Under-appreciated? More like "forgotten". I had never heard of *In Harm's Way* before I caught it on TCM this weekend. It seems really odd that this movie is virtually unknown, considering the star-studded cast headed by the Duke himself. A movie in which Kirk Douglas gets SECOND billing should have been a big deal, for good or ill.
*In Harm's Way* is a very long Navy melodrama about the Pacific theater in World War II, beginning with the attack on Pearl Harbor. Doubtless it attempts to outdo its prime inspiration, *From Here to Eternity*, and perhaps it succeeds. John Wayne plays Captain Rock Torrey (a PERFECT name for Wayne), who gets demoted because he dared to initiate aggressive maneuvers during the Pearl Harbor attack. His ship gets torpedoed by a sub, and he ends up behind a desk in Hawaii, marking time. Meanwhile, he befriends a tough middle-aged nurse played (perfectly) by Patricia Neal. But their romance will be interrupted when the Navy brass come to their senses and reinstall Wayne into active duty, with full promotion to Rear Admiral. Interrupted, but not forgotten: the movie's long running-time helps to generate interest in their relationship, which moves from cynical, "better-make-hay-while-the-sun-shines" tentativeness toward tender love.
Yes, Wayne loves tenderly in this picture, and it's a shame that he wasn't given more characters like Rock in which to explore these elements in his persona. He's not so much a "man of action" here as he is a man of thought: he's a planner, not a doer. Unusual stuff for Wayne, but he pulls it off and makes it all look pretty effortless. For those who continue to say that the man couldn't act, watch how he eats alive Henry Fonda -- a critics' favorite -- in a terribly performed (and accented) cameo as the chief commander of the Pacific. Needless to say, strong women tended to improve Wayne's work as well, and Neal is about as strong as they come. (It's as if Wayne was instinctively bored by human weakness. He always comes alive when confronted by strength.)
The movie features several subplots within Wayne's periphery, most notably Kirk Douglas as Wayne's preferred second-in-command and substitute son who has terrible luck with women. We realize from his introduction that something is inherently wrong with Douglas, but it's still something of a shock to witness the final depravity to which he sinks. Wayne will be forced to bestow his fatherly instincts on his actual son (Brandon de Wilde), whom he abandoned years earlier after the divorce from the mother.
And there's the War, of course. Preminger is handicapped by a lack of technology for the naval battles at the end of the movie, resorting to toy destroyers and carriers and PT boats bobbing in a tank. But this is the sort of thing to which modern-day audiences must make concessions if they are to enjoy older movies, and in any case the integrity of the story is not handicapped by its technical limitations. Besides, Preminger achieves a good deal of realism anyway by shooting many scenes on real locations like Hawaii and San Diego and San Francisco, to say nothing of actual Navy battleships (except during the battle scenes, of course). Those are real swabbies serving as extras, running around on the decks.
Finally, a word to those on this site who say that *In Harm's Way* is little more than a salt's version of *Green Berets*. If this movie is jingoistic, I must've missed it. I found the LACK of flag-waving to be rather startling in a movie starring John Wayne. <SPOILER -- PLEASE DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE -- By movie's end, we see Wayne broken and depressed in a hospital, with an amputated leg, a dead son, a dead substitute son, dead friends, and a dead crew. What has he gained? Guilt and probably irremediable loss. Well, he still has Neal, but one gets the sense that he's hanging on to her like a life preserver rather than as a life-mate. Victory and its attendant glories have come at too high a price for Wayne. Even the cast credits at the end are somewhat shocking, with its roiling sea storms and explosions, finally ending with a detonation of an atomic bomb! *In Harm's Way* may be the most subtle anti-war picture ever made. Those who think otherwise weren't paying close enough attention, in my opinion.>
*In Harm's Way* is a very long Navy melodrama about the Pacific theater in World War II, beginning with the attack on Pearl Harbor. Doubtless it attempts to outdo its prime inspiration, *From Here to Eternity*, and perhaps it succeeds. John Wayne plays Captain Rock Torrey (a PERFECT name for Wayne), who gets demoted because he dared to initiate aggressive maneuvers during the Pearl Harbor attack. His ship gets torpedoed by a sub, and he ends up behind a desk in Hawaii, marking time. Meanwhile, he befriends a tough middle-aged nurse played (perfectly) by Patricia Neal. But their romance will be interrupted when the Navy brass come to their senses and reinstall Wayne into active duty, with full promotion to Rear Admiral. Interrupted, but not forgotten: the movie's long running-time helps to generate interest in their relationship, which moves from cynical, "better-make-hay-while-the-sun-shines" tentativeness toward tender love.
Yes, Wayne loves tenderly in this picture, and it's a shame that he wasn't given more characters like Rock in which to explore these elements in his persona. He's not so much a "man of action" here as he is a man of thought: he's a planner, not a doer. Unusual stuff for Wayne, but he pulls it off and makes it all look pretty effortless. For those who continue to say that the man couldn't act, watch how he eats alive Henry Fonda -- a critics' favorite -- in a terribly performed (and accented) cameo as the chief commander of the Pacific. Needless to say, strong women tended to improve Wayne's work as well, and Neal is about as strong as they come. (It's as if Wayne was instinctively bored by human weakness. He always comes alive when confronted by strength.)
The movie features several subplots within Wayne's periphery, most notably Kirk Douglas as Wayne's preferred second-in-command and substitute son who has terrible luck with women. We realize from his introduction that something is inherently wrong with Douglas, but it's still something of a shock to witness the final depravity to which he sinks. Wayne will be forced to bestow his fatherly instincts on his actual son (Brandon de Wilde), whom he abandoned years earlier after the divorce from the mother.
And there's the War, of course. Preminger is handicapped by a lack of technology for the naval battles at the end of the movie, resorting to toy destroyers and carriers and PT boats bobbing in a tank. But this is the sort of thing to which modern-day audiences must make concessions if they are to enjoy older movies, and in any case the integrity of the story is not handicapped by its technical limitations. Besides, Preminger achieves a good deal of realism anyway by shooting many scenes on real locations like Hawaii and San Diego and San Francisco, to say nothing of actual Navy battleships (except during the battle scenes, of course). Those are real swabbies serving as extras, running around on the decks.
Finally, a word to those on this site who say that *In Harm's Way* is little more than a salt's version of *Green Berets*. If this movie is jingoistic, I must've missed it. I found the LACK of flag-waving to be rather startling in a movie starring John Wayne. <SPOILER -- PLEASE DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE -- By movie's end, we see Wayne broken and depressed in a hospital, with an amputated leg, a dead son, a dead substitute son, dead friends, and a dead crew. What has he gained? Guilt and probably irremediable loss. Well, he still has Neal, but one gets the sense that he's hanging on to her like a life preserver rather than as a life-mate. Victory and its attendant glories have come at too high a price for Wayne. Even the cast credits at the end are somewhat shocking, with its roiling sea storms and explosions, finally ending with a detonation of an atomic bomb! *In Harm's Way* may be the most subtle anti-war picture ever made. Those who think otherwise weren't paying close enough attention, in my opinion.>