The trailers made me think Fraser was an inspired choice.
I think the actor playing Montgomery was fine. But the problem with Eisenhower might not be Fraser - it might be that Eisenhower himself just wasn’t very cinematic.
He was the opposite of a Patton or a MacArthur in that he wasn’t an attention seeker. As I mentioned, Eisenhower did have a temper, but my reading is that he was somewhat ashamed of this and felt it was a weakness. What was realistic is that the film shows him smoking a lot. He quit during his presidency, with difficulty, by telling himself others who were unable to do so were weaker.
There’s a story recounted in one of Richard Rhodes books that I think encapsulates Eisenhower’s style as a general and a leader really well. At the end of the war in Europe he needed to send a suitable message about the German surrender being officially signed. He had his staff work on it and they presented their ideas, none of which seemed quite right. As told by one of the people involved:
"The Supreme Commander listened quietly for a time, thanked everyone for trying and dictated his own unadorned report:
The mission of this Allied force was fulfilled at 0241, local time, May 7th, 1945."
That’s Eisenhower. He wasn’t dramatic, he wasn’t a showman. I’ve come to think he was underrated as a president.
A friend of mine said it is good. I plan to see it.
You raise some good points.
The movie is finally on Amazon. $20 rental or $25 to buy.
I’ll wait awhile for the rental to get reasonable.
I remember when new release rentals made sense. The rental store would stock extra vhs copies to meet demand.
Now with digital streaming they hammer anyone that wants to see a hot new release.
Checking Amazon, it’s $18 for the DVD or $23 for Blu-Ray but you’ll have to wait a month. Or you can wait to see which streaming service has it available to subscribers. So yes, if you missed the movie in the theater and want to see it at home now, they expect you to pay.
I should get to see the movie in another month or two. Hopefully on one of my streaming subscriptions.
Do you subscribe to Peacock? Because the Wikipedia article says that the North American distribution rights were bought by Focus Features, a division of Universal Pictures, part of NBCUniversal which is itself owned by Comcast, so Peacock is the probable streamer.
I have Peacock and Max.
In that case, if you’re patient, you may be able to see it for free. (And if there’s something else you want to see but it’s on a streaming service you don’t already subscribe to, see if you can get a one-week or one-month free trial. Watch it and anything else you might like and then cancel. Or even just pay for a full month of the service and then cancel.)
Good points. Thanks
Think about the logistics of that. Transport, of course, to get people to where they are supposed to be in a countryside devoid of signposts, but there’s all the rest. They needed to be fed and watered for a start, which meant advance preparation, especially given the shortages at the time. They would need shelter – the weather forecast wasn’t good – and you don’t want them to be cold and miserable before they even embark.
Individuals will have been issued with their own kit and I can imagine some rigorous inspections to make sure they have what they are supposed to have and don’t have what they shouldn’t (alcohol?)
Ron Howard’s said he directed the actors in Apollo 13 to argue over who was responsible for the cryotank explosion in order to create tension and drama.
Astronauts aren’t like that. They remain super cool in a crisis, and that scene would have been deadly dull if it had been played as in real life.
Worse than that - they made it look like Jack Swigert (played by Kevin Bacon) wasn’t up to the task and had weak piloting skills. Nothing could have been further from the truth. But Swigert died in the 80s and wasn’t around to dispute it. Great movie, but I think that was a lousy thing to do.
Which is to say, I understand the need to make movies entertaining. Neither Apollo 13 nor Pressure were documentaries. But there’s a line…
In the TV miniseries Ike (1979), Eisenhower was played by Robert Duvall. The writers gave him the line “We’ve whupped 'em!” when proclaiming VE Day, which makes me groan even now.