Couldn't sleep tonight. Got up and turned on TV. There was
Heartbreak Ridge. I'd watched it a couple of times before.
Just wondering what you Marines on here thought of the movie,
and Clint's portrayal of Gunny Highway?

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In Omnia Paratus

As a a former airman I can’t speak to accuraracy, but Eastwood is always entertaining. I highly doubt that a platoon would be allowed to run amuck to the extent the one in the movie does.

Entertaining movie. One of Clints best in my opinion. As far as accuracy..hey..it's Hollywood!!

I did meet some interesting Gunnery Sergeants. I had a close frreind in the Corps who was a recon guy. He was always training, but, sounded like mutual respect between Staff NCOs and troops. But, I also know that Marines will go "feral" if allowed.

Agree with what the others. Entertaining, low-budget flick and a good story...but not realistic in any way at all. There's no way the Marines would let a guy keep his earring and bring his guitar along.

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Smith. And Wesson. And Me!

Caught that one last night as well! One of my Eastwood favorites!
Magnum Force followed....

OK, I've got a lot of stuff to say so buckle up.
They filmed Heartbreak Ridge in my unit, Camp Talega on Camp Pendleton.
Yes, I know it was supposed to be 2nd Recon portrayed in the movie, in reality it was filmed on Camp Pendleton at 1st Recon Battalion. They spent about 4 months on Pendleton filming, they changes all of the Battalion signs to read 2nd Recon. Many of the extras were actual marines in my unit. The yellow quonset huts they used in the movie were our actual living quarters. The Eclub in the movie was our actual Eclub, The bar in town where they first got into a fight was actually called "The wagonwheel", I don't recall what it was called in the movie, but I had my 21 birthday in that bar.
We got to know the actors pretty well, they would eat at our chow hall on a daily basis and workout in our gym. Somewhere around here I have an $80 check stub from Warner Bros ($80 is what extras got paid for one day of work).
I did meet Clint and shook his hand. Clint is a pretty tall guy but he was noticeably older in person than he looks in the movie, serious chicken neck. What I remember of Clint is he was super nice and down to earth, none of this " I'm famous and rich and you aren't" stuff. Matter of fact all of the cast that I met were nice and just regular folk. If anything they seemed intimidated being around a bunch of rowdy Recon Marines.
The funniest thing was the LT. (Boyd Gaines) played the coach in Porkys. In Porkys he nailed Lassie in the locker room. Every time Gaines would show up to shoot everyone would start howling. I remember Peter Koch, Swede (played for the Bengals), that dude was massive. He would play around and do close order drill with his M60 machine gun like it was nothing.
It was fascinating watching them film and being part of it. Most of the outdoor training stuff was filmed at various places on Camp Pendleton.
I don't know my history as far as the actual Heartbreak Ridge so I can't comment on how authentic the movie was. I can say they used a lot of actual Marines in the filming, matter of fact their military advisor quit or didn't show up and they recruited my Platoon Gunny as an impromptu advisor. He later went on the be one of the top military advisors for Hollywood (James Dever).
Something you've got to know is Recon is a very small group of tight knit people. We got by with a lot of stuff that the fleet Marines couldn't, so did the NCOs and SNCOs. Much of what you saw in the movie was based, or loosely based in reality. The NCOs took care of a lot of issues behind the quonset hut. The earring would not be worn in uniform and the "changing T shirt" thing was hokey.
Anyway, That's my brush with fame.

one of my all time favorite movies. I have it on VHS but no player any more. I love the interaction between him and the Major who "came over from supply and logistics", especially on the hill near the end of the movie. lee

Any movie about Marines is a good movie . At times it was far fetched , but it is a movie .
Semper Fi

...nothing more impressive than Marine Dress Blues with the Medal of Honor ribbon affixed...

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A Country Boy Can Survive

Thanks for all that Hostler. Good to hear from someone who
"has been there & done that". I Googled the real Heartbreak
Ridge. There are a few good accounts of the battle. Apparantly
it lasted about a month. We lost about 3,700 U.S. Army and
French who were all UN Forces. The Chinese and North Koreans
lost over 25,000.
Someone else mentioned they were a "former Airman" as am I.
I know Marines are different. "Once a Marine, always a Marine."

