The Energon Pub

News Credits: 1 · by **Pontimax 01** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 10:38 am

I've seen that movie plenty of times with Clint Eastwood. It's about him taking over some misfit Recon Marines supposedly in the early 80's during Grenada. But I just noticeds something last night. When they actually end up in Grenada, they get cut off from their command chain and can't request an airstrike. So they end up fixing a landline phone (early 80's) to call back to the US to relay the strike, but as the LT is calling, he screams "I need a credit card!" and one of the other guys has to give him one to complete the call.

The scene is very comparable with Transformers. Anyone know if it's intentional?

News Credits: 1 · by **Bonecrusher27** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 12:53 pm

Thank you! I knew I had seen a similar scene before, but just couldn't place it! Of course it was Heartbreak Ridge! I don't know if it's an homage or not; it could just be coincidence or an outright plagiarism. I guess unless Bay had anything to do with Heartbreak Ridge, or acknowledges that it influenced him in any way, we'll never know. I take the cynical view that an homage is just a copycat play that got found out

Man really enjoyed that show. Still remember the line when Eastwood tells the rival sergeant "If Powers ever came to a sudden stop, your head will go halfway up his..." Sure reminds of people I know! :grin:

by **LowVolticus** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 8:39 pm

Yes!! It's been bugging me where I had heard that line before! Thank you so much!

Anyway, I would hope that it's an homage, but unless they say something I don't think we will ever really know.

-Brandon

by **Tramp** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 12:38 am

It isn't so much an homage to that film so much as a very realistic, and funny, situation that can happened in war. Apparently, Heartbreak Ridge is a dramatization of actual events, those of the Army Rangers invasion of Grenada where they took the University Medical School. In the original script, the character of Tom Highway was supposed to be an Army Ranger, but the Army refused to participate, so the writers made him a Marine. Here is a link to some interesting trivial on the movie, including the real origin of the "phone call". http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091187/trivia

Also, considering when this movie was made, it is highly unlikely Michael Bay had any involvement. He would have been to young. Clint Eaastwood was the director and star, and it was written by James Carabatsos, a Vietnam veteran from the First Cavalry Dividsion from 1968-1969.

News Credits: 1 · by **Pontimax 01** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 1:37 am

Tramp wrote:
Also, considering when this movie was made, it is highly unlikely Michael Bay had any involvement. He would have been to young. Clint Eaastwood was the director and star, and it was written by James Carabatsos, a Vietnam veteran from the First Cavalry Dividsion from 1968-1969.

Yeah, I read the IMDB page for it before I made my post. Bay wasn't associated with Heartbreak, but it doesn't mean he didn't draw inspiration from this scene. He could be a fan of Heartbreak Ridge afterall. They are too close for Bay's to be an original thought. He just brought it into the modern world with the use of cell phones and Indian call centers.

I believe at some point in production, at least one person had to draw the same parallel to the Heartbreak Ridge scene. Even if unintentional, someone still had to have compared the transformers scene to the other, at least a single person involved with the movie had to have remembered it.

News Credits: 1 · by **Bonecrusher27** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 5:51 am

Hey... maybe this type of thing happens to our special forces all the time in real life! :grin:

by **Tramp** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 1:25 pm

I don't belive it had anything to do with Heartbreak Ridge. The Writer of Heartbreak Ridge, a vet himself, got the idea from that incident in Night Stalkers as mentioned in the trivia.

Bay used real military special ops troops in this movie, and worked very closely with the DoD. Likely, the scene came from the soldiers, not another movie.