Masters of the Air: FOD Walk

 

[GOHOX69]

Yes. Mig 28. Ugh.

 

[ISUBryceC]

Some of b it is serious though. Aside from changing history it impacts lives. For example from Band of Brothers Lt Sobel was nothing like he was portrayed

The Eay Co leader at Foy was known by most as a good leader and was shell shocked leading the attack causing his inaction. Easy had a minor roll at Foy and as portrayed won the day. At Carentan they never made it past the first few buildings.

Accuracy is important.

And Dan Devine loved Rudy.

Sometimes people make choices to make a better movie.

If people can’t handle that they shouldn’t watch anything based on a true story because there are always liberties taken.

 

[sober_teacher]

And Dan Devine loved Rudy.

Sometimes people make choices to make a better movie.

If people can’t handle that they shouldn’t watch anything based on a true story because there are always liberties taken.

It just depends on the liberties that are taken.

Some are understandable, others change the story completely.

 

[alaskanseminole]

Masters of the Air: FOD Walk

I haven't gotten to that episode yet, but I did a FOD Walk for the Thunderbirds arrival once.

 

[Bierhalter]

Am I crazy or didn't I read that it's actually illegal to make a military uniform in a movie look exactly like the real thing?

 

[Fijimn]

No. And I really only get frustrated at the courtroom/legal stuff that is always all wrong because juries come to court thinking that is how a trial is really conducted.

 

[noleclone2]

Not so much a military issue and more a geographical one, but I use to crack up at Pensacola Wings of Gold late 90s garbage TV show that had tons of scenes with South California mountains and / or desert in the background.

 

[Moral]

I haven't gotten to that episode yet, but I did a FOD Walk for the Thunderbirds arrival once.

I got to refuel them once. I could tell the lady pilot was super into me by the way she ignored me.

 

[ping72]

I love the investigative dramas where they have some crappy security video, pause the screen, push some magical “enhance” button, and suddenly the person‘s face is crystal clear in HD.

 

[Moral]

I love the investigative dramas where they have some crappy security video, pause the screen, push some magical “enhance” button, and suddenly the person‘s face is crystal clear in HD.

 

[h-hawk]

I've often mentioned my loathing of fireball explosions in situations where it just wouldn't happen.

Also, Spielberg talked about how difficult it was to stick with his ordinance expert while making Saving Private Ryan. He said he kept bugging the guy to make explosions bigger but the guy told him if he wanted realism, listen to him.

Humphrey Bogart was drinking with some soldiers at a Hollywood canteen during WW2. They were giving him a hard time about his never running out of ammo in his .45 in the great war movie, Sahara. He nodded, got a far away look in his eyes and told them something like, "Hollywood is a strange and wonderful place."

 

[Nole-4-Life]

90s movies more than almost anything hilariously frequently didn’t know how to depict anything involving computers.

That said, is it wrong I still weirdly like this movie?

I liked too. For a couple of reasons.

 

[alaskanseminole]

 

[IIowaFarmBoy]

And Dan Devine loved Rudy.

Sometimes people make choices to make a better movie.

If people can’t handle that they shouldn’t watch anything based on a true story because there are always liberties taken.

Depends on the liberties. Going back to BoB, the situation at Bastogne was mostly contrived, especially about the nurse. She existed, but the storyline is fiction. Not a lot of harm in that. It does coverup that Easy didn't do much at Bastogne due to their location. The series rolls out like a real-life history. The cult of Easy is phenomenal and a number of fans think they about won the war by themselves and saw relatively little fighting compared to other units in the 101 and other divisions. Much of the time war movies based on fact have a very compelling story standing as it was. Several soldier's lives were heavily tarnished based on that series. They would have had a great story w/o the artistic license.

How many after watching the series truly believe that paratroopers in the 101 couldn't be draftees? Sadly a number think that. One had to volunteer to be a para, but many were draftees.

 

[sober_teacher]

How many after watching the series truly believe that paratroopers in the 101 couldn't be draftees? Sadly a number think that. One had to volunteer to be a para, but many were draftees.

I could see where people got confused there however - the soldiers, both in the testimonials and during the episodes mention on multiple occasions about how they volunteered.

I'm not sure they even mentioned draftees once in the series now that I think about it.

 

[seminole97]

I’ll get frustrated by terrible sports scenes by actors who clearly have no idea what they’re doing or in scenes with hackers/AI/fraud stuff that’s completely unrealistic that may not bother others that don’t have expertise in the field or watch much of whatever sport it is.

I think we all have those spots.

 

[Jimmy McGill]

Real life screw up: MN National Guard artillery unit shot outside the post at Camp Ripley

Shell from Camp Ripley lands on couple's property

Camp Ripley has made some changes in artillery firing after a 102-pound shell landed on a rural Pillager couple's property.

www.mprnews.org

Not the first time either. When I worked at the JAG office during law school, I got quite the history lesson on f' ups up there. Back in the day some people were killed

 

[hawkifann]

View embedded media

Yes.

 

[binsfeldcyhawk2]

Masters of the Air: FOD Walk

FOD walks are the epitome of boring.

They used to give out a FOD finder of the month award when I was at Spangdahlem. Guys would just pick up a pile of rocks or other debris on the side of the taxiway and turn it in to win the award and a one day pass. (guilty )

Not sure why alarm bells didn't go off with the folks that gave out the award..

 

[IIowaFarmBoy]

Am I crazy or didn't I read that it's actually illegal to make a military uniform in a movie look exactly like the real thing?

Not exactly crazy. In some states it is to prevent stolen Valor. Living history soldiers have very accurate unis. No one is getting arrested.

Stolen Valor is an issue. There are some vets that fo that. The Colonel in We Were Soldiers in real life was highly decorated for what he did do but made numerousvfalse claims that he didnt do. After Bob, some 101 soldiers that were later replacements made false claims. Recently a ww2 vet was paraded in a city for fighting on a main church steps. In reality his company fought at a church several miles to the east. His unit never crossed the river. The organizers knew that very well. The soldier didn't know.

If a movie is presenting as accurate using real soldier stories the integrity must be maintained.

 

[tarheelbybirth]

24 used to kill me when they'd give an IP address and any of the numbers were over 254.

Burned my shorts!

I wonder if that's like phone numbers, though. They use the 555 phone prefix because it doesn't exist in real life. Call anything-555-anything and it won't connect. There are lots of people in the country with the phone number 867-5309 who f'n HATED that song.