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Post by nikeajax on Oct 31, 2020 13:53:15 GMT -8
I know there are a whole lot of people who love the movie "Thunderball", Sean Connery is dead at the age of 90: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Connery#DeathOK, that said, how many of you have seen... ZARDOZ Cringeworthy doesn't begin to say it, more like: ostentatious, sophomoric... how and why did it ever get made?!?! JB |
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Post by vance on Oct 31, 2020 15:24:44 GMT -8
Even icons need a few $$$ now and then.
I remember seeing his debut in "Darby O'Gill and the Little People" at the theater with my mom and older brother in 1959. The banshee scared the living daylights out of me at 8 years old. Unbelievably tame by today's standards, but I was frightened out of my wits.
Sad news about Sir Sean (Tommy) Connery, indeed. Time marches on, inexorably....
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Post by nikeajax on Oct 31, 2020 16:07:17 GMT -8
Here's PY's scary Banshee:  Not to be confused with Siouxsie and the Banshees:  JB EDIT: My wife was saying how he was probably trying to get away from being typecast Bond: and what better way than making a "Head Film", as in head trip, they were all the rage at the time... |
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Post by vance on Oct 31, 2020 16:20:37 GMT -8
Siouxie's near topless (strategically placed electrical tape strips) appearances 'affected' me almost as much as the DO'GatLP's banshee scene. But in a different way?
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Post by SeaRat on Oct 31, 2020 21:55:24 GMT -8
I have never ceased to be amazed at how "revered" these film stars have become; and yet they never did the things that they acted. I had friends who made the currency jump out of the HC-97 for the Thunderball parascuba jump. I watched the film, and noted that all the jumpers jumped on the same pass. The HC-97 has an air speed for these jumps of about 130 knots, or about 150 mph. When jumping 20 jumpers or so out of both doors, witH each jumper dumping at five second intervals, that would scatter the jumpers over a distance of (13,200 feet per minute times 50/60 equals 11,000 feet), or almost two miles of ocean. But the film shows them all landing together. When we jumped parascuba, we jumped a maximum of three jumpers at a time, and usually one or two. We had to jumpmaster them so that they could hit the target too. To do that we first threw out a spotter chute over the target with a 60 minute smoke flare on it, then made a pass from the smoke flare to the target, counting up as we went over the flare, then counting down as we went over the target. When we got to zero, we threw out a second smoke flare, and looked to see if our count was correct. If that second smoke flare landed within a reasonable distance of the target, we could start dropping PJs, as they can make up that distance with their steerable chute. But in the movie, the jumpers were scattered over two miles of ocean. To me, having actually jumped on things like a mockup of an Apollo capsule, that was hilarious. These movie stars which everyone thinks are somewhat godlike, Fox News just called him an "international icon,"and pays them insane amounts of money to entertain us, in reality know little except acting. Sean Connery served 3 years in the British Navy, was discharged for ulcers, then began body building and placed third in the Mr. Universe contest (and Wikipedia disputes even this accomplishment). But my opinion of actors is just that, that they act, sometimes very well, but have never had to actually accomplish much in real life. So I don't idealize Mr. Connery, or really hold him in high esteem. John  Parascuba Jump-Okinawa-1 by John Ratliff, on Flickr This is a parascuba jump that I participated in while in the 33rd Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron, Naha Air Base, Okinawa in 1968. Note the target, a one-man life raft, just behind this Pararescue jumper in parascuba gear. As you can see, he has released one riser and is holding it on his hand; he'll completely release it once he hits the water to callapse the canopy and prevent being drug by the wind. This is something Mr. Connery never even attempted to do in his life. |
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Post by nikeajax on Nov 1, 2020 8:52:33 GMT -8
John, I agree with you... The actor I truly despise for this is John Wayne!  Sean Connery couldn't hold a candle to Wayne's sense of self entitlement and being nothing but a fake, and yet how many meatheads did he inspire to be, ah-hem... "real Americans": he taught the world how to be belligerent towards anyone who didn't agree with you. He never served his country, and yet the US military has made him into a god: that's pretty sick! JB |
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Post by nikeajax on Nov 1, 2020 9:30:17 GMT -8
Oh, but there is one John Wayne movie I absolutely love, "The Conqueror"    Yep, that's The Duke as... snort... giggle... Genghis Khan! BWAH-HAHAHAHA!  JB |
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Post by Michel on Nov 3, 2020 7:48:59 GMT -8
Celebrity worship is a kind of disease, especially in America.I think that is why it's important to keep our heroes(even fictional ones) at arms length were they belong unless , of course, you get to actually meet them and then make up your mind if they are as great guys or girls as you thought. We are all human with strengths and weaknesses and sometimes many skeletons in our respective closets LOL! Think about it, even J.Y. Cousteau had a brother who was a Nazi sympathizer and he himself cheated on his wife Simone and was brutal with some of his divers! Who here was not a little influenced by 'BOND'James Bond! RIP Sean, actor.
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Post by SeaRat on Nov 3, 2020 14:10:06 GMT -8
I thought everyone would like to see the actual footage of the HC-97 parascuba jump. Here it is, and I'll make some comments below. You will notice the distances traveled by the aircraft as the jump was being completed. Also, there was no time lapse between the entry into the water and the diving deeper to get into the fight. But what had to happen was that the parachute harness had to be removed before the jumpers could dive. That usually took a minute or two. Also, I noticed one PJ entering the water sans fins.  That would have been an oversight on his checklist prior to exiting the water. We had that happen periodically, and I remember one PJ exiting sans fins for an Apollo SIMEX (Simulated Exercise) in front of NASA. He helped put the floatation collar on the capsule mockup without fins. We were actually ready for just about anything. But usually we used masking take to tape our fins onto our feet so they did not come off during the jump. There was a lot of good footage during the underwater fight too. Occasionally, the exhalation hose was cut rather than the inhalation hose of the enemy divers. All the "enemy" were in black, with double hose regulators (looked like single stage Voit regs), and the good guys were in orange with white tanks and single hose regulators. 'All very fun to watch. John |
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Post by nikeajax on Nov 3, 2020 14:48:00 GMT -8
John, it can be very distracting when you know too much about things in films: one's suspension of disbelief plummets like a rock.
I tried to watch a show on Netflix about sending people to Mars: my wife liked it, whereas I just couldn't get past just how totally unrealistic it was. It would have been watchable for me if they had done their homework on some of the things, but instead they were just sloppy and made it too much like a soap opera.
"Who needs a technical director: I learned everything I need to know by watching Star Trek..."
JB
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Sean Connery couldn't hold a candle to Wayne's sense of self entitlement and being nothing but a fake, and yet how many meatheads did he inspire to be, ah-hem... "real Americans": he taught the world how to be belligerent towards anyone who didn't agree with you. He never served his country, and yet the US military has made him into a god: that's pretty sick!
That would have been an oversight on his checklist prior to exiting the water. We had that happen periodically, and I remember one PJ exiting sans fins for an Apollo SIMEX (Simulated Exercise) in front of NASA. He helped put the floatation collar on the capsule mockup without fins. We were actually ready for just about anything. But usually we used masking take to tape our fins onto our feet so they did not come off during the jump. 