I remember this old movie made during WWII starring Gregory Peck as part of a band of Russian partisans fighting the Germans. Two Russian guys, as part of the comic relief of the movie, were always arguing with each other over who got to do what first. At the climax of the movie, were Gregory Peck’s partisans are trying to hold off a major German winter advance—(A German major advance in Winter?!), the two Russians are manning an AT gun and are arguing who gets to fire it. A Panzer appears and MG’s one of them. As the Russian lies dying, he says to the other; “I guess you get to shoot first, comrade.†His buddy grabs the AT’s lanyard, puts it in the hand of his dying friend, and says: “No comrade, we’ll shoot it together†and with his hand over his friend hand, nails the panzer. Then as he tries to reload the AT gun another panzer comes along and KIA’s him. (That always brings a tear to my eye!)
In “Cast a Giant Shadow†Frank Sinatra plays a pilot helping Kirk Douglas who is acting as a military advisor to the fledging Israeli army during the 1948 Israeli war of independence—(Yul Brunner does a Moshe Dayan look-alike Israeli officer) During a spoiling attack against the enemy, Sinatra flys a Piper cub, dropping seltzer bottles on the enemy—The idea that the bottles whistle as they fall and will ize the enemy troops—As he is “bombingâ€, an enemy fighter shows up and attacks him. Sinatra pulls out a sten gun, but it jams after a few rounds. Then, only as Sinatra can do, he resignedly points a seltzer bottle at the enemy fighter and give it a squirt of seltzer in defiance. Cut to a scene when Kirk Douglas sees the Piper Cub falling from the sky….
Mickey Rooney in “Ambush Bay†(--Or something like that title) is part of a US commando team on a Japanese-held island. The commandos are being pursued by a Japanese platoon. He gets wounded in the legs, and persuades the others to leave him behind. As he sits waiting for the Japanese to arrive, he primes two s, and places them under his legs. When the Japanese arrive, one of them, interpreting for his commander, interrogates Rooney:
“Who’s your Commander?â€
“General Douglas Arthurâ€
“How many men do you have?â€
“Oh, about a million or soâ€
“If you don’t tell us what we want to know, we’ll shoot you!â€
“Oh don’t do that, that will give me such a headache! You know, my problem is I’m hungry, and haven’t had anything to eat all day except for these HOT POTATOES!†With a develish-looking grin, Rooney pulls out the grenedes, holding them up in front of his face. The Japanese quickly back away as he continues to offer them, and shoot him. As he dies, he throws the grenedes. Cut to the scene where the remaining commandos turn their heads towards the direction of the explosions.
off in the distance