Saturday, June 02, 2012

War Is Hell

So, LJ and I were having a conversation this morning and we started arguing over what turned into a quite a contentious subject.  What actor has been in the most war movies. She chose Matt Damon for Geronimo (American Indian Wars),  Saving Private Ryan (WWII), Courage Under Fire (Desert Storm) and The Green Zone (Iraq War).  I chose John Wayne who was in movies covering the Civil War, Mexican American War, WWII, Vietnam and the Cold War, though eventually we both agreed to throw out any dead actors. As with any good game there are rules to this; check them out below then submit your nominee. The winner gets total movie respect from all who dared to play.

1)      Must be a living actor.  Looking for A-list actors not stunt men or extras. *dead actors can be used for      cool points, though I already called John Wayne.
2)      Looking for variety of conflict zones not numbers of movies from one zone (eg. 8 movies from WWII only counts as one conflict zone).
3)      The actor can’t be in flashback only.  It must be a speaking bit and in uniform.  For example,  Matt Damon in The Legend of Bagger Vance wouldn’t count because he is only seen in uniform in a brief segment of the movie and does not speak in that segment.  However, Matt Damon in Courage Under Fire would count because half of the movie is in flashback and there are speaking bits in those flashbacks.
4)      We are only counting American conflicts. However, the character can play a role in the opposing or allied military force.  Just so long as American was involved in the conflict.  For Example Ed Harris and Jude Law would count for Enemy at the Gates, even though it was a movie about the Russians and Germans during WWII because America was involved.  Mel Gibson in Braveheart wouldn’t count because it is not an American war.
5)      It can be a fictional story based on a real conflict, but not a fictional conflict. This will be hard when it comes to Cold War movies.  Red Dawn and Hunt for Red October wouldn’t count because they never happened and while they are based on Cold War fears, they aren’t about real events.
6)      Must involve a fight sequence to count for Native American Wars. Not just a bunch of soldiers sitting around a fort in the 1800’s. This is because this conflict is difficult to gauge due to there not being a front-line or solid time frame.
7)      Commander-in-Chief doesn’t count or any political adviser, unless that character shows up in the conflict zone in uniform.
8)      Finally, no television shows or mini-series. Sorry Band of Brothers fans we had to draw the line somewhere.

List the title of the movie and conflict your actor is in.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Brad pit was in three conflict zones: WWI in Legends of the Fall
WWII in curious case of Benjamin Button and inglorious basterds