Beauty Break: A Veteran's Day Gallery (and rant)
Wednesday, November 11, 2020 at 8:00AM by Nathaniel R
George Clooney in "Three Kings"
Happy Veteran's Day to all reading who have served or have loved ones that have. I've been thinking more about the military than usual lately. That's probably partially because our Montgomery Clift centennial series featured so many military films. But it's especially due to the US election where there was a lot of discussion about mail-in voting which the military especially has been doing for hundreds of years (their votes generally arrives late due to absentee ballots). The military is not a monolithic voting block and contains Republicans, Democrats, and Independents.
After the jump please enjoy pictures of beautiful men in military movies and ignore the text if you can't stomach a political rant right now...
Denzel Washington in "Glory"
Gary Cooper as "Sergeant York"
Anthony Mackie in "The Hurt Locker"
Montgomery Clift in "The Search"
The knowledge that the military vote was even up for grabs left me bewildered and shell-shocked yet again. How was T**** not pulling just 0% of their vote. What has the country become? Why would any single (let alone thousands) military person vote for a man who cheated his way out of service and who repeatedly disrespected them and even ridiculed fallen or captured soldiers? How did any military Republicans vote for him in 2016 to begin with while memories of him attacking Gold Star Families were so fresh? It's like asking for a horrific defeat in battle to align with those that don't have your back and never will.
Luke Bracey and Andrew Garfield in "Hacksaw Ridge"
Tom Cruise in "Top Gun"
Meg Ryan and Matt Damon in "Courage Under Fire"
Jim Caviezel in "The Thin Red Line"
American culture is, frankly, a complete and utter shitshow with millions of people perpetually giving over to their basest (and most racist) impulses while also perpetually voting against their own self interests. Any military members voting for GOP politicians are doing just that. The GOP only cares about the military insomuch as they can harness it to get people to vote against their own interests, and of course to line the pockets of their friends and cronies with lucrative contracts. But they 100% and undebatably do not care about veterans or you'd NEVER see them aligning with a man who repeatedly attacks fallen soldiers and you'd never hear stories of how difficult veterans have it when it comes to good and timely quality health care.
Jake Gyllenhaal in "Jarhead"
Charles Buddy Rogers and Richard Arlen in "Wings"
Chris Evans in "Captain America"
MIchael Peña in "Fury"Here at TFE HQ we've been feeling elated that Biden and Harris will be in the White House come January, while side-eyeing with mordant giggles and genuine worry the GOP efforts to undermine the democratic process that's been in place since the founding of the country and keep T*** in the White House against the will of the people. Nobody has ever attempted a coup before in the US but we're seeing it being attempted for the first time. (Hopefully ineptly.) Everyone, including every Republican should be horrified and realize that the GOP is no longer pro-Freedom or pro-Democracy; they only want power.
In short after Trump is dragged out of the White House we still have a tremendous amount of work to do in order to try to bring sanity back to this divided nation. But how to even begin to do that when what we're essentially divided about it as stark as Good vs Evil? How do you bring Evil back around to good? How do you get people who have been absorbing anti-democratic propaganda for decades (hi Fox News) to start caring about actual facts not to mention to start caring about their neighbors?
Richard Gere as Louis Gossett Jr in "An Officer and a Gentlemen"
Burt Lancaster in "From Here To Eternity"
Eric Bana in "Black Hawk Down"
What is it about the notion of "liberty and justice for all" and, oh, not going bankrupt if you get sick that makes Republicans so enraged and offended (beyond, you know, that liberty and justice and health care for all would benefit black people as much as it would benefit them)?
I've genuinely been wondering. What did Republicans even believe in in the first place that they've all so willingly, and in many cases enthusiastically, followed a buffonish cult leader in lockstep right off the democratic cliff while he pisses on the very things they've always claimed to love: the constitution, freedom, the military, personal accountability, and the like.
Montgomery Clift in "From Here To Eternity"
How will the country ever heal?
Reader Comments (29)
I feel your pain and frustration. I don't really ever want to talk to my grandmother again.
Lovely pics,Good Luck to Biden,I hope he has a fairer run at the job from the media than Trump ever did.
markgordonuk -
So you believe Trump was done in by the lamestreammedia and their "fake news", eh? I'll have to keep that in mind when I read your commentaries from now on.
Your fixation with Monty's armpit requires inmediate therapy.
I really don't know how we heal from all of this, or if it can even be done. I'm slightly hopeful that there will be some sort of reckoning on the Republican side, and maybe the far right truly evil will break away in some fashion.
My family held together in our disdain for Trump personally even though half of them were fine with his policies in a general way. My in-laws though seem to be hopelessly fractured and I'm not sure if that family will ever heal.
My mormon family is "old school" Republican and supported McCain and Romney but could never support Trump. There has to be more people like them out there.
On a lighter note, I was not prepared for that amazing photo of Gary Cooper. And knowing he was a lifelong Republican, I have to hope that he would have been the type not to fall under this bizarre cult of personality (and what an icky personality) that half the country seems to belong to.
