Haunted by personal demons, Marine Sgt. John Stryker is hated and feared by his men, who see him as a cold-hearted sadist. But when their boots hit the beaches, they begin to understand the ... Read allHaunted by personal demons, Marine Sgt. John Stryker is hated and feared by his men, who see him as a cold-hearted sadist. But when their boots hit the beaches, they begin to understand the reason for Stryker's rigid form of discipline.Haunted by personal demons, Marine Sgt. John Stryker is hated and feared by his men, who see him as a cold-hearted sadist. But when their boots hit the beaches, they begin to understand the reason for Stryker's rigid form of discipline.
- Nominated for 4 Oscars
- 1 win & 4 nominations total
- Pfc. Eddie Flynn
- (as Bill Murphy)
- Pvt. 'Sky' Choynski
- (as Hal Fieberling)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWhile John Wayne was honored to be nominated for an Academy Award for this film, he believed the nomination should have been for She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949).
- GoofsThe first battle the movie's unit participates in is Tarawa. Tarawa was assaulted by the 2nd Marine Division. The same unit is then engaged in the Iwo Jima campaign. Iwo Jima was invaded by the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions. It's very unlikely that Stryker's whole squad would have been transferred to another division. Furthermore, earlier in the film Stryker refers to his involvement in the Guadalcanal assault. The assault on Guadalcanal was conducted by both the 1st and 2nd Marine Divisions, so it is plausible for Stryker to have served with two marine divisions.
- Quotes
Sgt. Stryker: You gotta learn right and you gotta learn fast. And any man that doesn't want to cooperate, I'll make him wish he had never been born.
- Crazy creditsTowards the end of the opening cast credits there states: And The three living survivors of the historic flag raising on Mount Suribachi Rene A. Gagnon (as Pfc Rene A. Gagnon), Ira H. Hayes (as Pfc Ira H. Hayes) and John H. Bradley (as PM3/c John H. Bradley).
- Alternate versionsAlso available in a computer colorized version.
- ConnectionsEdited from With the Marines at Tarawa (1944)
First of all, there is John Wayne as Sergeant Stryker. Stryker was the model on which virtually every screen portrayal of a tough sergeant is based. The character's angst and intensity also give us a rare glimpse of John Wayne's true acting ability. In most movies he just portrayed himself, but there is no swagger in Stryker, just loneliness, fear, and hope. He is by far the most convincing character in this movie, and one of the top from any war movie, period.
Next: the history. Ok, the actual characters have no basis in fact, but the battles certainly do. The battles for Tarawa and Iwo Jima were very important to the war and tragically costly in lives. They deserve to be remembered. The production mixed a lot of actual footage taken at the actual battles and mixed it in with the regular film. The two look fairly similar since both are black and white, but you can tell what is real and what was shot for the movie. One's first reaction to this might be that the production went cheapskate, but, in a way, the use of real stock battle footage was more moving than an epic legion of extras like in The Longest Day. You just can't beat reality for realism, and seeing the real islands and the real marines is an eerie reminder of how many men died in those horrific battles.
Finally: the supporting cast. Ok, I can't rave about them all, but most were entertaining, especially Wally Cassell. Also, Forrest Tucker puts in a fine performance, the only one remotely close to Wayne's in its depth.
Some of the anachronisms are a bit funny, but my only real complaint in the whole movie was John Agar's character Peter Conway. I don't know who was at fault for it, Agar or the writers, but his character is hard to take. I think we are meant to like him, but for about the first 90 minutes that is pretty much impossible.
Otherwise, it's a great movie. See it!
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Details
Box office
- Budget
- $1,000,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 40 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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