Continuity mistake: When the "Flag-Raisers" begin stripping down to go swimming, they show a few of the Marines already down to their boxers. They switch to a shot of Bradley and then back to the Marines and all have their pants on.
Continuity mistake: When the marines start marching inland, where the Japanese are not shooting, you see several clips of the row of soldiers walking inland, then a clip of their waiting comrades, and then a clip of the soldiers - still walking in the exact same place, without moving forward.
Continuity mistake: When Ira exits the stadium after the flag show to vomit, the alleyway in which he vomits is at first dark. In the next few shots, it is lit up and then once again dark.
Continuity mistake: When Ira is leaving Chicago on the train, the train starts moving while he's standing and saying goodbye the last time. In the next clip he's shown right next to the train door, but that would have moved further away.
Continuity mistake: The monument was dedicated in November 1954, but Rene Gagnon (and Ira Hayes for that matter) didn't look one day older during the ceremony than during the battle 10 years earlier.
Answer: Following WWII, Ira Hayes hated the fame and sensational publicity associated the flag-raising at Iwo Jima. Deeply depressed, Hayes descended into alcoholism over the next few years, and it eventually killed him. Director Clint Eastwood actually underplayed the true extent of Hayes' sad decline, and the scene you mention was no doubt dramatized for the screen. In real life, Hayes was arrested 52 times for public intoxication and disorderly conduct at various places across the country before his death.
Would that be a yes, or no? I've got autism.
It's yes, but he/she is saying that the incident was probably exaggerated for the purpose of the movie, to make it more dramatic. It likely combined a number of similar drunken incidents into the one scene.
raywest