A bit late, but I just stumbled across this in my YT recommendations. I loved this film when it came out, mostly for the stunning aerial cinematography. As an adult, I love the smart writing - we watch the cast work through the situation in an intelligent fashion, taking one reasonable step after another as they figure out what happened and what they're going to do about it. In that way it's one of the smarter science fiction films I've ever seen, and as a time travel story in particular it's one of the best around. So it's nice to hear that the filmmakers were also pretty smart with the Naval aspects of the story.
Yeah, that's why I liked it when I watched it. They didn't panic or make ham-fisted decisions to thicken the plot, or act constantly bewildered and helpless. They did things about as "realistically" as they could have.
In 1962 my father was the bombardier/navigator in an A-3D on the Constellation when they lost the nose wheel on launch. After dumping their fuel, they circled back around and landed in the barricade. My dad filmed the approach with his 8mm camera. I have the film and the ship's newspaper as well as the tail hook from his 100th carrier landing
Unfortunately, he passed on Dec. 3 from ALS. Here's a link to the video we played at his memorial ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Bs4FpEo-k0w.html
Rudder Gator you have my condolences gator. I lost my dad from cancer in 2014, he too served for 4 years as a A.F. jet mechanic and liked a-6 intruders [navy f. Bomber, I know it confused me for a few years]. I'm still reacting to the fact your dad, now You have his tow arrest hook!
US Navy personnel had to shave their beards off by midnight January 1st 1985. Some of the senior chiefs put in their retirement papers because they had to shave.
Yep, I remember that day. There were several other First Class PO's that their wives had never seen their husbands without a beard... It was hard enough for us just as co-workers, but imagine a wife...
I was an Avionics Tech 2nd class I worked on s-3b Vikings and was a troublshooter/final checker and my Squadron was VS-38 attached to Carrier Air Wing 2 USS Constellation from 95 to 2000 I have to say that most of the stuff in this movie was pretty accurate. Especially a lot of the flight deck scenes I also loved watching one of my beloved Vikings land on the Nimitz. It was interesting to see all the aircraft of that era the a 7s and a 6s
I was ship’s company on the Constellation in 88/89. A time in my life I will never forget. Joshua, did you hear the story about when she caught fire just off NAS North Island?
Couple of comments. The dark blue shirt and pants were our old utility uniforms. Short and long sleeved that replaced the older pull over version. We were in transition at the time so had the old utilities and the dungaree's were coming back in. If you look at the shirt's on the dungaree's you'll notice they have no pocket flaps. At the time they just buttoned and it would be about a year later if I recall correctly they changed it so all our shirts had to have pocket flaps so we had to either buy new shirts or sew on pocket flaps. The utility uniforms would be phased out near as I recall now about a year or so after this movie came out so around 1980 / 1981 time frame. Some of us also were issued the older blue utility jackets while some were issued the black utility jacket to go with the working uniform. Just as we had the iron on rank patches, we had colored irons on ones for the utility uniforms and the working jackets as well.
On the ship between 86-90, We screened this movie all the time to a point we could recite the dialog. The song was our breakaway music during unreps. The CO (Kirk Douglas) was wearing the best uniform in the Navy, working Khaki's (miss them terribly) and your wore them with very limited warfare devices. Although the CO and XO were both ship command qualified, they seldom if ever wore SWO pins. Concerning the dark blue working uniforms, they were issued from about 76 to 79ish and replaced by the traditional dungarees and there was a period wear you could wear both
Look I bust myself every night at the cancer hospital and finally I find this and YOURRE talking away! This is not what I thought link would be. I've been trying to see this movie since high school in 1980. Dag!!!
I believe it was mentioned earlier, but the dark blue shirts were "utilities." I had them issued to me when I was in boot camp in "sunny" Great Lakes in late '81. They phased them out that year. I think a sailor could still wear them, but the lighter colored shirts and dungarees were more comfortable.
Carrier COs and XOs are eligible for command at sea and are graduates of nuclear power school but they don’t swap out their wings for surface warfare pins.
I don’t believe so. I believe you only can wear one warfare badge. I imagine that since carrier COs and XOs are required by law to be Naval Aviators or Naval Flight Officers, they would continue to wear those badges.
