"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn"30th June 1936
The novel 'Gone With The Wind' is published
Correct! He was the only surviving member of VT-8, Torpedo 8. Surviving the crash landing of his TBF Avenger, he spent the next two days floating and hiding under a seat cushion, lest the Japanese strafe him in the water. He watched the attack on the Akagi by the SBD dive bombers that mortally crippled the carrier. After the Japanese planes and ships left, he was able to inflate his life raft until picked up by a PBY. After the war he became a pilot for American Airlines. He passed away a few years ago.
IMO the recent movie, "Midway" (2019--Roland Emmerich) is by far the most accurate, including such improbable scenes as the sequence where Bruno Gaido jumps into the back of a parked SBD Dauntless and shoots down a diving/suiciding Japanese bomber. Pure over-the-top Hollywood stuff, right? Except that it was quite true and happened pretty much the way they filmed it, including the fact that Adm. Bull Halsey watched the whole thing from up on the Island.
Gaido was also one of three fliers executed (by drowning) after being captured by the Japanese.
I have to say that when I found out Woody Harrelson was cast as Adm. Chester Nimitz for Emmerich's film my hopes dimmed...but I was wrong. He did a great job, as did so many of the rest. If I had to recommend only one movie version, it would be this one. Little bits of Hollywood, and a lot of little bits which LOOK like pure Hollywood, but which were quite real after all.
Invariably why historical movie's have the disclaimerI'm sorry but I'm going to have to respectfully disagree. Having read extensively on naval history, I have to say I found 2019's "Midway" an awful and disrespectful portrayal of those historic events, almost up there with 2001's "Pearl Harbor." Yes, there are many depictions of things that actually happened, but I think it's overly Hollywoodized to the point where it detracts from the solemnity of history.
Best's run on the Akagi is one of the most ridiculous depictions of dive bombing I've ever seen. Typical bomb release was at 2000-3000 feet, and while in reality Best toggled his at just above 1000', the movie shows it at about mast-height. It's not possible to pull out of a 60-degree dive at that height, and releasing a heavy bomb below a thousand feet in a dive bomber was extremely hazardous as the aircraft would be in the blast zone during pull-out. There were aircraft lost during the war because they were destroyed by their own bomb in similar instances. Plus, the laws of physics are suspended during the scene-- his wingmen release their bombs at about 3000', and we see those impact the water near the carrier. A full 25 seconds after those bombs land, Best is still in his dive. Yes, SBDs have dive brakes that slow them down while in a dive, but not by that much. The later bomb run on Hiryu is just as dumb.
There's other miscellaneous goofs you can find on movie sites, but to me one of the worst offenses is the depiction of certain historic characters. Best was squadron XO, then commander of VB-6 at Midway. McClusky later commanded the carrier USS Corregidor and retired as a rear admiral. Achieving such positions require some degree of leadership in the military. Their respective portrayals as a hotheaded insubordinate and a timid, somewhat indecisive commander, are travesty to the memory of those actual heroes, in my opinion.
Some of the CGI is impressive. I thought the depictions of the TBDs were decent, for a plane that has no existing survivors, down to the tri-color band on the spinner in one scene. But a lot is overdone, from the way overblown flak and unrealistic ship formations, to incorrect weapons loadouts and silly flight physics (hammerhead in an SBD?!). Too much of the battle scenes look like a video game.
Funny that, my wife just picked up the movie version on Wednesday, it is one of her favorite stories. She checked out both Gone with the Wind and Music Man."Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn"My late sister loved that book and the movie. I thought it was "lost cause" propaganda. I may not know what I'm talking about. The truth is I never read the entire book or watched the entire movie.
Thanks for all the great posts, David!
Invara
Invariably why historical movie's have the disclaimer
"Based on true events"
It's a shortened depiction of the events, and not necessarily a factual representation, and let's be honest, a bomb run at mast height is far more dramatic than at a 1000ft.
