Clint Eastwood’s WWII movie may have been a $65 million box-office bomb, but the battle scenes still get high marks for accuracy from a Marine Corps expert. Eastwood’s first starring role in a WWII film came in 1968’s Where Eagles Dare. The legendary actor followed that up with a leading role in 1970’s semi-satirical Kelly’s Heroes.

WWII was something Eastwood didn’t feel ready to tackle as a director until 2006, when he released a pair of films centered on the Battle of Iwo Jima. The more acclaimed of the two, Letters From Iwo Jima, saw the battle from the Japanese perspective, while the less-acclaimed delved into the story behind one of the war’s most iconic moments.

Telling that story meant depicting a lot of home-front scenes, but when the film did shift to the action on Iwo Jima, the picture it painted was an uncompromisingly brutal one, and at least according to one expert, an accurate one as well.

Flags Of Our Fathers Gets A High Accuracy Rating From An Expert

It Scores An 8 Out Of 10

Flags of Our Fathers grossed just $65 million at the box office in 2006, a disappointing total given Eastwood’s standing as an award-winning director, but the battle scenes were not part of whatever problems the movie had, getting high marks for accuracy from a former Marine Corps special ops team leader.

Elliot Ackerman broke down a major combat sequence in Flags of Our Fathers, praising the film’s depiction of amphibious tactics (via Insider):

It’s amazing to think that the man who directed this is the same man who was in Heartbreak Ridge. Amphibious operations have always been a large part of the Marine Corps’s idenтιтy, but particularly so in the Second World War, in the island hopping campaign in the South Pacific.

The Battle of Iwo Jima is one of the most famous battles in that island hopping campaign, and during that campaign Marines would often land on these islands using, whether it was Higgins boats or amphibious tractors, and you see those types of landing boats depicted in the opening sequence here of Flags of Our Fathers.

I think one thing this clip shows is the violence and intensity of these types of tactics, and the fighting, whether it’s the flamethrowers being used to clear out pill boxes or the types of close air support that’s being flown, I think accurately conveys the extent of the savage fighting that occurred on Iwo Jima.

Ackerman also talks about the iconic moment at the center of the film’s story, the Iwo Jima flag raising, and briefly discusses why similar scenes haven’t been seen in more recent wars:

This obviously became a very famous pH๏τograph and the Marine Corps memorial in Washington DC is a statue of the flag raising on Iwo Jima.

The raising of American flags in recent wars really isn’t as prevalent. I think in Vietnam in the Battle of Hue City an American flag was raised. We don’t really see it in Iraq and Afghanistan because the nature of those missions were different. We ostensibly weren’t conquering those lands for America, we were working with our partners.

Ackerman then offers his final verdict, deeming Flags of Our Fathers to be very accurate:

I would give this one an eight. I don’t think I can go necessarily much higher because I wasn’t there, so I feel like eight is safe. But to me this seems like a very well-thought-out depiction.

Our Take On Flags Of Our Fathers Bombing Despite Its Accurate Battle Scenes

It Was A Rare Eastwood Flop

Flags of Our Fathers disappointed on many levels when it was released in 2006. Its box office haul of $65 million came in below its $90 million budget, qualifying it as a genuine bomb. It was also only mildly well-received by critics, and sits at 76% on Rotten Tomatoes.

It’s indeed puzzling that Eastwood’s film did not do better at the box office, even with some lukewarm reviews. The director was in the middle of a solid run at that point in his career, releasing multiple movies in the 00s that crossed the $100 million mark worldwide, and two that made over $100 million in North America alone.

The movie’s combat scenes are indeed harrowing, but they make up only part of the story, the rest being taken up by post-war scenes showing the struggles of the men who raised the Iwo Jima flag. Perhaps audiences were expecting a pure combat movie, and were disappointed to be served a large helping of non-combat drama as well.

Perhaps the film was also hurt by being released in the same year as another Eastwood WW2 film, Letters From Iwo Jima. Letters received the big nominations come Oscar time, including Best Picture and Best Director, while the overshadowed Flags received just a pair of nominations in technical categories.

It’s hard to say what went wrong with Flags of Our Fathers, but the combat scenes are certainly not to blame, as they achieve a high level of gripping realism, at least according to one expert.

Source: Insider/YouTube