A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Why didn’t the Western Allies invade France via Spain and avoid the fortified beaches on the Normandy coast? The quickest way to victory is to invade Northern France, then liberate Belgium and cross the border into Germany proper. There were many different factors involved, including the reality that Spain was officially neutral (albeit somewhat sympathetic toward the Third Reich). The main  military  reasons why the Allies didn’t invade France via a Spanish “back door,” of course, were  geography  and  logistics. Keep in mind that the primary proponents of the cross-Channel attack were the American commanders, Gen. George C. Marshall and his protege, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower. They were of the opinion that the only way to defeat Nazi Germany was to land in France and drive directly into the Reich as quickly as the Allies’ resources would permit. The British, on the other hand, preferred an indirect peripheral approach instead of a head-to-head confrontation in the fields

(C) 1981 Lucasfilm, Ltd. and National Public Radio.  Poster art by Celia Strain A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away there came a time of revolution, when Rebels united to challenge a tyrannical Empire. -  Introduction to every episode of Star Wars: The Radio Drama Back in the spring of 1981, National Public Radio aired "A Wind to Shake the Stars," the first episode of Brian Daley's 13-part radio adaptation of Star Wars. At the time, the notion of Star Wars - a movie known for its array of spectacular visual effects - as a radio drama seemed to be, in Obi-Wan Kenobi's words, "a damn fool idealistic crusade." But special effects scenes of space battles or a life-or-death lightsaber duel are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to why Star Wars  became a major cultural event; it had a classic coming-of-age/hero's journey plot, a brilliant score by John Williams, and the unforgettable sound effects by Ben Burtt. All of these were the ingredi

(C) 1976 Bantam Books Before Thomas Harris, a respected reporter for the Associated Press and ace novelist, created the creepy-yet-charismatic serial killer Hannibal Lecter in his novels Red Dragon , The Silence of the Lambs, and Hannibal, he had already dabbled in another and even more frightening topic: a massive terrorist attack against a "soft" (undefended, usually civilian) target in his 1975 debut novel, Black Sunday. Like The Sum of All Fears, a Tom Clancy "Jack Ryan Novel" that was clearly inspired by Harris' tautly written thriller, Black Sunday' s plot focuses on a plan by Palestinian terrorists to commit a deadly and spectacular attack on a highly televised event: the Super Bowl. The reason for the attack -- at least from the Palestinian side -- is a common thread that runs through both novels: America's unswerving support for Israel in the apparently never-ending Middle East conflict. And just as Clancy --possibly taking his cues fro

May 25, 2017 marks the 40th anniversary of the theatrical debut of George Lucas' Star Wars, a space-fantasy film set "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away." And if you are a regular reader of this blog - or know me well in real life - you know that I'm a die-hard fan...you know, the kind of guy who goes around saying "These aren't the droids you're looking for," or "I have a bad feeling about this."  This wasn't always the case, though. When the film, which was re-titled as Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope - premiered on Wednesday, May 25, 1977, I was nowhere near a theater that screened it. In fact, I didn't want to see it. I thought it was - get this - a Japanese-made science fiction film made for young children. I was 14 then, and since I preferred more grown-up fare, I totally ignored it....at least for a while. (C) 1977 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation I first saw  Star Wars  (aka  Star Wars - Episod

(C) 1994 Warner Books The end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 was a blessing in disguise not only for the Pentagon but for writers of military fiction. Just as the armed services have had to develop new doctrines, strategies, tactics, and weapons systems to contend with new enemies (potential and real), authors such as Tom Clancy, Stephen Coonts, Harold Coyle, and Larry Bond have had to look at the world situation, read the proverbial "tea leaves," and write plausible scenarios pitting American soldiers against foes that are very different from the by-now all-too-familiar Soviet "Ivan." The writing team of Bond and Patrick Larkin ( Red Phoenix, Vortex ) was one of the earliest practitioners of "the-Cold-War-is-ending, let's-look-at-other-story-possibilities" idea. Although the Soviet Union was still in existence when their first two novels were published in the early 1990s, its role in Red Phoenix (about a second

(C) 2001 Rubicon Inc. and Berkley Books Special Forces: A Guided Tour of U.S. Army Special Forces , the seventh and final entry in Tom Clancy's nonfiction Guided Tour series about America's armed forces, sets its sights on the shadowy -- and often misunderstood -- roles and missions of the men the author calls "the quiet professionals" of the Army's Special Forces command. They are sent to the world's hot spots-on covert missions fraught with danger. They are called on to perform at the peak of their physical and mental capabilities, primed for combat and surveillance, yet ready to pitch in with disaster relief operations. They are the Army's Special Forces Groups. Now follow Tom Clancy as he delves into the training and tools, missions and mindset of these elite operatives. Special Forces includes: The making of Special Forces personnel: recruitment and training A rare look at actual Special Forces Group deployment Exercises Tools of

For the most part, the various battles depicted in  Band of Brothers  (the Normandy campaign, Operation Market-Garden, the Battle of the Bulge, and the patrol near Hagenau) are depicted as accurately as possible in a made-for-television miniseries. Sure, the miniseries  does  get a few things  wrong,  such as its claim that Private Albert Blithe died in 1948 as a result of a wound he received at the battle for Carentan (Part Three: Carentan). This particular error has vexed the Blithe family since 2001; the real Private Blithe not only recovered from his wound, but stayed in the Army until his death (from health issues not caused by his World War II injuries) in 1967 at a U.S. Army base in West Germany. He was a Master Sergeant at the time of his death. This  faux pas  did not originate in Stephen E. Ambrose’s 1993 book; it originated with the episode’s writers, probably as a result of interviews with other veterans who  thought  Blithe had died in 1948. Other than that, though,