What better movie for Memorial Day than one that declares: Nobody dies.
A Walk in The Sun is an often-overlooked World War Two movie.
Hollywood has always supported the troops.
Directors volunteered to shoot soldiers in the best possible light.
It featured soldiers who were tired of war.
Tired of being on foreign soil that wasnt fertile enough to grow a simple apple tree.
Weary to their bones as they lay siege to a strategically located farmhouse.
The men in the troops didnt want to be there.
They were dog faces.
It tackles post-traumatic stress disorder, battle fatigue.
When the Staff Sgt.
Eddie Porter breaks down and is unable to continue, he is no coward.
These things happen, too many battles.
He fought too many battles.
He should have never been in command.
He should have never had the choice of life or death for 53 men in his hands.
The Walk is a dangerous mission and death can come unexpected from any direction, at any time.
For one soldier it comes in the middle of a word.
The soldiers blanket themselves in gallows humor.
They joke about death.
They tease each other.
They can be cruel.
Cruel enough to shove a love letter into a wound instead of mailing it.
The Russian-born director won Best Director Oscars forAll Quiet on the Western FrontandTwo Arabian Knightsfrom 1927.
Liberty Magazine serialized the book in 1944.
Do you know who youre fighting?
They never told me.
Dana Andrews leads the platoon Staff Sgt.
Andrews made his film debut in William Wylers 1940 western,The Westernerwhich starred Gary Cooper.
Andrews played a gangster in the 1941 comedyBall of Fire.
Andrews was the lynching victim in 1943 movieThe Ox-Bow Incidentwith Henry Fonda.
Ireland played inWake Up and Dreamand John FordsMy Darling Clementinein 1946.
He would play alongside Montgomery Clift in Howard Hawks 1948 filmRed River.
As Rivera, who loves his machine gun, Richard Conte personifies the rough camaraderie of men in arms.
He wraps himself in the flak jacket of his mantra: Nobody dies.
He doesnt want to be there either.
They came to this beautiful country to kill those who live in this beautiful country.
Herbert Richard Benedicts Pvt.
He likes them, begins to gossip, begins to joke.
He changed his name when he signed on with 20th Century Fox.
Conte played Edward G. Robinsons lawyer son inHouse of Strangers.
He starred in a Twilight Zone episode in 1959.
Known to modern audiences for his Emmy-nominated role of Izzy Mandelbaum on Seinfeld, Lloyd Bridges plays Staff Sgt.
Bridges is best known as Mike Nelson the main character of the TV seriesSea Hunt.
The episode was directed by Sidney Lumet, who began his career on stage as aDead EndKid.
He doesnt want to be there.
Hes gotta be a draftee.
He doesnt give a shit about the trees or the land, the beautiful countryside of Italy.
He just wants to go home.
Hall plays a very down-to-earth caricature of New York soldiers.
Hes not interested in Norman Rockwell.
Now they got pictures, so why bother drawing?
He asks his more artsy platoon partner who says.
You might was well say now they got movies, why take pictures?
Why dont they put moving pictures on the covers of magazines?
Someday theyll have it, a precognitive Hall says.
And now, of course we do.
Carraway is no patriot.
Hed desert in a heartbeat.
Hes just looking for an excuse.
What would you give me for a spoon of beer?
Id give you my GI rifle, my GI bayonet, and even my GI pants.
Hall appeared on the cover of the Beatles 1967 classic album Sgt.
Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Norman Lloyd plays Pvt.
Archimbeau is convinced that wars will never end.
He predicts continuing conflicts in a never-ending march of battles.
He is obsessed about a war that will happen in Tibet in the 1950s.
The movie was narrated by Burgess Meredith.
Its no High Noon.
Its more Sixteen Tons.
A Walk in the Sunis a classic.
Yes, the characters were caricatures but they were enduring caricatures.
What better movie for Memorial Day than a war movie that declares: Nobody dies.
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Rating:
4 out of 5
