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August 16, 2004 The Man with the Hat Following up on the investigative work of Hugh Hewwitt and a number of others, I think we've reached a breakthrough on the identity of the secret agent travelling with John Kerry deep into Cambodia. Here, he is pictured "near Cambodia".  This would explain a great deal. A great deal, indeed. UPDATE (Dale): Are you sure it wasn't this man?
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Well, the hats are very similar.
Posted by: Jon Henke at August 17, 2004 05:45 AM
The mustaches are, too.
Posted by: Dale Franks at August 17, 2004 01:06 PM
OK, anyone want to fill us young'uns in on who the men in the pictures are?
Posted by: Wacky Hermit at August 17, 2004 01:32 PM
Heh. Sorry.
The guy in the top picture is Colonel Crittendon - a notoriously inept British officer who made Colonel Hogan's life difficult in Hogan's Hero's, by feigning competence at the sort of sjullduggery at which Hogan excelled, and Crittendon....well, didn't.
At bottom, I believe, is Peter Sellers. From Dr Strangelove, perhaps? Or Inspector Clouseau?
Age is no excuse, though! I'm probably about as young as you, so you need to brush up on your TVLand. You have your orders, sir.
Posted by: Jon Henke at August 17, 2004 01:47 PM
Jon is very close to being right. The top picture is "Colonel" Crittenden, although, more properly,he would be addressed as Group Captain Crittenden.
The bottom picture is Peter Sellers in Doctor Strangelove, playing Group Captain Lionel Mandrake.
The thing about both characters is that they were the very epitome of the look and attitude of an RAF officer, right down to the required dashing mustache.
Posted by: Dale Franks at August 17, 2004 01:58 PM
Colonel, Group Captain.....jeebus, you're worse than my Dad. (who always insisted on pointing out anachronisms in war movies. "those German soldiers are using a pistol that wasn't actually used until blah blah blah")
He wasn't very good at that "willful suspension of disbelief" thing.
I need to go back and watch Strangelove, again. Good movie, but I suspect I'd "get it" more, the more I watch it.
Posted by: Jon Henke at August 17, 2004 02:06 PM
Your dad isn't the only one who has problems with that Jon.
I'll never forget a friend of mine asking, "have you seen "Saving Private Ryan? Wasn't it good!" To which I replied, "yeah if you feature wasting a ranger Captain to go out and chase down some private when all that had to be done was pick up a phone, call the CG of the 101st and tell him to have Ryan's ass in England by tomorrow, I guess it was."
Crestfallen is the best description of his face.
Ah well.
Posted by: McQ at August 17, 2004 02:25 PM
Every time Chris watches a movie with me that has military or police content, she no longer even waits for me to point out the errors. She just asks, "Are their uniforms right?"
Usually, the answer is no.
It just irks me. I mean, let's say you want to do a movie about the US military. All you gotta do is pick up the phone and talk for 5 minutes with a spokeshole at the pentagon, and the DoD will send you ream of paper, chock full of all the info you need, for free.
It's laziness, is all it is.
Posted by: Dale Franks at August 17, 2004 02:53 PM
I suppose I get a bit like that when watching WKRP in Cincinnati. It always drove me nuts to watch them talk to the callers "on the air", while actually speaking on the handset.
Or, to hear them "on the air", while the speakers in the studio were still quite loud, as if the engineers had been too busy to install a kill-switch on the monitor. (apparently, the show was filmed before feedback was invented)
The constant format changes--really, all over the board--the stupid promotions, and the characters in the station all rang very true, though.
Posted by: Jon Henke at August 17, 2004 07:30 PM