An Old Celluloid Soldier Remembers

(For Veteran’s Day. This oldie, from 2011, was in response to the Red Room Website’s request for our memories of World War II. As you will see, mine was fought from in front of a TV set and at the movies. It’s still a good laugh. You can also read it at my webpage, “A Curious Man.”)

“Despite Spielberg’s avowed intent to darken and coarsen the formulas of the war picture, old moviegoing habits die hard: I was practically standing on my seat and yelling at Tom Hanks to kill more Germans, and then, when he had finished killing Germans, to kill more Germans” — Anthony Lane…