Men always look sexy in military uniform- but that image of Eric Bana sigh
Co-sign this post...and Jakey...and Monty...and Wings!
I am entitled to my opinion on Trump just as you are,I don't agree that every single thing he has done or said was bad or negative.I am not bashing Biden or any one who supports his brand of politics,I just wish him well with today's press
Also, Nathaniel - is there a reason why we didn't include Redford as Hubbell in The Way We Were here?
Beautiful post, in all ways.
Jung -- and my immediate therapy you mean gazing at it every chance I get? DONE!
Tyler -- there is no reason but it's more than just Hubbel's girl that's lovely. As for your grandmother, i send you hugs. My entire family is right wing so it's been very painful for me... their complete lack of regard for their fellow citizens and, lately, no acceptance of facts. They even argue with me about what's going on in NYC and i live here.
Richard -- thankyou
Mark -- i can't meet you on the Trump is not all bad train but i do agree that the Press have fucked up their responsibilities for many years now in terms of covering poltiicans.
Dave -- well Republicans of the first half of the 20th century were much different people than the Republicans we have now.
Thank you, Nathaniel. I send you the same - I really do hope it gets better soon, for everyone. :)
I just hope the press and Trump don't muck rake over the man's past or minor indiscretions,let him do his job,that's why millions voted for him to change something,I live in UK and our politicians are inept.
Gary Cooper, Montgomery Clift, Jim Caviezel, Burt Lancaster, Eric Nana. One at a time. That's happiness.
Nathaniel- have been feeling the same way lately but unable to put into words. Thank you for articulating.
Nathaniel should make a post like this about famous actors armpits in movies. I'm serious. This idea must be taken into account. :-D
Getting weird Kevin Costner vibes off that particular image of Gary Cooper.
Not getting into the politics, but thank you for compartmentalizing and warning us.
Nathaniel if you learn anything from watching movies is that we must have faith that every thing will turn alright at the end. The current occupant of the White House will leave one way or another and lets hope things will get better- that all we have in this very dark year we are living through oh yeas and we have the movies with their power to make us escape even in the darkest hour- look at all those Technicolor musicals of the 1940s.
PREACH! Thanks for this appropriate rant (and the photos - hot damn)
@ Brevity
Costner has often been compared to Gary Cooper, like Clooney to Gable, and Hanks to Jimmy Stewart.
I know people who unfortunately support that evil-ugly motherfucker and some were willing to vote for him because they're afraid this country would become communist.
I'd want to meet them face to face so I can bitch-slap every one of them for being stupid. I may not like Joe Biden very much but at least he's got some dignity and knows about what to do. He's better than the whiny bitch that is stinking up the White House right now.
I wish I could be as calm as some of you are. All I know is, the bastard doesn't deal in subtext so when he says "I won" and "I'm going to stay" -- he means it. I'm terrified and depressed that there are so many avenues for him to steal this election, no matter how small the chances are.
The saddest part is that so many GOP Senators are repeating his talking points. The Republicans are truly lost for good and at this point I fully support the dissolution of the Union. Let them have their shithole country and leave me out of it.
That's a while away so until then I'll be holding my breath till 1/20/21. I certainly wasn't dancing in the streets over the weekend, that's for sure. I can and will wait until the fucker is out of the house.
Thank you for the Jarhead picture lol
If you think this will end, sorry for your delusion
If the results of the Congress showed something, the cult around the Orange Cheeto won't disappear at all, and if Biden fails to gain considerable reforms, they will return as an horde in 2024
that's the worst louis gossett impersonation i've ever seen, richard gere!
[don't change the caption, nathaniel, or i'll look like an idiot]
par -- LOLOLOL. whoops. I meant "and" not "as" of course.
Many people still supported Nixon for a LONG time. Until information came out. Then more came out. We are still learning about things he did while in office.
America will probably have to go through the same thing with Trump. After he leaves office, several charges will move forward against him (unless he is pardoned) If facts come about about illegal activity, his children testify against him for a better deal (I absolutely think someone in that family is going to flip to save themselves) It will be eaten up and consumed by the American people and the perception will change. People clung to Nixon, but they had to let him go at some point.
@Working Stiff: Yeah, I seem to recall a comparison between peak Kevin Costner and Gary Cooper. But a comparison like that usually means that the younger one reminds you of the older one, and not the other way around.
(Interesting you mentioned Clooney and Gable. This site posted an image of Gable just a few days ago that looked remarkably like Clooney.)
A most justifiable rant, but listen, a spokesman states: “As we said on July 19th, the American people will decide this election. And the United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House.’
This is how these films describe a lot about American soldiers. I recently read this article https://www.agmglobalvision.com/the-history-of-us-army-infantry-camouflage about the camouflage of American soldiers and I see that in some films the camouflage is as described in the article. This is quite interesting.