AN AWARD-WINNING DRAMA ABOUT A CLOSE-KNIT ARMY CAMP IN HAWAII BEFORE THE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR.SUPERB CAST AND PERFORMANCESBY ALL, NETTING 8 OSCARS INCLUDING BEST PICTURE.Here’s a model for adapting a novel into a movie. The bestseller by James Jones, a frank and hard-hitting look at military life, could not possibly be made into a film in 1953 without considerably altering its length and bold subject matter. Yet screenwriter Daniel Taradash and director Fred Zinnemann (both of whom won Oscars for their work) pared it down and cleaned it up, without losing the essential texture of Jones’s tapestry. The setting is an army base in Hawaii in 1941. Montgomery Clift, in a superb performance, plays a bugler who refuses to fight for the company boxing team; he has reasons for giving up the sport. His refusal results in harsh treatment from the company commander, whose bored wife (Deborah Kerr) is having an affair with the tough-but-fair sergeant (Burt Lancaster). You remember–the scene with the two of them embracing on the beach, as the surf crashes in. The supporting players are as good as the leads: Frank Sinatra and Donna Reed won Oscars (and Sinatra revitalized his entire career), and Ernest Borgnine entered the gallery of all-time movie villains, as the stockade sergeant who makes Sinatra miserable. Zinnemann’s work is efficient but also evocative, capturing the time and place beautifully, the tropical breezes as well as the lazy prewar indulgence. This one is deservedly a classic. –Robert Horton
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April 7, 2008
#1
This is the most overrated Academy Award winner for Best Picture I’ve ever seen. It’s a soap opera! Ooh, the bad wife, the good hooker — talk about setting women back a thousand years. And Prewitt was a poor excuse for a main character — waaah, I don’t wanna box anymore. Suck it up, soldier! The boxing had nothing to do with anything, it was only in the story to please the macho men in the audience. Sinatra was unconvincing. Borgnine was one-note. The big romantic kiss on the beach was laughable. There was only one good moment in the whole movie — when Borgnine pulls a knife and Lancaster breaks a bottle. A war movie without a freakin’ war at least needs a little action — and then even then, nothing happened! Totally disgusted.
April 7, 2008
#2
Finally, another classic is released on DVD. But not in it’s original format – this is a fullscreen edition. Where is the widescreen version of the film? Why are movie fans continuously short-changed when it comes to classic movies? Five stars for the film itself, one star for the DVD. Pathetic.
April 7, 2008
#3
Okay, I saw this movie for the first time 22 years ago when I saw it in my high school film class. I was not really impressed with it then, and what I remembered most from the film after all these years was the famous beach scene, and only because my teacher pointed it out as pretty risque’ for back then.
Fast forward to today, where I am now 39 years old and I watched it for the 2nd time. I was not impressed this time either. To me it was a total waste of time, and depressing to see people live such meaningless lives. I was in the military for a few years in my youth and to see these men in this movie brought back all the memories, that yes, 95% of them spent their free time at the bar spending all their money on drinking. It’s a weird set of values, folks. I didn’t drink, and was quite bored. Was glad to leave the military.
Also, I do not believe taking a human life is right, no matter what the situation. The violence that pervaded this film disturbed and saddened me as well.
Nor was the commanding officer’s wife right in her relationship with another man. Nor was her husband doing his duty, it was sad that they did not love each other. I know this happens in life, but I don’t care to watch people try and solve their problems without God’s truth.
I know many do not share my values, to those who do, I just want to say that this is not worth your time.
April 7, 2008
#4
Why go to all the trouble of releasing a great classic filim, without providing it in Widescreen format????? There is no reason anyone should purchase this DVD, if you already own a good quality VHS edition. The “extra materials” are not worth the price, if you don’t get the complete movie!!!!! I refuse to purchase any film on DVD that is not provided in Widescreen format.
April 7, 2008
#5
The Godfather got Sinatra the part of Maggio, but I think the producer was right; Sinatra stinks in that part. Talk about over acting; Sinatra has no subtlety at all. Now Lancaster is terrific, a soldier’s soldier and Deborah Kerr slips into the part of a lonely wife of a louse effortlessly. The script of the James Jones book is a mess. The Lancaster-Kerr romance works almost, but the Cliff-Donna Reed love story is hurried and unbelievable. She’s a dance hostess my a**. The mores of the 1950′s did this interesting story wrong. These people are seething with sexuality, but somehow, Hollywood squeezed the juice out of em.