[dekeguy]

Favorite War Movies:

"Kartoum" Charlton Heston. About General Gordon and the seige of Kartoum by the Mahdi. Good theatre, pretty good history, lots of action, fun guy flic.

"Charge of the Light Brigade" 1930's version. Errol Flynn/Olivia deHaviland. Fabricated history but great fun. Good guy flic and (according to my sister) pretty good chic flic as well.

"She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" John Wayne/Joanne Dru. One of John Ford's best directing efforts, reasonably accurate picture of the old frontier Army. A classic in every sense.

"The Long Gray Line" Tyrone Power/Maureen O'Hara. Not a dry eye in the house, and a great guy flic as well. The Old Army seen through several generations at West Point

"Gone With the Wind" What a film!

"The Blue Max" George Peppard/James Mason/Ursula Andress. World War One aviation flic from the German point of view. Well done.

"Lawrence of Arabia" Peter O'Toole. Epic story of a campaign of WW-1 that set the stage for the development of the Middle East as it is today. Pretty topical just now.


"The Horse Soldiers" John Wayne. Dramatization of the Grierson Raid with a few other stories thrown in. The scene where the Union Cavalry faces off with the kids from the military school who have marched out to block their advance strikes close to home as something like that really happened. My New Orleans cousins' great great grandfather commanded the corps of cadets of what is now the Jesuit High School - New Orleans when they turned back an attempt by a Michigan Cavalry regiment to attack the city from the North via the River Road while the Union fleet pushed up the river from the South. 246 boys ranging in age from 12 to 16 beat hell out of the 800 troopers to the extent that the unit was removed from the Union Army Order of Battle and deactivated. The city fell shortly thereafter but I understand that to this day the school's flag carries a battle honor. Pretty terrible event, but by God those kids earned their spurs that day. Anyway, its a good film and well worth watching.

What is on the horizon: Pray for peace but be ready for the alternative.