Evengyny Thanks for the memories!

LouHomey From my favorite movies..

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Josephina Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

clanciai James Jones also wrote "From Here to Eternity", and this novel has been filmed several times, last time in 1998 in colour, but the two versions compliment each other. This one is more stringent and poignant in its psychology and characterizations. Jack Warden and Keir Dullea clash from the beginning, they are both close to the thin red line separating sanity from madness, and they appear as rather half mad both of them, although Keir Dullea seems more liable, as he loses control a number of times. Jack Warden's madness is of a different kind, as he rather drives others mad than goes mad himself, and he is the better soldier of the two.It's about the critical battler of Guadalcanal, when more men were lost than even the Americans and theír ruthless colonel could afford. Although you don't see much of the Japs, the Americans didn't either, as the Japs were experts on ambushes and targeting Americans unawares, they appear as fearsome soldiers indeed. Many Americans have also testified, that Japanese soldiers were the bravest soldiers of all.It's a brutal and realistic war account from its worst sides, and if you can stand any amount of war atrocities, this is a film for you. If you can't, you had better stick to something nicer with dames. There are only two dames in this film, one in a short flashback, and the other one isn't even a dame, and her appearance is even shorter.

berfedd Plot: Tough company sergeant Jack Warden and maverick infantryman Keir Dullea battle their way – both with the enemy and each other – across the killing fields of Guadalcanal during World War II.Review: Not quite the classic I expected. Rather uneven at times, especially during the earlier part of the film with some suspect acting and an awful lot of unnecessary explanation. Thankfully it is held together by the two lead performances – Jack Warden (a Hollywood stalwart) and Keir Dullea (better known as the astronaut Dave Bowman in 2001: A Space Odyssey).The movie graphically depicts the horror and mercilessness of combat, an experience which gradually sends Dullea round the bend. Warden's character, an unrepentantly hard-nosed company sergeant, never bats an eyelid. The two manage a sort of working relationship as events progress, but Dullea is an incomprehensible dreamer as far as Warden is concerned, while Warden represent everything that is wrong in the world to Dullea.It was good to see Dullea in action, knowing him only from 2001. He comes across as a sort of mild Clint Eastwood – quietly spoken, thoughtful, singular, and probably with numerous issues going on behind his curious stare. Warden, a good character actor most familiar as one of the jurors in 12 Angry Men, must have drawn a lot on his own experiences as a sergeant in WWII.I'm not sure what the movie was trying to say, but it definitely cannot be accused of glamorising war. It is the grim tale of men killing, being killed, and being driven to and beyond their limits for hopefully the greater good.

fjarlett Those who don't see the realism in this film are probably either from Generation X, or they never were in the military. Today's audiences are inured to violence captured in contemporary films, and aren't willing to watch films made on a small budget from independent filmmakers, such as those responsible for this 1964 foray into the futility of war. There are certainly a number of points to this version that stand out, never mind the one or two actions sequences that aren't technically up to the flashiness of today's films. The relationships among ranks, from officers to enlisted men, captures the flavor of the military hierarchy existing since time immemorial. Soldiers are asked to face the withering machine gun fire, artillery, and booby traps, not to mention climatic privations, without wincing. It goes without saying that the acting of the principals in such circumstances is expert, with paranoia balancing precariously between heroism and the will to live. Men who have been in the military will no doubt identify with the characters, from the C.O. played with hardened determination by James Philbrook, to Jack Warden's combat wise sergeant, and down to Keir Dullea's survivalist mentality in the face of an enemy that takes no prisoners. The viewer is given a look at the motivations behind Dullea's seeming obsession to be "prepared" for combat with as much in his bag of combat tricks as possible. When Dullea steals a .45 automatic, his prophetic line of dialogue to his buddy, "It just might give me the edge I need", rings ironically true several times over the course of the picture. In fact, irony is the film's strongest point, evidenced in several scenes in which Dullea is saved from death by his purloined sidearm, and which ultimately is responsible for his survival by film's end. Opposing Dullea's character, Warden is a career NCO who plays by the rules of war, but who in the end loses his life after shielding Dullea from a Japanese soldier unleashing lead. The viewer realizes that Warden's death results from heroism, while Dullea's survival from the madness of a trapped rat. Screenwriter Philip Yordan's dialogue is at once sensitive and insightful, lending credence to his reputation in Hollywood as a no-nonsense, rough-hewn, but literate genius.

PKC A solid effort hampered by the the filmmaking conventions of that time. Some of the acting is amateurish, and the dialogue stilted. But it does confront the serious moral issues of war, unlike most war movies of that era. The theme is essentially the same as the current version -- that is, how does man endure in war? It presents several models for survival. Many of the scenes are exactly the same as in the 1998 version, though it includes others that are not found in Malick. This attempt focuses more on the relationship between Welsh (Jack Warden) and Doll (Keir Dullea). The music is awful, like something out of a cheesy 50s horror flick. Also, it's amazing how much Guadalcanal resembles the high desert of Southern California. But this is well worth a rent if one has the proper expectations...