TOTALLY TOTALLY TOTALLY !....such a stellar outstanding performance..been a hard-working mook in this biz for over 40+ years..always beside the camera..I tell ya..seen some fab stuff..but Nick..oh w0w..just wow....dying,slow as a tree..
The critics who say John Travolta wasn’t suited to this role miss the fact this was entirely the point. That was the cause of the colonel’s resentment - the general is a young upstart, whereas he is a West Point graduate who believes he has been denied what is rightfully his. Travolta’s casting subtly demonstrated that the old-style colonel was a symbol of the bygone era when America was unprepared for war. The general tells the colonel he admires him for staying on when so many men his age have retired. But he is also reminding the colonel that he has missed the boat. It’s a great scene.
Martin you are correct. That's exactly what it is. I saw the same thing in the navy. You wonder how the guy got to be the way he was as quick as he was... And if you worked around officer country sometimes you could sense the resentment.
One of many inspired, extraordinary, multi layered scenes in an astounding movie. This scene encapsulates failure, ambition, compromise, power, fear, subservience, the establishment, our hatred of it and our desire to be accepted into it.Great film making can do that in a scene. Astonishing.
It's a critical scene. It makes you understand what drives Nolte and what his motivations are. His comment about the cruelty of nature also helps. It makes him more human. Travolta plays him like a fiddle.
Travolta did a masterful job of making the colonel - and the audience - feel uncomfortable. Goofy. Effeminate. Conniving. Patronizing. Condescending. Manipulative. Creepy. He was perfect in this cameo role. There are a lot of Generals / Flag officers in real life who are very far from George C. Scott's portrayal of Patton.
A good leader listens. Predators watch. Nolte’s character is a magnificent example of a man who isn’t interested in listening. He even breaks into Ancient Greek over the radio when speaking to Captain Starles. As if he’s saying hey, we aren’t even speaking the same language so stop trying to communicate with me and just do what I say. Such a great performance by Nolte.
Wow, you completely missed his body language, the character is an obsequious person. Basically everything you say, it's totally wrong. The character is brown nosing. You suck at reading people's body language dude.
@@jacobpitts6846 It doesn't look like it although both of them are right in ways. wojciech's description is more accurate than Beep's-which isn't wrong per se-but is a matter of perspective depending on who's looking at Colonel Tall and from what angle. Beep's attitude on the other hand is totally uncalled for. Colonel Tall is indeed a "Brown noser" trying to impress his superiors but then downwards-to his men-he's a total autocrat, an authoritarian who already has unlimited power. He doesn't really revel in the suffering of his subordinates but he doesn't care much about them either. The movie's brilliance is to picture a man who isn't special or even particularly bad, he's just really average. He's been passed over for promotion several times now, he's getting old, and the war is his last chance to do anything with his-thus far-flat and sterile military career. He looks like a Stalin to his men-but he's actually much closer to Adolf Eichmann-merely an automaton following orders to try and impress superiors who care about him no more than the men beneath him. It's important to read that Tall's superiors are just like him too, they're just machines executing orders from above them to try and advance their own careers. "The Admiral is watching" because the Admiral probably answers to another Admiral (or a committee) or to Kincaid or Nimitz who then both answer to the War Department and the War Department answers to the Executive Branch etc etc. It goes on endlessly. That's what the chase for power does, it leaves you powerless-only Colonel Tall sees that. He's smart enough to be aware of the fruitlessness of his life but resigned enough to just accept his fate. And yes I am aware that Tall is Army, not Navy. He doesn't answer to Navy Brass but his superior's assessment is that he needs to them all look good nonetheless.
It's a remarkable scene because it echoes something almost archetypal that you find in Tolstoy's War and Peace, for example. Think of that famous scene with Prince Andrei Bolkonsky and the brown-nosing general.
@@toomanyhobbies2011 Rank means something and nothing for it has to be earned and worked on to maintain it. Just keep fighting inorder to stay alive to fight another day until you and your men get home. Just remember the three S's Stay Alert, Stay Awake, and Stay Alive and that's all to it. I fought in the Eastern Front and I was 18 in 1945, now turning 94 this year and this is all I have to say to both soldiers and civilians because things are again different but starting to look like 1939 all over again. No one wants war, especially the soldier. A real soldier knows how to keep the peace through deterrence and through undercover wars known as proxy wars so as to maintain the line known to everybody as the MLR (Main Line of Resistance).
