Popular war movies depicting Canadian soldiers ...

[AJFitzpatrick]

It'll be interesting to see if there is a Canadian pilot (perhaps Billy Bishop?) in that movie "Flyboys" coming out on Friday. It's been WAY too long since a WWI movie came out. Happily, the last one I remember has Brad Pitt enlist in the Canadian Army and scalp an entire German machinegun nest with a bayonet..... 

I suspect it will concentrate on the l'Escadrille Lafayette which of course was nominally French so I highly doubt if there even be any mention of Canadians let alone the RAF but hey Jean Reno is it at least. I am not enough of an aviation historian to know if there was inter air force operations during WWI.

 

[Hunter]

This is a pretty interesting topping to me since I'm a military movie junkie.I'am surprised that no one has mentioned Legends of the fall with Brad Pitt. Where him and his brothers go to Calgary to join the army to go fight the "Kiaser". This is where Holywood should have done some more research. Pitt and his brothers are wearing the colar dogs of the 10th battalion for Calgary. The movie depicts Canadian in the lines fighting the Hun in Febuary 1915. That is not true. The only Canadians in France at that time were the PPCLI, who were attached to the British 27 division.Also the Germans were not firing gas shells at that time.As we all know the first gas attack was at Ypres on April 22 1915 and the gas was released for cylinders along the front lines.Plus we were not equiped with the Lee-Enfield at that time we had the "splended" Ross rifle.Well theres my 2 cent or a little bit more. Oh yah the movie Bridge on the river Kiwi, one of the commandos that blows up the bidge is a kid from Montreal.

I remember when they were shooting the battle scenes for Legends of the Fall near Calgary in 1993.  I was working with a guy who was an aspiring actor, and he actually had a 'speaking part' in the movie (I beleive in the credits he is listed as patient #2).  He told me they were looking for extras for the battle scenes, so I went down to check it out.  Unfortunately the height limit for extras was 5'10" so I was S.O.L. and my career as The Next Action Hero never really got off the ground.

 

[FSTO]

I suspect it will concentrate on the l'Escadrille Lafayette which of course was nominally French so I highly doubt if there even be any mention of Canadians let alone the RAF but hey Jean Reno is it at least. I am not enough of an aviation historian to know if there was inter air force operations during WWI.

Watched the trailer and there is a scene where some Royal Flying Corps pilots are razing the Yanks, then the usual fight, then the big make-up scene. It's got all the regular stuff for war movies.

Too bad Canadian film makers concentrate more on angst and other unwatchable themes to consider making a good canadian war movie.

 

[medicineman]

I remember when they were filming "Legends..." - the Calgary Highlanders got some guys together and were teaching them First World War battle drills, but the directing staff told them that these didn't "look realistic".  Hmmm - they were real, but not realistic...only in Hollywood can the English language get so convoluted.

MM

 

[Hunter]

I remember when they were filming "Legends..." - the Calgary Highlanders got some guys together and were teaching them First World War battle drills, but the directing staff told them that these didn't "look realistic".  Hmmm - they were real, but not realistic...only in Hollywood can the English language get so convoluted.

MM

Was it because you didn't teach them to move in that kind of jerky/lurching gait that we always see people using in turn-of-the-century era newsreels?  I always thought that was just a limitation of the motion picture technology available at the time. 

 

[medicineman]

I think it was something along the line of the Hollywood know nothing about the military but stayed in Holliday Inn Express crowds thought they knew what was real and what wasn't.  The usual.  Incidentally, I wasn't involved - I was in 1 Fd Amb at the time and heard through friends.

MM

 

[bLUE fOX]

I heard a story similar to that when they were filming "K19-The Widow Maker," in which HMCS Terra Nova is used as an American destroyer coming to their rescue. there aren't to many closeups of the ship because apparently it didn't have enough weapons aboard to be a believable warship. and I don't know if this counts but when the sub sets sail you can see one of the AOR's a frigate and I think (but am not sure) HMCS Anticosti

 

[Centurian1985]

American actually.   Cast A Giant Shadow starring Kirk Douglas, John Wayne, Frank Sinatra, and Yul Brenner is a fairly accurate (for Hollywood) biographical account of West Point grad. US Col. Mickey Marcus who wrote the the IDF's first organization and field manuals.  He accidentally was killed by a sentry during the relief of Jerusalem in 1948.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060218/

Closely related though , History Channel's  documentary series The Canadians has an episode about Toronto's Major Ben Dunkleman who won the DSO leading a QoRC rifle company in NW Europe and later served with Marcus in Israel's War of Independance & is considered the father of the  IDF's 7th Armoured Brigade.  This same series also had an episode about RCAF ace Buzz Beurling who died flying for Israel in the same conflict.

