# Oi, Hollywood! Americans did NOT win the Battle of Britain **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 1, 2006, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oi-hollywood-americans-did-not-win-the-battle-of-britain/371111 "2006-09-01T19:35:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oi-hollywood-americans-did-not-win-the-battle-of-britain/371111/1 "2006-09-01T19:35:39Z")
So Hollywood is attempting [yet another rewrite of history](http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/film/news/article55566.ece). And it’s with Tom Cruise. And they’re highlighting someone who didn’t really do much. Just fuck right off; _‘How Americans Won The Battle of Britain’_ is **not** going to be appreciated. You helped, and your help was and remains much appreciated, but this film will do a great disservice to a great many people. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oi-hollywood-americans-did-not-win-the-battle-of-britain/371111/2 "2006-09-01T19:43:05Z")
Oh yeah? You’ve never heard of a guy? From America? Called Superman? Hello?!?!? ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oi-hollywood-americans-did-not-win-the-battle-of-britain/371111/3 "2006-09-01T19:51:09Z")
While you’re at it, don’t forget that America did not reall free [Burma.](http://www.errolflynn.net/Filmography/ob.htm) ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oi-hollywood-americans-did-not-win-the-battle-of-britain/371111/4 "2006-09-01T19:52:31Z")
They should make him the same guy they inserted into _The Great Escape_. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oi-hollywood-americans-did-not-win-the-battle-of-britain/371111/5 "2006-09-01T19:52:34Z")
They **really** didn’t. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oi-hollywood-americans-did-not-win-the-battle-of-britain/371111/6 "2006-09-01T19:54:09Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] Tom Cruise. [/QUOTE] Tom Cruise? He’s too young to have won the battle of britain. I’m sure it was Steve McQueen. He pulled some clever trick with CO[sub]2[/sub] cylinders, and the Nazis all ran away. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oi-hollywood-americans-did-not-win-the-battle-of-britain/371111/7 "2006-09-01T19:55:02Z")
[QUOTE=Lemur866] Oh yeah? You’ve never heard of a guy? From America? Called Superman? Hello?!?!? [/QUOTE] In the FIRST place, Superman is not from America. He’s from KRYPTON. In the SECOND place, he did not play any major role in the overseas war effort, being constrained to stay out of Axis-controlled territories because of Hitler’s possession of the Spear of Destiny. In the THIRD place, the only American super-hero to play a decisive part in winning the Battle of Britain was Steve Rogers. What? ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oi-hollywood-americans-did-not-win-the-battle-of-britain/371111/8 "2006-09-01T19:57:31Z")
To be fair the Luftwaffe wouldn’t stand a chance against his F-14. ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oi-hollywood-americans-did-not-win-the-battle-of-britain/371111/9 "2006-09-01T20:01:57Z")
How embarrassing. :rolleyes: Freaking Hollywood. How many heroes in that war? Australian, American, Canadian, English, even \ French, (list is not complete) and they have to do this… I forgave U571 by rationalizing that several Enigma’s were captured during the course of the war and we can pretend the movie was talking about a different one, but leave the freakin’ Battle of Britain alone, for crying out loud. Maybe the Brits could make a movie about saving the poor Americans at the Battle of the Bulge, or pulling our butts out of Operation Market Garden after MacArthur started shooting keeshonds and hippies. As an American, I apologize to the British for yet another Hollywood POS. ---
**Author:** ![Waverly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/57b2e6/32.png) [@Waverly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waverly)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oi-hollywood-americans-did-not-win-the-battle-of-britain/371111/10 "2006-09-01T20:03:30Z")
You really aren’t going to like my new screenplay, in which John Travolta, playing Batman, leads the Americans to victory at Hastings in 1066. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oi-hollywood-americans-did-not-win-the-battle-of-britain/371111/11 "2006-09-01T20:09:26Z")
[QUOTE=Skald the Rhymer] In the FIRST place, Superman is not from America. He’s from KRYPTON. [/QUOTE] Um… Truth, Justice, and the Kryptonic Way? Hello?!? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oi-hollywood-americans-did-not-win-the-battle-of-britain/371111/12 "2006-09-01T20:13:09Z")
[QUOTE=Waverly] You really aren’t going to like my new screenplay, in which John Travolta, playing Batman, leads the Americans to victory at Hastings in 1066. [/QUOTE] Why, does it have sucky dialog or something? ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oi-hollywood-americans-did-not-win-the-battle-of-britain/371111/13 "2006-09-01T20:20:35Z")
