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Originally Posted by windiesel The TV series had the inimitable Alan Alda,and if I remember right, he wasn't there in the movie, it had Donald Sutherland or someone. Alan Alda has me in splits! wonderful timing with a straight face! You're correct... but a great series none the less. |
The movie came first, 1970, and was based on a book. The series did not start until a few years later. Never read the book, but the movie is an absolute classic! The Mash series is one of the longest, if not the longest running, TV series ever. I must have seen every episode several time over. In the USA you could probably watch a Mash episode every hour of the day if you have enough channels. Its endless repeats. It was very popular in many European countries as well.
Catch22 springs to mind as one of my all time favorite books. Ive reread it many times and keep enjoying it. It was made into a movie (witha.o. art Garfunkel), but in all honesty I did not think the movie did the book any justice.
Kelly's heroes is another favorite second war movie of mine. Starring Clint Eastwood, Donald Sutherland and a few others.
I must admit that my favourite second world war books and movies are all a bit black comedy. But they probably did portray the madness of WW2. I have seen the more serious ww2 films as well, form where eagles dare, a bridge too far, inglorious *******s, schindlers listand many more. I do value them, but it really isn't so much my genre to be honest.
Both my parents were 19 years when the Germans invaded The Netherlands in 1940. My dad' father, ie my granddad died in the very first hours of the war, due to a bomb hitting his little store. My dad was a student and had to hide from the Germans for several years, like many students and Jews did. When I was young my father told us (my sisters and me) some amazing stories. He had very vivid memories of the occupation period and lost a number of college friends. In later years he rarely talked about it. In fact he liked to spend his holidays in Germany.
There are several Dutch books written about this period, obviously. Few have been translated in any the languages. But i have read several. It as uncanny to see how my dad's experiences and stories were near identical to theses stories.
Another very famous BBC world war 2 sitcom/ comedy series is Dad's army. No idea if that has ever been shown in India. It is very British, showing the 'adventures' of the home guards in a small English town. To date, still many reruns in many European countries.
The one, "serious", WW2 movie, if I could put it that way, that impressed me most was Das Boot. Again, based on a novel, and fictional. It is considered to depict live on a German U boat down to the last detail. Although I can claim to have been under fire I have never been in a war, being a merchant navy officer I was even exempt from the military draft. I don't think you can really distinguish between what is more frightening, being in the infantry, flying a fighter or driving a tank. When people are shooting at you, the only thing that counts is they're out to kill you" (check Catch-22 for this one!) having said that, being cooped up in a steel tube, hundreds of feet beneath the sea and having destroyers out there pinging you with sonar and discharging depth charges must give new meaning to the words scared shit less. You are just sitting there, for hours, sometimes days! Anyway, have a look at Das Boot if you haven't already.
Jeroen