In the 1950s, there were a number of movies that had "The This and the That" titles. These included "The Bad and the Beautiful," "The High and the Mighty," "The Power and the Prize," "The Proud and the Beautiful," "The Proud and the Profane," "The Prince and the Showgirl," and "The Old Man and the Sea."
"The Bold and the Brave" is something of a redundant title. "Bold" and "brave" are essentially the same thing.
But a better title for this movie might be, "The Preposterous and the Predictable."
It's a war movie, focusing on the lives of three foot soldiers in Italy, 1944: Dave Fairchild (Wendell Corey), Willie Dooley (Mickey Rooney), and Sgt. Ewald Wollaston (Don Taylor).
But these three don't really look like soldiers. They look like actors making a war movie!
Wendell Corey was 42 when he made this film. Mickey Rooney and Don Taylor were both 35. They're too old to be believable as foot soldiers. If anything, they should be playing officers. (At one point, Rooney takes off his cap, and we see that he's already starting to lose his hair.)
Also, they seem to pay little attention to rank insignia in this film. Don Taylor is supposed to be a Sergeant, but he's only wearing two stripes on his arm, indicating that he's a Corporal. Rooney and Corey are supposed to be Privates, but they're not even wearing stripes on their arms. These guys would have trouble passing the next inspection!
Don Taylor's character, Ewald Wollaston, is nicknamed "Preacher," because he's a religious zealot who is always talking about resisting temptation and fighting against "the Devil." He's so straight-laced that when he visits a local Italian village, he doesn't want a bottle of wine - he wants a glass of buttermilk! He doesn't want to visit the local bars - he wants to visit the local churches!
Wollaston falls in love with Fiamma (Nicole Maurey), a local Italian woman. He's so unbelievably naïve that it never even occurs to him that this woman might be a prostitute, even though she's wearing a loose-fitting dress that is cut down to Sicily!
Later, when they visit a cantina, a pair of G. I.s from another unit recognize Fiamma as the woman who's been a "friend" to all of them! Wollaston is shocked, shocked to discover that he's actually fallen in love with a "scarlet woman," even though Fiamma tearfully tells him that she only turned to prostitution to keep from starving to death. As Wollaston leaves the village, he mutters to himself, "I should have known better! I should have known better!"
I'm thinking, "Yes! A guy like you *should* know better! How can a *combat Sergeant* be so unknowledgeable about the world? You never encountered a prostitute in boot camp, let alone the rest of Italy? Give me a break!"
Wendell Corey plays Dave Fairchild, a soldier who freezes on the battlefield. He can't bring himself to shoot an enemy sniper, even when the sniper is taking aim at another American G. I. How Fairchild made it this far in the Italian campaign without getting himself killed is never explained.
Mickey Rooney earns his Oscar nomination as Willie Dooley, a chatterbox G. I. who is always on a lucky streak. His best scene, and the only really good scene in the movie, is when Dooley joins a wild G. I. craps game, part of which takes place underneath a blanket during an air raid on the camp.
An hour into the movie, they finally get around to giving us a combat scene. The soldiers are trapped in an abandoned Italian farmhouse, and have to fight their way out. The dialogue is overloaded with "combat cliché lines" (i.e. "Cover me!" "We'll fight to the last man!" "Don't leave me, Smitty!") Wendell Corey redeems himself by single-handedly taking down a German tank.
Near the end, there is an unintentionally hilarious moment. Throughout the movie, Mickey Rooney has occasionally referred to his wife back in the States. Her name is Jeannie. ("When the war's over, me and Jeannie are going to open a restaurant!")
In the final scene, Rooney is shot down by enemy machine gun fire. As he drops to his knees, he says his wife's name. "Jeannie!"
And what song does the background orchestra play on the soundtrack as Rooney falls to the ground? Just take a wild guess!
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