There were a lot of excellent WWII films made both during the war and after, though I certainly would not consider A WALK IN THE SUN among them. In fact, I had a hard time keeping interested in this film--mostly because the characters talked and talked and talked--practically non-stop! Rarely did they allow scenes to take place without long and distracting conversations between the G.I.s. Starting on the landing craft until they took the farmhouse, it was talk, talk, talk! Sadly, nothing they really said was that profound or even interesting. This made me look forward to the action scenes.
By contrast, there have been some amazing films that DID show the servicemen as real human beings and did show their interactions yet still were amazing films. Just off the top of my head, THEY WERE EXPENDABLE and BATTLEGROUND were similar in structure to A WALK IN THE SUN but they managed to be entertaining and inspiring. In other words, ordinary men behaving extraordinarily under the circumstances. Whereas in A WALK IN THE SUN, they just seemed like irritating people whose characters and dialog were poorly written. It sure is hard to see that this film was directed by the same man who directed ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT--one of the finest war films ever made. A few interesting (but mostly uninspired) battle scenes weren't enough to make this anything other than a time-passer.
By contrast, there have been some amazing films that DID show the servicemen as real human beings and did show their interactions yet still were amazing films. Just off the top of my head, THEY WERE EXPENDABLE and BATTLEGROUND were similar in structure to A WALK IN THE SUN but they managed to be entertaining and inspiring. In other words, ordinary men behaving extraordinarily under the circumstances. Whereas in A WALK IN THE SUN, they just seemed like irritating people whose characters and dialog were poorly written. It sure is hard to see that this film was directed by the same man who directed ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT--one of the finest war films ever made. A few interesting (but mostly uninspired) battle scenes weren't enough to make this anything other than a time-passer.