The Pacific trailer/preview

[VeeVee]

The Pacific trailer/preview

It's about halfway through this youtube video

[legionnaire]

u tube Video has been pulled out.

[dimasalang]

www.mynameisfoxtrot.com/journal/2009/6/22/spielbergs-the-pacfic-trailer.html

A mini-series being done by Spielberg and Tom Hanks coming out in 2010. This is Saving Private Ryan/Band of Brothers part2 but set in the Pacific Theater of WWII.

[VeeVee]

Thanks for the link. Looks really good, I can't wait. I may have to get HBO for this

[legionnaire]

Just like the Scouts making a stand in Bataan! ;D

[dimasalang]

I was praying they would feature any type of battle or connection in regards to the Philippines....but it looks like they may not feature much.

Here is a brief storyline:
The Pacific is to be based primarily on two memoirs of U.S. Marines: With the Old Breed by Eugene Sledge and Helmet for My Pillow by Robert Leckie.[3] The series will tell the stories of the two authors and Marine John Basilone, as the war against the Empire of Japan rages.

Given the literary sources mentioned above, the series will feature well-known battles involving the 1st Marine Division, such as Guadalcanal, Cape Gloucester, Peleliu, and Okinawa, as well as Basilone's involvement in the Battle of Iwo Jima.

Either way, it will be a great mini-series. It is already the most expensive mini-series ever filmed to date(~$150mill).

[legionnaire]

www.hbo.com/events/pacific/video.html

The Pacific on set featurette (making of)

[VeeVee]

I'm getting HBO just for this series

[legionnaire]

"The Pacific" isn't this a misleading title?

It's not as if "Flags of our fathers" and "Letters from Iwo" were not enough big budget perspective about the US Marines role in the Pacific. And don;'t forget other big budget pacific war films to date Windtalkers, Thin Red Line.

ff campaigns portrayed in the series: highlighted in yellow on the map

1- Guadalcanal (an island part of the Solomon islands) )
2- Cape Gloucester ( an island of New Britain)
3- Peleliu (part of the Palau islands)
4 -Iwo Jima ( an island of Japan)
5 -Okinawa ( another island of Japan)





A map of the entire Pacific theater of war showing the main areas of the conflict and US and Australian landings in the Pacific, 1942–45.
A total of 78 allied landings

Island nation of the Philippines alone with 7,000 plus islands had 27 US Army landings! on the map.

Not a single Philippine US landing is portrayed in this biggest most expensive 10 part miniseries on the biggest theater of WWII.


And yes the low budget "The Great Raid" had the worst hollywood advertising campaign.

[legionnaire]

STEVE and MARCIA on THE ROCK
Thursday, February 18, 2010

Thoughts on THE PACIFIC

Tuesday, February 16, marked the 65th Anniversary of the American assault to retake Corregidor from the Japanese. A small group of us gathered at the Spanish Flagpole on Topside for a 48-star flag-raising to commemorate the event. Following two weeks of fighting, General Douglas MacArthur returned to officially proclaim the island secured. On March 2nd we are hoping for a good crowd to commemorate MacArthur’s return to the Rock with another flag-raising ceremony. If you are local, please consider joining us that day. For more information on the story of the “Rock Force,” go to www.corregidor.org.

Most Americans know little about the War in the Pacific. Asked to name some of the events, most would probably be able to recall something about Pearl Harbor, the battle for Iwo Jima, and that the United States dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. For many in the younger generations, such knowledge has come from movies, and as you well know, the vast majority of good World War II movies focus on the fighting and concentration camps in Europe.

In case you haven’t heard, HBO will soon air a ten-part mini-series entitled “THE PACIFIC.” It is considered the Pacific counterpart to the outstanding “Band of Brothers” mini-series which aired years ago and is available on DVD (highly recommended by many). The executive producers for “THE PACIFIC” are Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, and Gary Goetzman. It follows three marines as they island hop from Guadalcanal to Cape Gloucester, to Iwo Jima, and finally to Okinawa. The title appears to be a bit misleading, considering that the battle for Guadalcanal did not occur until eight months after Pearl Harbor and three months after the surrender of the Philippines. We are strongly hoping that these facets of the story are covered by flashbacks or other means. Like anything done by Steven Spielberg and/or Tom Hanks, we expect this series to be top notch. Just realize that it covers a much narrower subject field – as far as we know - than its name implies, and you should not be disappointed.

