R.I.P., Robert Redford

[laKavosiey-st lion]

2? That's way too low.

He’s corny sometimes.

 

[DavidM]

A final comment on this thread. I've been watching--among other things--some retrospectives about Redford, and I was stunned to be reminded of a bucketload of films which I'd enjoyed with him a major actor, and I had forgotten about. Plus so many films involving him which I'd never even seen. His film presence for several decades was just monumental.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

He’s corny sometimes.

A few things in response:
- it's based on a 1974 book, which became a 1975 film
- Redford's character is a bookworm, who works as a CIA analyst. In short, he's a nerd, who is the antithesis of a CIA field agent
- and yet, after his office of CIA nerds is all killed off, he ends up besting the CIA, and the rogue actors, that both try to eliminate him. He does so on his book smarts, memory, and a little luck.

So being corny is more to set the contrast between his book-smart character, and the field agents and contract killers he's unexpectedly pitted against.

 

[laKavosiey-st lion]

That’s fair.

 

[s1uggo72]

A few things in response:
- it's based on a 1974 book, which became a 1975 film
- Redford's character is a bookworm, who works as a CIA analyst. In short, he's a nerd, who is the antithesis of a CIA field agent
- and yet, after his office of CIA nerds is all killed off, he ends up besting the CIA, and the rogue actors, that both try to eliminate him. He does so on his book smarts, memory, and a little luck.

So being corny is more to set the contrast between his book-smart character, and the field agents and contract killers he's unexpectedly pitted against.

Dick Tracey was an underrated detective

 

[Bkmtnittany1]

Dick Tracey was an underrated detective

Which is why the phrase “no sh*t Dick Tracey” was created!

 

[Nits1989]

A few things in response:
- it's based on a 1974 book, which became a 1975 film
- Redford's character is a bookworm, who works as a CIA analyst. In short, he's a nerd, who is the antithesis of a CIA field agent
- and yet, after his office of CIA nerds is all killed off, he ends up besting the CIA, and the rogue actors, that both try to eliminate him. He does so on his book smarts, memory, and a little luck.

So being corny is more to set the contrast between his book-smart character, and the field agents and contract killers he's unexpectedly pitted against.

Love those 1970s paranoid thrillers like Condor. Also like Parallax View with Warren Beatty, Klute and Invasion of The Body Snatchers with Donald Sutherland, and Marathon Man with Dustin Hoffman.

 

[JohnJumba]

200 mil. nice

Ba-woom!

 

[laKavosiey-st lion]

Which is why the phrase “no sh*t Dick Tracey” was created!

Always a fantastic burn

 

[psu31trap]

RIP Mr. Redford and thank you for all the great movies.

 

[nittanymoops]

Great line here by Redford in abridge to far. True story that allies had a small window to move Their tanks forward but they didn’t. Window closed and the rest of that battle is history.
View attachment 917267

• Maj. Julian Cook: you’re not going to stop. Not now. Those are British troops at Arnhem. They're hurt bad. And you're just gonna sit here... and... drink tea?

Love the book, and the movie remained very true to it with a few exceptions.

As today is the 81st anniversary of the crossing of the Waal by Maj. Cook (earning him a DSC) leading his 82nd troopers, I thought I'd post here.

That said, that little speech by Maj. Cook was wildly unfair to the Brits who crossed the bridge under fire.
First, only four tanks went across Nijmegen bridge. Depending on which source you go by, there were explosives still ready to blow the bridge, which the scene in the movie dramatizes, as well as the commander of the 10th SS Panzer Division saying (paraphrasing) nothing can stop them now. What the general didn't know at the time was that the Brits that were holding the north end of Arnhem bridge had fallen and it was once again in German possession. Further, forces were pushing south between Arnhem and Nijmegen (roughly 5-10 miles) to block any Allied advance.
Second, the heroic assault by Maj. Cook's troops came at great cost. The only infantry available to push up toward Arnhem were Cook's exhausted men. One of the tanks was heavily damaged as well.
Third, the whole Market-Garden plan was effed up from the beginning. From Ike on down, to Monty and his planners, it was based on only the best possible scenarios, very few of which came to pass. Not the least of which was running an entire operation up one polder highway where it was impossible for heavy vehicles to leave the road. The logisitcal problems were massive, especially when you consider that British XXX Corps was still being supplied from the Normandy beachhead via the Red Ball Express. The traffic jams were horrendous and the Germans were familiar with the difficulties of the terrain. The 101st and the 82nd had several pitched battles for possession of the road, which the Germans did manage to sever at least twice.

