An explosive drama chronicling the turbulent lives of soldiers and their lovers stationed in Hawaii in the days before the attack on Pearl Harbor.
In 1941, Private Prewitt (Montgomery Clift) arrives at his new post in Hawaii, where his refusal to join the company boxing team brings him into immediate conflict with his superiors. While the principled Prewitt endures punishment, the tough First Sergeant Warden (Burt Lancaster) begins a dangerous affair with his captain’s neglected wife, Karen Holmes (Deborah Kerr). Prewitt finds a kindred spirit in the defiant Private Maggio (Frank Sinatra), whose rebellious nature puts him on a collision course with the sadistic Sergeant “Fatso” Judson (Ernest Borgnine). The intersecting lives of these men, each bound by a personal code of honor, spiral towards tragedy as world events encroach on their island outpost.
The film’s legendary status is built on a foundation of pitch-perfect casting, a process fraught with its own drama. Frank Sinatra, his career at a low ebb, campaigned relentlessly for the role of the doomed Maggio and delivered a performance that resurrected his screen career. Deborah Kerr, then known for more reserved English roles, was a daring choice to replace Joan Crawford as the captain’s unfaithful wife, creating one of cinema’s most indelible images in her surf-soaked embrace with Burt Lancaster. Director Fred Zinnemann extracted career-defining work from his entire ensemble; Montgomery Clift’s haunted portrayal of the principled Prewitt is a masterclass in tormented integrity. The film’s power comes from this collision of talent, turning James Jones’s novel into a blistering examination of men living and dying by their self-imposed codes.
Production Co: Columbia / 118 mins / 1953
Director: Fred Zinnemann
Producer: Buddy Adler
Screenplay: Daniel Taradash
Cinematography: Burnett Guffey
Music: George Duning
Main Cast: Burt Lancaster (1st Sgt. Milton Warden), Montgomery Clift (Pvt. Robert E. Lee ‘Prew’ Prewitt), Deborah Kerr (Karen Holmes), Frank Sinatra (Pvt. Angelo Maggio), Donna Reed (Alma ‘Lorene’ Burke), Ernest Borgnine (Sgt. James R. ‘Fatso’ Judson)