We can see the General playing the Colonel here. The General dearly wants this win too and is putting the stakes in very clear terms to the Colonel. In a way he knows is going to most motivate the Colonel to take the objectives at any cost.
@@vanlendl1 Whatever costs the General his chance at promotion to a 2 Star General. If Nolte succeeds, the General will take credit for what the troops accomplished under "HIS" leadership. If Nolte fails, it will be blamed on Nolte's incompetence (saying there's a reason he was passed over for promotion by others so many times before).
@@iansneddon2956 A system with humans can never be perfect could be the answer. Nolte aims for promotion, what should not be his first concern as a soldier.
In war time you're going to get promotion. But the more you do and the more you work toward that promotion the faster it will come and when you have victories promotions come much easier. Travolta said a man like Nolte's character should have retired by mouth so thinking back Nolte's character has been around since World War I and he's pushing 30 years in the army if not passed it. The bottom line is it world war 2 had to come along or he probably would have retired a major. So yeah he's pushing for promotion so he can get that stateside assignment and the rank AND the retirement.
This is one of the reasons I never made a career out of the army. Too many politics and I don't have the restraint to remain silent about them. There is SO much stupid shit done, all for appearances. The lowly grunts see it plain as day, but must accept it. Needless to say, I developed massive pecs and shoulders throughout my service.
Travolta was very good in his role. Unintentionally insulting with his "a man your age" line. I believe he genuinely admires Tall's longevity and understands that he needs this reliable old hand in the big battle ahead. Nolte's hunched, humiliated posture appeared again that same year (1998) in "Affliction," for which he won his second Academy Award nomination.
This movie encapsulates the modern working world. The big bosses do nothing but yak and seem tone deaf to what is really going on. In the end it's the grunts who suffer.
"Brown nosed the generals" I watched that movie a thousand times as a teenager and every time I watched this scene, I somehow always imagine this too graphically with Nick Nolte sticking his nose up their asses
This was a great movie except for the cameos by Travolta and George Clooney. Travolta came off as himself pretending to be a general. In contract, this was one of the finest performances in Nick Nolte's career, vastly underrated and overlooked. He deserved an Oscar nomination for his convincing role. He was a tyrant but nevertheless one felt kind of sorry for him because he had been passed over and this was his big chance and he had Staros as his junior officer.
protamine4 idk man. Something about Travolta the Brigadier General, pacing about the ship knowing hes passing his orders down from up top. His silence and gaze during this whole scene was just another facet of proper acting. Nailing a scene without a lot of dialogue. Even offering a smoke to his subordinate, something you dont see officers do a lot of in other war movies.
@@eperrin669 In the movie Twelve O'Clock High, Brigadier General Savage not only offers his NCO driver (a sergeant) a cigarette, but even lights it for him.
The studio didn't let them realse the film unless it had 3 a list stars . So Malick was forced to keep Clooney,Travelta and Woody Harrison. They got rid of Rourke, Viggo. Which is a shame I woulda loved for them to be in the film. Many actors were cut
Travolta is so miscast. He’s terrible as is Clooney in this great, great movie. My favorite Nick Nolte , working on instinct and pure emotion. The real deal.
I agree, although these are the types of slimey toads that crawl their way into positions of influence and power through their connections. Nolte's character was angry because he'd done the hard way and was resentful of the ones who'd had it easier. Gosh this film is so good!
@@chrisd6736 Absolutely mate. I saw this at 18 Yr old off the back of action packed films like Saving Private Ryan etc and thought this was slow & boring. My stepdad said to me at the time "this is what you'll realise is a thinking-man's war film". I didn't understand him then but 20+ years later and the hard lessons life shows us, I 100% understand him now.
@@markb5403- ya I think people are so used to nonstop action. The reality is that these guys were deployed for very long periods of time, and the actual battles were over pretty quickly. This movie does a great job of showing the other side of war.
@@teamkeogh i had read that there are scenes had been deleted for a famous actor (the one who played the jailed bad guy in iron man film) so the director had the long version and gave it to him as compensation!
John Travolta brought too much of himself into this role. Dialogue, body language and mannerisms aren’t too different from his other films. You have to go to pre-Pulp Fiction to find a different Travolta. Nick Nolte has the same voice and physical features but comes across as a very different person in this role compared to Mulholland Falls, Prince of Tides, etc. Nick Nolte makes me want to watch this movie again though it didn’t do much for me the first time I saw it.
