Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)

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

Director:

Allan Dwan

Writers:

Harry Brown (screenplay), James Edward Grant (screenplay),

Stars:

John Wayne, John Agar, Adele Mara

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Wayne	...	Sgt. John M. Stryker
John Agar	...	Pfc. Peter Conway
Adele Mara	...	Allison Bromley
Forrest Tucker	...	Pfc. Al Thomas
Wally Cassell	...	Pfc. Benny Regazzi
James Brown	...	Pfc. Charlie Bass
Richard Webb	...	Pfc. 'Handsome' Dan Shipley
Arthur Franz	...	Cpl. Robert Dunne / Narrator
Julie Bishop	...	Mary
James Holden	...	Pfc. Soames
Peter Coe	...	Pfc. George Hellenpolis
Richard Jaeckel	...	Pfc. Frank Flynn
William Murphy	...	Pfc. Eddie Flynn (as Bill Murphy)
George Tyne	...	Pfc. Harris
Hal Baylor	...	Pvt. 'Sky' Choynski (as Hal Fieberling)

Storyline

Marine sergeant John Stryker seems a martinet and a bully as he trains young Marines for combat in the Pacific war. In the end, as survival in the bloody battle of Iwo Jima depends on the lessons Stryker has drilled into them, his troops discover why he was so hard on them.

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Plot Keywords:

battle | iwo jima | combat | sergeant | tarawa | 

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Taglines:

Alone and outnumbered, they had one thing in their favor... the American dream. Alone and Outnumbered, They Had One Thing In Their Favor... The AMERICAN DREAM!

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Genres:

Action | Drama | War | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Official Sites:

Universal Studios

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 March 1950 (USA)

Also Known As:

Du warst unser Kamerad

Filming Locations:

Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base, Oceanside, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Republic Pictures (I)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min 109 min (TCM print)

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White (archive footage) Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

A colorized version of this movie has been made.

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Goofs

Mary's hands change position when Stryker buys her the drink.

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Quotes

Sgt. Stryker: You gotta learn right and you gotta learn fast. And any man that doesn't want to cooperate, I'll make him wish he had never been born.

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Crazy Credits

To the United States Marine Corps whose exploits and valor have left a lasting impression on the world and in the hearts of their countrymen. Appreciation is gratefully acknowledged for their assistance and participation which made this picture possible.

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Connections

Featured in The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender (1997)

User Reviews

Exploiting A Symbol

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.