A Walk in the Sun (1945)

Director:

Lewis Milestone

Writers:

Harry Brown (novel)
Robert Rossen (screenplay)

Release Date:

25 December 1945 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Tagline:

THEY FOUGHT BEST WHEN IT WAS HOPELESS! (print ad for reissue "Salerno Beachhead" - all caps)

Plot:

In the 1943 invasion of Italy, one American platoon lands, digs in, then makes its way inland to attempt to take a fortified farmhouse...

Plot Keywords:

Italy | Sergeant | Infantry | Landing Craft | Patrol

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award.

Cast

Dana Andrews	...	Sgt. Bill Tyne
Richard Conte	...	Pvt. Rivera
George Tyne	...	Pvt. Jake Friedman
John Ireland	...	Pfc. Windy Craven
Lloyd Bridges	...	Sgt. Ward
Sterling Holloway	...	McWilliams
Norman Lloyd	...	Pvt. Archimbeau
Herbert Rudley	...	Sgt. Eddie Porter
Richard Benedict	...	Pvt. Tranella
Huntz Hall	...	Pvt. Carraway
James Cardwell	...	Sgt. Hoskins
George Offerman Jr.	...	Pvt. Tinker
Steve Brodie	...	Pvt. Judson
Matt Willis	...	Sgt. Pete Halverson
Chris Drake	...	Rankin

Also Known As:

Salerno Beachhead (USA) (reissue title)

Runtime:

117 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-18 (DVD rating) (2008) | Finland:K-16 (theatrical rating) (1950) | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:12 (re-rating) (2005)

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Ranch, Malibu Creek State Park - 1925 Las Virgenes Road, Calabasas, California, USA

Company:

Lewis Milestone Productions

Goofs:

Continuity: When a small patrol attacks the farm house they have to return to the wall. Lloyd Bridges is shown throwing his rifle over the wall with a bayonet attached. The next scene shows his bayonet in its scabbard on his back pack.

Quotes:

Pvt. Archimbeau: Every dirty job in the army is my personal property.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Blue in the Face (1995)

Soundtrack:

IT WAS JUST A LITTLE WALK IN THE SUN

A landmark, one-of-a-kind war film.

One of the best war movies ever made, directed by Lewis Milestone (All Quiet on the Western Front), this movie is distinguished by its depiction of war from the soldier's individual point of view. Unlike most war movies, this is infantry combat as seen through the eyes of several members of a platoon as it walks through the Italian countryside in 1943 on its way to seize a German observation post. In all the action sequences, you never see anything that the individual soldier (German, Italian or American) depicted on the screen doesn't see. You only see what is happening around him as he sees it. I've seen them all, and no other director ever approached war filming this way. And I can tell you personally that this is the way it was in combat. The only errors in the entire movie involved grenades: you don't blow bridges with them and you don't pull their pins with your teeth--that's the best way I know of pulling out a tooth w/o a dentist's helping hand. A landmark movie made during the war and only released after the war ended in 1945 because of the final scenes. Matched only by William Wellman's "A Story of GI Joe," this is the best film on infantry combat produced from World War II. Yes, yes, I've seen "Saving Private Ryan." Except for the shock of the first 20 minutes, it's Steven Spielberg's three-star remembrance of his boyhood comic book war stories.