Combat Films: American Realism, 1945-2010, 2d ed. / Edition 2

by Steven Jay Rubin

Overview

This critical text offers a behind-the-scenes look at fifteen of the most important American war films of the last 60 years. Based on original interviews and archival research and featuring rare photographs, this book covers films considered unusually realistic for the genre. The original edition (1981) covered war films through World War II, while the present, expanded edition includes seven new chapters covering the Civil War, the American gunboat presence in China in the 1920s, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the fighting in Mogadishu in 1993 and the war in Iraq.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786458929
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	06/28/2011
Edition description:	Revised
Pages:	312
Sales rank:	314,442
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Steven Jay Rubin, the author of several books about film, is a motion picture producer based in Los Angeles.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 1

Section I Filming History, Not Heroics 5

1 A Walk in the Sun (20th Century-Fox, 1946) 7

2 Battleground (MGM, 1949) 20

3 Twelve O'Clock High (20th Century-Fox, 1949) 34

4 The Bridge on the River Kwai (Columbia Pictures, 1957) 49

Section II The Thin Red Line 69

5 Pork Chop Hill (United Artists, 1959) 72

6 The Longest Day (20th Century-Fox, 1962) 89

7 Hell Is for Heroes (Paramount Pictures, 1962) 111

8 The Great Escape (United Artists, 1963) 123

Section III The New Heroes 149

9 The Sand Pebbles (20th Century-Fox, 1966) 153

10 Patton (20th Century-Fox, 1970) 171

11 Platoon (Orion Pictures, 1986) 183

12 Gettysburg (New Line Cinema, 1993) 201

Section IV War Films in the 21st Century 221

13 Saving Private Ryan (Paramount Pictures, 1998) 224

14 Black Hawk Down (Sony Pictures, 2001) 246

15 The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment, 2009) 264

Chapter Notes 279

Bibliography 287

Index 291

Editorial Reviews

thoroughly researched and engagingly told tales offer sufficient evaluation of the movies’ importance to intrigue fans as they read about their favorite mud-slogging heroes”—Booklist; “an absorbing book”—Classic Images; “nicely written...fans of World War II cinema will want this volume”—Big Reel; “an insightful study”—Photoplay; “fascinating stuff”—West Coast Review of Books; “the selection of films is excellent”—L.A. Times; “expertly put together...a useful addition”—Screen International; “an insightful study”—Cinema Canada; “focuses insightfully on eight war films and their makers”—American Cinematographer.

From the Publisher

nicely written

Big Reel

an absorbing book

Classic Images

light but thoroughly researched and engagingly told

Booklist

Light but thoroughly researched and engagingly told

Booklist/RBB