I concur. Travolta is now just playing Travolta and a military movie just isn't the right format. Poor casting. Nolte's acting was overlooked in this film but he fits the role well.
Travolta plays the manipulative politician here. I thought it was great. He and Penn get shit for their performances but you have to understand their lines were rewritten 10 times by Malik the Oxford philosopher and the actors have to deliver them as middle class or working class Americans from the 40s, Appalachian coal miner accents and all. The poetic lines are very pretentious on paper and it's very difficult to deliver this script in a believable way. Christopher Plummer said as much.
Funny you should say that : it made the exact same thing to me the first time i saw it. And i ran into when randomly zapping a few years after, and it felt like a huge slap in the face. What a great film, violent and poetic, an absolute masterpiece.
If you see this in the movie, it works, a little. But if you know Army history this doesn't work at all. This is set in the fall of 1942, where the Army came on to Guadalcanal to relieve the Marines. By that time Nolte's character would long have been out of battalion command. Either he would have made colonel or he would have stayed a lieutenant colonel in the States, in a training or support job. Just too old. General Marshall did his best to put the youngest and most energetic officers as battalion commanders and above. Travolta's character is too young to be a brigadier general in the ground forces at that time. You saw one-stars in their 30's later in the war, but not then. At most Travolta's character would have been a full colonel, bucking hard for that first star. If you want to see something disgusting, just watch certain lieutenant colonels bucking hard for that eagle and not caring whose backs they climb on to get that full bird. Have seen that a couple of times.
Got a good film here. But sometimes casting can go over the line with to many stars. Still, Caviezel nails it. Penn nails it. Cousak and Reilly nail it. And a coupla others as well. Too many stars though makes it To Hollywoody. Other than that, the cinematography is complete eye candy the writing is Zen-like, and I dig this film.
The soundtrack to Thin Red Line is an amalgamation of so many other works of his to come. When I listen to it I hear Dark Knight, Dunkirk, Pearl Harbour, Last Samurai, and even bits of Time from Inception. Hans Zimmer has been ripping himself off for decades.
It seems, to me, and here, as: "Saturday Night Fever" glamaour, disco dude, running out of movies to be in, etc., versus, in this movie, Nick Nolte at his finest, greatest, role that he had either seemed to have been made for, or, hmm, reincarnated for, molded into..........
ooooh man the clip was too short repost immediately and show when he asks "how much do you want that island" "as much as I have to Sir!" repost video and add a few seconds please .... You cutting the video short means .... yeah ... you do not understand enough.
Especially in the Army Air Corps and in the specific there was some noteworthy generals that were younger. Paul Wurtsmith for example...... As MacArthur pointed out to one of his subordinates when they promoted him Gen. Wurtsmith to Major General he said is the kid over 40 yet he said out here we promote them for efficiency not age. The people who make the comments about you etc need to do some history and some research
Make admiral and become a politician? Hell I see senior enlisted and junior officers filling those positions already in the military lately. Everything is political these days even in a "Apolitical" organization such as the military.
Patton. The military has always had politics I don't care what military you served in or where you served If you don't think there was politics involved into decisions that are made that you were not paying attention. I spent almost 20 years on active duty and believe me the politics has always been there. It's just more noticeable now.... Partly because of the last guy who was in the white house. He stuck his nose in the places he had no business sticking into when it came to the military.
@@Patton243 These are Army officers in the scene. Overall command for Guadalcanal was given to a Navy Admiral. Hence the line about the Admiral always watching.
Travolta is really, really bad at "falling into a roll." Hahha he always stands out as John Travolta to me in EVERY movie he does. Hahah. I can't recall a single film he's done where I think of his character as the character. Like Legolas, don't even know what actors name is. He's Legolas.
Probably the worst casting decision of the whole movie. Travolta just does not come across as a military type, I suppose if Clooney would have filled this role it would of been more believable.
I think it was jones and then malick laying out the fact that everything you think is a norm is thrown out the window during a world wide fight for survival. There were a lot of " non military types" fighting that war. That includes officers. Especially what could be considered early on in the war.
@@deancj1 100%. Also, what we think of now as "military types" basically comes from movie clichés that constantly get copied and reinforced for decades. The vacant bravado and clipped language are all basically imitations of John Wayne, George C Scott, or Lee Ermey who were, themselves performing the character archetype of "military dude." Travolta comes across much like a CEO or consultant. The age and demeanor differences are really important to this scene and to Tall's character overall.
