Part of one of his movies was filmed in Valdosta. He came over to campus each night and played pickup basketball with VSU students and was extremely gracious by all accounts.Originally Posted by DanM
Part of one of his movies was filmed in Valdosta. He came over to campus each night and played pickup basketball with VSU students and was extremely gracious by all accounts.
I had an ER nurse in a class. I noticed she kept taking all head shots. Her response when asked why, "'I've seen too many people who have been shot in the chest putting up a fight in the ER." Point taken.
One of the best movies I have watched period. I thought being a cop in the 70s and 80s would have been the most exciting, but I was wrong. 20s and 30s all the way.
Great movie. Nice pacing, with good emphasis on the “hunt” vs the action.
And a great illustration of the difference between a “shooting” and a “gunfight.”
Thank you for the reminder!!!
Good movie, well worth the watch.
Some minor movie discrepancies from my reading of history (potential spoilers):
Clyde's father said Clyde's life of crime started when he stole a chicken. In reality, Clyde and his older brother Buck were arrested with an entire truckload of stolen turkeys before Thanksgiving. And that wasn't even Clyde's first arrest. Still, Clyde was a minor league thief until he was sent to Eastham prison farm. There, his small stature and boyish looks led to sexual assaults which led to Clyde's first murder (in retribution). By all accounts, Clyde left Eastham a changed, violent man.
While the other LEO victims had fine records, prison guard Major Crowson was not known to be an affable man who joked and relayed baseball news to the prisoners - he was actually known to beat convicts. His point-blank fatal gunshot wound was almost certainly no accident.
Bonnie Parker did not shoot the fallen officer in the roadway: the forensics didn't match that narrative and the supposed eye witness was later discredited. She did walk with a left-leg limp, but the burns she suffered in that car accident were on the right thigh and weren't the cause. Instead, it was a bullet lodged in her left knee from an earlier shootout (she also had another gunshot wound on her left foot).
While Bonnie was definitely complicit in the crimes, she is not known to have ever fired a shot. She may have even tried to de-escalate the violence by convincing the gang to kidnap lawmen and releasing them where they couldn't further impede the gang (rather than kill them). Still, Hamer had every reason to believe she was a killer, especially since she posed for photographs while holding pistols belonging to murdered LEO.
Likewise, Bonnie was not a sweet little country girl who lost her way when she met Clyde. She had actually married a criminal named Roy Thornton at age 15. He was in prison for robbery & murder 4 years later when Bonnie met Clyde (Clyde was dating Bonnie's neighbor/employer). She never divorced Thornton and wore his ring to the end (Thornton died years later in an escape attempt).
It is true Hamer was offered only a $130/month salary as a highwayman - much less than he'd been paid as a Ranger. But he was also promised his share of the reward money (which was supposed to be ~$26,000, but wound up being only $1,200 - $200 each). Still, Hamer was probably not financially motivated - he did indeed turn down many lucrative offers for his story.
The part about Hamer shooting and killing a man who attempted to hire him to murder a business partner is fiction. He did capture a horse thief while working as a wrangler at age 19, which led to him becoming a Ranger.
"Ma" Ferguson may have been the governor, but her husband ("Pa") was probably the real one in power. He had been impeached from the governorship earlier and was ineligible from officially holding office in Texas so he submitted Ma's name instead. She literally campaigned on being his puppet and won! They were very corrupt, they did disband the Rangers (the rangers had endorsed her opponent in the election), and she did pardon convicts in exchange for money & favors (she even pardoned Buck Barrows in 1933 - right before he started killing cops with Clyde).
Last edited by 0ddl0t; 03-31-2019 at 05:17 AM.
One thing I liked, the veiwer got a good look at depression era America..the migrant camps, hatred for the banks.. Okies on the road with everything the owned on the back of a stake bed truck. Kicked off their farms by the banks, who were desperately trying to raise money, because not only did the banks lose their money in the stock market when it crashed, they lost the depositers money as well. And, there was no FDIC then.. Nor was there a Glass-Stegall act..When you look at the depression, for many folks, the starting of WWII, was a god send, as the country spooled up for war, all of a sudden there were jobs, good paying jobs, and for the first time for lots of these people they could actually get ahead.. being an LEO during that time, looked to me to be a rough job, ecspecially for rural S.O.'s who had to enforce
a forcloseure from the bank, and boot people off what was their property..
Last edited by ralph; 03-31-2019 at 08:30 AM.
Saw last night - enjoyed it
We watched it Friday night.
IIRC, Sheriff Jordan was an uncle(?) to Border Patrolman Bill Jordan.
"It's surprising how often you start wondering just how featureless a desert some people's inner landscapes must be."
-Maple Syrup Actual
Watched it yesterday and enjoyed it. Like others, I liked the gun shop scene -- down to the half moon clips for the S&W.
And I think Costner did a fine job as Hamer.
Watched it last night, great show. Didn't paint Bonnie and Clyde with the "folk hero" brush, which was pretty refreshing.
One thing though, seems like they mostly forgot about using holsters.
Reply With Quote