BLATHER REVIEW

The Great Raid

When I was about 7 or 8 or 9 years old, back in the early '70s, my paternal grandfather (whom we called Grampy) was driving us up along a familiar stretch of highway that I would years later learn to call the 25-8 connector. I'd travelled this route many times before with my mother at the wheel. But, recently (at the time) a new sign had appeared:

Colonel Henry Mucci Highway

"Colonel Henry Mucci Highway," Grampy muttered. "Hmmph... Good."

Although I wondered, I never asked him who Col. Henry Mucci was. In fact, up until about a week ago I had no idea who Henry Mucci was.

Colonel Henry A. Mucci is a native of my hometown; Bridgeport, Connecticut. He led a team that rescued about 500 Americans held prisoner by the Japanese in the Philippines. The POWs were survivors of the Bataan Death March.

The Great Raid is a new release from Miramax that tells the story -- apparantly in muted (meaning honest, not cinematic) tones -- of the rescue of those 500 Americans. I've read several glowing reviews this past week and, yes, I may actually set foot inside a movie theater in the next few days for the first time in over ten years.

One review is not so favorable It comes from the desk of New York Times critic Stephen Holden.

This 132-minute Miramax film, completed two years ago and dumped into the marketplace during the dog days of August, reputedly cost $80 million. Not since Ted Turner's stillborn boondoggle "Gods and Generals" has a war film squandered so much on such emptiness.

Scott at Powerline destroys Holden's posturing and also points to Judge William's short review.

I'll, in turn, point you to this review.

Can a man be called a hero if he's "just doing his job"? That, I think, depends on what he thinks his job is.

Posted by Tuning Spork at August 14, 2005 05:26 PM | TrackBack