That time the Marine Corps killed a John Wayne movie

[MightyGiants]

I had never heard about this


https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/veterans/military-history/2020/09/28/that-time-the-marine-corps-killed-a-john-wayne-movie/?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=Socialflow+MAR&fbclid=IwAR17kAgfjkbgLSb9rJdcmZFL-fC6_LiufNYhcyY_bxSwrSu94D9XkyYub5c

[LennG]

I can understand the Marine's point of view. No need to emphasize any real negatives.

You have to look back on WWII and Hollywood during that time and even after. EVERY movie ever made about WWII and after WWII, always depicted Americans as heroes, for the most part. During the war, it WAS all propaganda. In every movie, even if Americans were wiped out, a la, Wake Island, Bataan, etc. they died with so much heroism that you would want to run out and enlist. Even after the way, most movies were made about the bravery and heroism of ALL Americans. They came home as heroes.
I truly would not believe John Wayne would deviate from that formula even if the movie showed a stunning defeat by the Marines. I'd bet Wayne would find ways to make it look good, but as I said, if there was racism involved and the Marines really didn't want much made of this defeat, I can understand their putting the kibosh on it.

[MightyGiants]

The battle was real and in my mind it was more disrespectful to forget the battle than what John Wayne proposed

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_for_Outpost_Vegas

[LennG]

But that won't make a lot of money and it's always about the money. Do you really think people would have flocked to the movies to see an honest account of a terrible Marine loss? Even John Wayne couldn't overcome that.

[MightyGiants]

But that won't make a lot of money and it's always about the money. Do you really think people would have flocked to the movies to see an honest account of a terrible Marine loss? Even John Wayne couldn't overcome that.

There have been multiple movies covering battle losses that have done well in terms of the Alamo and Pearl Harbor


One of the greatest war movies of all time (in my opinion) Platoon did not end in victory


That battles would have been powerful stuff.  Wayne could have focused on individual bravery and sacrifice which was truly heroic.   Yet this movie could have been a great metaphor for the pointlessness of war as all that sacrifice and heroism would be literally for nothing as the hills were given away after they were finally recaptured.

Had John Wayne made the movie it could have been Platoon before Platoon.   A great war movie that doesn't glorify war or combat but hits the viewer hard with the horrors and how it's often futile.

[LennG]

In your eyes it sounds nice, but probably not in the eyes who adored John Wayne.

You mentioned Platoon. Platoon was made in an entirely different era when reality was more of a thing than glorifying Americans in war. It was the Viet Nam war and that in itself was tragic. Look At WWII, Korea. Look at the movies made about those wars. WWII had hundreds if not more, Korea had enough but then comes Viet Nam and to this date, there have been only a handful of movies made about that war and most of them are equivalent to an American defeat. Most movies about Viet Nam were anti-war movies, to begin with, and tried to picture war as hell so unlike the movies from other wars.

Thinking back, the best anti-war movie from an earlier Hollywood time was 'Paths of Glory', which was a WWI movie starring Kirk Douglas as an officer who was assigned to defend 3 guys who were singled out for being human and were being tried as deserters when the French Generals ordered suicide charges after suicide charges. They just picked 3 guys at random to try and execute for treason. Again, maybe the most powerful anti-war movie made, even today.

[MightyGiants]

In your eyes it sounds nice, but probably not in the eyes who adored John Wayne.

You mentioned Platoon. Platoon was made in an entirely different era when reality was more of a thing than glorifying Americans in war. It was the Viet Nam war and that in itself was tragic. Look At WWII, Korea. Look at the movies made about those wars. WWII had hundreds if not more, Korea had enough but then comes Viet Nam and to this date, there have been only a handful of movies made about that war and most of them are equivalent to an American defeat. Most movies about Viet Nam were anti-war movies, to begin with, and tried to picture war as hell so unlike the movies from other wars.

Thinking back, the best anti-war movie from an earlier Hollywood time was 'Paths of Glory', which was a WWI movie starring Kirk Douglas as an officer who was assigned to defend 3 guys who were singled out for being human and were being tried as deserters when the French Generals ordered suicide charges after suicide charges. They just picked 3 guys at random to try and execute for treason. Again, maybe the most powerful anti-war movie made, even today.

Sometimes I wonder if maybe if John Wayne and others made these movies, that perhaps some of the wars like Vietnam never happen.   This movie was about real battles.   Battles that ultimately proved futile but even worse these men's sacrifices have long since been forgotten (I am a huge military history buff and I had never heard of these battles).   

This movie was coming from John Wayne's production company so I assume Wayne wanted to make the movie.  From the article, I posted it appears the lack of cooperation by the Marines is what prevented the movie from being made.

You could well be right, the movie could have truly bombed due to the audiences of the time wanting "feel good" (my term) war movies.   To be perfectly frank, I have a hard time arguing that from the Marine's perspective they wouldn't want to help with the production of the movie.

Still, I can't help but wish the movie had been made.  I suspect it could have been one of Wayne's greatest and it would have helped counter the war = glory mindset and would have helped keep the memories alive of the sacrifice and heroism of those that died in the battle of 3 cities