Movie Stats:
Released USA (1953)
American, in English
Director – Fred
Zinnemann
Stars – Burt
Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Frank Sinatra, Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed
Plot Summary:
Set in Pearl Harbor
during 1941, Private Robert E. Lee “Prew” Prewitt (Clift) has recently been
transferred to a new unit, where his new captain (Philip Ober), aware of his
talent, wants him to fight on the boxing team. When Prew refuses for personal
reasons, he’s subjected to cruel treatment. In the meantime, Prew’s sergeant,
Milton Warden (Lancaster), is falling in love with the captain’s wife, Karen
Holmes (Kerr). Sinatra costars as Prew’s buddy Private Angelo Maggio & Reed
as Prew’s love interest, Alma “Lorene” Burke.
Bad Stuff:
Are we back in the
1930s? This was an awful lot of melodrama. Like,
laugh-out-loud-at-serious-moments melodrama.
Both of the female
love interests were pretty useless. [SPOILERS, I GUESS] Karen was fairly
unlikeable, despite her melodramatic backstory. Why insist that Milton had to
be an officer – something he didn’t want to be – before she would leave her
loveless marriage to marry him? Sounds like a gold digger to me. And Alma
treated Prew the same way – he wasn’t good enough for her until he was dead.
Disgusting. Honestly, the men came across as overly emotional and dramatic
while the women were cold-hearted and calculating (not that there’s anything
wrong with that).
It was really weird
to see Ernest Borgnine playing a mean guy, Sergeant “Fatso” Judson.
Good Stuff:
There was some great
acting, especially from Clift. His performance reminded me a lot of James
Dean's in "Rebel Without a Cause," only way more toned down and more
nuanced. Sinatra was good too, very likable and charming. I also really liked
Lancaster. Not sure if I’ve ever seen him in anything else.
The special effects
were surprisingly good during the attack scene. I believe I saw some real
post-attack footage spliced in there as well, which was kind of cool.
I enjoyed the way
the film explored the friendships between the men. Hadn’t seen that in one of
these Oscar winners for a while.
The Verdict:
It wasn’t so bad.
Better than I had expected, at any rate. The romance piece of it was pretty
meh. I think the film would have been better without either woman. However, since
the iconic scene from the movie is of Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster rolling
around in the surf, I suppose that wouldn’t work. It tackled some fairly heavy
themes, which I liked. I also enjoyed that the male characters showed some
vulnerability. All in all though, it was kind of a mixed bag. So what to rate a
movie that I didn’t hate but didn’t really love either? I’ll tell you.
I give this movie 3 stars.
2 comments:
When I was little, say six or seven, I was playing at my friends house one day. She had cable (new at the time) and we watched a movie with a scene of a couple on a beach. He spelled out something in sand on her back and they rolled in the surf. We flipped channels after that, but that scene stayed firmly lodged in my mind.
Fast forward to sometime in my mid-20s when I get around to watching this classic movie. And, holy cats! This is the movie with the beach scene! I was so excited to be reunited with it, I remember little else.
Although I have a memory that it was a fairly dark movie, in a way that surprised me for 1950s cinema.
It is actually a fairly dark movie. I mean, ultimately, it's about the attack on Pearl Harbor.
It's been really interesting to watch these movies chronologically. There's definitely a "feel" to each decade. The 1950s, for example, have an avant garde flair. I plan on blogging about my observations eventually, although probably not until I'm done with the project.
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