January 1955 - less than 10 years after he was memorialized in that 1/400th of a second it took photographer Joe Rosenthal to snap the photo of the flag raising on Iwo Jima, Ira Hayes was buried in his native Arizona desert.
In a strange twist of fate, on the day Hayes was buried, "Battle Cry," the movie about Marines in love and war, premiered in Washington, D.C. The movie is based on the novel by Leon Uris who would later write "Exodus," "Trinity," and "QB VII."
February 3, 1955 - The New York Times gave "Battle Cry" a so-so review, "...the whole thing has been designed to follow an unswerving pattern of convention and rectitude." The reviewer adds, "This might almost be a fresh recruiting poster..." Might?
December 1955 - Our platoon had completed its first month of boot camp and was in the hills north of San Diego at Camp Matthews for three weeks of weapons training, including the objective of qualifying with the M-1. The friendly winter afternoon California sunshine warmed our backs as we sat on the bleachers listening to the instructor - a trim, intelligent-looking buck sergeant - lecture on zeroing in our M-1s. It would be so easy to doze off in the soothing sunshine.
The sergeant was deliberate, almost professorial, in his delivery, in stark contrast to our drill instructor who hovered over us with a long stick in his hand. A whack across the shoulders of a bone-tired, sleepy recruit motivated the rest of us to stay awake.
During a break in the lecture, the instructor asked, "How many of you people joined the Marines because you saw 'Battle Cry?'" Many of us raised our hands. The instructor replied, "When I asked this same question a month ago, every man in the platoon raised his hand." An effective recruiting film, indeed.
The script takes a cross section of America from boot camp, through Radio School and multifarious love affairs, to combat. The cast includes Danny (Tab Hunter), the all-American boy who leaves his all-American girl, Kathy (Mona Freeman), to join the Marines. There is Andy (Aldo Ray), the lumberjack who thinks of women exclusively as sex objects until he meets Pat (Nancy Olson), a New Zealand war widow.
John Lupton portrays the intellectual kid from Kansas, Marion Hodgekiss, dubbed "Sister Mary." Perry Lopez portrays the street-wise tough Spanish Joe, and Wm. Campbell is "Ski," from the wrong side of the tracks of Philadelphia. L.Q. Jones plays Pvt. LQ, the southern boy, and Jonas Applegarth is the Navajo, Pvt. Lighttower.
Van Heflin plays battalion commander Major Sam "High Pockets" Huxley, and Raymond Massey plays the officious Major General Snipes. James Whitmore is Mac, the prototype tough Master Sergeant who narrates the story while counseling his men through complex love affairs, guiding his men through Radio School, and leading them in combat.
On the train to San Diego Spanish Joe has an altercation with another recruit, extends his hand for a handshake, and sucker punches the unsuspecting sap. Later, in San Diego, Spanish Joe tries that with Sister Mary. Since he is wise to Joe's tactics, the bookish lad quickly decks Spanish Joe. They become inseparable buddies. Too predictable? Too formula-based? So what? It's entertaining, and it's the way it should happen.
Marines invariably gravitate to gorgeous women. While on liberty during Radio School, Danny temporarily forgets his girl back in Baltimore when he meets love-starved Elaine (Dorothy Malone), whose Navy officer husband is at sea. Instead of carousing in bars, Sister Mary gathers his thoughts by taking the ferryboat to Coronado Island. On the ferry he meets gorgeous Rae (Anne Francis), becomes smitten, only to be devastated to find that she is a lady of the evening - a complex moral dilemma for both of them. Ski, who has been ironing shirts to earn extra dough so he can marry his girl back in Philadelphia, gets a "Dear John" letter and goes berserk.
The battalion, known as "Huxley's whores," arrives in New Zealand. High Pockets Huxley drives his men mercilessly in training. Andy meets Pat who plays by her rules - not Andy's. The Marines go into combat - mop up operations on Guadalcanal and Tarawa. It's enough to get Ski killed. Next, it's Sister Mary. Tears streaming down Spanish Joe's face, he holds Sister Mary's lifeless hand as stretcher-bearers carry the dead Marine away.
The battalion returns to New Zealand. Pat and Andy get more involved, to the extent that Andy considers desertion. Major Huxley, with Pat's help, saves him from being put in irons. The battalion is slated for combat, but to be held in reserve. Huxley risks his career by confronting General Snipes, demanding that his battalion be in the initial assault force.
The invasion of Saipan - the critics who pan the movie for too much love and not enough war get their combat. Huxley and his men pay the price.
Critics complain that the movie is too slow moving. What would those half-wits know or care about the fears, trepidation, moral dilemmas or tangled love lives of teenage Marines going to war? It was Marine veteran Leon Uris who lived the life of which he wrote. To critics who complain of slow pace and not enough combat, I refer them to today's mindless trash that substitutes explosions and special effects for story line.
The photography is spectacular, even with 1950s technology. Max Steiner's captivating musical score was nominated for an academy award - the same Steiner who had already distinguished himself with musical scores for classics, "Gone With the Wind," and everybody's favorite, "Casablanca."
With a screenplay written by Uris himself, the all-star 1950s cast and the upbeat, stirring musical score by Max Steiner, you know this has to be one unforgettable movie. Forget the nitwits who criticized it; audiences loved it. How could they not?
