FROM COMBAT! DISCUSSION LIST ARCHIVES
Producer Steve Rubin discusses the COMBAT! Movie

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Date: Tuesday, 9 July 1997 Subject: Character

Dear Fellow Squad Members,

Having read the first draft script of the "Combat" movie, I can tell you that character will be playing a strong part in the piece. I believe the intention of the filmmakers will be to reinvent the World War II movie and try to avoid the cliches. There will be plenty of action because the movie isn't taking place in England or at a training base in Louisiana. This is ^%$(* Normandy circa June 6, 1944, where there was a Kraut rifleman and panzerfaust unit behind every hedgerow, where Tiger Tanks ruled the roads and the turf was unfamiliar to a bunch of green recruits getting their feet wet in French mud and soil for the first time. Since it's been so long that a studio has done a big A-Class WW2 film, I think we're in for a treat. Having a star like Bruce along guarantees that Paramount is going to spend. I liked "A Midnight Clear" fine, but it had a budget of $2.42. Action! You got it! But I think we're gonna get a whole lot more from Bruce and Company.

Those who continue to be non-believers in Bruce, I don't share your pessimism. I've spent many a week brainstorming who the best Saunders could be and it always comes back to Bruce. Maybe I'm just too prejudiced, but I think he is Saunders. And don't thnk I wouldn't take a Vic Morrow in a hot second. But Vic is gone, God Bless Him, and we need more than just another actor to revive the World War II genre, we need a bankable superstar who can bring in all those masses the experts claim will never go to a World War II movie because no one is interested in World War 2 movies anymore. Horsecrap. People will come to see a good story in any era, if it has the elements that make good drama (witness, "Braveheart").

Best,
Steve Rubin

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