This is one of those movies that scratches a certain itch for those of us who were in the Navy. For me it is more about being on a birdfarm. This movie does broach the Time Travel experiments; see Philadelphia Experiment. The entertainment value arrives in the fantasy of a modern carrier placed in 1941. Speaking for myself, I do have a bias for all "Navy" movies. Just wanted to jump in and comment and say Yo! Salty...how you dooin brother?
Yeah I can see why it kept getting recommended. The producers listened to the Navy and made it as realistic as the scenario allows. And it’s a fun story.
Now i know it was just for the movie, but my biggest gripe about the photo of pearl harbor in 1941 is that the real photo was taken by the Japanese just after the first couple torpedoes hit the West Virginia... you can already see her listing to port and the water wake from the blasts
I was in the Navy as an ADJ at the time and, in fact, stationed at NAS Key West during the filming of this movie. I saw them film base scenes with the Cadillac turning the corner, when the actors getting back in the car with walking people in the shot and the helo taking off. The jet shop where I worked was pretty much right there where all that was filmed. Those scenes and one other scene that was filmed on Smather's Beach in Key West. Yeah, not a 'desolate beach" at all. Almost all of the military personal were actually active duty. The "dress uniform" during that time we called "salt and peppers". We called them "Good Humor Man" uniforms and HATED THEM. The scene with the 2 people walking from L to R on the screen as the actors are getting in the car the girl, who I knew, is "wearing her "Salt and Peppers". She had a administrative job and those in those types of jobs all wore "dress uniforms" daily. The Marine at gate? 100% authentic but I believe that was filmed in Hawai'i. As you point out, the Navy has what we call "dungarees" which were blue and exactly as you see in the film. These were what many wore for "dirty work' jobs....like mine. Totally authentic like you said. But as you pointed out some are darker blue. I had a like 5 of those and even 2 were "pull-overs" which were issued to me at boot. They were phasing those out at the time. Many of the Nimitz scene were not "GQ" drills but rather a real exercise the Nimitiz was involved in. So, mostly real stuff. What I find a little humorous was the Navy Exchange; you're NOT going to find carton of cigarettes for sale aboard anymore. Oh...and the Filipino serving in the ward room. Back when I served most, not all, Filipinos worked in mess or some service capacity. Don't know if that had changed.
I served from '76-'82, between Nam and the gulf war, so no NDR for me. This is also the time this movie was made, so many of the younger sailors wouldn't have it either. It was not issued from 1975 to 1989. Also, the blue utilities are period correct.
I went to boot at San Diego, company 325,last company of 77 we were issued the dark blue shirts and dark pants.got the chambray shirts&dungarees when I got on my first ship USS Samuel Gompers AD-37
AHH The movie WAS filmed on the Nimitz... they started the filming right after out reactor coolant leak and we were tied up along side Pier 12 in Norfolk. Principal filming started in April or May and then when the leak was fixed, they were on board when we went through REFTRA, Type 1 and Type 2 training during the summer of 79. I know, I was on Board the Nimitz at the time. I was a PHAN, and remember watching them film the scenes before I left for B school in Pensacola in June. They used Key West as one of the Bases as well as Pearl Harbor. I know they used the USS Ranger as the Carrier coming into Pearl at the time and I Heard they also used a couple of other carriers for some interiors. Some of the Bridge scenes were filmed while we were parked at Pier 12 in Norfolk and some while at sea. In one scene in the Movie, you can see the CO of the Nimitz at the time, Capt Batzler, sitting on a Bridge chair in the background. Salty Seaman, yes, they used the Photo Lab in one shot, it was the B&W Dark Room. Thanks for the walk down memory Lane.. I think the movie was more popular overseas then in the States. The Nimitz was on a North Atlantic/Nato Cruise when it came out and a bunch of us saw it in Portsmouth England when we pulled in there.
I remember, I was on Big John, other side Pier 12, I remember, 1980, you getting underway, for "Operation -Eagle Claw" & some Officer WIFE, thru a "Hissy FIT" on the Pier, Cursing the NAVY !
Senator Chapman,s rant about "rocket planes...! and that machine they pulled us out of the sea with....!" in 1941,jet planes had flown in Germany and Britain as well as helicopters but both were still in the experimental stages and not very publicized,some were top secret. in Germany,Heinkel had flown the tiny He-178 under turbojet power in September 1939 and the British flew the Gloster-Whittle E28/39 in May 1941. "Great Scott,man....the damn thing has NO PROPELLER...!" there were various experiments with helicopters in several places including Sikorsky in Stratford,CT, successfully flying his VS-300 in 1939.