I just convinced myself to see it again.
- Monroe resident John Waelti can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net.
In a strange twist of fate, on the day Hayes was buried, "Battle Cry," the movie about Marines in love and war, premiered in Washington, D.C. The movie is based on the novel by Leon Uris who would later write "Exodus," "Trinity," and "QB VII."
February 3, 1955 - The New York Times gave "Battle Cry" a so-so review, "...the whole thing has been designed to follow an unswerving pattern of convention and rectitude." The reviewer adds, "This might almost be a fresh recruiting poster..." Might?
December 1955 - Our platoon had completed its first month of boot camp and was in the hills north of San Diego at Camp Matthews for three weeks of weapons training, including the objective of qualifying with the M-1. The friendly winter afternoon California sunshine warmed our backs as we sat on the bleachers listening to the instructor - a trim, intelligent-looking buck sergeant - lecture on zeroing in our M-1s. It would be so easy to doze off in the soothing sunshine.
The sergeant was deliberate, almost professorial, in his delivery, in stark contrast to our drill instructor who hovered over us with a long stick in his hand. A whack across the shoulders of a bone-tired, sleepy recruit motivated the rest of us to stay awake.
During a break in the lecture, the instructor asked, "How many of you people joined the Marines because you saw 'Battle Cry?'" Many of us raised our hands. The instructor replied, "When I asked this same question a month ago, every man in the platoon raised his hand." An effective recruiting film, indeed.
The script takes a cross section of America from boot camp, through Radio School and multifarious love affairs, to combat. The cast includes Danny (Tab Hunter), the all-American boy who leaves his all-American girl, Kathy (Mona Freeman), to join the Marines. There is Andy (Aldo Ray), the lumberjack who thinks of women exclusively as sex objects until he meets Pat (Nancy Olson), a New Zealand war widow.
John Lupton portrays the intellectual kid from Kansas, Marion Hodgekiss, dubbed "Sister Mary." Perry Lopez portrays the street-wise tough Spanish Joe, and Wm. Campbell is "Ski," from the wrong side of the tracks of Philadelphia. L.Q. Jones plays Pvt. LQ, the southern boy, and Jonas Applegarth is the Navajo, Pvt. Lighttower.
Van Heflin plays battalion commander Major Sam "High Pockets" Huxley, and Raymond Massey plays the officious Major General Snipes. James Whitmore is Mac, the prototype tough Master Sergeant who narrates the story while counseling his men through complex love affairs, guiding his men through Radio School, and leading them in combat.
On the train to San Diego Spanish Joe has an altercation with another recruit, extends his hand for a handshake, and sucker punches the unsuspecting sap. Later, in San Diego, Spanish Joe tries that with Sister Mary. Since he is wise to Joe's tactics, the bookish lad quickly decks Spanish Joe. They become inseparable buddies. Too predictable? Too formula-based? So what? It's entertaining, and it's the way it should happen.
Marines invariably gravitate to gorgeous women. While on liberty during Radio School, Danny temporarily forgets his girl back in Baltimore when he meets love-starved Elaine (Dorothy Malone), whose Navy officer husband is at sea. Instead of carousing in bars, Sister Mary gathers his thoughts by taking the ferryboat to Coronado Island. On the ferry he meets gorgeous Rae (Anne Francis), becomes smitten, only to be devastated to find that she is a lady of the evening - a complex moral dilemma for both of them. Ski, who has been ironing shirts to earn extra dough so he can marry his girl back in Philadelphia, gets a "Dear John" letter and goes berserk.
The battalion, known as "Huxley's whores," arrives in New Zealand. High Pockets Huxley drives his men mercilessly in training. Andy meets Pat who plays by her rules - not Andy's. The Marines go into combat - mop up operations on Guadalcanal and Tarawa. It's enough to get Ski killed. Next, it's Sister Mary. Tears streaming down Spanish Joe's face, he holds Sister Mary's lifeless hand as stretcher-bearers carry the dead Marine away.
The battalion returns to New Zealand. Pat and Andy get more involved, to the extent that Andy considers desertion. Major Huxley, with Pat's help, saves him from being put in irons. The battalion is slated for combat, but to be held in reserve. Huxley risks his career by confronting General Snipes, demanding that his battalion be in the initial assault force.
The invasion of Saipan - the critics who pan the movie for too much love and not enough war get their combat. Huxley and his men pay the price.
Critics complain that the movie is too slow moving. What would those half-wits know or care about the fears, trepidation, moral dilemmas or tangled love lives of teenage Marines going to war? It was Marine veteran Leon Uris who lived the life of which he wrote. To critics who complain of slow pace and not enough combat, I refer them to today's mindless trash that substitutes explosions and special effects for story line.
The photography is spectacular, even with 1950s technology. Max Steiner's captivating musical score was nominated for an academy award - the same Steiner who had already distinguished himself with musical scores for classics, "Gone With the Wind," and everybody's favorite, "Casablanca."
With a screenplay written by Uris himself, the all-star 1950s cast and the upbeat, stirring musical score by Max Steiner, you know this has to be one unforgettable movie. Forget the nitwits who criticized it; audiences loved it. How could they not?
I just convinced myself to see it again.
- Monroe resident John Waelti can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net.
