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Military Equipment, Supplies & Gifts
Army Videos
Videos, DVDs and movies about the armed services and armies.
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Men of Honor:Story of the U.S. Army
Men of Honor presents a great role model for younger viewers, yet it's rated R due to abundant use of the F word. With appropriate discretion, parents should allow their preteen and teenaged children to see this rousing if altogether conventional biopic inspired by the life of Carl Brashear. Played with gravity and gumption by Cuba Gooding Jr., Brashear was the first African American to become a master diver in the U.S. Navy, despite the lingering effects of segregation, opposition from Navy brass, and the amputation of his left leg following a tragic on-duty accident. Robert De Niro adds marquee value and salty bluster as Billy Sunday, the drunken, redneck (and fictionalized) Master Chief who watches, with gradual admiration, as Brashear attains his ultimate goal through sheer force of will. This is all quite uplifting on its surface, but in attempting to hit the requisite highlights of an inspiring biography, director George Tillman Jr. (Soul Food) reduces Brashear's achievement to a succession of clichés, forcing Gooding and De Niro to battle sentiment with their noteworthy performances. As Sunday's neglected wife, Charlize Theron is completely extraneous; Hal Holbrook's diving-school commander is a ranting caricature; and newcomer Aunjanue Ellis barely registers as Brashear's wife (in part because their obligatory romance is handled with an utter lack of finesse). There's no question that Brashear's efforts are heroic and worthy of recognition, so Men of Honor serves its basic purpose. Still, one can't help but wonder if Brashear's story would be even more impressive with a more authentic treatment. --Jeff Shannon |
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The Bicycle Corps: America's Black Army on Wheels
There are reasons military bicycling never caught on, and this PBS documentary delineates them all. On the theory that bicycles were more efficient than horses (tires don't need food, water, or rest), the U.S. Army sent the 25th Infantry on a 1,900-mile ride from Missoula, Montana, to St. Louis in 1897. This 56-minute video details that ride thanks to the excellent documentation left by unit commander Lt. James Moss, newspaper articles by a ride-along reporter, and numerous photographs of the journey. The fact that the Montana-based battalion happened to be black except for the two officers appears to be coincidental, but the interest shown by the various African American historians, authors, and curators who weigh in on the trip is not. After the failed experiment, some of the soldiers went overseas to fight, doubtless well prepared by biking through mud, rivers, sandstorms, cactus fields, and all-white communities. --Kimberly Heinrichs |
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