Dungrees are proper for the time period. Dark blue dungrees out and we went back to the traditional working uniform. Beards were discontinued by the mid 80's or earlier.
when i joineed the Navy, i thought I could grow a beard and wear dungarees, but by the time i had joinedd around 2000, the dungarees were gone in favor of a smillar looking utility uniformm, and all i could grow was a moustache, so i was somewhat disappointed and even though I completed about ninee years, and was forced out due to downsizing causedd by Obama's Sequestration off the military, i still miss being in the Navy.
Yay! I loved this movie when it was released. Saw it with a crowd of Aggies (Texas A&M) and all of us whooped it up to the finest military porn then available.
The dark blue uniform you saw that scene they had two choices to wear the traditional dungarees in the second choice was the dark blue uniform they had those up until 1991 then in the mid-1990s they change the uniforms in the Navy
for any boaters/yachtsmen out there....you can imagine how high-maintenance an all-wood yacht operating in salt water like the "Gatsby" would have been....! "a 40-foot hole in the water into which one pours money" as well as a paid professional captain and a bosun/crewman. if Sen. Chapman was the actual owner,it would take a bite out of his finances......!
It was film in 1979 I was on board they used very few Hollywood extras were used in the film. It was filmed in Northfolk Va at peri 12 Naval station in 1979 and other screens in 1980
This film has one of the more informative commentaries on the DVD. eg The barricaded landing they filmed was just something that happened when they were on the ship to film and they thought: heck, why not put it in the movie? So they did.
Finally, interior, shots, were filmed off Florida, March, 1980, & was on, USS CV-67, John F. Kennedy, & I did have a Beard! EM-2 , and not, Nuclear Carrier
I served in the Navy during this time, and thought Hollywood did the Navy right on the making of this movie. Yes for sure there are a few things that are a little bit out there, but for the most part it’s done well.
Interestingly enough, I decided to watch this an an adult, a few months back. Last time I watched this was in the theater. Think I was 8 or 9. Watching it on a high def screen, I think it held up well. ( Visually.. it looked like a pretty modern movie, filmed " today", depicting a secret story that takes place in the 1980s) only certain cuts in editing, and lack of new techniques ( or dialog) gave it away. It didn't feel all too cheesey to watch. I was actually surprised.
I was in the Army from 86 - 1990 , I enjoyed watching the movie and took it for what it was. Also try and remember that Hollywood in the 80's had a agreement that they couldn't be to detailed in the films, this was a representation not actual documentary agreement back then. 👍😉
Oh, reason, was not Nimitz, cause she was heading to "Indian Ocean" -Operation, Eagle Claw, we followed, as air wing in Egypt, My mind a little , fading in details, & the Med Cruise, involved, I was just transferred to Kennedy, & worked like a "SEA DOG" as ship just came from Overhaul, & was "RUSHED" It broke a lot!
I watched this movie several times great movie actors did an excellent job shame to see everybody get shot up especially the boat scene I hope they didn't blow up that beautiful boat those old boats for Class Act ⛵
One of the big things wrong with this movie is that it wasn't the Nimitz at all. The Nimitz was in the Atlantic Fleet and if I remember right they actually used the Carl Vinson in the movie. I haven't a clue about the uniforms or the ribbons etc. don't even care. I was in the Chair Force myself from 69 to 77 and I just decided I'd ignore the things they did wrong and revel in the music and watching the planes fly. I love planes. Personally I think it was one of the stupid things our government did to retire the F-14s. Not as stupid as cutting most of our B-52s in half though, for the strategic arms limitation treaties. I recognized the AT-6s they used as "Zeros" and they really should have gotten a real Japanese actor to play the captured pilot instead of a Korean. I could see the structure of the model they blew up with a "sidewinder". Phaw. Balsa wood does not look like metal. However I have seen a model blown up deliberately. It turned out a lot more exciting than the person flying the model expected. Lots of other things wrong. But it was a fun movie to watch and I still love that first scene and the lead into the music theme with the close up of the engines going into afterburner for takeoff. I used to attend what the Navy called "The Space Fair" at Point Mugu Naval Air Station and I've seen some F-14 flying that was just over the top. Like the guy doing a 360 degree turn between the runways and the far border of the base, wings full out and the plane at nearly 90 degrees to the ground and you could see the pilot making pinpoint corrections to keep it from stalling. I don't care how much he got paid as a pilot in the Navy, he deserved more.
