That's Montgomery Clift, Honey!

Rating: Null/10 (18 October 2011)

I finally got around to watching this movie after hearing about it for most of my life as a great WWII picture from critics and also from Joe Strummer in the song "The Right Profile" by The Clash referenced in my summary line. Hell, The Clash (or most-likely, some suit at Sony Music) even named their post-breakup album "From Here to Eternity: Live".
I'm not going to describe the plot line, which has been discussed numerous times here already. I'll just say I enjoyed it, and everyone should give it a look at some point.
Rather, I'm going to throw out a few observations from some guy sitting on a couch nearly 60 years after this thing was filmed.
--people were a lot thinner back in the early fifties, and not just the main stars. Look at all the extras in the bar scenes, and you'll agree. I'm sure it had a lot to do with enormous amount of cig. smoking back then, but it sure is noticeable. Ernest Borgnine (perhaps the only main actor from this cast still alive) is known as "Fatso", and he would have to put on about 100 lbs. to be on "The Biggest Loser" these days.
--Frank Sinatra looks like he weighs less than 150 lbs.!
--I had a hard time recognizing Jack Warden, even though he worked steadily in movies for almost 50 years after this film, but Claude Atkins looked exactly like his older self we saw on TV for years.
--was Burt Lancaster the first guy to try out the wax-chested/speedo look which became popular in the SoCal muscle beach movies a decade later?
--Donna Reed won an Oscar for playing a homogenized Hollywood version of a hooker. Why does the Academy always hand out Oscars to actresses who play prostitutes? Anyway, I didn't buy it. She'll always be Mary Bailey to me, the prototype for June Cleaver and every other beautiful housewife we saw on fifties & sixties TV. Donna even played one herself on her own show after this attempt to play against type.
--Finally, Monty Clift was a pretty good actor, but seems to be all but forgotten today. Granted he flamed out early in life, his career wasn't that long and it ended about 50 years ago, but we seem to cherish the other screen icons from his era. I've got some theories as to why this is, but I'd sure like to hear other reasons why he's an afterthought in 2011.