We suggest watching how the Japanese are portrayed throughout the mini-series. That will be telling. Are the soldiers simply following orders, shooting back at the enemy who is trying to kill them? No one can find fault with that; that’s what soldiers are expected to do. Or will there be depictions showing their fanaticism, and the beastly treatment of their prisoners? We’re not just talking about American POWs here. Recall that the Japanese slaughtered millions in China (e.g. the Rape of Nanking) before Hitler invaded Poland in 1939. No matter what you thought of Tears in the Darkness, you’d have to be pretty dense to read that book and not come away realizing what type of enemy the American and Filipino troops faced in battle and as their captors. (There are such readers; see some of the Tears reviews on Amazon.com.)

We hope that some day Spielberg, Hanks, or someone of their stature tackles the Bataan Death March, the fall of the Philippines, the plight of the POWs – military and civilian – and the liberation of the Philippine Islands, including the Battle of Manila. This element of WW II has never been very well told on film, and most people today are likely to become aware of it only through a movie of the epic proportions and advertising budget of a “Schindler’s List” or “Saving Private Ryan.” It is hard for the former POWs of the Japanese to avoid feeling that they were ignored, first while fighting the Japanese, then while in the prison camps for over three years, next by the post-war government, and finally by the movie industry after the war. How bad was their POW treatment? Steve’s father, who was, like so many others, a POW of the Japanese for over three years, endured daily deliberate humiliation, frequent beatings, constant starvation, little to no medical care, and slave labor. He once said, “I wouldn’t take $1,000,000 to go through that for one day!”

At this time, HBO is considering a showing of “The Making of THE PACIFIC” to media guests here in the Malinta Tunnel in mid-March, before the movie’s Asian release which is set three weeks after its March 14 debut in the United States.


steveandmarciaontherock.blogspot.com

[RayAdillO]

Another gyrene leatherneck flick? Where's the army boys? What about Bougainville, the P.I. and Okinawa?

That steveandmarciablogspot has a good picture of the flagpole at corregidor. Amazing since the last time I saw it was in Subic when it was stiil an active U.S. naval base, and now it's back on the rock....great to know that, I'd thought it would be in some U.S. base in south korea by now.

Trivia: it's called "Spanish" flagpole because it was originally the mast of the Spanish flagship "Reina Cristina" which was sunk at the Battle for Manila Bay. The mast was taken as a victor's trophy and used as a flagpole ever since.


The flagpole is also famous for MacArthur's words when they took back corregidor...." HAVE THE MEN RAISE THE FLAG TO ITS PEAK, AND LET NO ENEMY EVER STRIKE IT DOWN."

[VeeVee]

Just saw the first episode... mostly about Robert Leckie in Guadalcanal. The "main battle" in the episode is the Battle of the Tenaru river (actually Ilu River but wrongfully referred to as Tenaru). They called it "Alligator Creek" in the episode.

I saw many 1903A3 rifles.... I'm not sure those were even around in August 1942...

[VeeVee]

Anyway, it looks pretty good. A little confusing and choppy flow. It helps that I read Helmet For My Pillow 25 years ago and could follow what was going on in Guadalcanal in the first episode. I feel it may not be as cohesive a story otherwise. Then again it's just the first episode and maybe the 2nd and 3rd ones would round-up the Guadalcanal story better.

The screenplay seems a little more experience-centric, rather than a telling of a cohesive big-picture story. So it seems like the scenes are just a mosaic of "sights and sounds" epxeriences, with some scenes helping to clue-in the viewer as to what's going on in the big picture.

It may have a different effect on other people but it hasn't emotionally drawn me in yet. For me so far it's a lot of visual and sensory treats. In contrast, by the end of the 1st episode of Band of Brothers, the tension and build-up had grabbed an emotional stake in me.

The first episode had a good depiction of the Tenaru/Ilu river battle. It was not an "action extravaganza" like Windtalkers, which is good. It's pretty honest.

[oklahoma]

Hey Vic....Methinks, that the USMC on the 'canal, were still using the .03 at least in the initial phases. I could be wrong on this, but it seems that our good buddies comprising the Philippine Division were some of the few allied troops blessed with the M-1 Garand. Those guys were short changed in so many areas, but somebody in high places in QMC or Ordance saw to it that these troops were about as well armed with small arms as was possible in early 1942. When the 25th Infantry Division came ashore to relieve the 1st Marines on Guadacanal they might have had M-1 Garands. I must check this out. One more thing, I would like to see, before I go to my reward, small as it will be, a first class movie production (on par with Band of Brothers/Saving Private Ryan) that thoroughly covers the Bataan/Corregidor campaign. I would think it would make for a most interesting project and I betcha there would be a large enough viewing audience in the states and the Philippines. This portion of the Pacific War has received far to little attention in my humble. Yes, you could say that this old geezer is very biased about this tragic part of our military history.

