I’m not a big fan of the Sgt. Rock comic books or anything, and as far as I know, Rock is just some Sergeant during WWII who was hard to kill and kicked a lot of Nazi ass. Or some such. In any case, the boys at AICN recently sat down to interview uber producer Joel Silver, and during the interview, he dropped the possibility of a “Sgt. Rock” movie and mentioned that, and oh yeah, Guy Ritchie of “Snatch” fame will probably direct it. But don’t take my word for it, read it for yourself.
Here’s the notable excerpt from AICN:
Moriarty: But you do that with properties. You stick by them, like SGT. ROCK. You have developed that for a long time now…
Joel [Silver]: I’m going to make that. I’m going to make that very soon. With Guy Ritchie, I think.
Moriarty: Really?!
Joel: I hope so.
Here’s all you ever wanted to know about Sgt. Rock from Wikipedia:
During World War II, Sgt. Rock fought in the infantry branch of the U.S. Army in the European Theatre and eventually rose to authority within his unit, Easy Company. The unit was made up of a disparate collection of individuals who managed to participate in every major action in the European war. Rock’s dogtag number was 409966, which had been, it was claimed, Robert Kanigher’s own military serial number.
Robert Kanigher mused in letters columns in the 1970s and 1980s that Rock probably belonged to “The Big Red One” (First US Infantry Division) given his appearance on battlefields in North Africa, Italy and Northwest Europe. The backstory for Rock was fleshed out in different comics over the years; generally he is considered to have come from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he worked in a steel mill. Enlisting after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he went to North Africa as a private but promotion came quickly as his superiors were killed, to assistant squad leader, squad leader, and then platoon sergeant. His unit is only ever given as “Easy Company”, but no regiment or division is named nor is unit insignia ever shown. Rock also usually wears the chevrons and rockers of a Master Sergeant on his uniform and also applied, oversize, to the front of his helmet.
It is likely Rock’s official position in Easy Company was of senior platoon sergeant though dialogue and scripts are usually vague on his actual responsibilities and duties. He usually leads patrols and appears to have powers of command over the men of the company. Several officer characters also appeared in the comic, as both platoon and company commanders, all of whom were regarded by Rock as superiors. Easy’s commander was usually referred to as “the skipper” by Rock. Rock in turn was referred to by others as the “topkick”, or senior non-commissioned officer in the company. Most infantry companies did not have Master Sergeants; significantly, Rock does not have the lozenge of a First Sergeant on his rank insignia.
Like I said, Rock doesn’t have any powers, but he’s certainly an uber talented bloke. Of all the things he can do, this one was most interesting:
Rock is a crack shot, able to shoot down several German fighter planes with a single submachine gun, and able to throw hand grenades with amazing accuracy.
Yeah, I’d like to see that! (The plane thing, I mean.)
