This four part miniseries is like The Dirty Dozen mixed with Band of Brothers with Scanner Darkley‘s animation style and seems too good of a story to be true, but it is based on a true story.
It starts off with a young lieutenant tasked with getting J company ready for a live fire drill. When he finds it, he see’s that the J stood for jail. He gives the men the choice of staying locked up or to train with him.
When training at the firing range a massive bully of a master sergeant heavily berates his men so he suggests that rather than talking down to them maybe he should actually do his job and teach them.
This pisses the master sergeant off so much he invites the lieutenant for a fist fight behind the shed. This brawl earns him the men’s respect.
One of the American soldiers gets captured by the Nazis who looks at the names of some of the dog tags he’s aquired noticing most men have Mexican and Native American names. The Nazi suggests that America must be desperate to recruit men like that and the captured soldier defends his brothers saying they are Americans just like him. The Nazi officer tells him he has been to America. He studied at MIT and had traveled to the south and had seen signs barring Mexicans from bars and seperate water fountains for blacks and whites wisely asks why men would die for a country that treats them as second class citizens and tells him they are not like him.
I thought the animation over real actors was just an effect for the opening credits, but the whole series was done with it. It was weird at first, but it’s such a good story that it didn’t bother me after a while. Infact I think it helps the audience focus on the men of the story rather than the sets or props.
If you like WWII army movies, then The Liberator wont let you down. It’s a powerful story of courage and leadership. I thought this was a story too good to be true, but after looking into it, I found it was based on real events. I highly recommend watching this inspirational Netlix orginal series.
Do you have what it takes? I wish I did. I went to Space Camp in 1992 and was sure I’d be an astronaut or at least a fighter pilot when I grew up. I remember seeing The Right Stuff on the bookshelf and thought the pictures and captions were really cool when I was a kid.
My grandfather was a fighter pilot in the Air Force during the Vietnam War. I grew up on his airport in the 80’s and met hundreds of pilots. I thought it was normal and how all kids grew up. The guys in The Right Stuff were legends in my family.
When I saw Disney had turned the film, which was based on the book, into a TV show, I decided to check it out. Besides, I’m all caught up on The Mandalorian and Star Trek: Discovery so a little historical drama might be fun. I was right. The Right Stuff is only 8 episodes which I watched all in one setting. I then watched the 1983 film.
Fake History & Humanizing Heroes
Rocket technology was brand new back in the early 1960’s and many of them blew up. The first Russian and Americans who strapped up ontop of converted nuclear missles and shot up to space truly were brave pioneers who everyone either looked up to or were jealous of. The TV show only showed the American point of view, but I think they should make a show like this about what really went down in the Soviet Union’s space program too, considering they sent the first satellite, man, and woman into space. Maybe people will actually be able to say Yuri Gagarin’s name right after watching it.
Look what Google showed me after searching for the first woman in space…
I remember learning that Alan Shepherd was the first American man in space in school, but only learning of Yuri years later. Isn’t it interesting how they play with words like that? It technically is true, but still feels like a deception or fake history at the same time. When I was in the military, I was a Civil Affairs linguist. We fell under the Special Operational Forces command. That didn’t mean we were Special Forces with green berets. We weren’t one tenth as skilled, disciplined, or badass as the men that wear green berets or Navy Seal tridents, but a lot of douche bags would pull what was linguistically acurate, but sneaky stolen valor by telling others, we’re Special Operational Forces. I got in some heat at my teaching job in Bangkok because I said the manager was a douche bag pussy liar for pulling that crap. I had to explain to all the other teachers that he didn’t technically lie, but I was the same type of soldier as he was and that he’s full of shit and to ask him again and to listen to the words he says more carefully and to look it up. He never spoke to me again, but nothing serious came of it because I was simply telling the truth.
There were a few inaccuracies in the TV show, but nothing serious or important. The only thing that bothered me was that Disney didn’t show what Alan Shepherd said right before launch…
Don’t fuck this up!
Overall, the show did a great job of making me care and feel like I got to know these American legends by showing their weaknesses and flaws. Some drank too much and womanized while others took themselves too seriously and were too square. The actors were a bit too buff and handsome compared to the real guys, but they did a great job.
1960’s Nostalgia
I was born in 1980, but still feel nostalgic for the 60’s. When I was a kid a lot of the technology, furniture, and cars from that time were still around plus all the grown-ups idolized that time. The Right Stuff captured that decade’s feeling perfectly just like Mad Men did in my two decades late opinion. If you remember or love the 60’s I’m sure you’ll love this show, but it’s good besides that too.
The Movie
Having feeling sad the TV show ended so quickly, I immediately watched the 1983 film. There are some famous actors in it including Sam Shepard, Scott Glenn, and Ed Harris who must have met the real astronauts because they act and look just like them. It was filmed just over twenty years after the real events, so a lot of the aircraft and people were still around from that time for references. It wasn’t a successful film for the time and feels like a B grade version of Top Gun, but it did come out first and surly helped inspire the Tom Cruise hit. I really like how they mixed real NASA footage into the film and made you feel like you were in the cockpit sometimes.
Conclusion
If you’re looking for a Top Gun like action packed thriller, then neither the film or TV show may appeal to you, but if you love aviation, space, and history then I think you’ll like this historical drama. It got me into a rabbit hole of reading about great pilots and astronauts. Did you know that Chuck Yeager is still alive? He enlisted as a private and made it to a Brigadier general in the Air Force who retired after over 30 years. He was still flying for them until 2012.