One of the best anecdotes from Cornelius Ryan's book was about an enraged Dutch Army officer who marched into a limey officer's mess and basically berated them for "failing the test." One of the tests of Dutch officer school was to ascertain the best way to attack Arnhem from Nijmegen. And the British plan to advance up the exposed polder road was the very wrong way to go about it, but rather to pass the test one had to turn east and flank toward the lower Rhine west of Arnhem and cross there.

One of the things that I didn't realize was the major size differences between the two channels of the Rhine at Nijmegen and Arnhem. At the site of Maj. Cook's crossing, the Waal is more than 250 yards wide and the bridge there is massive.The lower Rhine at Arnhem is about 100 yards, a flip wedge for you golfers.

For Market-Garden to have succeeded, the paratroopers would have had to drop much closer to the final two crossings. The Brits at Arnhem were 7-8 miles from the bridge when they dropped. The Americans at Nijmegen were somewhat closer, but the 82nd troops assigned to take the bridge also had the task of securing high ground east of the city as their first objective. By the time that task was achieved late on Sept. 17, 1944, any hope of quickly seizing Nijmegen bridge was lost.

In reality, after Maj. Cook took Nijmegen bridge with the four British tanks, there were still forces fighting on the south side of the river over the bridge approaches. The sluggish advance toward Arnhem would NOT RESUME for 18 hours after Cook exhorted those British tankers forward. Like I said, the operation was effed up from the very beginning and never should have been approved.

For those of you interested, that area of the Netherlands is beautiful and worth a day or two if you are in the area and interested in the battle.

 

[LionJim]

Love the book, and the movie remained very true to it with a few exceptions.

As today is the 81st anniversary of the crossing of the Waal by Maj. Cook (earning him a DSC) leading his 82nd troopers, I thought I'd post here.

That said, that little speech by Maj. Cook was wildly unfair to the Brits who crossed the bridge under fire.
First, only four tanks went across Nijmegen bridge. Depending on which source you go by, there were explosives still ready to blow the bridge, which the scene in the movie dramatizes, as well as the commander of the 10th SS Panzer Division saying (paraphrasing) nothing can stop them now. What the general didn't know at the time was that the Brits that were holding the north end of Arnhem bridge had fallen and it was once again in German possession. Further, forces were pushing south between Arnhem and Nijmegen (roughly 5-10 miles) to block any Allied advance.
Second, the heroic assault by Maj. Cook's troops came at great cost. The only infantry available to push up toward Arnhem were Cook's exhausted men. One of the tanks was heavily damaged as well.
Third, the whole Market-Garden plan was effed up from the beginning. From Ike on down, to Monty and his planners, it was based on only the best possible scenarios, very few of which came to pass. Not the least of which was running an entire operation up one polder highway where it was impossible for heavy vehicles to leave the road. The logisitcal problems were massive, especially when you consider that British XXX Corps was still being supplied from the Normandy beachhead via the Red Ball Express. The traffic jams were horrendous and the Germans were familiar with the difficulties of the terrain. The 101st and the 82nd had several pitched battles for possession of the road, which the Germans did manage to sever at least twice.

One of the best anecdotes from Cornelius Ryan's book was about an enraged Dutch Army officer who marched into a limey officer's mess and basically berated them for "failing the test." One of the tests of Dutch officer school was to ascertain the best way to attack Arnhem from Nijmegen. And the British plan to advance up the exposed polder road was the very wrong way to go about it, but rather to pass the test one had to turn east and flank toward the lower Rhine west of Arnhem and cross there.

One of the things that I didn't realize was the major size differences between the two channels of the Rhine at Nijmegen and Arnhem. At the site of Maj. Cook's crossing, the Waal is more than 250 yards wide and the bridge there is massive.The lower Rhine at Arnhem is about 100 yards, a flip wedge for you golfers.

For Market-Garden to have succeeded, the paratroopers would have had to drop much closer to the final two crossings. The Brits at Arnhem were 7-8 miles from the bridge when they dropped. The Americans at Nijmegen were somewhat closer, but the 82nd troops assigned to take the bridge also had the task of securing high ground east of the city as their first objective. By the time that task was achieved late on Sept. 17, 1944, any hope of quickly seizing Nijmegen bridge was lost.

