ViewGuide

Created Jan 15, 2011 12:26PM PST • Edited Jul 02, 2013 02:29AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Great 4.0

   Wow. Not many movies peg the meter in terms of skiing, mountaineering, WWII and contemporary history. This documentary does.

   A great lens into the Greatest Generation, Fire on the Mountain explores the exploits of the legendary 10th Mountain Division. Perhaps the greatest group of soldiers the US ever fielded, this fraternity of American übermensch beat the Germans in the high mountains of northern Italy, then went on to create the ski industry, found Nike, serve in Congress, lead the Sierra Club, grow the National Ski Patrol, run MIT, win the world downhill ski championship, get Aspen Mountain going, found Vail, and run for President.

   American übermensch, an appellation not lightly bestowed.

   A brisk hour-twelve long, Fire on the Mountain makes ideal winter vu’ing. Even the heavy heart of war doesn’t weigh these guys down for long. Serving in the 10th Mountain Division was the best thing that ever happened to them, and was damn lucky for the rest of us too.

   Netflix has this once obscure doc available for streaming as well as via red envelope.

4. Acting

   Great 4.0

   Avuncular in extremis, our heroes get interviewed in their 70s, sounding more like great-uncles than great warriors.

   Talk about an era when men were men. Their WWII heroics made them American legends. Their post-war achievements made them exemplars of the greatest generation.

5. Male Stars Great 4.0

6. Female Stars Great 4.0

7. Female Costars Great 4.0

8. Male Costars Great 4.0

10. Film

    Really Great 4.5

    Most every frame holds fascination, many hold beauty, and all hold 100% reality. Astonishing indeed.

11. Direction Great 4.0

12. Play Really Great 4.5

13. Music Perfect 5.0

    Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B: as great a pop song as any generation – even my g-g-g-generation – ever had. The Andrews Sisters had it going on.

    You gotta marvel at the fact that the 10th Mountain Men were spontaneous singers. In what area don’t they excel?

14. Visuals Great 4.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Tame 1.2

    War dead are shown, appropriately so.

17. Sex Innocent 1.0

18. Violence Fierce 1.7

19. Rudeness Polite 1.0

21. Reality

    Natural 1.0

    To pick one of these guys’ extraordinary lives, how about Morley Nelson, “an American falconer and educator. He is best known as a seminal influence on raptor conservation in the Western United States,” per Wikipedia. He’s the one holding a large raptor on his hand, one of the movie’s “We’re not worthy” moments.

22. Circumstantial Natural 1.0

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0