'Son Of A Gun' - Mythbusters..

[MagnumDweeb]

Saving Private Ryan had three things I liked. It was "honest" about combat to some degree, war is hell and bloody my grandfather used to say. For so many years before "Band of Brothers" most movies made combat look almost peaceful with the rare exception. No one thought getting shot might mean laying on your back as your intestines spilled out next to you as your last seconds on earth were violent and painful beyond comprehension. Few realized that getting shot in combat may mean some unseen foe popping you from hundreds of yards away, all those years you spent living, loving, and what else snuffed out like garbage in a few seconds totaling the sum meaninglessness of your existance. Few regular folks had the slightest comprehension of what those guys on D-Day faced, Saving Private Ryan gave a real small glimpse into some facet of the truth, all said only those who were there will every really know.

The second part was where Tom Hanks was trying to get coffee out of an espresso maker, totally saw my dad in that one.

The third part was where they let the one German soldier go and he later killed the Jewish soldier, only proves no good deed goes left unpunished.

I like mythbusters but not enough to schedule myself to watch it, if it's on and there's nothing to do I'll watch it, but life don't run like that no more.

 

[Cosmoline]

SPR is really an homage to John Ford, Sam Fuller and other directors Spielberg admired. If you're a film nut you can track all the references to the earlier movies. Little of it had to do with anything in WWII, apart from the actual landings. And the further the film got from history the more ridiculous it became. To the point of "Tiger" tanks rolling right up to a known ambush instead of blasting Tom Hanks into tiny pieces from 500 meters away. Heck just the detonation of an 8.8 in that small area they were set up in would have taken out the entire cast. But in Hollywood Tom Hanks is about five thousand times more powerful than any tank.

Also as a point of information the soldier they let go was NOT the same one who killed Mellish (the street-wise Jewish kid from central casting). The German is a battle hardened vet who tries to reassure Mellish as he's killing him. Weird scene and it fails on several levels, because everyone gets confused about the German's identity and nobody can understand what he's saying. The one they let go ends up shooting Tom Sizemore (who wasn't really acting--that's pretty much him in the film) in the back with his Mauser at about 50 meters. Then Sizemore complains about having the "wind knocked out of him" and quietly dies in time for Hank's big scene.

I think there's a lot of merit to Mythbuster's ballistic testing. It helps to demystify firearms for mainstream audiences, and even if the methodology is choppy they're always willing to revisit things and admit their screwups. I found the bullets-in-water testing to be particularly fascinating. That also threw some cold water on Spielberg.

 

[BCRider]

Mythbusters did one about ricochets that was interesting. It proved that bullets just fragment and spray apart unless the angle is very slight. That one was fun to watch as the experiment evolved.

But yeah, there's lots to shake your head over and yell at. But some of it is more in fun. Like proving that they could make a lead balloon fly and the all duct tape row boat. Red Green should have been brought in as a consultant on that boat...

 

[72coupe]

In Saving Private Ryan, Jackson hits the beach with a correct 1903A4. Later in the bell tower he has the Marine version of a 1903 sniper rifle.

That movie is hard for me to watch knowing my father made 5 amphibious invasions, North Africa, Sicily, Salerno, Anzio and Southern France. All with the 3rd Infantry Division.

 

[Strykervet]

Mythbusters makes mistakes too. (Say that three times fast!). I've seen a few that I know for a fact have different outcomes. One was catching an arrow in flight. They did the math, double checked the physics, and were sure they had it right. They said it couldn't be done.

Then I saw a guy actually do it.

 

[infmp32]

As for SPR, the whole story is nonsense. No president is going to give that kind of order. No commander is going to order a company to wander around in enemy territory sort of in hopes that maybe they might accidentally encounter Pvt. Ryan and bring him out because his politically powerful family wants to have someone to run for president some day. And no commander is going to release a soldier to some unknown officer on the basis of some paper. Any such orders, if they were to be given, would be passed down through the chain of command by official message, encrypted and authenticated. If the unit could not be located, Private Ryan could wait until it was.

And could Private Ryan have been elected to anything when (not if) it was learned that his family pulled strings to get him out of combat?

Jim

Actually, it wasn't a case of the family pulling strings to get him out of combat, it was a government sole survivor policy. The movie was very very very loosely based on the true story of the Niland brothers in WW2. It was thought that three of the four brothers had been killed in combat. The last surviving son, "Fritz" Niland was with the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne and was then pulled out of combat a few days after D-Day because of that and finished out the war stateside. It turned out the 4th brother was missing and in a Japanese prison camp and was liberated in 1945.

 

[bdbecker]

If you want to see a really bad verision of Mythbusters, try watching that Smash Lab show... worthless.

 

[robhof]

Actually on the tank rolling up to Hanks: there was just a history channel special about WW2 and there was a true story of an 18 yo soldier in the war that took out 2 panzers with a bazooka and when out of ammo for it the 3rd tank rolled right up to him and the tank cmdr popped up out of the turred and aimed his Luger at the soldier, but the soldier was faster with his 45 and shot the cmdr to death, he was a posthumous Medal of Honor winner.

 

[RugerMcMarlin]

The first story made my bag of genetic material pull up. The scope was a soviet PU scope on a Moisin Nagant sniper rifle thats about 6" long. It was a Hathcock story, it probably has happened before. Hence the more than one story.

I am always amazed when someone says, this could happen, or this couldn't happen, because I don't think so and after all I'm the smartest guy I know, just ask me. BS

Are you really convinced you KNOW that much?

 

[4v50 Gary]

It's as plausible as the Navy Chaplin & VD story and the other one where a brother played with himself in the bath and then his sister got pregnant when she used the bath after he was finished.

 

[Busyhands94]

4v50 Gary, is that one plausible? i know it would be pretty hard for that to happen in a swimming pool, but in a bathtub it is smaller. the water is probably just the right temperature for the genetic material to survive, and there is most likely no chlorine.

the mythbusters are not quite professional, i have spent many times yelling at the TV because they made a critical mistake. the "Son of a Gun" myth really made me cringe seeing the hot slug penetrate the bag of you know what. like someone else said i bet that was just used as an excuse to get past telling people that a man got a woman pregnant. i mean, back then they probably would have strung the guy up for that. it could have just been an excuse to hide an embarrassing truth.

~Levi

 

[gizmodog]

i doubt the seed would stay on the minie for the 200-400 FPS ride concerning reduction in VE due to slight impact.....& a bullet is hot! from gases and air friction from travelling thru the air.

good country myth for the cuckolded man to explain his new baby or the unwed mother ...........

GMD

 

[hardway]

And could Private Ryan have been elected to anything when (not if) it was learned that his family pulled strings to get him out of combat?
Jim

How about President?

 

[19&41]

At least, considering the area where Mythbusters is taped, They have done a good number of firearms related subjects. I liked the rifle muzzle adapter they made up to shoot coins.

 

[SpikeBayonet]

Ref: SPR - Wasn't it Colin Powell who wanted to know why they just didn't blow the bridge to begin with?

Ref: Mythbusters - I don't know about you guys, but this is why I watch:

http://www.armoryblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/kari-mythbusters-sniper-rifle.jpg

http://www.beertripper.com/OffTopic/off_pics/Kari_Byron/Kari_Byron_Big_Gun.jpg

 

[ElvinWarrior]

Hmmm...

Fertilization by Black Powder Lead Balls ???

Is that about like the "Immaculate Conception" by Mary of Christ ???

A bit more explosive than the story of Christ's birth, but very entertaining to say the least !!! LOL !!!

Sincerely,

ElvinWarrior... aka... David, "EW"