Eric. I take it you've never been in the military because if you have trust me there are guys like Travolta character in it. There really are and most of the time they're in the positions to tell you what to do and can make or break your careers.
He wants his "iron cross" so desperately and is willing to do everything. PS Interesting fact: Adolf Hitler was rewarded with the iron cross second class AND first class in the first world war.
Yes, and by a Jewish captain no less. He wasn't well liked, got his dog stolen by a Sgt. but did some hardcore messenger duty and was lucky to be wounded only once. It was by gas at end of the war and he pretty much lost his mind in the hospital before recovering. If he had gotten into art school, or had average luck and been killed in the war we never would have heard of this loser.
... "and there's always someone ready to jump in"..... which explains a lot of stuff, not just soldier stuff? everything we can genuinely complain or worry about... not a "conspiracy theoy".... more simple.. if there is a large group of primates.... especially sapiens... with dexterity.. AND story telling... added in.............
Travolta was great in this. He was there for like two minutes, but he conveys so much empty, sinister energy. He's like a shark.
agreed
Played Nolte (Col. Tall) like a fiddle. I thought Tall was a full bird Col, but has oakleaves, so is a Lt. Col (?).
@RommelsAsparagus
Yes, Silver Leaf is Lt Col - O5, gold leaf a O-4 Maj, Eagle I don't see on him O-6 ...
He’s such a great actor at portraying an a*hole. Cf Face Off
Nick Nolte deserved an Oscar for this role.
TOTALLY TOTALLY TOTALLY !....such a stellar outstanding performance..been a hard-working mook in this biz for over 40+ years..always beside the camera..I tell ya..seen some fab stuff..but Nick..oh w0w..just wow....dying,slow as a tree..
Absolutely agree!
Definitely....
It's extra difficult for actors with personal 'issues' to win awards. People tend to be unable to separate the actor from the human.
I think I have seen you say the Oscar thing about 20 actors over the last few years. Is that what you do?lol
The critics who say John Travolta wasn’t suited to this role miss the fact this was entirely the point. That was the cause of the colonel’s resentment - the general is a young upstart, whereas he is a West Point graduate who believes he has been denied what is rightfully his. Travolta’s casting subtly demonstrated that the old-style colonel was a symbol of the bygone era when America was unprepared for war. The general tells the colonel he admires him for staying on when so many men his age have retired. But he is also reminding the colonel that he has missed the boat. It’s a great scene.
Martin you are correct. That's exactly what it is. I saw the same thing in the navy. You wonder how the guy got to be the way he was as quick as he was... And if you worked around officer country sometimes you could sense the resentment.
I love Travolta in this role. His presence is so clean cut and intimidating - even next to Nolte!
One of many inspired, extraordinary, multi layered scenes in an astounding movie. This scene encapsulates failure, ambition, compromise, power, fear, subservience, the establishment, our hatred of it and our desire to be accepted into it.Great film making can do that in a scene. Astonishing.
Just a shame we don't get to see travolta ask nolte "do you feel it." For some reason that quote always stuck In my mind.
one of the....if not the best film ever made.
this is a beautiful summation of what the scene evokes
Good summarizing comment. I believe in Social Media again!
It's a critical scene. It makes you understand what drives Nolte and what his motivations are. His comment about the cruelty of nature also helps. It makes him more human. Travolta plays him like a fiddle.
I love how Nolte looks like he wants to punch him.
Nolte shoulda got a Oscar nod
Travolta did a masterful job of making the colonel - and the audience - feel uncomfortable. Goofy. Effeminate. Conniving. Patronizing. Condescending. Manipulative. Creepy. He was perfect in this cameo role. There are a lot of Generals / Flag officers in real life who are very far from George C. Scott's portrayal of Patton.
I can confirm he nailed how sleezy full bird Cols can be
A good leader listens. Predators watch. Nolte’s character is a magnificent example of a man who isn’t interested in listening. He even breaks into Ancient Greek over the radio when speaking to Captain Starles. As if he’s saying hey, we aren’t even speaking the same language so stop trying to communicate with me and just do what I say. Such a great performance by Nolte.
Wow, you completely missed his body language, the character is an obsequious person. Basically everything you say, it's totally wrong. The character is brown nosing. You suck at reading people's body language dude.
