Movie review thread...
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@victor-meldrew said in Movie review thread...:
@mn5 said in Movie review thread...:
You’re right about Christopher Lee though. A genuine War Hero and a guy who would have been absolutely fascinating to sit down for a yarn with. No one played a bad guy quite like he did.
Like David Niven (another genuine war hero), he refused to talk about his experiences. In Lee's case possibly because a lot of it was classified. Ditto Roger Moore, who was a Captain in Army Intelligence and downplayed that part of his life.
Wiki has it as Captain in Combined Services Entertainments, during post war conscription period..
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@catogrande said in Movie review thread...:
@victor-meldrew said in Movie review thread...:
@mn5 said in Movie review thread...:
You’re right about Christopher Lee though. A genuine War Hero and a guy who would have been absolutely fascinating to sit down for a yarn with. No one played a bad guy quite like he did.
Like David Niven (another genuine war hero), he refused to talk about his experiences. In Lee's case possibly because a lot of it was classified. Ditto Roger Moore, who was a Captain in Army Intelligence and downplayed that part of his life.
Wiki has it as Captain in Combined Services Entertainments, during post war conscription period..
Yeah quite a few of those old school actors were tougher in real life than who they portrayed on screen. Guys like Jack Palance, Charles Bronson and Robert Mitchum spring to mind.
They don’t make them like that anymore.
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@catogrande said in Movie review thread...:
@victor-meldrew said in Movie review thread...:
@mn5 said in Movie review thread...:
You’re right about Christopher Lee though. A genuine War Hero and a guy who would have been absolutely fascinating to sit down for a yarn with. No one played a bad guy quite like he did.
Like David Niven (another genuine war hero), he refused to talk about his experiences. In Lee's case possibly because a lot of it was classified. Ditto Roger Moore, who was a Captain in Army Intelligence and downplayed that part of his life.
Wiki has it as Captain in Combined Services Entertainments, during post war conscription period..
IIRC in book he says he was selected for Intelligence Corps, made an Officer and then went into entertainment after they found out he was no good. I think he was working undercover...
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@mn5 said in Movie review thread...:
@catogrande said in Movie review thread...:
@victor-meldrew said in Movie review thread...:
@mn5 said in Movie review thread...:
You’re right about Christopher Lee though. A genuine War Hero and a guy who would have been absolutely fascinating to sit down for a yarn with. No one played a bad guy quite like he did.
Like David Niven (another genuine war hero), he refused to talk about his experiences. In Lee's case possibly because a lot of it was classified. Ditto Roger Moore, who was a Captain in Army Intelligence and downplayed that part of his life.
Wiki has it as Captain in Combined Services Entertainments, during post war conscription period..
Yeah quite a few of those old school actors were tougher in real life than who they portrayed on screen. Guys like Jack Palance, Charles Bronson and Robert Mitchum spring to mind.
They don’t make them like that anymore.
Yeah, many blokes from that era seriously hard men. Even Moore, who grew up in a rough part of London, was pretty tough in real-life when he wanted to be. Lee Marvin (another hard bastard), once picked a fight with him and lost, and called Moore "as hard as granite."
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@victor-meldrew said in Movie review thread...:
@mn5 said in Movie review thread...:
@catogrande said in Movie review thread...:
@victor-meldrew said in Movie review thread...:
@mn5 said in Movie review thread...:
You’re right about Christopher Lee though. A genuine War Hero and a guy who would have been absolutely fascinating to sit down for a yarn with. No one played a bad guy quite like he did.
Like David Niven (another genuine war hero), he refused to talk about his experiences. In Lee's case possibly because a lot of it was classified. Ditto Roger Moore, who was a Captain in Army Intelligence and downplayed that part of his life.
Wiki has it as Captain in Combined Services Entertainments, during post war conscription period..
Yeah quite a few of those old school actors were tougher in real life than who they portrayed on screen. Guys like Jack Palance, Charles Bronson and Robert Mitchum spring to mind.
They don’t make them like that anymore.
Some blokes from that era seriously hard men. Moore, who grew up in a rough part of London, was pretty tough in real-life when he wanted to be. Lee Marvin (another hard bastard), once picked a fight with him and lost, and called Moore "as hard as granite."
Yeah I heard about that, not sure how much I believe it though ? His on screen fighting wasn’t entirely convincing, he looked downright shit in some scenes. Sean Connery once beat up a few Edinburgh gang members ( prompting them to try and get him to join ) and George Lazenby was an Australian army combat instructor who trained with Bruce Lee so I think it’s fair to say they had some credentials.
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Audie Murphy was another one - he was one of the most decorated American soldiers of WW2. He also had severe PTSD.
Murphy received the Medal of Honor for valor that he demonstrated at the age of 19 for single-handedly holding off a company of German soldiers for an hour at the Colmar Pocket in France in January 1945, then leading a successful counterattack while wounded and out of ammunition.
