Factual error: All throughout the movie, whenever some German officer, speaking German, wants someone to shoot off some artillery piece, he screams, "FIRE!" German words for shoot include schießen, drehen, trieb, aufnehmen, abschießen, erlegen, spross, jagen, and ballern, but certainly not "fire".
lionhead
16th Aug 2023
The Longest Day (1962)
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Suggested correction: But they don't say "shoot," they say "feuer," which is German for "fire." This is the accurate word for the German command to firing a weapon. Btw, most of the words you take as an example don't mean "to shoot," but are only associated with shooting. Like "jagen," which is German for "hunting."
Nay - They are screaming "FIRE!" They aren't saying feuer. It probably is indeed illegal to yell "Feuer!" in a German crowded theatre. Lol. My original assertion of a mistake in this movie was because they go to great lengths to specifically always be having the Germans speaking German with subtitles - to not be one of these war movies where all the German officers are speaking English (usually in a refined British accent for some reason - lol) - and I maintain they dropped that in this case and went for the English word - and it's a mistake - Whatever the word feuer means, even if it does, or CAN mean SHOOT!, they CLEARLY (and multiple times throughout all the battle scenes) are screaming the English word "fire," not the German word FEUER. The two words may be close, but they do not sound the same. Watch the movie and I'm sure you will hear what I'm saying. You will hear "FIE ur," not "few ERR." There is no long 'I' sound in feuer.
You are entitled to your opinion, whether you hear "fire" or "feuer," but I hear them say "feuer" enough (Omaha beach scene). About everything else you say, I think the problem is easy - you don't understand the German language. Now, I'm not a native German speaker, but my knowledge of German is adequate enough to know that the German word for firing a weapon is "feuer." I'm also pretty sure the English word "fire" means "flames" as well, so your logic is flawed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO1Em0NCCzE. At the 2:03 timestamp, you can hear a German say "feuer" to firing a weapon.
Ok, I just went there and no one says anything at 2:03. (If you mean two minutes and three seconds into the movie). Maybe you meant two hours and three minutes? Gimme a day or so to watch the whole movie again, and I will mark every time I think they say "feuer" and every time they say "fire." If I'd heard "FEW AIR," I wouldn't have asserted that there was any mistake. I would have assumed that was German. I hear some actor from New Jersey screaming "FIE UR" every time - lol.
I gave a link to a YouTube video of Bundeswehr soldiers training. In the video, at 2:03, you hear a German say "feuer" when ordering to fire the artillery. Just to prove, Germans say "feuer" when firing weapons. Plus an idea of how they pronounce it.
Yes, what happened is, I copied and pasted that link - but I included the period you put at the end - and that just brings up Youtube movies, so I thought you meant for me to go to The Longest Day movie - lol. My bad. Again, I acknowledge that there is no way to account for accents and dialects - you made a good point - I just always hear what sounded like some actor from New Jersey saying FIE URR! - (Or should I say JOIZEE) - lol.
Maybe that's one time they did it the correct way - there are more than one times throughout the movie where you hear "FIRE" and not "FEUER" - they are not pronounced the same.
Ok - I am GIVING you the understanding that both English and German have a word that means both flames and shooting. I will acknowledge that. But you are not understanding my logic. I repeat: Irrespective of whether any German officer ever screamed "feuer" to mean "shoot", you will, beyond doubt, hear that very strong, long 'I' sound every time they scream the word. Anyone who is reading this is invited to watch the movie, and the word FIRE, pronounced "fie ur" with the long 'I' sound, will be heard at least two or three times - never "few air." Feuer is, (supposed to be), pronounced "few air." But, then, what does "supposed to" really mean, when it comes to any language? I guess differences in accents have to be considered. I mean, how many English words sound different than they seem to be spelled? - tons.
Think logically about the fact that these actors in the movie are actual Germans, and they are supposed to speak German in the movie. So, absolutely no reason for them to say "fire." They can pronounce it however they want; they mean to say "feuer" and not "fire."
Yes, but I hear FIRE, not Feuer. But then, a lot of British people pronounce Lia fail as LAYAFOIL, so I will admit that there may be no way to prove my theory that the makers of this movie abandoned their attempt to stick with German and went with the English word FIRE in this one instance.
I agree, it's more likely they're saying "Feuer." Even Google Translate says "fire at will" translates to "Feuer frei." But the pronunciation is closer to "fire" than what you're suggesting. You seem to be implying "feuer" is pronounced more like "führer."
Yes, a German might be saying "feuer" some time in some actual war, but in this movie, you will hear "fire" every time. Go watch the movie and you will definitely hear that long 'I' sound. Ultimately, this may be impossible to totally resolve, as I guess there may be no way to determine how different Germans with different accents might pronounce something. I hear the dude from New Jersey saying FIE UR! lol.
8th Nov 2009
The Longest Day (1962)
Factual error: The U.S. Paratrooper uses his "clicker", and the German answers with a "double" click-click - click-click. The Paratrooper stands up, and the German soldier shoots twice with his Mauser K98 without pulling back the bolt between shots, which is impossible.
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Suggested correction: There could have been another German soldier present who fired as well.
2nd Jan 2008
The Longest Day (1962)
Corrected entry: In the scene at the end of the movie, when the Rangers have stormed the bunkers at Omaha beach, a medic is attending to someone's wound. Suddenly, some Germans appear, with their hands up, shouting "bitte, bitte" (please, please) in German, which for an English speaking person sounds like "beatte, beatte". The medic shoots them, and says,"I wonder what 'bitte, bitte' means", PRONOUNCED in English. He should have said, "I wonder what 'beatte, beatte' means". The actor apparently just read the line from the script and spoke what he read, not what he heard.
Correction: You've missed the subtle brutality of the scene. The medic speaks German and understands the men are trying to surrender but kills them anyway - he is taking no prisoners. His accented pronunciation of 'bitte' shows that.
Why would he ask what bitte means then? I don't think he was being ironic.
Yeah he just ignored their plea and killed them. Not waiting to find out what they were saying. Shoot first ask questions later kind of mentality.
Correction: Actually as I'm watching the film as we speak the subtitles say, "I wonder what "bitter, bitter" means..." Bitte is German for 'please'. I always assumed the German was saying something to the affect of "I'm a medic" or "I can help." Which to me would make the kill all the more ironic / tragic.
The Germans were definitely not medics.
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