@@flybeep1661 have you seen the movie? At all? Have you seen how he is in literally any other scene?
@@jacobpitts6846 It doesn't look like it although both of them are right in ways. wojciech's description is more accurate than Beep's-which isn't wrong per se-but is a matter of perspective depending on who's looking at Colonel Tall and from what angle. Beep's attitude on the other hand is totally uncalled for. Colonel Tall is indeed a "Brown noser" trying to impress his superiors but then downwards-to his men-he's a total autocrat, an authoritarian who already has unlimited power. He doesn't really revel in the suffering of his subordinates but he doesn't care much about them either. The movie's brilliance is to picture a man who isn't special or even particularly bad, he's just really average. He's been passed over for promotion several times now, he's getting old, and the war is his last chance to do anything with his-thus far-flat and sterile military career. He looks like a Stalin to his men-but he's actually much closer to Adolf Eichmann-merely an automaton following orders to try and impress superiors who care about him no more than the men beneath him. It's important to read that Tall's superiors are just like him too, they're just machines executing orders from above them to try and advance their own careers. "The Admiral is watching" because the Admiral probably answers to another Admiral (or a committee) or to Kincaid or Nimitz who then both answer to the War Department and the War Department answers to the Executive Branch etc etc. It goes on endlessly. That's what the chase for power does, it leaves you powerless-only Colonel Tall sees that. He's smart enough to be aware of the fruitlessness of his life but resigned enough to just accept his fate.
And yes I am aware that Tall is Army, not Navy. He doesn't answer to Navy Brass but his superior's assessment is that he needs to them all look good nonetheless.
@@capthawkeye8010 why say Stalin and not hitler when you mention eichmann right after?
@@capthawkeye8010 the army generals did answer to navy admirals who outranked them.
I like Travolta here.
"Brown nosing" that one caught me a lot being in the military. Rank is a powerful thing.
It's a remarkable scene because it echoes something almost archetypal that you find in Tolstoy's War and Peace, for example. Think of that famous scene with Prince Andrei Bolkonsky and the brown-nosing general.
Up to a certain point, rank is deserved.
@@toomanyhobbies2011 Rank means something and nothing for it has to be earned and worked on to maintain it.
Just keep fighting inorder to stay alive to fight another day until you and your men get home. Just remember the three S's Stay Alert, Stay Awake, and Stay Alive and that's all to it. I fought in the Eastern Front and I was 18 in 1945, now turning 94 this year and this is all I have to say to both soldiers and civilians because things are again different but starting to look like 1939 all over again. No one wants war, especially the soldier. A real soldier knows how to keep the peace through deterrence and through undercover wars known as proxy wars so as to maintain the line known to everybody as the MLR (Main Line of Resistance).
Today, we call that ass-kissing. But means the same.
@@darthvader5300 Just want to say, if you are who you say you are, then you have my utmost respect and gratitude for your service sir, thank you.
We can see the General playing the Colonel here. The General dearly wants this win too and is putting the stakes in very clear terms to the Colonel. In a way he knows is going to most motivate the Colonel to take the objectives at any cost.
Yes, but what cost is too much?
@@vanlendl1 Whatever costs the General his chance at promotion to a 2 Star General.
If Nolte succeeds, the General will take credit for what the troops accomplished under "HIS" leadership. If Nolte fails, it will be blamed on Nolte's incompetence (saying there's a reason he was passed over for promotion by others so many times before).
@@iansneddon2956 A system with humans can never be perfect could be the answer. Nolte aims for promotion, what should not be his first concern as a soldier.
In war time you're going to get promotion.
But the more you do and the more you work toward that promotion the faster it will come and when you have victories promotions come much easier.
Travolta said a man like Nolte's character should have retired by mouth so thinking back Nolte's character has been around since World War I and he's pushing 30 years in the army if not passed it.
The bottom line is it world war 2 had to come along or he probably would have retired a major.
So yeah he's pushing for promotion so he can get that stateside assignment and the rank AND the retirement.
Nolte was absolutely captivating, he commanded one's attention.
Travolta is amazing here !!
Terrence Malick work.....dangg...still finding details on this movie.
Malick one of the greatest of all time
This and Badlands were great, the rest are self-indulgent tripe.
One of my favorite movies. I like this scene the most.
