Hacksaw Ridge: Movie Trailer

USMCGrunt

USMCGrunt

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This looks interesting. I didn't know Doss' story.

"Hacksaw Ridge is an upcoming American-Australian war film directed by Mel Gibson and written by Andrew Knight, Robert Schenkkan, Randall Wallace, and Gregory Crosby.[1] The film stars Andrew Garfield, Vince Vaughn, Sam Worthington, Luke Bracey, Hugo Weaving, Ryan Corr, Teresa Palmer, Richard Pyros and Rachel Griffiths. Principal photography began on September 5, 2015 in New South Wales. It is set to be released on November 4, 2016."

"The film is based on the true story about US Army medic Desmond T. Doss, a Seventh-Day Adventist conscientious objector who refused to bear arms, yet was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Harry S. Truman for single-handedly saving the lives of over 75 of his comrades while under constant enemy fire during the brutal Battle of Okinawa in World War II."

"Desmond Thomas Doss (February 7, 1919 – March 23, 2006) was the first conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor and one of only three so honored (the others are Thomas W. Bennett and Joseph G. LaPointe, Jr.). He was a Corporal (Private First Class at the time of his Medal of Honor heroics) in the U.S. Army assigned to the Medical Detachment, 307th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division."

(Quotes from Wikipedia)
 
That movie was absolutely incredible... It's hard to imagine, it's been 5 years since it came out!
 
Which is better:

Saving Private Ryan vs. Hacksaw Ridge

I need opinions, personally I've not watched Saving Private Ryan yet.
 
Both are great films but I’m going to go with Hacksaw Ridge because it is based on a true story (even though it seems fictional ) while Saving Private Ryan is fictional but seems more realistic in my opinion. Tough call ….. can’t go wrong either way.
 
Old Enlisted Marine said:
Both are great films but I’m going to go with Hacksaw Ridge because it is based on a true story (even though it seems fictional ) while Saving Private Ryan is fictional but seems more realistic in my opinion. Tough call ….. can’t go wrong either way.
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Good assessment. I see that as well.
 
It doesn't matter which is better. Saving Private Ryan is well worth the watch. In the end it's about all those who served. You WILL cry. It's one of the few movies I've seen where people left in stunned silence.
 
RE: Hacksaw Ridge…my then plebe came with us PPW, and right away said ‘we need to rent a movie’ to watch tonight, together. Yep, Hacksaw Ridge.

Amazing movie. Wasn’t the joyful homecoming movie we probably SHOULD have watched night one of PPW, but it is a MUST SEE, IMO. Agree with @Old Enlisted Marine, corpsmen and women are a special people. GREAT movie. Saving Private Ryan as well (hard for a mom to watch, though).
 
MichaelT2022 said:
Which is better:

Saving Private Ryan vs. Hacksaw Ridge

I need opinions, personally I've not watched Saving Private Ryan yet.
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It depends what you want.

If you want to watch the single most honest and accurate american combat movie—series ever I highly recommend the Pacific from HBO.

And they did a pizz poor job on the corpsman. But the series otherwise is just about perfect.

Based on 3 different Marines and 3 different books about the fighting in the pacific in WW2.
 
I saw Saving Private Ryan years ago. It was so emotionally taxing that I haven't gone back to it.

My son attended Airborne School one hot Georgia summer as an AROTC cadet. The weather during Jump Week was overcast, and they couldn't go up. His group spent the day in the Harness Shed, waiting for the clouds to lift, so they could get their jumps in. They were not allowed to move from their wooden bench - not even to go to the bathroom. How did they pass the time? They watched Saving Private Ryan. And when the movie was over, they watched it again. My son hasn't watched it since either.

I recommend watching both movies - just not at the same time. Then you can tell us what you thought of them.
 
There is,actually one part of Saving Private Ryan where I close my eyes whenever I rewatch it. A very intimate scene of death. Gave me nightmares the first time I saw it.
 
Family and I did a private guided tour of Normandy several years ago. Ended with a visit to the American cemetery on a hilltop overlooking the beaches. Somehow, “Saving Private Ryan” fails to do it all justice. Nothing can.
 
Both movies are equally good - not sure I could pick one as "better" than the other.

The D-Day landing at the beginning of "Saving Private Ryan" stands out as the most realistic portrayal of a amphibious landing as I have ever seen. Frankly, I have a hard time watching those scenes.

The battle scenes in "Hacksaw Ridge" are incredibly powerful and tough.

For me, another movie that does a pretty good job of depicting how tough an assault can be on the individual grunt is "Hamburger Hill." Slogging up a hill, under fire, in the rain and mud... each step forward results in sliding one step back. Wow.

The battle depiction in "The Pacific" series covering the assault on the Peleliu airfield was another exceptionally well done bit of cinematography.

