Let's talk about Corporal Upham from Saving Private Ryan

jgarner said:
Upham is a fictional character, but he really pisses me off. I deeply hate everything he stood for in the movie. I understand he was probably a draftee, but as a man he should have bucked up and did his job. Instead he let Nazis kill better men than him while he hid like a total pussy.
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I agree 100%, he was bitchmade.
 
Jermei said:
Movie is 18 years old and people are still only learning this... it really is a tough one to spot and I found out my accident, wasn't even trying to figure that out.
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Yeah definitely. I first saw the movie when I was a kid and before I got really into history so I thought they were the same guy when I saw it. Not sure if it was Spielberg's intention to cast similar looking actors for those roles but I thought it was interesting that he made the SS soldier (who were notorious for their brutality) the merciful/honorable one, while the Heer soldier was shown as the merciless and cowardly one.
 
Anyone know why they sent in Wade? Was he just a runner or did he chuck in grenades? What a brutal realistic death.

 
Another guy that thought the blindfold guy and the SS guy were the same guy.

For the record it was more the SS-Allgemaine who ran the camps, not so much the classic infantry divisions.

Lets consider that whole scene with the coward soldier real. No one would know other than himself.
 
Im now forced in a position to like him and what he did was brave and chvalrous. Because fuck you, sherdog.
 
jgarner said:
Upham was a coward. He had a job to do, and failed to do so resulting the horrible death of his brother in arms. When I was in the Marine Corps, we had a few guys come into my battalion, and we could tell they had his type of personality. We hazed the ever living shit out of those kids until they went UA (unauthorized absence) and left the unit. One kid was in my platoon. He was straight shitbag coward who joined infantry for no apparent reason. Me and a few others guys would routinely beat him, lock him out of his room, threaten him, steal his gear, break his stuff, et cetera. We just didn't want him on deployment with us, and we made it clear. He wound up going UA one day and went home. He threatened suicide when they caught him and seperated him from the Marine Corps. I don't regret what I did for one second of my life. Someone in my platoon would have fragged his ass the first time we had a firefight.

Upham is a fictional character, but he really pisses me off. I deeply hate everything he stood for in the movie. I understand he was probably a draftee, but as a man he should have bucked up and did his job. Instead he let Nazis kill better men than him while he hid like a total pussy.
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You're a coward.
 
I cut Upham some slack. I mean who DOESN'T hate Adam goldberg?
 
jgarner said:
Upham was a coward. He had a job to do, and failed to do so resulting the horrible death of his brother in arms. When I was in the Marine Corps, we had a few guys come into my battalion, and we could tell they had his type of personality. We hazed the ever living shit out of those kids until they went UA (unauthorized absence) and left the unit. One kid was in my platoon. He was straight shitbag coward who joined infantry for no apparent reason. Me and a few others guys would routinely beat him, lock him out of his room, threaten him, steal his gear, break his stuff, et cetera. We just didn't want him on deployment with us, and we made it clear. He wound up going UA one day and went home. He threatened suicide when they caught him and seperated him from the Marine Corps. I don't regret what I did for one second of my life. Someone in my platoon would have fragged his ass the first time we had a firefight.

Upham is a fictional character, but he really pisses me off. I deeply hate everything he stood for in the movie. I understand he was probably a draftee, but as a man he should have bucked up and did his job. Instead he let Nazis kill better men than him while he hid like a total pussy.
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It is common in the military. Their was a study done to determine the accuracy of the military. The shooting results when people shoot at targets is radically different from in the field at real people. There really is a only a small percentage of the military population that can shoot someone, especially in the back. The study stated about half the population could be snipers if given enough training but only a small fraction could carry out the task without psych problems. The military's training of shoot at human targets at the range is to try to make the task automatic rather than an ethical conflict.
 
Jermei said:
This thread:

Replies: 75
Views: 8,783

Interesting. Buncha lurkers been reading this one.
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89 replies and almost 16,000 views. No posts here since Oct. 2nd. Interesting.
 