Dirk Bogarde was also an intelligence officer in the British Army in WW2.
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If you like Robert Mitchum (and you should!) then you have to watch The Friends of Eddie Coyle. One of the greatest crime movies. Superb melancholic performance from Mitchum.
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@tim said in Movie review thread...:
If you like Robert Mitchum (and you should!) then you have to watch The Friends of Eddie Coyle. One of the greatest crime movies. Superb melancholic performance from Mitchum.
Robert Mitchum - Hollywood outsider
Ian Johnston celebrates the original Hollywood outsider, droopy-lidded actor, hellraiser and walking contradiction, Robert Mitchum
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@victor-meldrew said in Movie review thread...:
@mn5 said in Movie review thread...:
You’re right about Christopher Lee though. A genuine War Hero and a guy who would have been absolutely fascinating to sit down for a yarn with. No one played a bad guy quite like he did.
Like David Niven (another genuine war hero), he refused to talk much about his experiences. In Lee's case possibly because a lot of it was classified. Ditto Roger Moore, who was a Captain in Army Intelligence and downplayed that part of his life.
Is there a rose-coloured revisionism going on here? Wikipedia has Lee as an intelligence officer in the RAF.
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@victor-meldrew Nice, haven't seen that one, but definitely on my watch list!
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@victor-meldrew watched Gene Hackman last night engage in serious over acting in the original Poseidon Adventure. That has not aged well.
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@antipodean said in Movie review thread...:
Is there a rose-coloured revisionism going on here? Wikipedia has Lee as an intelligence officer in the RAF.
Nope. Lee was in the LRDG, SOE & the SAS.
Those people just didn't want to talk about it or make a big thing about it. David Niven worked behind enemy lines after the Normandy invasion & received one of the highest US military awards that can be awarded to a non-US citizen and, like Lee, always refused to talk about his military service:
I will, however, tell you just one thing about the war, my first story and my last. I was asked by some American friends to search out the grave of their son near Bastogne. I found it where they told me I would, but it was among 27,000 others, and I told myself that here, Niven, were 27,000 reasons why you should keep your mouth shut after the war.
From SAS and Gurkhas to Dracula and Saruman: The unique life of Sir Christopher Lee
Considered one of the most prolific actors in the history of films, Sir Christopher Lee was a true on-screen legend.
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@mn5 said in Movie review thread...:
Yeah I heard about that, not sure how much I believe it though ? His on screen fighting wasn’t entirely convincing, he looked downright shit in some scenes.
Yeah, he wasn't the greatest physical actor, but I guess you don't become a Captain in the British Army by being a complete pussy. Moore could actually act though - check out The Man Who Haunted Himself
Another Bond who's said to be a bit of a hard man was Tim Dalton. Read he used to do a lot of his own stunts and the stunt crew rated him highly.
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@victor-meldrew I've seen enough people in my time claim false Valor or embellished their careers to smell a rat from a mile away.
As it turns out I'm not alone.
Who dares lies: why do so many men pretend to have been in the SAS? | The Spectator Australia
Sir Christopher Lee, who died last month aged 93, knew how to play a part. One of the consummate actors of his generation, whose career spanned nearly seven decades, his versatility on stage and…
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If you want to see another truly shit conformance by a great actor, check out Brando in The Island of Dr Moreau
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@antipodean said in Movie review thread...:
I've seen enough people in my time claim false Valor or embellished their careers to smell a rat from a mile away.
Well I've never met him so I really can't comment. What was he like?
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@victor-meldrew said in Movie review thread...:
If you want to see another truly shit conformance by a great actor, check out Brando in The Island of Dr Moreau
Yes I've seen that travesty. Hard to believe it's the same actor that was such a presence in A Streetcar named Desire or so brilliantly portrayed Colonel Kurtz.
Perhaps he needed the money. The Willis-Cage effect?
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@victor-meldrew said in Movie review thread...:
@antipodean said in Movie review thread...:
I've seen enough people in my time claim false Valor or embellished their careers to smell a rat from a mile away.
Well I've never met him so I really can't comment. What was he like?
It's the patter; bullshit claims of secrecy, avoidance of details, etc.
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@antipodean said in Movie review thread...:
It's the patter; bullshit claims of secrecy, avoidance of details, etc.
From personal experience, Lee sounds pretty normal to me.
My ex-FiL (WO1 in the REME) would talk about his military career pretty openly, but never, ever about his time in Oman in the early-70's. We only found out after his death he was involved with running transport for the Hereford folks.
PS: Niven's record is pretty well documented and he opened up about his war experiences just before he died. It was pretty horrific and the experiences haunted him all his life and that was the main reason he never talked about them.
Audie Murphy - Wikipedia
The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) ⭐ 7.4 | Crime, Drama
