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Post by Allen Wiener on Mar 10, 2011 15:26:53 GMT -5
Is anyone familiar with the movie, "One Man's Hero?" A friend in our book club told me about it and later passed these links to me. He said the film was never actually released, but didn't know why. I had never heard of the "St. Patrick's Battalion" (or "San Patricios"), a company of Irish Americans who fought with Mexico in the U.S.-Mexico War. Here is a link to the IMDB entry on the film, which stars Tom Berenger: www.imdb.com/title/tt0120775/Here is the Wikipedia entry on the San Patricios: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick's_Battalion
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Post by Hiram on Mar 10, 2011 15:43:48 GMT -5
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Post by Hiram on Mar 10, 2011 16:02:24 GMT -5
Robert Ryal Miller, author of Mexico: A History (1985), also wrote Sword and Shamrock: The Saint Patrick's Battalion in the U.S. Mexican War (1997.)
I've read the first book, but have yet to read the second. The first one was well-researched and written, so I would assume that Sword was done in the same manner. Perhaps another ASF member can weigh-in on the merits of the Miller book.
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Post by TRK on Mar 10, 2011 16:35:36 GMT -5
I read Miller's Shamrock and Sword when it first came out in 1989 but haven't been motivated to reread it. At the time, my impression was it was well written and a pretty good synthesis, but ultimately not very satisfying. There's good material on the organization of the battalion. Pretty much the last half of the book concerns the imprisonment and punishment of the captured San Patricios. In between, the material on the key battles they fought in is pretty thin. The book is predominantly based on published work, most of it American.
My take: Shamrock and Sword is a good place to start, pending a new, exhaustive study of the San Patricios that taps more heavily into Mexican sources.
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Post by Allen Wiener on Mar 10, 2011 16:38:17 GMT -5
Thanks guys!
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Post by Jim Boylston on Mar 10, 2011 16:49:26 GMT -5
I have "One Man's Hero" on DVD. It's just okay.
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Post by Kevin Young on Mar 10, 2011 17:28:51 GMT -5
I have "One Man's Hero" on DVD. It's just okay. You are being kind...
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Post by Jim Boylston on Mar 10, 2011 17:54:51 GMT -5
I have "One Man's Hero" on DVD. It's just okay. You are being kind... Well, Kevin, I didn't want to be judgmental since I didn't make it through to the ending...
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Post by Allen Wiener on Mar 10, 2011 18:11:21 GMT -5
Sounds fascinating! I wonder why my friend thought the film had never been released. Did it somehow go direct to video? Weird. Maybe more likely just fell off the radar screen so fast that no one knew it had been released!
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Post by Kevin Young on Mar 10, 2011 18:47:03 GMT -5
The script was one that had been around for some time-written for Paul Newman. The chief funding for the Berringer film was the Catholic Church, and release was limited to areas with large Catholic or Irish populations. So, no general release. Several friends work on it and have all sort of horror stories. It did better on Video/DVD than in theaters.
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Post by Herb on Mar 12, 2011 14:51:25 GMT -5
I have "One Man's Hero" on DVD. It's just okay. You are being kind... Kevin, you're being too kind!!! It plays on some of the premium channels (Western?) occasionally - though I honestly wouldn't recommend for even a rainy afternoon. It makes 13 Days to Glory, look like an Oscar winning Blockbuster.
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Post by alamonorth on Mar 18, 2011 12:11:39 GMT -5
Just as a point of interest, I have a novel from the early 60's called Saint Patrick's Battalion, written by Hollywood screenplay writer Carl Krueger. In his brief intro bio Krueger says he plans to film his book" in color and Cinemascope as his next movie project".
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Post by Kevin Young on Mar 18, 2011 14:06:24 GMT -5
I think of all of the Irish, English, German, Scots and other immigrants who joined the US Army and remained loyal to their oaths during the Mexican War. And all people seem to want to do is remember those who did not...
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Post by alamonorth on Mar 18, 2011 14:42:53 GMT -5
Just as an aside, just think of those Irish who were loyal to their oaths to Mexico during the Texas revolution. They were branded Tories.
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Post by stuart on Mar 18, 2011 16:01:40 GMT -5
I think of all of the Irish, English, German, Scots and other immigrants who joined the US Army and remained loyal to their oaths during the Mexican War. And all people seem to want to do is remember those who did not... To be fair I understand that not all of the men serving in the unit were deserters, but otherwise I agree. Attitudes can be strange; there is that business of Meagher's Irish brigade being shot down by Irish Confederates at Fredericksburg and the tears shed at the poignancy of it, as demonstrated in "Gods and Generals". Well yes, but more poignant than two groups of fellow Americans butchering each other?
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