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Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)

Approved | | Action, Drama, War | 1 March 1950 (USA)
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1:51 | Trailer

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A dramatization of the World War II Battle of Iwo Jima.

Director:

Writers:

(screenplay), (screenplay) | 1 more credit »
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Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 1 win. See more awards »

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Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
...
...
...
Pfc. Al Thomas
Wally Cassell ...
Pfc. Benny Regazzi
...
Pfc. Charlie Bass
Richard Webb ...
Pfc. 'Handsome' Dan Shipley
...
Cpl. Robert Dunne / Narrator
...
Mary
James Holden ...
Pfc. Soames
...
Pfc. George Hellenpolis
...
Pfc. Frank Flynn
...
Pfc. Eddie Flynn (as Bill Murphy)
George Tyne ...
Pfc. Harris
Hal Baylor ...
Pvt. 'Sky' Choynski (as Hal Fieberling)
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Storyline

After his wife takes their son and leaves him, Sgt. John Stryker is an embittered man who takes his misery out on the men under his command. They're a bunch of green recruits who have a hard time dealing with Stryker's tough drills and thicker skin. Even his old friends start to wonder if he's gone from being the epitome of a tough Marine Sergeant to a man over the edge. Written by Alfred Jingle

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

Fightin' . . Laughin' . . Lovin' ! See more »

Genres:

Action | Drama | War | Romance

Certificate:

Approved | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
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Details

Official Sites:

Country:

Language:

Release Date:

1 March 1950 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Du warst unser Kamerad  »

Box Office

Budget:

$1,000,000 (estimated)
 »

Company Credits

Production Co:

 »
Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

| (TCM print)

Sound Mix:

(RCA Sound System)

Color:

(archive footage)|

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1
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Did You Know?

Trivia

Mostly unnoticed is the homage this film pays to a real Marine, "Manila" John Basilone. Basilone was a sergeant and hero on Guadacanal, awarded the Medal of Honor. He was sent home for war bond drives but requested to be returned to combat. He did so and was killed on Iwo Jima. There is a famous (to history buffs, anyway) photo of his body on Iwo Jima, face down and with his name visible, that is almost exactly the same pose that John Wayne is in at his death on film. Also, "Jonathan M" Stryker has more than a passing resemblance to "Manila (or M) John". See more »

Goofs

The first battle the movie's unit participates in is Tarawa. Tarawa was assaulted by the 2nd Marine Division. The same unit is then engaged in the Iwo Jima campaign. Iwo Jima was invaded by the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions. It's very unlikely that Stryker's whole squad would have been transferred to another division. Furthermore, earlier in the film Stryker refers to his involvement in the Guadalcanal assault. The assault on Guadalcanal was conducted by both the 1st and 2nd Marine Divisions, so it is plausible for Stryker to have served with two marine divisions. See more »

Quotes

[During the night the squad is guarding a trenchline amid word that the Japanese may launch an attack. From out of the night a faint voice can be heard calling "Corpsman."]
Pfc. Benny Regazzi: [his voice hushed] Stryker!
Sgt. Stryker: [hushed] Get down! Stay down! You have your orders, don't move!
Pfc. Peter Conway: [hushed] There's somebody wounded out there. Let's go get him!
Sgt. Stryker: Stay down, it might be a Jap trick, they pulled it off plenty of times at Guadalcanal.
Pfc. Peter Conway: That doesn't sound like a Jap to me!
Sgt. Stryker: I don't care what it sounds like to you! You stick ...
[...]
See more »

Crazy Credits

Opening credits: While this photoplay is based on the Battle for Iwo Jima, most of the incidents and, except where true names are knowingly used, all of the characters are fictitious. Any resemblance between any such events or characters and actual events or persons is coincidental. See more »

Connections

Referenced in Hollywood Mouth 3 (2017) See more »

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User Reviews

 
Exploiting A Symbol
9 November 2006 | by (Buffalo, New York) – See all my reviews

Although Clint Eastwood's recent Flags of Our Fathers has told the real story about the flag raising at Iwo Jima, it hasn't diminished any of the impact that Sands of Iwo Jima has, either back when it was released or viewed today.

In fact because the three surviving flag raisers, Joseph Bradley, Rene Gagnon, and Ira Hayes all were in this film it's even more proof of how the symbolic flag raising has become mythologized.

Of course the real heroism was in capturing the island that was less than a 1000 miles from the main islands of Japan and the airfields on Iwo Jima that could be used by our bombers for land based flights. It took about a month to do that, the flag was raised on the fifth day.

I read a history of the United States Marine Corps from it's formation during the American Revolution. Over the course of its history it was interesting to learn that the Marines many times were threatened with extinction, to be folded into either the army or navy right up to and including World War I.

Right after World War I a very farsighted man named John A. Lejeune became the Marine Corps Commandant and he saw that we would be in a war in the Pacific with the Japanese as our foes. He also saw that the survival of the Marines as an entity involved them training for a very specialized kind of mission, amphibious warfare. He started training them for that and come World War II they were certainly ready.

John Wayne as Sergeant Striker got one of his most memorable parts of his career in Sands of Iwo Jima. Striker is a tough as nails Marine Corps lifer whose got a job to whip a lot of recruits into shape for the later Pacific landings after Guadalcanal. He's also got one lousy personal life as his wife's left him and taken their son.

Wayne got his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor in this part. There's a couple of other films he should have gotten a nomination for, but that's another story. Among his competition in 1949 was Kirk Douglas for Champion, Richard Todd for The Hasty Heart, and Gregory Peck for Twelve O'Clock High. Note three of the nominees were for World War II related films. But the winner that year was Broderick Crawford for All the King's Men. At least Peck and Wayne both got Oscars later in their careers.

John Agar who was trying to carve out a reputation as being more than Mr. Shirley Temple back then plays the son of a former commander of Wayne's who has a problem with his Dad and takes it out on Wayne attitude wise as a surrogate father. Julie Bishop and Adele Mara play women drawn to both Wayne and Agar respectively.

Of the supporting cast who play members of Wayne's platoon, my favorite is Wally Cassell, the wisecracking city kid who finds a tank to help his platoon out during a sticky situation.

Flags of Our Fathers teaches us about how the flag raising symbolism became part of the Marine Corps heritage. Sands of Iwo Jima exploits that symbol in the best sense of the word. After almost sixty years, it's still a fine film with a grand performance by the Duke.


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