… of “An Officer and A Movie” on the Military Channel.
Wonder what prompted that?
Q
Beats me. You know about Blue Diamond brand packaged nuts? I got to where every time I saw Lou I thought “Blue Diamond Phillips” and it’s been hard to shake. I seem to recall one decent role he had, but I’d have to go to IMDb to figure out which one it was.
The OP wasn’t really fair, Zeldar, I should have explained my sarcasm. Sorry.
Apparently, that “veteran actor” description “stuck in the craw” of some real vets, since LDP has never served a day in our military, and the play on words stuck out like a turd in a punchbowl.
I like watching The Military Channel, and this was a good decision on their part, IMO.
I do like the actor and feel he was the one best cast in the Busey fiasco film about Buddy Holly. Was that the role you remember, Z, as Richie Valens?
We very badly need a new biopic for Buddy.
Thanks
Q
You could be right about LDP’s good role, but maybe I was also unfair in that he may have had more than one, because I was thinking of Young Guns (I believe) where his character was well drawn. There might even be another one or two that I thought he did well in.
You are too right about the Buddy Holly situation. It would be a major feat for some studio to find the right combination of singing ability, looks, charm and sass to pull off a realistic Buddy casting. I wasn’t overly thrilled with Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash, but it wasn’t bad casting. Gary Busey was bad casting.
Surprise, Q! I went ahead and looked at IMDb to be sure I was thinking right about LDP’s career, and it appears we both had the Richie Valens role in The Buddy Holly Story (1978) as Lou’s but it was La Bamba (1987) instead.
First, it’s Ritchie Valens (note the ‘t’).
Second, I think the military people are riled up because it is called ‘An Officer and a Movie’ and since LDP has never been in the military, he certainly could never have been an officer.
No, it’s “Officer” because they get a guest who actually is a veteran. It’s not a reference to LDP.
They did The Dirty Dozen this past weekend, and the guest was a retired special forces Major. Tora Tora Tora featured a WW2 veteran guest.
Correction noted. IMDb has it wrong in one place and I copied that one. I assume that Ritchie Valens - Wikipedia is reliable.
Gripe: They play those movies over and over, ad infinitum, don’t they?
What? Can’t they go out and rent something better and a bit more current?
Seems all they change are the officers.
And don’t misunderstand me: I love “The Dirty Dozen” and the cinematography.
Lee Marvin also can do no wrong, but jesus, there are a few other great war films around, ya know, TMC? 
Q
PS: I absolutely love watching and listening to the WWII pilots and their stories. The Tankers as well. You too?
I wonder if LDP has a new agent or something. He was a contestant on Food Network’s celebrity cook-off show and won it. Not only did he show his cooking skills, he was extremely charismatic and funny. I can definitely see him as a good host.
His dad was a Naval officer and he was born on a military base, so I guess that’s the connection.
He also won an award for his support of Filipino soldiers, which I think is highly commendable for this young man, but still, the distinction needed to be drawn, it was, and I hope that everyone’s okay with that.
He really is an affable young guy, and like Gary Sinise (whom I also respect), cares about us Vets.
And not to beat my head against a dead horse, but the movies thing?
Man! I could name you a bunch I’d like to see, and wouldn’t it also be great if they had limited interruptions? In many of the breaks all you see are Military Channel “promo” spots for upcoming shows, anyway.
Question: The shows “WWII In Colour”. They’re colorized, right?
Thanks and Oooo-Rah!
Q
Some look like they are, but I don’t know for sure.
That may have been a dumb question, because when the program begins, it * shows * the film in b&w, which is then suffused with color. But it still begs the question, “howmuch of it is colorized?”, and it’s hard to tell because the credits go by so fast.
Q
I’m pretty sure “WWII in Color” is genuine color footage. I remember the History Channel or some such network had a series about WWI in color, however, and it was colorized, and the network admitted up front that it was. The WWII footage was shot and processed on color film, though.
I think some of it is genuine and some is colorized. This weekend I noticed some footage that definitely looked oddly saturated. At the end credits I noticed someone with the job title like “colorization specialist.” (Though I’m probably mistaken on the exact wording, it was kind of a “aha” moment because up to that point I thought all the footage was authentic.)
Ah, here is it in IMDB, under “Series Editorial Department” - Simon Astbury … colorist (8 episodes, 2010-2011)
My wife went to see LDP* performing in a stage adaptation of “A Few Good Men” in Fort Worth a few years back (he was playing the role which Jack Nicholson played in the movie), though it still doesn’t make him an actual veteran. 
-
- to be truthful, my wife went to see Supernatural star Jensen Ackles in “A Few Good Men”…it just so happened that Lou Diamond Phillips was also in it.
Busey was nominated for an Oscar for the Buddy Holly story
I recall hearing at some point that the idea was to colorize those parts of originally-shot-in-color footage that over the decades since only survived in B/W (A lot of WW2 footage was shot in color on the spot but was then transferred to B/W for making multiple copies and for early TV use). Couldn’t tell if that was right all along or if they have expanded their wiggle room on that.