Finally, the extreme cold and the brutality of the battle of the bulge episode on "Band of Brothers" is another accurate depiction of life as an infantryman.

These five movies - and those scenes in particular - really stand out as the most honest and true depictions of how the conditions must have been.
 
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kinnem said:
There is,actually one part of Saving Private Ryan where I close my eyes whenever I rewatch it. A very intimate scene of death. Gave me nightmares the first time I saw it.
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I feel the same way about that scene. I cannot rewatch it. Both movies are incredible IMHO. I think it would be very impactful if high school-aged students watched them both in their history courses.
 
They cant be compared because they are two very different types of movies. One is about one man (Hacksaw) and the other is about Tom Hanks and his men. I think i have only seen Private Ryan once because it is so emotionally taxing and honestly it bothers me that so many men died to save one guy. On the other hand, i have watched Hacksaw at least 10 times, not necessarily from start to finish but whenever its on TV I watch it from wherever I started it. The movie is so uplifting with his story of being the butt of jokes and considered a coward to later almost being magic is a wonderful movie to watch. What he had to endure to save all those lives. The movie is amazing. Private Ryan is a masterpiece of moving making and was a marvel to watch. Honestly, in the scheme of things, Band of Brothers is actually the best of the three but i can watch Hacksaw a hundred times and i won't get tired of watching it. As much as Mel Gibon is an ass, he knows how to make movies
 
Humey said:
They cant be compared because they are two very different types of movies. One is about one man (Hacksaw) and the other is about Tom Hanks and his men. I think i have only seen Private Ryan once because it is so emotionally taxing and honestly it bothers me that so many men died to save one guy. On the other hand, i have watched Hacksaw at least 10 times, not necessarily from start to finish but whenever its on TV I watch it from wherever I started it. The movie is so uplifting with his story of being the butt of jokes and considered a coward to later almost being magic is a wonderful movie to watch. What he had to endure to save all those lives. The movie is amazing. Private Ryan is a masterpiece of moving making and was a marvel to watch. Honestly, in the scheme of things, Band of Brothers is actually the best of the three but i can watch Hacksaw a hundred times and i won't get tired of watching it. As much as Mel Gibon is an ***, he knows how to make moviesWhat sets The Pacific apart from all the others is not the quality of the combat scenes. All of the films and series do a good job with that. And none better than SPR
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not to start an argument :)

what sets the pacific apart from the others is how realistic they portrayed the enlisted Marines who were involved in extensive ground combat.

Some thing I felt missing in the others ,

with the others the troops imo , got the Hollywood version of a combat movie or combat trooper not so much the real version. The real version is often not pretty to watch

I had a chance once to ask a writer producer on BoB and The Pacific why they seemed to be so much more honest in showing the Marines of The Pacific vs the men of easy co and he said——-when we did BoB so many of those men were still alive

Not sure that was the real reason but it’s what he said..


Rewatching SPR the other day I realized that it was the great combat scenes that carried this movie. The troops themselves did not feel like real combat troops to me. Those shown in the Pacific did.

And that whole thing with the spared German trooper that ends up returning to kill ——total Hollywood. And not in a good way.

I love to discuss film :)
 
Small Team Bacsi said:
not to start an argument :)

what sets the pacific apart from the others is how realistic they portrayed the enlisted Marines who were involved in extensive ground combat.

Some thing I felt missing in the others ,

with the others the troops imo , got the Hollywood version of a combat movie or combat trooper not so much the real version. The real version is often not pretty to watch

I had a chance once to ask a writer producer on BoB and The Pacific why they seemed to be so much more honest in showing the Marines of The Pacific vs the men of easy co and he said——-when we did BoB so many of those men were still alive

Not sure that was the real reason but it’s what he said..


Rewatching SPR the other day I realized that it was the great combat scenes that carried this movie. The troops themselves did not feel like real combat troops to me. Those shown in the Pacific did.

And that whole thing with the spared German trooper that ends up returning to kill ——total Hollywood. And not in a good way.

I love to discuss film :)
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I actually didn't like The Pacific. Well, i didn't hate it but it didn't compare to BoB. It has nothing to do with realism but more about the connection between the men involved and the characters. It's hard to write this because I saw it years ago and never seen it again and just going by what i remember and the feelings I had while I watched it. While BoB felt like one continuous movie, the Pacific felt like interconnected episodes where you had some of the same characters. It's hard to explain but part of it was the nature of the war in the pacific itself. Land on an island, fight for the Island, then leave the Island. Repeat. For me, there was no connection to the characters and leadership. It was just missing something that BoB had. Maybe BoB was more Hollywood and therefore a better story or maybe like the producer said, since so many of the Easy Company guys were alive, they had to instill a type of brotherhood that maybe was created during the war but didn't really show up until after the war. Again, hard to put into words. All i can tell you that as entertainment and my connection to the story, the two don't compare
 
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