Film Forum

(1953, Fred Zinnemann) “If a man don’t go his own way, he’s nothin’.” 1941 at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii: in-for-life private Montgomery Clift refuses to box for the company team despite intense pressure from his slimy captain, then finds romance with club “hostess” Donna Reed; 1^st Sergeant Burt Lancaster “hates officers” but ends up in the surf with captain’s wife Deborah Kerr; while Frank Sinatra’s hot-headed Private Maggio heads for a showdown with Ernest Borgnine’s sadistic stockade chief Sgt. “Fatso” – then suddenly it’s December 7… Thought unfilmable, James Jones’ blockbuster novel was shorn of its profanity, its brothel turned into a “club” and the horrors of the stockade banished off-screen – but the film’s view of the Army remained mighty scabrous and Lancaster & Kerr’s illicit make-out on the beach is still one of the screen’s most iconic sex scenes (“I never knew it could be like this!”). Winner of 8 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Director, Screenplay (Daniel Taradash) and supporting Oscars for Reed and Sinatra, in the role that catapulted him from mere pop idol to bona fide actor: he vigorously campaigned for the part – but not so vigorously as the legend perpetuated by The Godfather; a horse’s head was not part of the negotiations. 4K DCP restoration. Approx. 118 min.

Reviews

“Some of the most commanding characters in American film drama.”
– David Thomson

“What a punch this movie still packs!”
– Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

“An important film from any angle.”
– Variety

“Columbia and a company of sensitive hands have forged a film almost as towering and persuasive as its source… it is being shown on a wide screen and with Stereophonic sound. It does not need these enhancements. It has scope, power and impact without them.”
– A. W., The New York Times