John Travolta is actually pretty well-suited for the role
He really works here. Rare for someone who is totally shite. Bar pulp
@@JonJonJonJonJonJonJonJon Hes also great in Saturday night fever, blow out and get shorty. Watch more movies, you clearly haven't seen many lol.
I also liked Travolta in that Face/Off action movie that also had Cage in it.
Travola can change from Goofy Nice to Pure Evil in a split second.
Maybe, but that mustache deserved a court-martial...
awesome scene
And YOU look him i SQUARE IN THE EYES, and say " IM DOING MY DUTY, SIR!"
Nolte was dynamite in this one.
This is one of the reasons I never made a career out of the army. Too many politics and I don't have the restraint to remain silent about them. There is SO much stupid shit done, all for appearances. The lowly grunts see it plain as day, but must accept it. Needless to say, I developed massive pecs and shoulders throughout my service.
Yeah...but you remember the good guys...and especially the ones you took take care of...and the ones that took care of you
@@greasyflight6609 Yep. All we had was each other.
The corporate world is much the same.
@@archerpiperii2690 With just a little less violence. LOL
@@iansneddon2956 True. But there is the backstabbing.
There's always someone watching,like a hawk 2 and spit on that thing"
That motif is truly evil.
I admire you, most men your age woulda retired. Backhanded af.
Travolta was very good in his role. Unintentionally insulting with his "a man your age" line. I believe he genuinely admires Tall's longevity and understands that he needs this reliable old hand in the big battle ahead. Nolte's hunched, humiliated posture appeared again that same year (1998) in "Affliction," for which he won his second Academy Award nomination.
This movie encapsulates the modern working world. The big bosses do nothing but yak and seem tone deaf to what is really going on. In the end it's the grunts who suffer.
ssshhh spoiler alert; if you are young.
"Brown nosed the generals" I watched that movie a thousand times as a teenager and every time I watched this scene, I somehow always imagine this too graphically with Nick Nolte sticking his nose up their asses
This was a great movie except for the cameos by Travolta and George Clooney. Travolta came off as himself pretending to be a general. In contract, this was one of the finest performances in Nick Nolte's career, vastly underrated and overlooked. He deserved an Oscar nomination for his convincing role. He was a tyrant but nevertheless one felt kind of sorry for him because he had been passed over and this was his big chance and he had Staros as his junior officer.
protamine4 idk man. Something about Travolta the Brigadier General, pacing about the ship knowing hes passing his orders down from up top. His silence and gaze during this whole scene was just another facet of proper acting. Nailing a scene without a lot of dialogue. Even offering a smoke to his subordinate, something you dont see officers do a lot of in other war movies.
I agree about George Clooney.. but Travolta was good for this film. Clooney just made it kind of un epic.
@@eperrin669 In the movie Twelve O'Clock High, Brigadier General Savage not only offers his NCO driver (a sergeant) a cigarette, but even lights it for him.
Agree 100% !! Well said.
The studio didn't let them realse the film unless it had 3 a list stars . So Malick was forced to keep Clooney,Travelta and Woody Harrison. They got rid of Rourke, Viggo. Which is a shame I woulda loved for them to be in the film. Many actors were cut
Nick's best performance
No, Affliction.
The closer you are to Caesar the greater the fear
So many fucking actors in this movie 🤩😂
It was to work with Malick. His first film in about 10 years I think.
Travolta is so miscast. He’s terrible as is Clooney in this great, great movie. My favorite Nick Nolte , working on instinct and pure emotion. The real deal.
I agree, although these are the types of slimey toads that crawl their way into positions of influence and power through their connections. Nolte's character was angry because he'd done the hard way and was resentful of the ones who'd had it easier. Gosh this film is so good!
@@markbirchall8225- honestly this is probably the best “war” movie ever made. It’s one of my all time favorites.
@@chrisd6736 Absolutely mate. I saw this at 18 Yr old off the back of action packed films like Saving Private Ryan etc and thought this was slow & boring. My stepdad said to me at the time "this is what you'll realise is a thinking-man's war film". I didn't understand him then but 20+ years later and the hard lessons life shows us, I 100% understand him now.
@@markb5403- ya I think people are so used to nonstop action. The reality is that these guys were deployed for very long periods of time, and the actual battles were over pretty quickly. This movie does a great job of showing the other side of war.
this thin red line seems like an important movie
More then you think
Jay Mohr is right. Travolta's goofy acting takes you right out of this.
How could i watch the 9 hours version of this film?