Coward, yah.

but he wasnt a soldier, he was some clerical pussy being dragged along for a stupid mission.

He was made ammo runner because they knew he was useless, expecting him to jump to heroics is silly,

I'd be lying if I said in the heat of the moment I would engage in a fight to the death when i'd never been in one before


Also are we sure the guy that stabbed Goldberg isn't Steamboat Willie? I always thought he was, I thought Goldberg spoke to him while they fought because he thought his repoire of having let him leave would get him to stop, and willie killing Goldberg was to show that war is fucking brutal and nice deeds dont carry over... that kind of ruins a bit of the movie to me actually...What always made Goldbergs death tragic in that movie to me was that it was by the fucking guy whom he let go.
 
MusterX said:
Shell shock is a bitch. I have trouble calling him a coward. More like his soul was being assaulted during that scene. I dunno, war is hell. I'm sure during the annals of war there are countless real life situations where a solider froze up. Its not a matter of being a coward I don't think, more like being frightened to the point of paralysis.
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Fight, flight or freeze are the normal reactions to life-threatening situations. Obviously the army tries its best to train the last two out of its soldiers.

But Upham was a pencil-pusher before he got dragged along so his reaction is somewhat understandable, to me anyway.

I appreciated the fact that the movie gave him an arc where he performed a brave act to sort-of redeem himself, instead of getting splattered or (more realistically) shooting off his own foot to get shipped away from the fighting.
 
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Reminds me of this guy. Was he a cowards?
 
a person, essentially a civvie, thrown into combat.

coward, yes. but shouldn't be unexpected. i doubt he had the training needed to be effective in combat. not everyone can go all Rambo in high stress/fear/anxiety situations that they aren't prepared for.
 
Organic Damage said:
Fight, flight or freeze are the normal reactions to life-threatening situations. Obviously the army tries its best to train the last two out of its soldiers.

But Upham was a pencil-pusher before he got dragged along so his reaction is somewhat understandable, to me anyway.

I appreciated the fact that the movie gave him an arc where he performed a brave act to sort-of redeem himself, instead of getting splattered or (more realistically) shooting off his own foot to get shipped away from the fighting.
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Well yea he blasted that fool didn't he. He had to let the others know that even though he was outnumbered he was perfectly willing to start shooting. I agree with you that it was a great twist on his story arc.
 
Guys like him are one of the reasons I am against conscription. I had a dude in my unit during basic who literally shat himself and cried for his mama on two separate occasions. I did not feel comfortable when they gave this dude live rounds and a grenade.
 
jgarner said:
Upham was a coward. He had a job to do, and failed to do so resulting the horrible death of his brother in arms. When I was in the Marine Corps, we had a few guys come into my battalion, and we could tell they had his type of personality. We hazed the ever living shit out of those kids until they went UA (unauthorized absence) and left the unit. One kid was in my platoon. He was straight shitbag coward who joined infantry for no apparent reason. Me and a few others guys would routinely beat him, lock him out of his room, threaten him, steal his gear, break his stuff, et cetera. We just didn't want him on deployment with us, and we made it clear. He wound up going UA one day and went home. He threatened suicide when they caught him and seperated him from the Marine Corps. I don't regret what I did for one second of my life. Someone in my platoon would have fragged his ass the first time we had a firefight.

Upham is a fictional character, but he really pisses me off. I deeply hate everything he stood for in the movie. I understand he was probably a draftee, but as a man he should have bucked up and did his job. Instead he let Nazis kill better men than him while he hid like a total pussy.
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That's fucked up to do something like to someone. This person is supposed to be your brother so why not try to help and mentor. Guys like you give the military a bad name, you' and you're betallion are the real fucking cowards
 
Coward. Coward for letting a friend get killed. Coward for not killing the knife guy. Coward for not doing his duty. Coward for shooting an unarmed man.

Coward all around.
 
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