Truly Excellent; Not Exactly the War Movie You Might Expect

Rating: 10/10 (24 October 2005)

How others have rated this movie any less than 10-"stars" eludes me. Combine uniformly terrific acting from all involved, an excellent script, keen editing and directing with beautiful visuals, and you do have the 10-star movie that won so many awards. Every acting job is measured and believable, whether Lancaster's just-let-me-do-my-job introverted bullheadedness to Kerr's not-quite-the-Captain's-slut-wife to Sinatra's multi-dimensional kid-from-home-with-an-irrational-chip-on-his-shoulder to Clift's I'm-smarter'n'subtler-than-James-Dean-defiance to Reed's putting-on-airs-(up)country-girl-at-heart...it's all there. The war scenes are besides the point in this movie. You know there's a war just a'brewing. The real battlefield action happens between the characters in a way so much more important and real than a bunch of bombs dropping to blow up the latest Bruckheimer set. I'll admit the ending strains the movie's own internal logic, but that doesn't take away from its power. There's a war on and not every battlefield is equally as obvious.