In the 1943 invasion of Italy, one American platoon lands, digs in, then makes its way inland to attempt to take a fortified farmhouse, as tension and casualties mount. Unusually realistic ... See full summary »
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Cesira and her 13-year-old daughter, Rosetta, flee from the allied bombs in Rome during the second world war. They travel to the village where Cesira was born. During their journey and in ... See full summary »
Director:
Vittorio De Sica
Stars:
Sophia Loren,
Jean-Paul Belmondo,
Eleonora Brown
December, 1941. With no hope of relief or re-supply, a small band of United States Marines try to keep the Japanese Navy from capturing their island base.
Director:
John Farrow
Stars:
Brian Donlevy,
Macdonald Carey,
Robert Preston
When two escaping American World War II prisoners are killed, the German POW camp barracks black marketeer, J.J. Sefton, is suspected of being an informer.
A doctor and his staff in a hospital on the Philippine island of Corregidor shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor try to treat the sick, injured and wounded as American and Filipino troops desperately try to beat back a ferocious Japanese attack.
Army generals struggle with the decision to prioritize bombing the German factories producing new jet fighters over the extremely high casualties the mission will cost.
The true story of Agnes Newton Keith's imprisonment in several Japanese prisoner-of-war camps from 1941 to the end of WWII. Separated from her husband and with a young son to care for she ... See full summary »
In the 1943 invasion of Italy, one American platoon lands, digs in, then makes its way inland to attempt to take a fortified farmhouse, as tension and casualties mount. Unusually realistic picture of war as long quiet stretches of talk, punctuated by sharp, random bursts of violent action whose relevance to the big picture is often unknown to the soldiers. Written by
Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>
His uncredited appearance was the first feature film role for Robert Horton. See more »
Goofs
When the platoon is being strafed, the airplane that attacks them is a P-51D Mustang, although it is intended by the producers to represent a German or Italian plane. Machine-gun bursts can be seen in only two guns - one in each wing. Me-109s, FW-190s, and C-205s had guns mounted in the nose of the aircraft, rather than just in the wings. See more »
Quotes
Rivera:
Good thing they invented trains for travelling salesmen.
Friedman:
OK, kill me: what's the gag?
Rivera:
No gag. But if they didn't have trains, all the travelling salesmen would have to walk.
Friedman:
*You're* a travelling salesman; you ain't been taking any trains lately.
Rivera:
Whaddaya mean, *I'm* a travelling salesman? I'm a murderer!
Friedman:
You're a travelling salesmen. You're selling democracy to the natives.
Rivera:
So that's what I am, huh? Whaddaya know. Where'd you get that malarkey, Jake?
Friedman:
Out of a book.
Rivera:
A book!
Friedman:
You're a decadent ...
See more »
Crazy Credits
Opening credits: It was just a little walk In the warm Italian sun But it was not an easy thing And poets are writing The tale of that fight And songs for children to sing See more »
This is one of the great war films ever made. Yet there are few combat scenes, and no mock heroics. What makes this movie successful is its depiction of war from the viewpoint of the men in the platoon. The film takes place primarily during the course of a walk from the beach at Salerno, Italy where the platoon has landed to a farmhouse they are to capture 6 miles away.
Although Dana Andrews is listed as the nominal star of the film, the scenes are divided up equally among several men each with their own take on the mission and ultimately the war.
Other than Andrews(approaching the peak of his career as Sgt Tyne)the rest of the cast were young up and comers, many who went on to great acting careers. They included Richard Conte, Lloyd Bridges(his first important role), John Ireland, George Tyne, Huntz Hall(on hiatus from the East Side Kids films and very effective) and Norman Lloyd(bitterly brilliant as Archambeau). There is an understated narration by Burgess Meredith and a folk ballad score sung by Earl Robinson. They all perfectly fit in to the picture
The key player in all of this is director Lewis Milestone. A veteran of films since the twenties, his credits included "All Quiet On The Western Front", "The Front Page", and "Of Mice and Men". In "A Walk In The Sun" a Milestone independent production he incorporated the successful elements of the other three and the result is one of the greatest of it's genre. It is a movie not to be missed.
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This is one of the great war films ever made. Yet there are few combat scenes, and no mock heroics. What makes this movie successful is its depiction of war from the viewpoint of the men in the platoon. The film takes place primarily during the course of a walk from the beach at Salerno, Italy where the platoon has landed to a farmhouse they are to capture 6 miles away.
Although Dana Andrews is listed as the nominal star of the film, the scenes are divided up equally among several men each with their own take on the mission and ultimately the war.
Other than Andrews(approaching the peak of his career as Sgt Tyne)the rest of the cast were young up and comers, many who went on to great acting careers. They included Richard Conte, Lloyd Bridges(his first important role), John Ireland, George Tyne, Huntz Hall(on hiatus from the East Side Kids films and very effective) and Norman Lloyd(bitterly brilliant as Archambeau). There is an understated narration by Burgess Meredith and a folk ballad score sung by Earl Robinson. They all perfectly fit in to the picture
The key player in all of this is director Lewis Milestone. A veteran of films since the twenties, his credits included "All Quiet On The Western Front", "The Front Page", and "Of Mice and Men". In "A Walk In The Sun" a Milestone independent production he incorporated the successful elements of the other three and the result is one of the greatest of it's genre. It is a movie not to be missed.