Yes, that was the one i was thinking about, thanks.  for some reason thought it was a Canadian.

 

[043]

Legends of the Fall and this summer Passchendaele will follow in its footsteps.

Also Dieppe and Peacekeepers both from the CBC.

Finally, finally, finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mods, you rock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Rocketryan]

In the movie Battle Of Britain...a short scene with a Canadian pilot.Not much though.

As for movies ENTIRELY about Canadians..I saw this movie about Canadian Peacekeepers..but everytime i google Peacekeepers(i read other posts) movie I get this OTHER movie called The Peacekeeper.
It was actually pretty cool too near the end where they assault this house in a M113.
Then when they're leaving everyones saying goodbye.

Also I am Sooooo going to see that Flyboys Movie..It looks AMAZING!!!

 

[rick7475]

In the movie Battle Of Britain...a short scene with a Canadian pilot.Not much though.

Actually Christopher Plummer, billed as the star of the movie, is a Canadian pilot, Squadron Leader Colin Harvey, and though the movie is made up of many subplots involving various aspects of the battle, one of the main plots revolves around Plummer's character and his wife played by Susannah York (her character based on a real person). Though Harvey is ficticious he represents the many Canadian pilots of who were in the RAF. The Canadian Squadron, 242 (actually made of mostly Canadians and a few British) with the likes of Stan Turner and a young Johnnie Johnson (who was British but eventually became one of the highest scoring allied aces and the leader of the 401 all Canadian squadron) was lead by the legendary legless pilot Douglas Bader, all of which was excellently portrayed in the 1956 film "Reach for the Sky" based on the autobiography of the same name.

 

[Haggis]

As for movies ENTIRELY about Canadians..I saw this movie about Canadian Peacekeepers..but everytime i google Peacekeepers(i read other posts) movie I get this OTHER movie called The Peacekeeper.
It was actually pretty cool too near the end where they assault this house in a M113.
Then when they're leaving everyones saying goodbye.

Another title for this movie was "The King of Krasna".

 

[Shec]

A 1953 oldie with 2 titles:  The Red Beret or Paratrooper

American with baggage Alan Ladd,  sporting the nickname "Canada" and wearing a Canada shoulder flash with what looks like a Seaforth hatbadge,  joins the Brit Parachute Regiment on their first operation.

Great portrayal of an RSM by Harry Andrews which he reprised in The Hill.  The rest of the movie is standard and vintage Hollywood fare which is probably why I fell asleep during it and can't tell you any more.

 

[Reccesoldier]

As for movies ENTIRELY about Canadians..I saw this movie about Canadian Peacekeepers..but everytime i google Peacekeepers(i read other posts) movie I get this OTHER movie called The Peacekeeper.
It was actually pretty cool too near the end where they assault this house in a M113.
Then when they're leaving everyones saying goodbye.

Shot in Foymount, RCD extras crewed the APC.  The Commander was an ex-Dragoon, now an int op Mike McLean.

He told me a story about the fx guys working on the movie showing some of the lads their "grenade" sim.  The first one was assessed as being pretty well spot-on by the troops, not much flame, small black cloud that dispersed quickly.  Of course the one that more closely resembled a small thermonuclear explosion was what the director chose.  : ;D

 

[gordjenkins]

"A Bridge Too Far" a short scene of Canadian Engineers rescuing trapped British Airborne using "dingys"

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

"A Bridge Too Far" a short scene of Canadian Engineers rescuing trapped British Airborne using "dingys"

You do know that was already mentioned on the first page....

 

[niner domestic]

Someone asked in an earlier page about Camp X. The movie that comes to mind is A Man Called Intrepid, with David Niven, Micheal York and Barbara Hersey. 

 

[rick7475]

Someone asked in an earlier page about Camp X. The movie that comes to mind is A Man Called Intrepid, with David Niven, Micheal York and Barbara Hersey. 

Thanks for catching that one, I checked t on IMDB:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078649/

Incidently, in addition to the Canadians in "A Bridge Too Far", as a former engineer, the 'Canadian' sequence was brief with the rubber boats, but althought they don't mention who the British Engineers were that put up the Bailey Bridge, (with Elliot Gould and his cigar lending a hand) there were excellent shots of putting up a the bridge, showing the panels and hammering in the pins, brought back memories and I had to rewind it a few times to show the wife and kids "Kelly's Heroes" had a Bailey Bridge as well.

 

[TheSnake]

And I mean realistic/good acting etc.

 

[Sub_Guy]

The Devil’s Brigade..