Does it exist?
@@teamkeogh i had read that there are scenes had been deleted for a famous actor (the one who played the jailed bad guy in iron man film) so the director had the long version and gave it to him as compensation!
John Travolta brought too much of himself into this role. Dialogue, body language and mannerisms aren’t too different from his other films. You have to go to pre-Pulp Fiction to find a different Travolta.
Nick Nolte has the same voice and physical features but comes across as a very different person in this role compared to Mulholland Falls, Prince of Tides, etc. Nick Nolte makes me want to watch this movie again though it didn’t do much for me the first time I saw it.
I concur. Travolta is now just playing Travolta and a military movie just isn't the right format. Poor casting. Nolte's acting was overlooked in this film but he fits the role well.
Travolta plays the manipulative politician here. I thought it was great. He and Penn get shit for their performances but you have to understand their lines were rewritten 10 times by Malik the Oxford philosopher and the actors have to deliver them as middle class or working class Americans from the 40s, Appalachian coal miner accents and all. The poetic lines are very pretentious on paper and it's very difficult to deliver this script in a believable way. Christopher Plummer said as much.
Funny you should say that : it made the exact same thing to me the first time i saw it. And i ran into when randomly zapping a few years after, and it felt like a huge slap in the face. What a great film, violent and poetic, an absolute masterpiece.
0:55 oh shit
This scene inspired Bill Clinton's "Don't ask,Don't tell" policy after seeing Travolta
nice.
If you see this in the movie, it works, a little. But if you know Army history this doesn't work at all. This is set in the fall of 1942, where the Army came on to Guadalcanal to relieve the Marines. By that time Nolte's character would long have been out of battalion command. Either he would have made colonel or he would have stayed a lieutenant colonel in the States, in a training or support job. Just too old. General Marshall did his best to put the youngest and most energetic officers as battalion commanders and above. Travolta's character is too young to be a brigadier general in the ground forces at that time. You saw one-stars in their 30's later in the war, but not then. At most Travolta's character would have been a full colonel, bucking hard for that first star. If you want to see something disgusting, just watch certain lieutenant colonels bucking hard for that eagle and not caring whose backs they climb on to get that full bird. Have seen that a couple of times.
LIKE A HAWK...
Got a good film here. But sometimes casting can go over the line with to many stars. Still, Caviezel nails it. Penn nails it. Cousak and Reilly nail it. And a coupla others as well. Too many stars though makes it To Hollywoody. Other than that, the cinematography is complete eye candy the writing is Zen-like, and I dig this film.
like a HAWK xD
Why did Zimmer literally copy and paste this soundtrack onto Da Vinci Code?
The soundtrack to Thin Red Line is an amalgamation of so many other works of his to come. When I listen to it I hear Dark Knight, Dunkirk, Pearl Harbour, Last Samurai, and even bits of Time from Inception.
Hans Zimmer has been ripping himself off for decades.
Watching this movie, and I trying to figure out if I’m supposed to be physically uncomfortable by how travolta moves and talks?
During WWII a one star in the Navy was a Commodore, not an Admiral.
It seems, to me, and here, as: "Saturday Night Fever" glamaour, disco dude, running out of movies to be in, etc., versus, in this movie, Nick Nolte at his finest, greatest, role that he had either seemed to have been made for, or, hmm, reincarnated for, molded into..........
God damnit Staros !!!
I dont think you have the guts Staros
I can’t decide who’s more despicable in this film
You need bad men to win wars. The price of doing business, you could say.
One of the lesser explored features of the dogs of war.....
what was Travoltas rank here?
1 star, brigade general
Be My Little General. Brigadier, Major, Lieutenant, General of the Army.
Travolta Pretending to be a Brigadier General.
@@eperrin669 There's General or full General (four stars) between Lieutenant General (three stars) and General of the Army (five stars).
gay
ooooh man the clip was too short
repost immediately and show when he asks "how much do you want that island"
"as much as I have to Sir!"
repost video and add a few seconds please ....
You cutting the video short means .... yeah ... you do not understand enough.
John Travola, who is a good actor, but woefully miscast here. He looked a bit young to be a general, he didn't put too much into his character.
Was he too young? He was mid forties when he filmed this and yet in WWII James Gavin Commander 82nd was a two star while in his thirties.
Excellent point. You had a lot of generals in their forties in world War II.
