Heartbreak Ridge
Pure Eastwood, before he sold his soul to Steven Spielberg. Heartbreak Ridge is the tale of an old Marine sergeant who is at the tail-end of his career. Fact is, if you do the math on the character, he’s waaaaay past retirement, having served at Heartbreak Ridge during the Korean War. But, this tough old goat takes over a platoon of losers, the sort of people who filled the military when Jimmy Carter was president. In some ways, it’s the story of how Reagan repaired America’s military and restored our greatness. Learn more.
The Rookie
Last night I watched a favorite movie that speaks to what’s great about America. The Rookie, starring Dennis Quaid as a high school chemistry teacher who had tried but never made it to the big leagues. As part of a challenge from the high school baseball team he coaches, he makes another run at major league baseball as a pitcher. Now, he’s in his mid-thirties, so he’s past it. But he’s not. he makes it. And the movie is based on a true story. The movie is also an example of Disney at its best, before the Hollywood perverts took it over and started churning out filth under the Disney banner. Sure, it’s quaint and a definitely a movie aimed at children and families, but it’s a wonderfully inspiring movie.
Sergeant York
Alvin York was a hellion from the Tennessee Valley, from Appalachia. In 1914 he found truth in the Bible, mended his ways, and resisted the draft for World War I because it would involve killing, but once he went, the sharpshooter became the biggest American hero of the war. The movie stars Gary Cooper and captures the unassuming American character better than any other movie I can think of. Pure Gary Cooper.
Rather than prattle on about the movie, just take a look at the link. A great movie about a great American. When you read the preconditions York set for a film about his life, you will understand what it means to be a great American–and also see how far we have fallen as a people.
The Patriot
Mel Gibson starred in the 2000 movie The Patriot, the story of a militia commander fighting the British army in the Carolinas and Virginia during the Revolutionary War. Sadly, Gibson’s religious faith and his love of America seem to have left him blacklisted in Hollywood, which is run by people who are often overtly Marxist, who hate America, and want to promote perversion at ever turn.
The only major downside of The Patriot is that Gibson recycled the storyline from Braveheart.
The upside? His character, Benjamin Martin, is inspired partly by Francis Marion, the famous “Swamp Fox” guerilla fighter of the Revolution. The character also draws on aspects of Benjamin Williams, a Colonel in the Continental army.
The Patriot is beautifully shot, has a dash Mel Gibson humor, a quaint love story built around Heath Ledger, and for better or worse twists history a bit to suit the storyline. It captures the theory of a citizen’s militia fairly well, and the struggle in the southern colonies, where independence from England was won. Without the Southerners fighting, without the so-called “Rednecks” taking up arms, Boston and New York never would have been free. Doesn’t that sound familiar?
The major battle scene draws on aspects of two pivotal battles: the Battle of Guildford Courthouse, and The Battle of the Cowpens.
One might also want to look into the history of The Battle of King’s Mountain, which was the true turning point of the war, when the “overmountain men,” the Scot-Irish, came out of the wilderness to fight the British.
The movie also features Jason Isaacs as Col. William Tavington, a loose interpretation of Revolutionary war figure Banastre Tarleton, a colonial loyalist known for his sometimes merciless tactics on the battle field. Some criticized Gibson and director Roland Emmerich for portraying Tavington and his Dragoons as precursors to the Waffen SS, but the British have never been known for their kindness in military matters.