At GQ are all those guys at LSO position closed up, thought the majority of them were for evaluating landings. And why are all those people at GQ without protection, the LSO's no flash gear, nothing!!
I've always liked this movie and it is definitely smarter than most movies especially science fiction. It brings up the question of whether or not they as a military ship have the duty to stop an enemy from starting a war in the past. I also understand that Kirk Douglas served in the Navy, I'm not sure but he was definitely from that generation that served during the war. Something else, I didn't know the Navy allowed beards, did they?
My brother was in the Navy in the late 70’s-mid 80’s and yes, they were allowed to grow beards. When I was in in the late 80’s the only way you were allowed to grow a beard was if you got special permission due to a skin condition that was irritated by shaving
One thing that is an interesting detail you might have commented on, Kirk Douglas as the capt. of a nuclear powered ship needing a civilian Martin Sheen to explain to him about Einstein"s theories. It's not like he'd need a thorough knowledge of nuclear physics to run his ship properly or anything. It's not like a military people as mindless drones who need high minded civilians to enlighten them isn't any kind of stupid Hollywood cliche.
@@TheSaltySeaman One of the points about this movie which is also improbable is that they are unable to get anyone at Pearl Harbor to listen to them. Why didn't they take the simple expedient of having two or three of their helicopters just land @ Pearl, or even outside of it if an armed reaction was a dangrer, have some personnel go explain the situation in person to the commander of the base? There were no practical helicopters back then in service. That would have gotten a big reaction. They could have even contacted Halsey's squadron of carriers out on maneuvers. They just need to put everyone on alert, you just need a big splash to do that.
One minor nitpick: Would a Nimitz-class carrier be commanded by an O-6 captain? Or should he be a flag officer? Maybe you could say that the battle group C.O. was visiting another ship when the "storm" hit the Nimitz, but I keep thinking that Kirk Douglas' character (the "captain") should be an O-7 or O-8, and his senior officers should be O-6s. I suppose making Douglas an O-6 and his senior officers commanders looks good to most audiences that aren't military-savvy. I'm not either, but I know enough about modern battlegroups to expect the skipper to be wearing stars for collar brass.
Exactly right the ships were usually commanded by a captain and the commander of all the squadrons Carrier Air Wing (CAG) was usually a rear Admiral. Mine at the time of my enlistment was Rear Admiral Lafleur CAG2
I think if you don’t know anything about the Navy back then, you shouldn’t make a video commenting on how it was back then. Just saying. I think this was a very good movie. It shows what a carrier today could’ve done back in 1941.
3:52 - those are father and son in real life. Mind you, he had about 15 sons, but nevertheless, that is a brother, probably younger brother, to Micheal Douglas. You'd probably think, in real life, were you to not know him from Adam, that there goes just another red-haired ' white ' American, so it just goes to show how thoroughly Yiddish the USA is.
I loved watching Kirk Douglas. Seems like he always made sure to keep his "good side" to the camera.Somebody failed to show him how to use a sound powered phone though. 2:26 into your clip. Re the dark blue dungarees: they came in to replace the denim pants and chambray shirts in the early 70s. They were being issued in boot camp, though there was no wholesale replacement of them at the time. Note that the pants had slash pockets v. the patch pockets of the denims. I had no interest in them. I liked my traditional dungarees. If for your own entertainment if nothing else, get the 'Extras' disk and the Jolly Roger Squadron interviews. Really terrific stuff. Discussed in the 'Extras' DVD and making of the movie, the barricade landing setup was filmed as it happened and was a flight deck crew competition.
Your talking about the V -neck pull-over that came out in the early 70s as part of the utility uniform. Near as I can recall that lasted to about 76 then they changed it to another T neck button up that was issued. Had a slight changed in the pants as well. We were issued the changed uniform when I enlisted in 78 but heard stories of the V-neck.
Some good stuff.but its hollywood. I think this movie falls with in the reality of the of the philadelphia exepermentBetween Einstein and Tesla those two were workimg on delousing.it ended badly.
The Salty Seaman if you don’t like negative or comments that are contrary to what you like maybe you should either lighten up yourself Francis or not post anything
