Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #217148 in DVD
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English, Japanese
• Running time: 149 minutes

Amazon.com
The most interesting--and entertaining--aspect of this long, episodic World War II drama is that it marked the debut of one Justus E. McQueen, who subsequently took the name of the good ol' Arkansas boy he played in the movie: L.Q. Jones. He's only one of eight or nine Marine recruits who divide the screen time with commanding officer Van Heflin and James Whitmore as a lifer sergeant named Mac, "just Mac," who ramrods their squad and also delivers the movie's overbearing narration. Unfortunately, the narration is necessary to maintain continuity as the CinemaScope production galumphs its way from rounding up the melting-pot cast, to seeing them through basic training and sundry, mostly amatory misadventures in San Diego, to further training in New Zealand, and finally to baptism of fire on Guadalcanal.

Trouble is, among the recruits only McQueen/Jones (whose job is mostly comic relief) and Aldo Ray (as a brawling lumberjack who's never known family life) have any charisma or acting chops--and that's not forgetting Tab Hunter, whose matinee-idol status at the time does not speak well for the '50s. Battle Cry is also a cardinal example of Hollywood's penchant for buying big, lusty, profane bestsellers (by Leon Uris, in this case) and then euphemizing all the lustiness and profanity to appease the censors. Raoul Walsh, the poet laureate of lowdown gusto, does what he can in the circumstances, and as one of the first guys ever to direct a widescreen movie (1930's The Big Trail), he makes the battle scenes roar. --Richard T. Jameson

Customer Reviews

Battle Cry � there�s a lot to see here.
It is surprising how a sprawling war film like this contains so little action. But, don't be disappointed. This film focuses on characterization and characters are plentiful be they ever so stereotypical. James Whitmore as Sgt. Mac, Aldo Ray, Tab Hunter, L. Q. Jones and Perry Lopez as Marine recruits and Dorothy Malone, Anne Francis and Nancy Olsen as their love interests all give standout performances. Max Steiner's patriotic and rousing score is in its full glory. This film is high on good old-fashioned sentimental entertainment. By the film's end the viewer comes to realize many of the sacrifices that were made during this time in history and some of the gloss wears off. As an aside, a deceased acquaintance of mine who served in the US Army 1st Division during the Second World War from North Africa, D-Day to Germany's surrender, found this film to be the best representation of W.W.II military life. That was an exceptional compliment and recommendation for this film from a veteran who was not a Marine and one who fought in the European theatre. This is a good film. This VHS recording sounds very good in stereo.

Be a Marine to be a real man
This movie had a great influence on me when I was young. When I first saw it I was in the age of trying to understand how to be a man. Of course it had to do with being tough. And of course it had to do with being able to fight. And of course it had to do with being able to get the girl.
This movie puts a group of young Marines through boot camp, has them wait and warm up for the war in Australia, and then sends them into combat. Their tough Sergeant Mac ( James Whitmore) who is the narrator of the story tells it all from beginning to end. Their Commanding office Highpockets Huxley(Van Heflin) leads them with a discipline and demandingness. One of the most impressive scenes of the movie has to do with their training march in which bruised and pained they hike for thirty or forty miles or more , and end up singing a song which resounds in my ears to this day."I'm just like a prairie flower, honey, honey, I'm just like a prairie flower, babe, babe. I'm just like a prairie flower, growing wilder by the hour. Honey, Oh baby , mine. Go to your left your right, your left. Go to your left your right. Your left'.
After the training they go into combat in the Pacific,those who have made it through, go home .
Years later from another continent in another country whose Army I have been a part of, though I was never really a combat soldier in it, I think how far even in mind and dream my own life and sense of manhood have come , from the image of the Gyrenes presented in this outstanding and highly enjoyable movie.

Not as good as the book...
I read the book after entering the Corps, in what now seems like both yesterday and decades ago. It is timeless in its protrayal of enlisted Marines. There is a lot more to being a Marine than combat. Unfortunately, a big part of it is boredom and loneliness which this story nails right on the head.

I can add the face of someone I actually knew to every character in this story, including my own. While the situations in the current Corps are more like what is depicted in Full Metal Jacket (Boot Camp) and FoxNews, this is about the individual Marine.

And, since the Author WAS one of us, it is not surprising in its accuracy. It is both a valid representation of Marines in WWII and those presently serving.

But... the book is still much better than the movie.