Flags of Our Fathers

Factual error: When the Marines strip off and run into the sea in the final scene, Doc takes off a pair of white socks that would be more appropriate for a final at Wimbledon. Not only are they white rather than khaki, they are virtually spotlessly clean which would be impossible after a week of fighting on the black sands of Iwo Jima.

Factual error: The water is perfectly still around the ships as they bombard the island. When the cannons fires there are small ripples on the water from the shockwave, but around the ship it remains perfectly calm.

Deliberate mistake: During the scene on the train in lounge car, a picture on the wall prominently shows an ALCO PA locomotive. The movie was set in 1945, but this locomotive was first produced in 1947.

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Bud Gerber: People on the street corners, they looked at this picture and they took hope. Don't ask me why, I think it's a crappy picture, myself. You can't even see your faces! But it said we can win this war, are winning this war, we just need you to dig a little deeper. They want to give us that money. No, they want to give it to you.

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Trivia: This movie was filmed back-to-back with Letters from Iwo Jima, a fictional account of the battle of Iwo Jima that looks at it from the Japanese soldier's perspective.

Joel Amos Gordon

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Question: Did the scene where Ira Hayes rages against police after a bartender refuses to serve him really happen?

Answer: Following WWII, Ira Hayes hated the fame and sensational publicity associated the flag-raising at Iwo Jima. Deeply depressed, Hayes descended into alcoholism over the next few years, and it eventually killed him. Director Clint Eastwood actually underplayed the true extent of Hayes' sad decline, and the scene you mention was no doubt dramatized for the screen. In real life, Hayes was arrested 52 times for public intoxication and disorderly conduct at various places across the country before his death.

Would that be a yes, or no? I've got autism.

It's yes, but he/she is saying that the incident was probably exaggerated for the purpose of the movie, to make it more dramatic. It likely combined a number of similar drunken incidents into the one scene.

raywest Premium member

Answer: Definitely yes :). The poor guy was a raging alcoholic who literally drank himself to death.

stiiggy

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