Production Company: Columbia Pictures
"Ain't nothing wrong with a solider that ain't the matter with anyone else." - Private Robert E Lee Prewitt
Setting
Hawaii, USA, 1941
The Plot
The story follows the lives of soldiers in the US Army based in Hawaii during World War II as they train and interact among themselves and in the local town. The main focus is on newly-transferred Robert E Lee Prewitt [Clift] the bugle-playing boxer who is bullied for not wanting to box on the regiment's team, and a blossoming romance between a Sergeant and the Captain's wife.
The Review
The film spent a decent length of time getting to know the characters and relationships, so when things began to get more interesting I had been drawn in and cared about them (well some of them).
Most of the film was spent on the barracks and in the town's New Congress Club where membership includes snacks, soft drinks and "gentlemanly relaxation with the opposite gender". The "gentlemanly" way naturally included telling a waitress he liked buying beer from her so he can watch her walk away. Charming.
Most of the film was spent on the barracks and in the town's New Congress Club where membership includes snacks, soft drinks and "gentlemanly relaxation with the opposite gender". The "gentlemanly" way naturally included telling a waitress he liked buying beer from her so he can watch her walk away. Charming.
To the best of my recollection this was the first time I've seen Frank Sinatra in a film, he performed very well and I liked his character Maggio very much. He was a decent and genuine friend to anyone at the bottom of the pile, even ending up in the Stockade (Army prison) fighting for someone.
The bullying started very early on and it wasn't always easy to tell who's side some of them were on, Private Prewitt was picked on for not wanting to box on the boxing team, being a trained boxer. A sergeant tripped him up and punished him for falling over, even though overall he was an excellent (if not lippy) soldier once they trained him to stop marching like a "drunk gooney bird".
The storyline was careful to include details of Captain Holmes' infidelity [Philip Ober], even though we never saw it on screen; I guess this would help audiences of the day feel more supportive of his wife's extra-marital romance in what became one of the most famous sex scenes in cinematic history, it was filmed in the 1950s so don't get tooooo excited though ;-)
As the attack on Pearl Harbour didn't happen until right near the end, the film was mainly a behind-the-scenes story of wartime so there wasn't a great deal of war stuff going on.
I have to say I'm a little on the fence with this one, overall I didn't hate it but I felt more could have been done in less time and I was a bit perturbed at one of my favourite characters being killed of as if to say "OK look the film's almost over so let's see what we can do with this guy".
The Slap
This goes to Sergeant 'Fatso' Judson [Ernest Borgnine] for being a cruel bully, making some of the soldiers' lives unnecessarily difficult.
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