Talk:Heartbreak Ridge

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The Wiki article correctly points out the "Battle of Heartbreak Ridge" connection. However as best I can recall, the movie does not make clear that Gunny Highway was in the Army at that time (as stated in the Wiki article). In reality (from what I understand) few Marines participated in that battle.
Also, the lack of discipline in the "recon platoon" is NOT characteristic of a US Marine recon unit. Most Marines in a "recon platoon" would be vying to join Force Recon, which is sort of the Marine's "commando" unit - an elite force similar to the Navy SEALs. In other words, a recon unit would never be a unit of slackers and misfits. This is journalistic or cinemographic license... Engr105th 05:52, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

You don't remember the scene where Choozhoo tells Jones about Heartbreak Ridge and how Highway got his Medal of Honor there? He recounts how their sergeant (Mary's husband), upon seeing the ridge for the first time, said something like "Ladies, if it don't kill us, it will surely break our hearts." Choozhoo explicitly stated that he and Highway were still in the regular infantry and hadn't transferred to the Marines at that point. Clarityfiend 06:04, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

Hmmm...will take your word for it about the Army to Marine transfer. Been a while since I've seen that movie:)...I really don't recall them specifically mentioning Army...Engr105th 20:54, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

Saw it again the other night, for the umpteenth time. They were in the 23rd Infantry, which was there, according to Battle of Heartbreak Ridge. Clarityfiend 07:14, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

Regarding the depiction of the Recon unit sitting around playing pool and gaining weight... it's hard to know where to draw the line in terms of pointing out the dramatic license to readers of the Wiki article. Few military films get it right, in terms of avoiding fairly cliche scenes that rarely if ever happen in the actual military. For example, there's Gunny's habit of outwardly insulting his commanding officer, only to conclude with "Sir," as if this would somehow negate what he had just called the Major. Such a thing is common in Hollywood dramas, and it could be a bit unfair to hold one script to a standard of accuracy that others don't have to meet.

The same could be said of the plot involving a tough-guy superior taking over a bunch of burn-outs, and transforming them into the proverbial "elite fighting force." That theme is at least as old as John Wayne in "The Flying Tigers," and it seems that movie-goers expect to see it (as in R. Crowe's Master and Commander, and countless other movies) as much as they are trained to not notice the service-members saluting with the left hand. To the extent that Heartbreak Ridge purports to show actual events, it can be held to a high standard. Where to set the bar, though, is hard to say and would seem to be based on the goals of the Wiki article. C d h 04:25, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Phone call dispute

I moved these two opposing assertions here because neither is sourced:

A rumor grew that the scene in which the trapped marines call in an air strike over a commercial phone line was based on an actual event. An investigation by the US Department of Defense determined that it was false.

Whomever stated that the scene regarding the Phone Call Air Raid Scene being determined to be false was wrong. When I was in the 3/319th Airborne Field Artillery Bn of the 82nd Airborne Div, I knew the man responsible. His name is Stanley Arnsbarger, and during Operation Urgent Fury, he was a Forward Observer attached to (I believe) 1/504th Parachute Infantry Bn. He didn't have to splice any wiring though. There was a Bell Telephone Booth on the street side of the building. The only phone number he knew was to the CQ Desk at his unit HQ at Ft. Bragg, NC. The operator refused to allow a collect call, so he used his credit card. He called his unit HQ at Ft. Bragg, who then transferred him to 82d Div HQ, who transferred him to CinCLantFlt, who connected him to the USS Independence Operations Center. He gave them grid coordinates for the Air Strike. He received a Bronze Star and was never repaid the cost of the call.

Clarityfiend 14:46, 11 August 2007 (UTC)

I've updated the article to reflect that, though it probably could be said better than I said it. If I'm not mistaken, a similar situation arose during the military action against Noriega in Panama. Maybe, over time, there were enough anecdotes about what was then the new technology of the calling cards began to blur, so that the real events began to be questioned. C d h 04:14, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

I've left it in, but tagged it, as it is still not sourced. Clarityfiend 04:26, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] 1983 Beirut barracks bombing Not Metioned

It's unforunate that a film about Marines in October 1983 makes no metion whatsoever of the October 23, 1983 Beirut barracks bombing incident where all those Marine and French peacekeepers where killed. They should have included it in the movie. There are scenes that shows the Marines before they go into battle in Grenada. They could have metioned it then. Almost every American movie that is set on or around December 7, 1941 metions Pearl Harbor in it. Ignoring the Marines killed and wounded in Lehbanon was a bad decision on the part of the filmakers.74.76.85.68 (talk) 22:47, 2 March 2008 (UTC)Bennett Turk