While I’m a die-hard pacifist, I also have a fair number of military folks in my family, including my father, grandfather, and their fathers several generations back, plus I have friends who served in the armed forces more recently. So I have a little idea of the sacrifices they made to do their jobs with honor, and it is only fitting that the United States have at least a day (if not more) to pay them respects.
I hope it’s not too trivial to share some favorite historical movie men in uniform on this day. But I think it’s a simple way for us civilians to appreciate the military and sneak a peek into that world. We may never fully understand what a person goes through in the armed services or during war, but watching movies and TV shows, however romanticized, at least keeps them in mind. And being easy on the eye can’t hurt!
Ioan Gruffudd as Horatio Hornblower
Sean Bean as Richard Sharpe
Note: I didn’t make that meme, but hey, I don’t disagree!
Burt Lancaster & Deborah Kerr in “From Here to Eternity” (he’s a sergeant, there’s a uniform earlier, really)
Cuba Gooding Jr. in the HBO movie “The Tuskegee Airmen”
Sean Astin in “Memphis Belle”
You forgot the entire cast of The Great Escape.
Lordy, there were so many to choose from :)
MUST. HAVE. THE COMPLETE. SHARPE SERIES! I just love Sean Bean.
And let’s not forget “Master and Commander” with a salt-encrusted Russell Crowe and scruffy Paul Bettany (he’s a spy, so he counts as a military man); loved that movie, even though it deviates from the books.
Heh, I didn’t want it to be ALL British Navy! So I picked Hornblower to represent.
Be still my beating heart, I love all of those! There’s just something about a man in a uniform isn’t there? Here are a few of my favorites…
Richard Gere in Yanks –
http://cdn.sptdigital.com/sites/uk.smc/files/yanks_five_620x348.jpg
Harvey Keitel and Keith Carradine in The Duelists –
http://www.freepresshouston.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/duellists033.jpg
Sean Bean (again) in Anna Karenina –
http://www.compleatseanbean.com/01anna.jpg
Michael Fassbender – Inglorious Basterds –
http://www.vh1.com/celebrity/bwe/images/2009/08/INGLOURIOUS-BASTERDS-MICHAEL-FASSBENDER-8.JPG
And Ciaran Hinds in Persuasion –
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yah1mn-JsE8/TtMFxYsbZWI/AAAAAAAABQU/bsRM2EyUh8k/s1600/CiaranHinds.jpg
Yes sirs!