Especially in the Army Air Corps and in the specific there was some noteworthy generals that were younger.
Paul Wurtsmith for example...... As MacArthur pointed out to one of his subordinates when they promoted him Gen. Wurtsmith to Major General he said is the kid over 40 yet he said out here we promote them for efficiency not age.
The people who make the comments about you etc need to do some history and some research
I think they wanted someone who was younger than Nolte because that would add to the tension.
Wondering if Travolta was promoted to General by fucking asses all the way to the top?
Richelieu
Yamato
QE class
And this is why I retired. I refused to play politics.
Make admiral and become a politician? Hell I see senior enlisted and junior officers filling those positions already in the military lately. Everything is political these days even in a "Apolitical" organization such as the military.
The Army doesn’t have admirals
@@G4x5da No shit Captain obvious. Did you even watch this video? He said Admiral.
Patton.
The military has always had politics I don't care what military you served in or where you served
If you don't think there was politics involved into decisions that are made that you were not paying attention.
I spent almost 20 years on active duty and believe me the politics has always been there.
It's just more noticeable now.... Partly because of the last guy who was in the white house. He stuck his nose in the places he had no business sticking into when it came to the military.
@@Patton243 These are Army officers in the scene. Overall command for Guadalcanal was given to a Navy Admiral. Hence the line about the Admiral always watching.
The military is just as toxic as any civilian workplace
Casting sucks here...Travolta is no military man...period....a joke
"Quaintard"!!!! That is about it! Psycho-tonomy!!!!
Speichellecker und Lakaien hört die Signale FUCK OFF
Travolta is really, really bad at "falling into a roll." Hahha he always stands out as John Travolta to me in EVERY movie he does. Hahah. I can't recall a single film he's done where I think of his character as the character. Like Legolas, don't even know what actors name is. He's Legolas.
I think his character in Get Shorty, Chili Palmer, was really great.
Travolta was cast here because he was Travolta. Not because he was right for the role.
Pardon my ignorance, but why is this scene memorable.
Probably the worst casting decision of the whole movie. Travolta just does not come across as a military type, I suppose if Clooney would have filled this role it would of been more believable.
I think it was jones and then malick laying out the fact that everything you think is a norm is thrown out the window during a world wide fight for survival. There were a lot of " non military types" fighting that war. That includes officers. Especially what could be considered early on in the war.
@@deancj1 100%. Also, what we think of now as "military types" basically comes from movie clichés that constantly get copied and reinforced for decades. The vacant bravado and clipped language are all basically imitations of John Wayne, George C Scott, or Lee Ermey who were, themselves performing the character archetype of "military dude." Travolta comes across much like a CEO or consultant. The age and demeanor differences are really important to this scene and to Tall's character overall.
Eric. I take it you've never been in the military because if you have trust me there are guys like Travolta character in it. There really are and most of the time they're in the positions to tell you what to do and can make or break your careers.
@@navblue20 Why actually I was. Gulf War too.
Dune WW2, check.
He wants his "iron cross" so desperately and is willing to do everything.
PS Interesting fact: Adolf Hitler was rewarded with the iron cross second class AND first class in the first world war.
Yes, and by a Jewish captain no less. He wasn't well liked, got his dog stolen by a Sgt. but did some hardcore messenger duty and was lucky to be wounded only once. It was by gas at end of the war and he pretty much lost his mind in the hospital before recovering. If he had gotten into art school, or had average luck and been killed in the war we never would have heard of this loser.
... "and there's always someone ready to jump in"..... which explains a lot of stuff, not just soldier stuff? everything we can genuinely complain or worry about... not a "conspiracy theoy".... more simple.. if there is a large group of primates.... especially sapiens... with dexterity.. AND story telling... added in.............
Whoever cast Travolta in this role should be fired...terrible acting!
Horrible casting with Travolta as a General. Probably the worst performance by an otherwise good actor. Nolte however is brilliant as always.
My grandmother has a more commanding presence than John Travolta...
Ah, yes. There'll never be another Betty White, who also played football.
Worst war movie ever bunch of pretentious has been actors
True. Utter shite.
I remember seeing this at release, barely half a year out from Saving Private Ryan. I had no idea WTF I was watching.
@@JnEricsonx junk you were watching junk 😂
Worst war movie next to Battle of the Bulge.
Battle bulge era movies they were all bad ok
What......how can you not love the realistic climactic battle fought in the deserts of Belgium?