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Bataan, ahead of its time for casting race. . .

posted 15 years ago by dobravery
6 replies | jump to latest

Look at the names of this group of volunteers. You have Slavic, Irish, Jewish, Phillipine, Hispanic, and African Americans all represented. That is an impressively fair group of heroes by 1940's standards in my book.
Feingold, Malloy, Matowski, Katigbak, Salazar, Ramirez.

Much more, the minorities aren't degraded. The black character Epps is not the cook for example, but mans one of the machine guns.

Compare this to Saving Private Ryan where you have what. . . White, Irish, Jewish, and Italian?

I know some of the people play into stereotypes, but this movie was more integrated than the rest of society/military at the time.

[–] stick500 15 years ago

yep, all very true. someone on the writing staff was thinking way ahead of his time. if you want to see what WWII service really meant for most african americans, check out the book "And Now the Hell Will Start"- would make an incredible movie

[–] bradford-1 14 years ago

Of course, Epps was singled out immediately for grave-digging duty and kept humming "St. Louis Blues" but for the most part he was treated as an equal. Unfortunately, Kenneth Spencer, who was actually a concert singer, left the U.S. in the late 40's to build a career overseas.
"We're fighting for this woman's honor, which is more than she ever did."

[–] garciaclan 10 years ago

Saving private was accurate as far as ethnicity. Blacks were not in combat units and did not participate in the initial invasion. The movie was focused on the combat units.

[–] chrissso 9 years ago

excellent point ... I noted that Epps was treated with an unusual amount of respect but missed the bigger picture.

[–] thbryn (231) 3 years ago

This film was remarkable on a number levels. Made while the war was still very much in doubt the goal seemed to be to show US solders fighting at their absolute fiercest intensity.

[–] Foster1486 (589) 7 months ago

It truly showed that in a combat unit everyone is equal, Sargent's and officers are a little more equal but die the same