Friday, November 11, 2011

What it is to be an American!

21 comments:

chickelit said...

Yeah, but everybody forgets about The War of 1812.

Even Hollywood.

chickelit said...

Is that Jeff Daniels hiding behind those tusks?

Man, he sure changed his tune: link

windbag said...

Jeff Daniels is one of my favorite actors. Gettysburg is an awesome movie. I watched it a couple of months back. Great scene.

ricpic said...

Gods and Generals. Best part was the silken flags of the regiments, North and South, flowing in the breeze to the accompaniment of the song, Going Home. Genuinely moving. The film that followed was unfortunately stiff and preachy, as the officer admitted.

ricpic said...

Was that Gettysburg? Coulda swore it was Gods and Generals. Oh well.

rcocean said...

'Gettysburg' is a great film. If you look real close you can see Ted Turner get shot. Too bad its just make believe.

rcocean said...

"The film that followed was unfortunately stiff and preachy, as the officer admitted."

One reason why Ford was a great film maker. He could be patriotic without being stiff or preachy.

Trooper York said...

It was a rip off the Killer Angels. I mean they bought the rights to it but it was really uninspired filmmaking.

"The Killer Angels" is one of my all time favorite books. You can tell by my series of the same name.

Funny thing about it. In the book everybody was mad at Meade. Just sayn'

The Dude said...

I never forget about the War of 1812. My father is buried in the same cemetery as a local lawyer, Francis Scott Key. Everything in that town was named after him or Barbara Fritchie. She was famous for standing up to Stonewall Jackson.

Anyway, I was at Fort McHenry during the first Gulf War - I have to tell you, when they opened the curtains so we could see the view of the harbor and played The Star Spangled Banner it sent chills down my spine.

And, if you ever have the chance, go see the actual Star Spangled Banner in the Smithsonian - that is an amazing flag. I fly a very small version of it at my house.

rcocean said...

Meade was known for his temper. Someone called him a "Bald, Cross-eyed, Snapping Turtle".

Could have been Althouse or maybe Sheridan.

One of those two.

Trooper York said...

You know they are the same height.

And they both dyed their hair.

Just sayn'

chickelit said...

Meade's ride was named "Old Baldy"

Bet you didn't know that.

blake said...

So was Althouse's!

The Dude said...

I am sure that ironrailsironweights is sad to hear that.

edutcher said...

Trooper York said...

You know they are the same height.

And they both dyed their hair.


Oh, come on. That's mean.

The Dude said...

Sheridan had it coming, Ed. Oh, wait, you meant the self-murdering red head. Never mind...

edutcher said...

Sheridan?

The man who saved the day at Winchester?

Who won the Plains Indian Wars?

Who policed Chicago after the fire?

As for Mrs Meade, she's as human as the rest of us.

windbag said...

I quote General Sheridan all the time. He said, "If I owned Hell and Texas, I would rent Texas and live in Hell." Amen.

edutcher said...

I think that's Sherman, who also noted that the only things lacking in Texas were water and good society.

Which, he further observed, could also be said of Hell.

The Texas ladies, however, must have improved monumentally since Uncle Billy's day.

chickelit said...

@edutcher: That is so odd that you should mention that story about Texas: I heard the same about Arizona: link

Fred4Pres said...

As Davey Crockett said, "You can go to hell, I will go to Texas."