"The magic BAR" Topic

Just watched Hacksaw Ridge, I was going to go on a rant about it. But instead, I'll focus on the Magic-BAR

The Cliche tough guy has a BAR, I noticed right away it didn't look right, when he used it, it looked more like he was holding a plastic BB gun, there was no mass to it at all, then he turned on the laser bullets, where he apernatly had no recoil or bullet spread, mowing down Japanese soldiers like he was the Terminator with a minigun. So I paid more attention, in one scene he has the BAR on some sand, and as he fires it, it doesn't move at all, I mean it doesn't even shake a little.

Either they are using the weakest blank rounds ever or this is digitally added flash and brass. Seriously didn't anyone tell this actor that he has to fake the recoil?

I read where this movie got a standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival. Personally I thought it was anything but epic greatness. The entire business of the Army prosecuting him for being a "conchie" was overblown to the point of absurdity. The battle scenes where men are fighting practically shoulder to shoulder were simply violent pornography. Honestly I remember little about it other than the really superb performance by the actor portraying the hero and the men climbing boarding nets up the cliff. I looked the fight up in the US Official History, "Okinawa: The Last Battle" and they did have to scale the cliff that way. I did notice the BAR because I've held the beast in my hands and it's a load. Hosing down the neighborhood as described above is just Hollyweird at their worst. That and what I call "The Endless Magazine". Weapond are not like The Energizer Bunny. They don't just keep "going and going".

Yes the movie is yet another one of Mel Gibsons violent fetish movies.

Don't throw the story of that courageous Corpsman
out with the Hollywood schlock, Gunfreak.

The SO at Cannes was probably for the man who was
the subject of the story rather than the film itself.

Adding flash and bang to movies with computers has really changed the way guns are used in movies. Notice the Hero/Bad guy always chambers a round even if he just fired.

Ed….I bet you are right that the SO at Cannes was for the subject of the story and for the fine portrayal by the movie's star rather than for the film or director.

Don't throw the story of that courageous Corpsman
out with the Hollywood schlock, Gunfreak.

The problem is the silliness ruins what would have been a great movie. This is basically exactly the same thing that happened to Windtalkers. Interesting story could have been great, ended up stupid and silly and so dishonouring the sacrifice of those who fought and died.
Same story done in the style of the Pacific would have been great, the Pacific is plenty bloody and gory. But keeps it authentic and realistic. Hacksaw ridge is just half a step away from being Kill bill style silly over the top gore.

I think cosmicbank nailed it – with battle effects, from gunfire to explosions, being added in CGI it changes how the action flows. Less realistic, people don't act and move the same as when a movie uses practical effects. Fired a BAR once, btw, thing is damn heavy, has a serious recoil and a relatively slow rate of fire.

I've never fired a BAR but I've held one, and yes it's a heavy SOB.
Even Riben in SPR was mabye a bit to fast on the movement with his BAR, but it did have heft to it. And it defiantly showed recoil. And the bullets when hitting stuff had power and heft to then. In this movie the bullets are more like laser rounds.

"The problem is the silliness ruins what would have been a great movie. This is basically exactly the same thing that happened to XXXXXX. Interesting story could have been great, ended up stupid and silly and so dishonouring the sacrifice of those who fought and died."

Yes, this is exactly what I thought about "Braveheart" and applies as well to many other "historical" movies.

Yes, the story was good, but there were parts that drove me nuts. A guy with a hand grenade or a mortar could take out an entire platoon since they were so tightly packed! That would be a death sentence in real world!

That would be a death sentence in real world!

And so it was in the movie as it looked like the regiment suffered 90% casualties in the first 5 minutes. Who ever was in charge of the unit should be shot for working for Japanese.

Anyone else read Richard Powell's The Soldier? At one point our viewpoint character, a disgraced West Pointer, asks a big hulking soldier what happens when you fire the BAR on full auto.

"Rides up on other guys. Don't ride up none on me." I always liked Kowalski.

Anyway, the book might be worth looking up. Powell actually served in the South Pacific, and you can see where he's worked in various bits of history.

Gee did you talk about the Hollywood six shooters that shot all day. I also counted the number of rounds that the the Hydra Spy fired from his Walther P-38 ( I own one) and stopped counting at 10. Also, in Battle of the Bulge (the movie) both sides were using American tanks.

It is a movie about a real person long after the war he fought in is over. The majority of those watching would not know what a BAR is much less know how many rounds it fired. The main character is real and his actions are known (yes he did do them) and that is what the movie is about!

"Also, in Battle of the Bulge (the movie) both sides were using American tanks."
Blame that on the Army Air Corp, and the Soviet Army, they should have left some tanks untouched for the post war movie business

I saw this in a theater but can't say I can picture this. But wouldn't supriseme its electronic flash. I didnt get the overblown conshy either, this was mid war and the army probably ran into thousands of others by now. And as a medic in Band of Brothers for one story they were very well taken care of by their unit.

If you watch just about any older movie you can catch the actors occasionally (sometime often) using non-firing props. Many times, the functioning (sometimes poorly) weapons are in the foreground while those in the back ground have just props. In the old westerns the guns had baking soda in them so they "smoked" then the hammer fell and the Foley artist later added the sound of the gun firing. I think the worst example I can remember is the movie Dark of the Sun where the hero Rod Taylor is firing a very obvious prop .50 cal at an aircraft, he stands there shaking it as he pretends to fire.

This is why we can't have nice things.

Hollywood produces a big budget war movie. They do add a love story but they add it in sensibly. They follow history reasonably well. They do, after all, have to frame it as a movie.

And they attempt to capture the intensity within a field of view the camera and we argue tactics. An untrained individual holding a stick doesn't act as if it's a fully automatic rifle exactly right. And yes, the explosions are fueled by gasoline to get the red and yellow firey look we all expect.

It's no wonder we don't get more than a couple a year. We're an ungrateful lot.

Local WWII re-enactment guys let you fire their propane fueled Ma Deuce for ten bucks. It bucked and hammered nicely, but from where I observed could not see the feed line. Shouldda seen the MG42 all propaned up…nice ripple and buck, but not one empty flying out of the thing. huh. Inventive yes. But. You lose the joy pretty quick.