Have you seen Ferris Bueller? He’s the king of slackers and is considered culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant by the Library of Congress. If you’ve not yet seen it, then I can tell you that it truly captures my nostalgia for the 1980s and is a must watch film from any era. It’s a teen comedy that teaches us not to take life too seriously. I may have taken the movie to heart a bit too much since a few of my good friends have accused me of living my life like this film. When my best buddy who I hadn’t seen in fifteen years visited me and saw my good but lazy life in Bangkok he said, “Damn bro! You just went and took Ferris Bueller’s LIFE off.”
Fourth Wall
Characters which break through the invisible wall between us and them goes back hundreds of years, but Ferris really made us feel like he was looking and talking directly to us. It was as if he shared a bit of TOP SECRET life information to us back in the day.
Soundtrack Theft
OK, soundtrack theft isn’t a word. I made it up, but this film is guilty of jacking popular songs from other movies to add emotion at key times.There are many examples, but using the Star Wars theme music for the joyride is my favorite.
Patricidal Grand Theft Auto
Speaking of that beautiful red car, I wonder how many kids were inspired by Ferris Bueller’s Day Off to jack their parents’ ride.
You can count me as one. My grandma had this beautiful 1968 Triumph that was her favorite car of all time that I thought I could take for a spin without her knowing, but she caught me red handed at Wal-Mart. She was really mad, but it truly was a joy to ride. It felt like driving a rocket compared to my pickup.
Art
The director admitted that he made the film as a love letter to Chicago getting as much of the architecture and sites of the city as he could.
The scene where they visit the art museum always stuck out to me.
My Favorite Scenes
Only rich kids had phones like this next to their bed back then. This phone still looks nice to me today.
How many kids hacked their grades or attendence back then simply because the adults were mostly technologically incompetent? This is something that has really changed today. Now it’s the older generation which grew up with the original computers which are really good and the younger generation is usually lacking the key understanding of how they work.
Have you ever sniffed White Out? I’m glad this scene went over my head when I was a kid because I would have definitely tried it.
My mom had the car on the left when we were kids, but I always wanted the one to the right.
Porn has really come a long way.
Ferris asking his girlfriend if she’d marry him.
Getting the best of his enemy.
And his Dirty Dancing sister.
Who’s this handsome young juvenile delinquent?
Thanks for reminiscing with me about this classic from the 1980s today. If you’ve never seen Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, are you interested to watch it now? What is your favorite scene from the movie?
It’s surprising how many people have never seen this gem. It was made on a shoestring budget of 11 million dollars in 1991 and was released in theaters in 1992. It doubled its money in the theaters, but it really did well on VHS and then on DVD.
I captured all the shots from the film by pressing the PRT SC (Print Screen) key on the keyboard. I put in the Amazon link to every picture if you want it. This was the first DVD I ever purchased so I feel it was OK for me to download this on The Pirate Bay for free since I had purchased it back in 1999. If movie ownership was stored on a blockchain then this type of thing would be normal. I know that this is off subject a bit, but why the hell should I have paid for GTA V three times? First on the PS3, the PS4, and on PC. Now I’ll have to buy it again when it’s released on PS5. This is bullshit and why people pirate stuff. We should have to purchase software, movies, and music only once then always have access to it even if it changes mediums. If the ownership of such digital rights was implemented via blockchain since the beginning, we consumers would be more likely to purchase it for life rather than use the Pirate Bay. Imagine if when you went to watch a movie in the theater then you had digital rights to that film for life. You could pay the one dollar it takes to print a DVD or you could watch it on all of your devices. This would make moviegoers feel more respected and would boost movie ticket sales.
The Necronomicon
The Book of the Dead is bound in human flesh and inked in blood. It is the evil book that gives the Army of Darkness its power to rise from the dead. I’ve searched for a copy of this on the internet but never found one. Of course, it wouldn’t be made of dead people or printed in blood, but it would be really cool to have this on your bookshelf.
It would be possible to make one in a DIY project. You could copy the cover using pig or cow skin and would have to hand draw all the images and write the ancient Sumerian in red ink.
Ash isn’t perfect, but how many heroes have the intestinal fortitude to cut their own evil possessed hand off?
If you don’t like this movie by the opening scene, then you’re never going to get it, but most people I’ve introduced this movie to get hooked by the time Ash shows everyone his BOOM Stick!
I felt it refreshing watching a film that was done by hand and not another CGI porn all in your face.
Ash is back in a TV show spinoff. You can watch it by clicking on this picture or you can be an evil pirate and watch it for free by searching for Ash vs Evil Dead.
I was honestly not interested in this movie when I saw it advertised. I wondered how could a boring movie with Tom Hanks about the Navy in World War II be interesting? Well, I was dead wrong. This movie is fantastic.
Nonstop Action
Greyhound runs for an hour and a half, but it feels like it goes by in about 15 minutes. Even though I watched it on a small screen, it really captured my imagination and made me feel like I was out to sea in 1942.
Based on Truth
I don’t know about you, but I really appreciate a story that is based on reality. Some of the art on the side of the German U-boats were really interesting to me.
Our lord and master, Google, blocks anything about Nazis, so I couldn’t find an example without capturing the frame from the movie.
Looks Legit
I’m not a naval expert, but this movie looks like they did their homework. There was so much to take in that I watched it a second time and it was just as good the second run.
Tom Hanks
When was the last time he let us down? He gets to play the Captain again and gives us a very believable performance. I was glad I screen captured the big helmet sailor.
