I saw the film Pressure. Decent movie but they took enormous liberties with the history.
In the alternative universe of the film, there was a war. It pitted the US and UK against Germany. There was an invasion at Normandy in June 1944. Beyond that, lots of creative license trying to make the story more compelling. Here are a few of the doozies.
1. The weather decision was a 24-hour delay, not a rescheduling.
2. The weathermen. The American said the weather on June 5 would be fine (he was wrong). A Norwegian said it would be bad (he was right). Group Captain Stagg (the Brit) was the overall weatherman. To create dramatic tension, they eliminated the Norwegian and made this a Brit-vs American struggle.
3. The Blitz was over by 1944. Hitler did launch the "Baby Blitz" in January 1944 (Operation Steinbock) to avenge the success of the Allied bombing campaign. Luftwaffe losses were catastrophic and the Baby Blitz ended in May due to unsustainable Luftwaffe casualties. No spoilers here, but this will be important in the film.
4. The necessary conditions (in addition to weather) were a full moon and a low tide right at dawn. Unlike the weather, the moon phrase was completely knowable and predictable. The moon was full on June 6th. There was talk in the film of waiting until June 18th, but on that date the moon was 3.7%
5. Ike was not a screamer and a man given to profanity. Not his leadership style. Brendan Fraser portrayed Ike as a screamer and a curser (I guess this made for more dramatic tension). Ike was excessively polite and deferential, especially towards the Brits. Omar Bradley and George Patton actually criticized Ike for this, but Ike knew that for the Allies to win, he had to keep the team working together and nationality lines were a natural fault line that had to be managed. Screaming would undermine Ike's efforts in this regard. Patton, who was a screamer and a curser, led an American-only unit (3rd US Army).
Overall, the film was interesting, but the filmmakers took a lot of liberties with the facts for dramatic effect.
Oh, one more realistic thing about the film: Monty actually was an arrogant jerk.
In the alternative universe of the film, there was a war. It pitted the US and UK against Germany. There was an invasion at Normandy in June 1944. Beyond that, lots of creative license trying to make the story more compelling. Here are a few of the doozies.
1. The weather decision was a 24-hour delay, not a rescheduling.
2. The weathermen. The American said the weather on June 5 would be fine (he was wrong). A Norwegian said it would be bad (he was right). Group Captain Stagg (the Brit) was the overall weatherman. To create dramatic tension, they eliminated the Norwegian and made this a Brit-vs American struggle.
3. The Blitz was over by 1944. Hitler did launch the "Baby Blitz" in January 1944 (Operation Steinbock) to avenge the success of the Allied bombing campaign. Luftwaffe losses were catastrophic and the Baby Blitz ended in May due to unsustainable Luftwaffe casualties. No spoilers here, but this will be important in the film.
4. The necessary conditions (in addition to weather) were a full moon and a low tide right at dawn. Unlike the weather, the moon phrase was completely knowable and predictable. The moon was full on June 6th. There was talk in the film of waiting until June 18th, but on that date the moon was 3.7%
5. Ike was not a screamer and a man given to profanity. Not his leadership style. Brendan Fraser portrayed Ike as a screamer and a curser (I guess this made for more dramatic tension). Ike was excessively polite and deferential, especially towards the Brits. Omar Bradley and George Patton actually criticized Ike for this, but Ike knew that for the Allies to win, he had to keep the team working together and nationality lines were a natural fault line that had to be managed. Screaming would undermine Ike's efforts in this regard. Patton, who was a screamer and a curser, led an American-only unit (3rd US Army).
Overall, the film was interesting, but the filmmakers took a lot of liberties with the facts for dramatic effect.
Oh, one more realistic thing about the film: Monty actually was an arrogant jerk.
