I first saw this film as a 10-year old in Sydney in the 1950's. Of all the war movies we saw at the time, I thought this was one of the best.
It's easy to see why it made an impression. It felt gritty with fairly convincing locations and spectacular CinemaScope action. Like many baby boomers, my father had fought the Japanese in a setting not unlike the one in the movie. Back then you couldn't escape the impact the war had made. Although Australia wasn't actually invaded (just bombed around the edges), the aura of what the previous generation did was all pervading.
In the film, Private Sam Gifford (Robert Wagner) is a troubled soldier. Although not stated, he is obviously serving in the Philippines - interestingly there isn't a Filipino in site. Sam has lost his sergeant's stripes and is sent to an outfit up in the hills. Here he encounters 'Waco', the anti-heroic company commander played by Broderick Crawford.
There were other megalomaniacal captains in movies at the time. Gregory Peck as Captain Ahab in "Moby Dick" and James Cagney as Captain Morten in "Mister Roberts" had paved the way, but Broderick Crawford's Captain 'Waco' Grimes just about out-megged them all.
Sam's backstory is seen in flashback. Hailing from a wealthy, Southern land-owning family, he is married to the beautiful daughter of the colonel of his National Guard Unit. However Sam is arrogant and hard on his sharecroppers. His attitude changes when these men become his comrades during the war.
Years later I learnt more about the film. Based on a novel, it is one of the few movies to deal with the 1944-45 Philippines Campaign. It is also one of the few movies to feature differences between National Guard and Regular units of the US army during the war. The politics and rivalries that men recruited from the same area of the United States brought with them to the battlefield provided the drama in this film and also in "Attack", which featured another highly-strung captain played by Eddie Albert.
An unseen star of the film is the music. Along with "The Young Lions" and "In Love and War", the score is one of a trilogy Hugo Friedhofer composed for Fox war movies at the time. One could accomplish great things with one of Hugo's anthems sweeping you along.
For those in the mood, "Between Heaven and Hell" still holds up as a particularly well-made war movie.
It's easy to see why it made an impression. It felt gritty with fairly convincing locations and spectacular CinemaScope action. Like many baby boomers, my father had fought the Japanese in a setting not unlike the one in the movie. Back then you couldn't escape the impact the war had made. Although Australia wasn't actually invaded (just bombed around the edges), the aura of what the previous generation did was all pervading.
In the film, Private Sam Gifford (Robert Wagner) is a troubled soldier. Although not stated, he is obviously serving in the Philippines - interestingly there isn't a Filipino in site. Sam has lost his sergeant's stripes and is sent to an outfit up in the hills. Here he encounters 'Waco', the anti-heroic company commander played by Broderick Crawford.
There were other megalomaniacal captains in movies at the time. Gregory Peck as Captain Ahab in "Moby Dick" and James Cagney as Captain Morten in "Mister Roberts" had paved the way, but Broderick Crawford's Captain 'Waco' Grimes just about out-megged them all.
Sam's backstory is seen in flashback. Hailing from a wealthy, Southern land-owning family, he is married to the beautiful daughter of the colonel of his National Guard Unit. However Sam is arrogant and hard on his sharecroppers. His attitude changes when these men become his comrades during the war.
Years later I learnt more about the film. Based on a novel, it is one of the few movies to deal with the 1944-45 Philippines Campaign. It is also one of the few movies to feature differences between National Guard and Regular units of the US army during the war. The politics and rivalries that men recruited from the same area of the United States brought with them to the battlefield provided the drama in this film and also in "Attack", which featured another highly-strung captain played by Eddie Albert.
An unseen star of the film is the music. Along with "The Young Lions" and "In Love and War", the score is one of a trilogy Hugo Friedhofer composed for Fox war movies at the time. One could accomplish great things with one of Hugo's anthems sweeping you along.
For those in the mood, "Between Heaven and Hell" still holds up as a particularly well-made war movie.