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23-03-2020, 15:09 #11
- Join Date
- Aug 2013
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- Cape Town
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- 49
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- 1,872
Re: MOVIE: Danger Close, The Battle of Long Tan
Don't think you will see it on any mainstream movie circuit. Shop around online...
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14-03-2021, 22:53 #12
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- Jan 2017
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- Finland, 60 degrees north
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- 59
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Re: MOVIE: Danger Close, The Battle of Long Tan
Based on true events is something that should be taken with a grain of salt, since the facts will usually be scarified on the altar of screenwriting. Facts make boring movies and bland drama.
I found the historical accuracy of Danger Close to be good enough for a movie, and I found it quite entertaining. Of course it is a Gung-Ho 'Go Aussies and Kiwis' one sided story, but it is meant to be entertainment for the Aussies and other like minded, not a history lesson. It's a movie, you know. Entertainment.
Having studied this battle at least vaguely I don't find any casualty figures bloated (they are accurate to a man: 18 KIA ANZAC, 245 KIA NVA-VC) and the cowardliness of the brass is well depicted as is the amount of ANZAC troops killed by friendly artillery fire.
ANZAC troops' use of terrain tactics and movement as a platoon was a bit better than average for a movie folks having a nice stroll in a rubber tree plantation, some little anomalies with the equipment should be ignored like the fact that every M16 was actually a Colt SP1 semi auto rifle, hence there was no full auto fire with ANZAC assault rifles even when it would've been called for according to the SOP's of that time frame. And naturally there were those obligatory dramatic pauses when the heroes contemplate the loss of a fellow hero during the heated firefight; as I said, it's a movie and a movie is built with the laws of drama. The gear and weaponry was very well selected and I didn't find any anachronisms or obvious wrong kind of kit, but the again, I'm not a rock solid subject matter expert on ANZAC kit during the Vietnam conflict.
The VC/NVA tactics and movement was more or less spot on, which may be to many a surprise: yes, the frontal attack with overwhelming mass and full auto AK fire was really a VC/NVA SOP. I liked the fact that you can spot a German Sturm Gewehr in the hands of at least one VC/NVA trooper. The VC gear was what it was.
One thing that I disliked as an artillery officer (I was discharged to the reserve troops as an artillery battery commander) was the obvious misunderstanding of the fact that a howitzer shell would in a forest most probably hit a tree trunk and explode as a hugely effective airburst munition, not hit the ground like 100 % of the shells did in the movie.
But I did like the movie. As a movie
And its still better love story than Twilight.
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