"Presley O’Bannon: Birth of a Marine Legend" Topic

In April 1805, a ragtag "army" stood outside the walls of Derna, a fortified city on the North African coast, the men's gaunt faces reflecting the fatigue of having marched across more than 500 miles of desert. They were a collection of Bedouin tribesmen, about a hundred Greek mercenaries, seven U.S. Marines, two Navy midshipmen, and nearly two hundred followers of Hamet Karamanli, an ousted Tripolitan pasha hoping to take back the throne from his younger brother, Yusif Karamanli…

Proceedings magazine: link

The movie "Tripoli" is a fictionalized version of this story. I remember seeing it, but don't remember it well enough to say how historically accurate the costumes and weapons were.

Grelber

Grelber;
The movie is schlock history for costumes. What should have been round hats was replaced by shakos and Marines wearing backpacks on horses….gah!

That being said, it did a great job communicating the politics and the entangled history of the period.

For that, I showed it at OttoCon 2024 in the Military Science Theater 2000 on Friday night.

Personally, I think this would be a great anti-Super Hero historical movie, where we could look at a historical character and make a great movie out of it that could bring history to life instead of recycling a Marvel comic book hero.

My two Pine Tree Shillings worth.

Eric

Last week at Cold Wars there was a game put on of the Battle of Derna.

It was an excellent game that won the Best Theme Award for the U.S. Navy and Marines convention theme. It was a brilliant idea!

Kim

"From the shores of Tripoli…"