As a comparison to Saving Private Ryan, we do not have a contrived plot of finding the last living son of Mrs. Ryan, to whom rear area General Marshall does not want to have to explain the deaths of all her sons. Walk in the Sun has a simple plot; a platoon of the Texas Division must take a farm house as part of the Allied attack on Anzio. Sometimes simpler is better. Walk in the Sun is a superior movie with the danger and gore of combat leavened with superb character development by masterful director Lewis Milestone. The most recent movie comparable to this one is Spielberg's WWII effort Saving Private Ryan. Special effects aside, Walk in the Sun is the better of the two.
The scene opens on a landing craft, with the company poising for its assault on Salerno. Crouching in the boat, characters already begin to appear, John Ireland, the preacher's son, writing letters in his head, hoping later to write them down; Machine gunner Richard Conte, asking for a butt from Friedman (George Tyne) every time he turns around. Lloyd Bridges, the farmer, dreaming of finding an apple; Dana Andrews, fingers his rifle and nervously waits while smoking a cigarette; Cracked voiced Sterling Holloway dozes while waiting for the order that will propel him forward into the breach. Low brow Huntz Hall dreams of schooners of beer, back in the Bowery. The lieutenant gazes toward the coastline while shells throw up splashes around the boat. Suddenly the lieutenant is down, the platoon sergeant calls medic Sterling Holloway who examines the commander. Half his face is gone is the diagnosis. The platoon sergeant is now in charge.
He orders his platoon with sergeants Andrews, Bridges, and Herbert Rudley to advance 100 yards inland and dig in. He will join them later. The men advance with no opposition, but the platoon sergeant never shows up. Medic Holloway meets Dana Andrews and tells him the lieutenant died, and the platoon sergeant died. This puts Rudley in charge.
The men already know their objective, a farmhouse six miles inland through the German lines. Andrews had been carrying the map case so they had the maps. They set off down the road under Rudley's command. Continuous character development has been and continues to take place. We learn that Conte and Tyne are both New Yorkers who spend their time in a perpetual wisecracking contest. Bridges examines the soil and says its worn out. Ireland says it's probably because of all the soldiers who have marched over it over the years. Suddenly a Messerschmidt strafes the road, passing back over several times. The troops jump into a nearby ditch, but it's too late for some of them, including Sterling Holloway. Milestone uses great restraint in the violent scenes, preferring to suggest it rather than overtly show it. A close up of a still hand, partially clenched is enough to give the impression he wants. Rudley decides they will continue the march off the road, next to the ditch. They soon send the bazooka men a mile in advance to ward off any tanks the Germans are sure to throw at them. Suddenly an armored car whizzes past the column. The men scatter and set up an ambush with grenades and machine guns. The car returns and it taken out, but the strain is too much for Rudley, who collapses and begins crying. Dana Andrews takes over and appoints Ireland to lead his old squad.
The platoon reaches the farmhouse through the woods. They halt and reconnoiter. Andrews had left his binoculars back on the beach with Holloway's body, so a patrol had to check out the house to see if it was occupied. Lloyd Bridges leads the patrol only to be repulsed by machinegun fire. Two more men lost. Andrews comes up with the idea that Bridges will take his squad behind the house and blow up a bridge across a nearby stream, then open fire on the house. They hope the attack will draw the fire of the Germans then Andrews and the rest of the platoon will charge the house. The plan works. The charge on the house runs into withering machinegun fire, which could have served as Spielberg's inspiration for his D-Day scene -- the same camera angles and everything. It gives you an appreciation for what it must have been like to rush an objective like our soldiers did. Many of the troops perish in the assault, but the platoon takes the objective.
The music fades on a shot of John Ireland walking towards the house, writing a letter in his head to a dead soldier's mother. Lloyd Bridges is eating an apple. Other troops are coming out of the house with food and wine, smiling. They are taking five before looking forward to their next objective.
Milestone showed great sensitivity in his portrayal of the fighting GI. Each one had a personality, and each one had dignity. The lighting and camera angles made artistic compositions of the soldier's faces. The dialog was witty and fast moving.
This is a World War II picture to see, if only to see how a director who cares can do one.
A Walk In The Sun - Dvd - George Turner,dick Daniels,malcolm O'giuinn,ted Offenbecker,grant Maiben,jay Norris,john Kellogg,harry Cline,don Summers,llo...More at Target
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