MovieChat Forums > Battleground (1950) Discussion > Could Rodriguez have been saved?

Could Rodriguez have been saved?

posted 8 years ago by buttsronc
2 replies | jump to latest

Holley and Jarvess made it back to the platoon after fighting the German infiltrators and leaving the wounded Rodriguez behind hidden under a wrecked jeep. They reported seeing the German tanks. The Lieutenant suggested using anti-tank grenades and Bazookas but Kinnie says they don't have either one. Kinnie suggests artillery which the Lt. agrees to.

My question is do you feel Kinnie wrote off Rodriguez too fast? I think the platoon should have sent out another bigger patrol to get Rodriguez. The patrol could have at least confirmed the German tanks were still there then Kinnie could have called in a fire mission. Item Company should have had some 60mm mortars. They could have fired some white phosphorus rounds to scare off the Germans if available.

[–] elcamino (15540) 5 years ago

Not knowing how wounded he was he may have bled to death instead of getting frozen.

[–] ebhaynz (3761) 3 years ago

Rodriguez and his untimely fate is just one of many reasons why I think this is one of the best war movies ever. So many other scenes accurately depict the soldiers distaste for war, living in trenches, frozen feet, cold chow, mis-delivered mail, unfair patrol assignments, and outright rank insubordination.

In Rodriguez case we don't know if he could have been saved at all, he might have died shortly after they left him hidden under that jeep. Unfortunately he got shot up, Holly & Jarvess did their best to save Rodriguez according to their training but they were under imminent attack and had to hightail it back to base camp. If they would have hung around any longer they would have been wounded, captured, or killed.