With the state of entertainment in the proverbial shitter, I decided to reach back in the yonder days of ole’ when Men were Men, Women were Women and “Comedies” were actually Funny!
Today’s clip is from one of my favorite “Spoofball” comedy series of the early 80’s: Cannonball Run.
With a star studded cast of Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise and the oh so funny Jack Elam (ole’ Snake-eyes) including dozens of cameos, you cannot go wrong with this one!
I can remember so vividly this show being put on infinite loop on the “Cable” channels like HBO when I was a kid and it never got old!
The Imperial Japanese Army has just captured the then-capital of the Republic of China, Nanjing. What followed was known as the Nanking Massacre, or the Rape of Nanking, a period of several weeks where over two-hundred thousand Chinese soldiers and civilians were killed and an estimated 20,000 chinese girls and women of all ages were raped.
Shot predominantly in Black and White with English Subtitles, this is an epic WW2 Movie that needed to be made to chronicle one of the worst wartime massacres of the 20th century.
You can watch City of Life and Death for free HERE
(Please remember to use an Ad Blocker like UBlock origin and a VPN when streaming movies online)
Just when you thought you had seen all the worthwhile Foreign WW2 Movies, one pops up that surprises you.
This one comes out of Italy and chronicles the life of a young Italian infantry solider on the front in North Africa in 1942.
A poignant, thoughtful war movie that shows both the human and absurd side of war.
On the one hand, the Italian soldiers on the front lines were made to starve and die of thirst because the Italian High Command were sending boot polish and horses for the “triumphant entry into Alexandria” instead of sending bullets, water, medicine, replacements and rations to run Montgomery out of North Africa!
(Please Remember to use Ad Blocking Software like UBlock Origin and a VPN when Streaming Movies Online!)
A harrowing tale of survival in Post World War Two Poland.
The story centers on Rose, a Masurian woman, whose husband, a German soldier, was killed in the war, leaving her alone on their farm. A single woman had no defense against Russian soldiers who raped as a form of revenge, nor against plundering Poles who found themselves in desperate straits. The law of the jungle had replaced the rule of law. Help arrives for Rose in the form of Tadeusz, a former officer in the Polish Home Army who survived the Warsaw uprising and is attempting to hide his identity.
This is a gritty, realistic story of how the Soviet’s raped and plundered all across Eastern Europe after World War Two.
Few historians will admit that this is exactly what Hitler was trying to stop in invading Russia in 1941.
As far as Old West History goes, no other person or story had a more profound impact on me as a writer than Billy the Kid.
When I was fifteen years old, my parents took me on a three-week summer RV trip to New Mexico, Colorado and Utah.
While in New Mexico we spent three days touring Fort Sumner and Lincoln to include the Lincoln County Courthouse and Jail from which Billy broke out of in 1881 (the bullet hole from where he shot Deputy J.W. Bell is still in the wall).
I think the jail scene from Sam Peckinpah’s Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973) nails it:
I have read over half a dozen books about Billy the Kid and his demise at the hands of Pat Garrett, his long time friend and although it is fanciful to entertain the notion that Pat allowed Billy to escape that night (as proffered in the recent western Old Henry) the historical record is clear: Billy the Kid was shot down like a dog in the middle of the night by a man he loved and trusted.
If you have not seen Old Henry yet, check it out and read my review HERE.
Set in Ireland during the Great Famine, the drama follows an Irish Ranger who has been fighting for the British Army abroad, as he abandons his post to reunite with his family. English Subtitles for the Gaelic parts.
This movie documents the life and exploits of Simon Bolivar, quite possibly, one of the most influential figures in the history of the South American continents struggle to be free of the Spanish Empire in the 19th Century. Although this movie is not so much about Guerilla Warfare per se, I included it because I feel it is important for the student of Military History and GW to understand how the struggle to be free of COLONIAL powers all across the globe was the “spark” that often ignited Guerilla insurgencies, such as The Boer War, The Malaysian Emergency and the Algerian Civil War. The majority of the movie is in Spanish or French with English sub-titles.
Not withstanding the man was a murdering Communist POS, Guevara represents an integral part of the history of the evolution of Guerilla Warfare. His manual, Guerilla Warfare, published in 1969 and mostly drawing from his experiences during the Cuban Revolution, was one of the first published manuals on the subject. The movie goes into detail into the actual ground work (by showing the early years of the Cuban Revolution) that had to be laid for a Guerilla insurgency to function, not withstanding the military and tactical aspects, the Guerilla army first had to be disciplined to be able to sway the local populace to their side. They did this by not putting any hardship on the peasant families (such as stealing food or supplies) and offering any services they could easily provide (Guevara was a trained Physician, so they offered free medical care to all the peasant villages).
This is a MUST SEE for the student of Guerilla Warfare; not just because it is an awesome movie, but it is also very accurate in it’s historical detail. An early study of the beginnings of the IRA in the 1920’s, it shows in graphic detail the brutality the Irish faced at the hands of their British taskmasters and attempts to validate why, the Irish, were in turn, often so harsh in their retaliations against the British. It tracks the evolution of the formation of early IRA “brigades” which conducted raids, ambushes and political assassinations and eventually ends up going into the Irish Civil War which broke out over disagreements over the eventual “Peace” treaty with England, which continued to rage on for another 70 years.
A French Film with English sub-titles, this movie tracks the Algerian War of Independence, which in terms of studying Guerilla Warfare is a red letter date event. When studying how Guerilla Warfare has changed over the centuries, one of the re-occurring themes you will come across again and again is the REBELLION AGAINST COLONIAL POWERS , namely, Spain, England and France. Besides the study of the Boer War, The French Algerian War offers some of the best hindsight in WHAT NOT TO DO when fighting a counter-insurgency, namely:
The torture of prisoners and mistreatment of the indigenous populace.
Not educating your military force on the local religion and culture (islam) can be a severe detriment in knowing how to earn peoples respect and trust.
While on this subject, one needs to also study how France, before Algeria, fought an uphill and eventual losing battle in French Indochina, a pre-cursor (and harbinger as it were) to America’s long and bloody struggle in Vietnam.
Although this movie is not a direct study of GW, it offers an informative look at Middle Eastern and European Political Terrorism in the 1970’s through the eyes of one of the most ruthless and notorious terrorist and hired killers of that time, Carlos the Jackal. This is a French made film with English sub-titles, but don’t let that discourage you. It is very well made and historically accurate. Several “red letter” events as it pertains to 1970’s European Political Terrorism are depicted such as the 1975 OPEC Siege and the 1976 Entebbe Raid.
The Tactical Hermit 
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