Old Soldiers

infantry(n.)

1570s, from French infantrie, infanterie (16c.), from older Italian or Spanish infanteria “foot soldiers, force composed of those too inexperienced or low in rank to be cavalry,” a collective noun from infante “foot soldier,” originally “a youth,” from Latin infantem (see infant).

Over the last 80 years Hollywood filmmakers have overwhelmingly cast thirty-something year old actors as front line infantrymen. This video looks at the real demographics of infantry units, the typical justifications for casting old and the ideology behind Hollywood’s military age gap.

A note on methodology: Where possible I used the actual filming dates to estimate actor ages but where this info was unavailable I based my estimate on the year prior to the film/show’s release date. Bear in mind that, in some circumstances, there is a longer lag between filming and release (eg. Apocalypse Now). Also, when determining cast averages I excluded actors playing field-grade and general officers (Major and above).