By The Way Clint made a movie here in Boise several years ago,
I think it was called Bronco Billy or something like that.
I never got to meet him, but reports were that he was quite
a regular guy. Everyone seemed to like him.

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In Omnia Paratus

UGH! Heartbreak Ridge and Top Gun were shown EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. in the E6 lounge aboard the USS Peleliu (LHA-5) for a couple of WesPacs. Can't watch either one to this day.

The legend going around was that it took 'em 3 days to get the stanchions on the Iwo Jima's elevator to rise in perfect synchrony.

As for accuracy, not too much that I would consider beyond belief. I've heard stories a lot weirder than using a commercial phone on an op. Mind... they usually start with "This is no ****!"

As I recall the commercial phone call actually happened.

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In Omnia Paratus

Been a long long time since I have seen the movie.


All I recall is the repeated use of the F_ bomb over an over. Now I admit that I do use the word on occasion, per my Wife, but even I got tired of it.

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Still Running Against the Wind

I was trying to put a lot down and sort of misspoke. Heartbreak Ridge (the movie) really had little to do with Heartbreak Ridge (the battle). I don't know if there was a real Gunny Highway or if that was all fabricated for the movie.

I don't think Marines were at the real Heartbreak Ridge.
The Sgt, Gunny Highways friend, even said in the movie that
he and Highway were in the Army at the time. So that part
was semi-accurate. The part about only being 3 left not so
accurate.

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In Omnia Paratus

I did a WestPac on the USS Belleauwood (LHA3), floating shoebox.

Primarily the US Army's 2 Infantry Div., 23 Infantry Regt.
I have a friend who was awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart for his actions in that battle.

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CSM, U S Army(Ret) 1963-1990

I love that movie!!! Great supporting cast. Always enjoy Marsh Mason and the actor that played the doofus Major always plays a bad guy very well. I always wondered if "The Swede" was played by Brock Lessnar of MMA fame. Glad I finally got that straightened out.

I spent most of my Navy enlistment with the Marines. (Started out with the 3rd Mar Div and later went to the 5th Mar Div). Spent 13 months at Camp Las Pulgas and 8 weeks at Camp Delmar (for FMF training) on Camp Pendleton in the early 60s.

Never really knew just where all it was filmed but I did have my suspicions....

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Real men love cats!

it did, the phone call to the states for ship fire support actualy happened ,that and also the scene were they hot wired a bulldozer to take out a cuban ,machinegun nest,..but both events the Army Rangers did ,not the Marines ,

During the Falkland Island War, I recall a documented story of a British Commando officer who used a pay phone to call ahead to a town to see if the enemy had already captured the town, (the officer knew the majority of the island's population was pro-British). As I recall, his inquiry to the person who answered his call was: "I say, are there any Argies there?". There weren't, so the officer and his troops hustled down the road and captured the town intact without firing shot. Unconventional solutions to real problems - priceless.

Regards,

Dave

Yep, I watched Heartbreak Ridge again the other night for the umpteenth time and I always enjoy it. I'll usually watch anything Clint Eastwood stars in because I have always liked him.

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James
On the Llano Estacado

My favorite Eastwood movie, Unforgiven.

Even "Bridges of Madison County" ?

I can watch almost anything Mr. Eastwood is in...but I do have some limits.

I think that sometimes we forget that these are just movies made for entertainment. They are sometimes loosely based on real events but are not meant to be documentaries. Just like when actors take out their Chief Special and fire 17 rounds without reloading. Spoiler alert.....ET wasn't really from outer space.

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James Redfield
LM #497

I was just barely old enough to remember "Firefox" and I was raised on "Every Which Way But Loose" and "Any Which Way You Can" and by the time I was a teenager, my favorite was "Sudden Impact" but now with a short four decades of watching Clint Eastwood films under my belt, I simply must go with Grand Torino as my favorite.