Audie L. Murphy Memorial Website Message Boards

Just what it says-there's some remote chance of a film getting made about his life, so who would you like to have as the director?

This is going to sound weird, but I rather like the idea of Guy Ritchie (The Sherlock Holmes movies with Robert Downey Jr.) Ritchie is good at action scenes, both fisticuffs and gunplay, at portraying the kind of bond "manly man" types have and fairly nonjudgmental about people who get mixed up with gangsters. In the Sherlock Holmes movies, he also does a good job of getting us inside the head of someone notices almost everything around him and tries to use it to his advantage, and who fights analytically and ruthlessly. Plus the sequence in Sherlock Holmes 2, where the bad guys start blasting the good guys with heavy artillery gave an interesting glimpse into how he'd handle a war movie.

He's also Scottish, and less likely to be snotty about Murph's Irish and Scots-Irish roots than some of the English directors would be.

Christie,

If I could choose a director for an Audie bio it would be Ron Howard. Aside from the fact that he and I are the same age, Ron has directed a variety of different movie genres. He has done comedy like Night Shift and Splash; thrillers like Ransom, The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons (he is one of Tom Hanks favorite directors); dramas like Apollo 13, Backdraft, Far and Away, Cinderella Man. Also movies based on real people like A Beautiful Mind (Oscar winner for best Director) Frost/Nixon, and the upcoming Rush. So he has the background and knowledge to be able to tackle Audie's whole life story and bring it to life on screen. If the bio on Audie comes close to what he did in A Beautiful Mind it would be an amazing film to watch. Also I don't see Ron having any kind of personal agenda pro or con when it comes to subject matter. I think he just wants to present the story as fairly and accurately as possible and let the audience draw its own conclusions about the person on the screen. Everything I have seen indicates to me he is open, honest and fair and I think that would be important qualities for the director to have when you are dealing with a subject matter who has a lot of baggage as far as how he has been portrayed in the press over the past 50 years. There is a lot of positive stuff out there on Audie but there is also a lot of really negative stuff and a good director figures out a way to balance perception versus truth and I think Ron Howard has managed to do that very well in his films on real life people.

Sharon

I could handle Opie directing the movie. In fact, in an episode of Andy Griffith, when they came back from their visit to Hollywood, Opie shows everybody his autograph from Audie Murphy! and Goober is very excited about it. No telling if Ronny ever actually met Audie at any time. Highly possible.

David,

I forgot all about Opie getting Audie's autograph when they visited Hollywood and I wish I could see that episode again so if anyone sees where it will be shown again on TV Land or wherever the show is airing let me know. I would love to see it again. Like me Ron was 17 when Audie was killed so I am not sure given the movies Ron was making whether he would ever have run into Audie in Hollywood. It is possible but who knows.

Sharon

Maybe Dave can send him a petition and ask him?

Sharon, My sentiments exactly, Ron Howard would be a great director to direct the movie about
Audie's life story in Hollywood after the war. And the tie in to Opie getting Audie's signature for the
Andy Griffith show in the movie would be great !!! I think it is something Ron Howard would really
go for also. Shirley Jean.