Great film

Rating: 9/10 (21 January 2019)

This is one of those films that seems perfect for the period. It has a few larger than life moments, starting with that iconic beach kissing scene, which is fabulous. It puts the lives of a group of soldiers, all far from perfect, as well as two love stories into the backdrop of the year leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Lives are torn apart not only by conflicting desires, but by this big moment of history which looms for most of the film, giving it an epic feeling.
The cast is fantastic, and very deep. Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed, Montgomery Clift, Burt Lancaster, Frank Sinatra, Ernest Borgnine, and several others in supporting roles, my god. Clift is the strongest actor in the group, such a natural, and in that first wave of method actors that included Marlon Brando and James Dean. Lancaster is perfectly cast, with that frame and jawline of his, and he delivers a very strong performance too. I also liked how Kerr and Reed were cast counter to their usual types.
The film critiques the Army, and at a pretty surprising time - not so long after WWII, and during the period of McCarthyism and the Red Scare. The commanding officer has a new solder (Clift) hazed because he doesn't want to fight for the regiment's boxing team. The men carouse heavily, getting drunk and visiting hostess bars (a Code-required softening of the brothels that they actually are). A couple of them go AWOL, to their own peril. The sergeant in charge of the stockade (Borgnine) is sinister and administers cruel beatings in retribution for past arguments. The love interests that form - a sergeant (Lancaster) for his commanding officer's wife (Kerr), and a soldier (Clift) for a prostitute (Reed) - are far from innocent. And yet these are the people who will rally when the country is attacked.
There is a vision of a generation being presented here, and at its heart is a scrappy toughness. Clift is mentally very strong as he takes the abuse, but sticks to his principles (he doesn't want to box anymore because he blinded someone in the ring once). We don't see this on the screen, but we're told that Sinatra takes repeated beatings and responds by spitting in Borgnine's face each time. Lancaster sticks up for his men in bar fights, and is the epitome of the perfect Army man - intelligent, resourceful, and managing upwards as well as commanding downwards. All of them drink heavily. Kerr calls her husband out for his adultery, sleeps separately from him, and goes out and has an affair of her own. Reed moved to Hawaii from Oregon on her own to make enough money to return and settle down, and even here we see shrewdness and courage. All of these characters have an edge to them. "Gimme a nail," Sinatra says, asking for a cigarette, referring to a nail in the coffin because of the dangers of smoking. "Ain't you ever seen a dead man?" barks Lancaster to a group of his soldiers, and of course, to many of this generation, they had. In aggregate I think there is a sense of pride on display, even in the face of the flaws of the Army and these characters, but it seems on the whole honest to me. It was a time when heroes rose to the occasion, but the film does not sugar coat them as people.
Unfortunately, the treatment of women isn't always exemplary, despite Kerr standing up to her husband. That famous beach scene segues to Lancaster jealously questioning her about her past lovers, and the double standard is soon on full display. In a smaller scene, the men ogle and comment about a waitress (Moana Gleason, who is one of very few Hawaiian actors in the cast, and even this role is teeny).
Despite the production code, the film gives us plenty of edgy material, most notably the adultery and abuses of the military. At the same time, quite a bit of the original novel was excised: the abuse toned down, profanity removed, prostitutes being transformed into hostesses, and the real reason for the commanding officer's wife not being able to conceive again altered. I didn't really have a problem with any of that. The biggest issue was with changes made to the ultimate fate of the commanding officer, which was unfortunate but not something that derailed the film.
The film may seem to wander a bit while director Fred Zinnemann advances the various story lines, but it never lags. There are lots of very good scenes and memorable moments. Clift dolefully playing taps to the company at night. The calendar being revealed in the background, when we may have lost track of or be unaware of what's coming (as I was, long ago, when I first saw the film). Sinatra rolling a pair of olives at the bar as if they were dice. And Lancaster and Kerr's comments to one another when they realize the limits of their affair, despite the passion they share: "I have never been as miserable as I am since I met you, he says, and she replies, "Neither have I." "I wouldn't trade a minute of it," he says, and she agrees, "Neither would I."
Great film, and as a side note, if you ever get a chance, I recommend venturing down to the beach at Halona Cove on Oahu. It's well worth re-imagining those moments from the film's most famous scene, and climbing on the rocks we see in the background.