[VeeVee]

Yes they were using the 1903. Just not the 1903A3 which I think didn't get wide distribution until 1943 or '44.

It's interesting how they're going to do the story of the marines in the Pacific. They have my utmost admiration, but the story is pretty much a redundant taking of one island after another. I think Guadalcanal is the most compelling and interesting story of the bunch but so far its storyline in The Pacific is pretty weak. Maybe the second episode will give it the needed punch.

[VeeVee]

The second episode is leaps and bounds better than the first. I'm glad. It touched on the little things that tell how Guadalcanal was.

To me Guadalcanal was the Bataan that had a happy ending. The night battle in the episode 2 could have easily passed for a Bataan battle if you change the defenders' uniforms. Outstanding depiction.

[legionnaire]

Here is one great example I captured an image form you tube the opening speech for the premier of "The Pacific" held in San Diego aboard the Midway carrier.

Everyone can see an incredible whole entire pacific map as a backdrop and it is impossible to ignore the Philippine Islands which is startegicaly dead center in Asia.

How can HBO's Speilbery and Hanks accurately claim the ENTIRE "pacific war" was only fought on those five small islands by the US Marines in their 10 part mini series. I just shake my head even to this day "No mama, No papa, No hollywood uncle sam!"

Philip

[VeeVee]

The title is a misnomer. It gives the viewers a different expectation. It's like the Band of Brothers with a title of "The ETO" or "The European Theater". Then people will expect to see some of the Hurtgen Forest battle... and the assault on Monte Cassino.

[legionnaire]

Philippines, 1944–45


General Douglas MacArthur wading ashore at Leyte
Main article: Philippines campaign (1944–45)
On October 20, 1944, the U.S. Sixth Army, supported by naval and air bombardment, landed on the favorable eastern shore of Leyte, north of Mindanao. The U.S. Sixth Army continued its advance from the east, as the Japanese rushed reinforcements to the Ormoc Bay area on the western side of the island. While the Sixth Army was reinforced successfully, the U.S. Fifth Air Force was able to devastate the Japanese attempts to resupply. In torrential rains and over difficult terrain, the advance continued across Leyte and the neighboring island of Samar to the north. On December 7, U.S. Army units landed at Ormoc Bay and, after a major land and air battle, cut off the Japanese ability to reinforce and supply Leyte. Although fierce fighting continued on Leyte for months, the U.S. Army was in control.
On December 15, 1944, landings against minimal resistance were made on the southern beaches of the island of Mindoro, a key location in the planned Lingayen Gulf operations, in support of major landings scheduled on Luzon. On January 9, 1945, on the south shore of Lingayen Gulf on the western coast of Luzon, General Krueger's Sixth Army landed his first units. Almost 175,000 men followed across the twenty-mile (32 km) beachhead within a few days. With heavy air support, Army units pushed inland, taking Clark Field, 40 miles (64 km) northwest of Manila, in the last week of January.
Two more major landings followed, one to cut off the Bataan Peninsula, and another, that included a parachute drop, south of Manila. Pincers closed on the city and, on February 3, 1945, elements of the 1st Cavalry Division pushed into the northern outskirts of Manila and the 8th Cavalry passed through the northern suburbs and into the city itself.
As the advance on Manila continued from the north and the south, the Bataan Peninsula was rapidly secured. On February 16, paratroopers and amphibious units assaulted the island fortress of Corregidor, and resistance ended there on February 27.

In all, ten U.S. divisions and five independent regiments battled on Luzon, making it the largest campaign of the Pacific war,
involving more troops than the United States had used in North Africa, Italy, or southern France.

Palawan Island, between Borneo and Mindoro, the fifth largest and western-most Philippine Island, was invaded on February 28, with landings of the Eighth Army at Puerto Princesa. The Japanese put up little direct defence of Palawan, but cleaning up pockets of Japanese resistance lasted until late April, as the Japanese used their common tactic of withdrawing into the mountain jungles, dispersed as small units. Throughout the Philippines, U.S. forces were aided by Filipino guerrillas to find and dispatch the holdouts.
The U.S. Eighth Army then moved on to its first landing on Mindanao (April 17), the last of the major Philippine Islands to be taken. Mindanao was followed by invasion and occupation of Panay, Cebu, Negros and several islands in the Sulu Archipelago. These islands provided bases for the U.S. Fifth and Thirteenth Air Forces to attack targets throughout the Philippines and the South China Sea.