Hot babes are surprisingly common on the front lines, and always treated respectfully when encountered. Who knew?
To add to that, heavily armed common soldiers invading an enemy country never rape the women.
The only such rape that has ever occured was in “Casualties of War” in 1989. Never before, and never since.
On the other hand, commanding officers frequently attempt to rape captive women, but only after dismissing their subordinates and locking the door with orders not to be disturbed.
What I learned from war movies:
Basically, everyone is a soldier. No one repairs engines, cleans out latrines, or manages the paperwork involved in ordering supplies. We don’t know who takes care of all the infrastructure, and we don’t much care. Maybe the enemy does it for us.
The enemy was us. We fought ourselves. I mean, we killed a few hundred thousand Vietnamese and all, but it was basically a bad thing for us.
Actually, I think there was a brief instance of rape shown in Platoon, in the village that subsequently gets torched. I may be misremembering.
Everyone has an iron constitution and rarely has to go to the bathroom. Eating seems to be optional too.
Critical events and decisions always happen in dramatic slo-mo. If the commander makers a bad decision, someone always announces it’s a bad decision before the commander finishes speaking.
The person carrying the radio will never hunch completely down, out of the line of fire. He will be shot… through the radio pack itself.
Foreign language films have made up over 20% of the Best Cinematography nominees of the last 7 years–without question the highest percentage of any of the Oscar feature film categories (aside from Foreign Language Film, obviously).
There is always only one guy in the platoon (always a white guy) who wears glasses; they are invariably the big black Birth Control Glasses.
The more entertaining the soldier is, the less likely he will be to survive. In fact, his death will tend to be particularly noteworthy (ie: Stabbed, killed by a booby trap, or blown up by a tank).
Ioan Gruffudd always plays an officer. This officer is never of the same nationality as Ioan Gruffudd, and only rarely the same nationality as another officer he has played in a movie.
Some poor soldier will get a Dear John letter from his bitchy girlfriend back home.
“Incidentally, I would not have wanted Rambo in my rifle section: too volatile by half, and anyone who disdains a shirt in jungle country is asking for trouble.” George MacDonald Fraser, The Hollywood History Of The World.
Yelling “Incoming!” will always make shells far from the sky. It very likely is what summons the shells in the first place. No one ever gets jittery and says “Incoming!” as a false alarm.
When the protagonist’s best friend gets killed–and they always do–the protagonist has to clutch said friend’s body to his chest, look up at the rainy sky, and cry “NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” at the top of his lungs.
It’s such a cliche that it’s a cliche to even mention it.
The Germans actually spoke english with a German accent. POW camps are a lot like summer camp. Colonel in charge of the POW camp is usually a socially insecure wimp in need of approval from the POW’s. Getting in and out of a POW camp is like escaping from the girls dorm. The teepot has a microphone in it.
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As opposed to speaking English with a British accent like the Ancient Romans did?
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Tim Allen of “Home Improvement” fame once described in detail how summer camp is in fact a lot like an incarceration in a State penitentiary (he has experience with both) in his first book, Never Stand To Close To A Naked Man.
So, another couple things I learned from war movies:
The guy from Texas always talks with a lazy drawl, and is always cool during stressful situations.
All Drill Instructors bear an uncanny resemblance to R Lee Ermy, even in the future.
Every resident of the battle area is a member of the resistance and will risk not only their own lives, but the survival of the entire village to hide you or smuggle you back to your unit.
An abbey full of cloistered nuns is never surprised to find an injured paratrooper in the courtyard.
The Germans were somehow able to counterattack with massive numbers of men and tanks about 40 times per week.
Stalin did everything, I mean everything, short of fighting. Including distribution of war material around Moscow.
Shells make gas-bomb fireballs instead of throwing up loose debris from the ground.
Every other soldier in Vietnam was Special Forces.
No, you are correct. Charlie Sheen’s character comes upon a group of about 4 guys who have a Vietnamese preteen behind a tree. He makes a fuss and they let her go.
But, we see that Sgt. Elias was aware of the assault but did nothing to stop it until Sheen’s character objected.
Never, ever play the harmonica. Doing so guarantees you’ll be the first in your platoon to stop a bullet.
Same goes with showing your girlfriend’s picture.