[QUOTE=Skald the Rhymer] In the FIRST place, Superman is not from America. He’s from KRYPTON. [/QUOTE] Yeah right. I bet that next you’re going to try to tell us that Jesus wasn’t born here either. Why do you hate America? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oi-hollywood-americans-did-not-win-the-battle-of-britain/371111/14 "2006-09-01T20:23:27Z")
If this film is presented as represented, I’ll be disgusted to an extreme measure. I mean, really angry, that the memory of the supremely brave people of (IIRC) British, Canadian and Polish nationality (and one American), who won that particular, vast battle, against supreme odds, is misrepresented. Big _if_, though. At present, the article is based purely on speculation, so I’ll reserve judgement until the movie is released (though the evidence presented on the sidebar of the article doesn’t bode well). ---
**Author:** ![Waverly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/57b2e6/32.png) [@Waverly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waverly)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oi-hollywood-americans-did-not-win-the-battle-of-britain/371111/15 "2006-09-01T20:26:23Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] Why, does it have sucky dialog or something? [/QUOTE] Not at all, and the score is going to be by Frank Stallone, so I’ve got a lot of musical montages. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oi-hollywood-americans-did-not-win-the-battle-of-britain/371111/16 "2006-09-01T20:32:55Z")
[QUOTE=Waverly] Not at all, and the score is going to be by Frank Stallone, so I’ve got a lot of musical montages. [/QUOTE] :dubious: I see no mention of an animatronic money. I’ll pass. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oi-hollywood-americans-did-not-win-the-battle-of-britain/371111/17 "2006-09-01T20:38:37Z")
Isn’t Lord High Savior Tom a liitle too old to be playing this guy in the first place? A 44 yr old playing a 29 yr old. Oh well, if a 27 yr old actor can play a high school student … ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oi-hollywood-americans-did-not-win-the-battle-of-britain/371111/18 "2006-09-01T20:44:49Z")
Next you’re going to tell me that Mel Gibson didn’t singlehandedly win the Battle of Yorktown by mowing down Redcoats with his M-16. You can just take your revisionist history elsewhere, mister. I think you Brits are all mixed up in your heads. If a country has too much history, its people tend to get things all mixed up. Fortunately, we Americans don’t remember anything before the last election. It keeps our mind free of distractions and confusing facts. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oi-hollywood-americans-did-not-win-the-battle-of-britain/371111/19 "2006-09-01T20:46:13Z")
I can understand some sensitivity about presenting WWII history accurately and honoring those responsible for heroic deeds, but the inaccuracy of this passage in the article makes me wonder if they’re jumping the gun and exaggerating just a wee bit about what the new movie will show: _"Hollywood’s version of the Second World War has already shown Americans capturing the Enigma code machine in U571 (they didn’t) and leading The Great Escape from a German prisoner of war camp (also not true)._ **U-571** ’s highly fictionalized plot bore no resemblance to any Allied capture of Enigma machines (the closing credits listed several cases where Enigmas were recovered, largely by British forces with one circa 1943 instance where the American navy was responsible). As I recall, British recoveries involved things like raiding German weather ships, as well as one incident where a British naval team went aboard a captured U-boat (showing conspicuous bravery, as it had been rigged with explosive charges by the crew abandoning ship) to recover documents and an Enigma machine. Heroic as that was, it probably would have made a short and lousy movie. **The Great Escape** clearly had Brits leading the way and a couple of Americans thrown in for marketing purposes. If it’s any consolation, Hollywood doesn’t set out to pick on the British. We’ve got tons of inaccuracies and exaggerations about our _own_ history to contend with (hint: Oliver Stone). Psst - an American studio is planning a movie showing that the Battle of Jutland was won by a guy from Maine in a rowboat. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oi-hollywood-americans-did-not-win-the-battle-of-britain/371111/20 "2006-09-01T20:50:44Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] Um… Truth, Justice, and the Kryptonic Way? Hello?!? [/QUOTE] He’s Kryptonian American-you got something against immigrants? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oi-hollywood-americans-did-not-win-the-battle-of-britain/371111.md?page=2)