26. "Flags of Our Fathers" (2006)

World War II Movie Night does its first twofer, with the 2006 companion movies "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters From Iwo Jima," both directed by Clint Eastwood. For this episode we look at the former, a true story adapted from the popular 2000 book. Three American military men are thrust into involuntary fame when they're photographed hoisting a flag on Iwo Jima, a seemingly simple act amid a long, deadly battle. Back stateside the men are essentially ordered on a bond tour to raise the country's flagging reserves. The three are affected differently by their unlikely celebrity, and by how they grapple with what they experienced on Iwo Jima... Asides include the otherworldliness of Iceland and John Slattery's mastery of the highball-wielding rant.