Learn to love Charles Bronson

I am not a particular fan of the war movie genre.  There are a couple reason for this, I don't really like the glorification of war and I feel like the setting often allows for failures in plot and acting (I feel like John Wayne made a thousand war movies).  However, there is a sub-genre of war movie that I like which I like to call "the mission-based war movie",  think The Great Escape or The Guns of Navarone.  Movies in which the plot is pretty important and a large enough cast (with some character development) that I can at least latch onto one or two characters (or more in the case of The Guns of Navarone, which is a fantastic movie).  And so, when my favorite theater here is the DC area was showing The Dirty Dozen, I felt like there was a chance that I might enjoy it.  And while I wouldn't say that I loved it, it was parts of it were enjoyable (if a tad on the violent side) and well made so I felt like it helped complete some of my cinema education.  So here is what I learned from The Dirty Dozen:

• Nothing brings a group of men together like not shaving or showering
• Threatening to beat someone brains is a great motivator.  
• While you don't have to kill Telly Savalas immediately, you could have saved some time (and possibly some lives) if you would have allowed Jim Brown to beat him to death.  
• When you have a complicated plan, just make each step rhyme internally, and you will be fine.
• If a some point there is an escape that must be done, try to be paired with Charles Bronson (survives/escapes in both The Dirty Dozen and The Great Escape). 
• Robert Ryan's ability to portray an asshole transcends the film noir genre.  
• If you are almost out of danger but not quite, don't jinks yourself by stating that fact. 
• Everyone on your team should be able to climb a rope. 
• Look out for trees when parachuting into a location.  
• Again, I have to stress either leave behind or kill Telly Savalas.   
• Jim Brown is awesome.  
• It is weird when Donald Sutherland acts really goofy (I've really only seen him in serious roles).  
• Lee Marvin has very crazy eyebrows.  

Consequences

Somehow, I've let an entire month go by without blogging a single thing.  Which is actually not so surprising, I've been a bit lax lately with the blogging which I am going to chalk up to moving in the past few weeks and being busy at work.  A fun thing that I did this week was to see Raiders of the Lost Ark on the big screen (for the first time ever).  I was shocked to see both how few people were there and the number of people who bought children under 10.  It has been a while since I have seen that movie, but it seems definitely too violent for a kid of 6 or 7 (the face melting and head exploding is a bit much for me and I'm an adult).  One consequence of seeing some many older movies on the big screen is that I am much more observant of the both the condition of the print and the transition of one reel to the next.  The print was Raiders of the Lost Ark I saw was pristine (barely any scratches on the first few frames which sometime get dirty and scratched because it is exposed to the outside).  Now if only the reels of Auntie Mame and Shop Around the Corner were in a good of shape!