In reality, after Maj. Cook took Nijmegen bridge with the four British tanks, there were still forces fighting on the south side of the river over the bridge approaches. The sluggish advance toward Arnhem would NOT RESUME for 18 hours after Cook exhorted those British tankers forward. Like I said, the operation was effed up from the very beginning and never should have been approved.

For those of you interested, that area of the Netherlands is beautiful and worth a day or two if you are in the area and interested in the battle.

Thanks for taking the time.

 

[Fac]

1985 ish. It was the year that "Christmas Story " hit HBO. Was leaving Aspen with a friend and took a taxi to the airport. Got out and faced the cab waiting for the driver to hand me my luggage.
Got my bag and headed into the airport. The couple standing behind me got into the cab. My friend says to me, that was Robert Redford standing behind you. I said why didn't you tell me earlier? He said it was no big deal. I used that phrase on him quite a bit in years to follow.

BTW, Bob and I share the same birth date (not the year).

 

[razpsu]

Love the book, and the movie remained very true to it with a few exceptions.

As today is the 81st anniversary of the crossing of the Waal by Maj. Cook (earning him a DSC) leading his 82nd troopers, I thought I'd post here.

That said, that little speech by Maj. Cook was wildly unfair to the Brits who crossed the bridge under fire.
First, only four tanks went across Nijmegen bridge. Depending on which source you go by, there were explosives still ready to blow the bridge, which the scene in the movie dramatizes, as well as the commander of the 10th SS Panzer Division saying (paraphrasing) nothing can stop them now. What the general didn't know at the time was that the Brits that were holding the north end of Arnhem bridge had fallen and it was once again in German possession. Further, forces were pushing south between Arnhem and Nijmegen (roughly 5-10 miles) to block any Allied advance.
Second, the heroic assault by Maj. Cook's troops came at great cost. The only infantry available to push up toward Arnhem were Cook's exhausted men. One of the tanks was heavily damaged as well.
Third, the whole Market-Garden plan was effed up from the beginning. From Ike on down, to Monty and his planners, it was based on only the best possible scenarios, very few of which came to pass. Not the least of which was running an entire operation up one polder highway where it was impossible for heavy vehicles to leave the road. The logisitcal problems were massive, especially when you consider that British XXX Corps was still being supplied from the Normandy beachhead via the Red Ball Express. The traffic jams were horrendous and the Germans were familiar with the difficulties of the terrain. The 101st and the 82nd had several pitched battles for possession of the road, which the Germans did manage to sever at least twice.

One of the best anecdotes from Cornelius Ryan's book was about an enraged Dutch Army officer who marched into a limey officer's mess and basically berated them for "failing the test." One of the tests of Dutch officer school was to ascertain the best way to attack Arnhem from Nijmegen. And the British plan to advance up the exposed polder road was the very wrong way to go about it, but rather to pass the test one had to turn east and flank toward the lower Rhine west of Arnhem and cross there.

One of the things that I didn't realize was the major size differences between the two channels of the Rhine at Nijmegen and Arnhem. At the site of Maj. Cook's crossing, the Waal is more than 250 yards wide and the bridge there is massive.The lower Rhine at Arnhem is about 100 yards, a flip wedge for you golfers.

For Market-Garden to have succeeded, the paratroopers would have had to drop much closer to the final two crossings. The Brits at Arnhem were 7-8 miles from the bridge when they dropped. The Americans at Nijmegen were somewhat closer, but the 82nd troops assigned to take the bridge also had the task of securing high ground east of the city as their first objective. By the time that task was achieved late on Sept. 17, 1944, any hope of quickly seizing Nijmegen bridge was lost.

In reality, after Maj. Cook took Nijmegen bridge with the four British tanks, there were still forces fighting on the south side of the river over the bridge approaches. The sluggish advance toward Arnhem would NOT RESUME for 18 hours after Cook exhorted those British tankers forward. Like I said, the operation was effed up from the very beginning and never should have been approved.

For those of you interested, that area of the Netherlands is beautiful and worth a day or two if you are in the area and interested in the battle.

Excellent summary. Ridiculous plan by Montgomery. As Michael Caine said In the movie about the road, “this is the wide part”. After they just were attacked.

Montgomery say it was successful since 90 percent went right. lol.
I think it was prime? That has a very good documentary on it.