Pacific-Episode 8 (1 Viewer)

[marco55]

All I can say is John Basilone has to be one of the finest men to ever have served in the Corps.
Mark

 

[kilted vampire]

There is a John Basilone that is President of Trader Joe's, I wonder if thee is a relation as the real J B did not survive the War.

 

[bromhead]

Rough scene on the beach with Basilone,it appears most of his people were casualties.Dramatic with the Marines trying to shelter against the Sherman or anywhere else for that matter.

 

[lancer]

Another great episode. I found the struggle of Basilone to get back to the action to be very interesting and obviously part of what made him a real hero. His devotion to country and duty I found very touching. It was striking episode in that one realizes that the attributes exhibited by Basilone were the same ones that thousands and thousands of other men exhibited in order to win the war, cost be ****ed. -- Al

 

[Stryker II]

another great episode. I found the struggle of basilone to get back to the action to be very interesting and obviously part of what made him a real hero. His devotion to country and duty i found very touching. It was striking episode in that one realizes that the attributes exhibited by basilone were the same ones that thousands and thousands of other men exhibited in order to win the war, cost be ****ed. -- al

another great and thought provoking episode>>>>>>>>>stryker

 

[gk5717]

The last 10 minutes were great, but getting there, for me, was like watching a chic flick.
Is it just me, but I cannot warm up to the actor playing Basilone.
Having said the above, this series is much more intense than BOB ever was and will be in my hall of fame.
Gary

 

[Warrior]

Another terrific depiction of combat in the Pacific; the fact that any of them survived is a miracle to be frank, the fire raining down on them was murderous.

My hat is off to the Marines, they performed a nearly impossible task time after time after time and made our freedom possible, watching Basilone pass away was gut wrenching.........

 

[kingtoot]

I hope that they continue on with Iwo Jima on episode nine, even for a few minutes..Looks like Okinawa is gonna be another great battle scene..they should have made this a 15 part series..

 

[lancer]

I hope that they continue on with Iwo Jima on episode nine, even for a few minutes..Looks like Okinawa is gonna be another great battle scene..they should have made this a 15 part series..

I think the remainder of the series will be Sledge on Okinawa, with a possible returning home scene. I will be interested to see if Leckie reappears as any kind of wrap up. Since the series is through the 3 main characters, Basilone's death probably means Iwo is done. Hope I am wrong but I don't see why the producers would continue following the battle when the POV is gone. -- Al

 

[binder001]

I think we're done with Iwo. The only reason for including Iwo Jima was to wrap up the Basilone story line. I imagine there will be a brief commentary in the historical notes that open Chapter Nine. I think that the last two episodes will be Okinawa. Okinawa and Saipan were the few times that the USMC had to face dealing with a large civillian population.

I imagine that the wrap up will include information on what happened to the survivors and some comments with the veterans who have beenm opening each episode.

Gary B.

 

[kingtoot]

I figured that this was it for Iwo, as you say - just to close out Basilone's story..That 10 minute piece was pretty brutal..hard to imagine that anyone did survive all of that shelling. i'm already thinking of the DVD set - hope they include footage that didn't make it on the series..

 

[Warbuff26]

Here is what I dont get....from watching this you would believe that he was gunned down by machine gun fire....where we all know it was an exploding shell that killed him and 4 others. Why couldnt they show that? And why couldnt we see him getting the Sherman through the mine field? Too much romance and not enough historical fact. He didnt die 10 min into the Iwo landing....but thats all they choose to portray? Lame

 

[jazzeum]

According to an internet site I looked at this morning he died about thirty minutes after he received his wounds.

I suppose we could quibble about that but to me the episode symbolized all the young men in war (not just this one) whose lives were cut short and never got a chance to fulfill their dreams or ambitions. In the case of the Basilones, they had talked about having six kids and they never got a chance to realize this. That is the real tragedy here.

 

[Toy Soldier Brigade]

All I can say is John Basilone has to be one of the finest men to ever have served in the Corps./QUOTE]

I would second that. This episode was tuff to watch knowing what happens to him.

 

[Warrior]

Here is what I dont get....from watching this you would believe that he was gunned down by machine gun fire....where we all know it was an exploding shell that killed him and 4 others. Why couldnt they show that? And why couldnt we see him getting the Sherman through the mine field? Too much romance and not enough historical fact. He didnt die 10 min into the Iwo landing....but thats all they choose to portray? Lame

Agreed; I am somewhat confused at times by what Hanks and Spielberg are trying to show us. The series is based on the real life experiences of Sledge, Leckie and Basilone, yet as B pointed out, they showed the passing of Basilone full of errors. He took out a Japanese strongpoint almost single handed, guided a tank through a minefield and was killed by a mortar round, not by machine gun fire.

If you are going to tell the story of a hero, get the story right, don't butcher it for the sake of cramming the stories into 10 episodes, make it 15 if for nothing else to get it right................

 

[marco55]

Here is what I dont get....from watching this you would believe that he was gunned down by machine gun fire....where we all know it was an exploding shell that killed him and 4 others. Why couldnt they show that? And why couldnt we see him getting the Sherman through the mine field? Too much romance and not enough historical fact. He didnt die 10 min into the Iwo landing....but thats all they choose to portray? Lame

I didn't know how he died until after I watched the episode and I wondered why they chose to show him die that way.It takes nothing away from him showing his heroism by showing the events accurately.A little disappointed in this.
Mark

 

[lancer]

Basilone's death in the "Pacific" episode is curiously inaccurate. There is little doubt that Basilone was killed in action by a mortar round. There does seem to be some doubt about the results of the fatal wounding with reports ranging from immediate death to 15-20 minutes to die, or in one case taking over an hour to succumb. At any rate, HBO's version seems totally fabricated. A curious error to make. -- Al

 

[bromhead]

The last 10 minutes were great, but getting there, for me, was like watching a chic flick.
Is it just me, but I cannot warm up to the actor playing Basilone.
Having said the above, this series is much more intense than BOB ever was and will be in my hall of fame.
Gary

You no longer have to,,Im warming to Snafu very much tho I believe it a bit ominous when he said ,"Im dying".

 

[Stryker II]

According to an internet site I looked at this morning he died about thirty minutes after he received his wounds.

I suppose we could quibble about that but to me the episode symbolized all the young men in war (not just this one) whose lives were cut short and never got a chance to fulfill their dreams or ambitions. In the case of the Basilones, they had talked about having six kids and they never got a chance to realize this. That is the real tragedy here.

Jazzeumey: I agree with your statement. I am not exactly sure why they showed him getting killed like that--I had always heard it was a moater round too that did him in. I will have to do some research on exactly how he died from Marine Corps reports..............Stryker

 

[desk11desk12]

Agreed; I am somewhat confused at times by what Hanks and Spielberg are trying to show us. The series is based on the real life experiences of Sledge, Leckie and Basilone, yet as B pointed out, they showed the passing of Basilone full of errors. He took out a Japanese strongpoint almost single handed, guided a tank through a minefield and was killed by a mortar round, not by machine gun fire.

If you are going to tell the story of a hero, get the story right, don't butcher it for the sake of cramming the stories into 10 episodes, make it 15 if for nothing else to get it right................

Wow, I didn't know these facts about Basilone's end. I agree with you George.

Gees, you would think the real story was heroic enough to beat any Hollywood script.

The Pacific was a real meat grinder and psychological HELL!

Carlos