This movie had heaps of potential, just a pity the execution was so clumsy.
Very gritty and realistic war movie, especially for 1967. At that time war movies painted a very romanticized view of war. Here we get to see the horrors of it.
Not only that, but writer-director-actor Cornel Wilde tries to humanize the soldiers, showing them in more peaceful times, and their thoughts and motivations. Even more ambitiously, he attempts to do this for soldiers on both sides, American and Japanese.
However, there's intentions, and then there's deeds. The actual execution is very clumsy. The attempt to show the human side of the soldiers is mostly a failure. The daydream-bubble-like home sequences don't really give away much of the soldiers' characters. It's like watching several unconnected home movies, and very bland ones at that. Plus, Wilde does this so often and for so many soldiers you end up with (bland) information overload, and the interjections become irritating.
There is also an attempt to show nature as counterpoint to war, but this is half-heartedly done.
Performances are mostly pretty poor, and are another aspect that brings the movie down. Wilde is so-so in the lead role. Rip Torn gives probably the best performance of the movie, but still seems one- dimensional. Worst of the lot is Burr Debenning as Egan - incredibly irritating and unconvincing.
Terrence Malick would later successfully execute the ideas of daydream sequences to humanize soldiers and nature as counterpoint to war in "The Thin Red Line" (1998). You can see the influences of this movie in that production. That might be Beach Red's lasting legacy, and that only.
Very gritty and realistic war movie, especially for 1967. At that time war movies painted a very romanticized view of war. Here we get to see the horrors of it.
Not only that, but writer-director-actor Cornel Wilde tries to humanize the soldiers, showing them in more peaceful times, and their thoughts and motivations. Even more ambitiously, he attempts to do this for soldiers on both sides, American and Japanese.
However, there's intentions, and then there's deeds. The actual execution is very clumsy. The attempt to show the human side of the soldiers is mostly a failure. The daydream-bubble-like home sequences don't really give away much of the soldiers' characters. It's like watching several unconnected home movies, and very bland ones at that. Plus, Wilde does this so often and for so many soldiers you end up with (bland) information overload, and the interjections become irritating.
There is also an attempt to show nature as counterpoint to war, but this is half-heartedly done.
Performances are mostly pretty poor, and are another aspect that brings the movie down. Wilde is so-so in the lead role. Rip Torn gives probably the best performance of the movie, but still seems one- dimensional. Worst of the lot is Burr Debenning as Egan - incredibly irritating and unconvincing.
Terrence Malick would later successfully execute the ideas of daydream sequences to humanize soldiers and nature as counterpoint to war in "The Thin Red Line" (1998). You can see the influences of this movie in that production. That might be Beach Red's lasting legacy, and that only.