20 / 20 Foresight

“The Court-Martial Of Billy Mitchell” (1955)  —  movie review
Today’s review is for an oldie but a goodie.  It’s a fictionalized version of mostly real events surrounding the court-martial of an Army officer who would later be considered a prophet and the “founder” of the Air Force:  William (“Billy”) Lendrum Mitchell.   The movie stars Gary Cooper in the title role.  This is one of my two favorite war genre movies starring Cooper.  The other is another semi-biography:  “Sergeant York“.  In this movie Mitchell is an Army General who gets busted in rank for disobeying orders by destroying a battleship to prove it can be done by aircraft with bombs.  (In real life, Mitchell did sink the battleship, but he didn’t disobey orders.  Also, he didn’t lose rank for that act.  He lost rank as a result of a general reduction in forces after the end of WWI.)  After the death of a naval aviator friend and a squadron of his former pilots, Mitchell makes public statements to the press bring disrepute to the armed services (Army and Navy).  For this, he is brought up on charges to be court-martialed.
I saw this movie a couple of times in my youth and remembered it generally as a courtroom / trial movie.  Because of the age of the movie and when I first saw it, I assumed it would be in black and white.  I can only guess that was because it (a black and white TV) was all we had when I was a child.  I was pleasantly surprised to find the movie is actually a “color” movie.
Besides Cooper, the movie stars Ralph Bellamy as Congressman Frank R. Reid (attorney for the defense) and Rod Steiger as Maj. Allan Guillion (the prosecutor) and multiple future 60’s / 70’s TV stars:  Jack Lord as Lt. Cmdr. Zachary ‘Zack’ Lansdowne (the Navy officer / friend who dies), Elizabeth Montgomery as Margaret Lansdowne (Zack’s wife) and Peter Graves and Darren McGavin as a couple of Mitchell’s pilots.
The movie is interesting because it shows (accurately) that as early as the 1920’s that it was predictable the Japanese would attack Pearl Harbor using aircraft.  What it failed to predict (in the movie and in real life) was the use of carriers to deliver those aircraft.  Mitchell believed the aircraft would come from “nearby” islands.  In real life, Mitchell died before the attack on Peal Harbor, so he never saw his predictions come true.  He was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for service to his country.  The award was a bit unusual because it was awarded for his effort to promote aviation and not for any specific act of valor in the act of combat as is usually the requirement.
Final recommendation:  highly recommended movie.  Aside from the historical “prediction”, I found the movie to be very entertaining as a courtroom drama and as a view into the institution of the military and the integrity of the officers represented in the movie – both Mitchell and the court-martial board.  General MacArthur comes across particularly well in the behind the scenes “Board” arguments.   This surprised me as I am not a big MacArthur fan.  Finally, I want to give a shout out to Rod Steiger as one of the prosecuting officers.  This is one of my favorite of his roles, too.  I watched this movie on YouTube.  It is also available on DVD / disc and periodically on TV.
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On This Day In:
2022	Yo-yo Management
2021	DIY: Outdoor Gym Modifications
	First Hammock Hang Of 2021
	Slow Moving Trains And Squirrels
	Just Chillin’… Why?
2020	Still Crazy After All These Years…
2019	20 / 20 Foresight
	He Knew Damned Well…
2018	Be Someone’s Kindling
2017	When The Moment Comes
2016	Changed Clothes Lately?
2015	Like Stone
2014	Resistance Is Futile
2013	Subtle Humor
	To Look Behind Green Eyes
2012	The Path Is Endless
2011	Happy MLK, Jr Day!!!
	A Factor Of Ten
	Better Late Than Never?
	Whoops!
	Acceptable Beginnings
	Slow Progress
	Useful Confrontation
	When Phenomena Are Different
	Creative Avoidance
	Thinking
	Fast And Flexible
	Surrender Certainty
	Techniques
	Vive La Difference
	Destiny
	Completeness
	Art

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He Knew Damned Well…

Once you got to Iraq and took it over, and took down Saddam Hussein’s government, then what are you going to put in its place?
That’s a very volatile part of the world, and if you take down the central government of Iraq you can easily end up seeing pieces of Iraq fly off.  Part of it the Syrians would like to have to the west.  Part of eastern Iraq, the Iranians would like to claim, fought over for eight years.  In the north you’ve got the Kurds, and if the Kurds spin loose and join with the Kurds in Turkey, then you threaten the territorial integrity of Turkey.  It’s a quagmire.
—    Dick Cheney
From an interview with CNN on April 15th, 1994.
[This quote was found at a blog I follow:  The Bully Pulpit
The original post is located at:  https://jrbenjamin.com/2014/09/10/its-a-quagmire/
It is an interesting site to visit if you have some time.  Unfortunately, it is not posted to very frequently anymore.    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2022	Yo-yo Management
2021	DIY: Outdoor Gym Modifications
	First Hammock Hang Of 2021
	Slow Moving Trains And Squirrels
	Just Chillin’… Why?
2020	Still Crazy After All These Years…
2019	20 / 20 Foresight
	He Knew Damned Well…
2018	Be Someone’s Kindling
2017	When The Moment Comes
2016	Changed Clothes Lately?
2015	Like Stone
2014	Resistance Is Futile
2013	Subtle Humor
	To Look Behind Green Eyes
2012	The Path Is Endless
2011	Happy MLK, Jr Day!!!
	A Factor Of Ten
	Better Late Than Never?
	Whoops!
	Acceptable Beginnings
	Slow Progress
	Useful Confrontation
	When Phenomena Are Different
	Creative Avoidance
	Thinking
	Fast And Flexible
	Surrender Certainty
	Techniques
	Vive La Difference
	Destiny
	Completeness
	Art

Read Full Post »