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.
Can't watch either one to this day. 
