From Here to Eternity

After requesting a transfer, Private Robert E. Lee Prewitt (Montgomery Clift) is stationed at an army base in Hawaii 1941.   There, Officer Dana Holmes (Philip Ober) hears of his boxing reputation and wants him to represent his unit.  Robert refuses and tries to hide his haunting past about his time in the ring.  In order to break him into boxing again, Holmes makes Robert’s life a living hell and puts him on the most grueling details.

Robert’s friend, free spirited Private Angelo Maggio (Frank Sinatra), helps him blow off some steam in their free time by taking him to a social club where Robert falls in love with one of the employees (Donna Reed).  While there, Angelo gets in fights with  ‘Fatso’ Judson (Ernest Borgnine), the stockade Sergeant.  When Angelo goes AWOL, Fatso makes sure he’s severely punished, but things go too far.

Behind all of this, Sergeant Milton Warden (Burt Lancaster) starts a romantic relationship with Officer Holmes’ wife, Karen (Deborah Kerr).  We learn of her strained marriage filled with tragedy and begin to approve of this affair.  As the two become deeper in love, Karen hatches a plan for Milton to become an Officer and be stationed back in the states where she’ll follow after divorcing.  It all seems so perfect, until the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor.

The film is based on the novel by James Jones, who witnessed the attack on Pearl Harbor.  From Here to Eternity is considered the first of his life’s war experience trilogy, The Thin Red Line and Whistle complete it.

The most memorable scene of this film is when Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr are in the throws of romance in the Hawaiian surf.  There is swelling music and the sounds of waves crashing over the two as they embrace.  It really pushed to the limit of romantic scenes in the 1950’s.   The way Deborah suddenly runs, throws herself on her back in the sand, I feel like today that quick burst of passionate energy and motion would only be replaced with a cheap boob-shot.   Burt’s naturally awesome hair is dripping all over, he’s got nothing but those tight little trunks on and he just falls to his knees beside her, surely some prudent mothers urged their daughters to avert their eyes.  To this day, the scene still holds it’s merit in sex appeal, simply because it is so iconic and classy.

While From Here to Eternity is not the sort of Oscar winning picture that I personally found in the realm of greatness, it is very good and, in my opinion, the best of the 1953 nominations.  The film won the Oscars for screenplay, sound, cinematography, editing, director and picture.  Donna Reed and Frank Sinatra also picked up Supportive Acting Oscars.  Next time you feel the itch to watch Pearl Harbor, let me suggest From Here to Eternity instead.  There’s less mush and more compelling story, even with lines like this:

“Nobody ever kissed me the way you do.”

Marty

You can people watch for hours and see who’s real and who’s just putting on an act.  Marty is like watching one of the real people, with heart, fire, problems and real character.  The film and character, Marty, are confident in who they are and in the end, they don’t have to stoop to the levels of their peers.  Some of the color films of 1955 are like watching teenagers put on an act for their friends; pathetic and irritating.

You see, Marty (Ernest Borgnine) is a thirty-four year old butcher, the oldest kid in his family and the only one not married.  He seems to hear every day that he aught to be ashamed not finding a girl yet.  The poor guy has just about had enough.

His gang of bachelor friends aren’t much help to him.  They hang around the dinner or house like a bunch of teenage boys.  They look at girlie magazines, eat off each other’s plates and can never decide what to do on Saturday night.  None of them would make a descent wing-man.

Now, Marty’s problem with girls isn’t just his boyish friends, but it seems that the ladies are just not into him.  His stout physique and pug-like features don’t exactly draw the ladies.  Sadly, he realizes this all too well and it’s a real discouragement.  One of the most revealing and heart-wrenching scenes is when Marty calls up a girl he met a while ago.  The camera stays on Marty the whole time and we only here his half of the conversation.  We don’t have to hear exactly what she says to know she’s just trying to blow him off, the hurt is all over poor Marty’s downcast eyes and in his voice.

Though he’s obviously depressed at the rejection, Marty’s mother (Esther Minciotti) doesn’t want him to mope around the house this Saturday night.  She suggests he go dancing at the Stardust, where his brother-in-law says “it’s full of tomatas.”  After a painful argument from Marty, he gives up and goes out, just expecting heartache.

At the Stardust, we meet a girl who seems to be a female Marty.  Clara (Betsy Blair), a twenty-nine year old schoolteacher, practically an old maid, is on a blind date.  The guy she’s with is so disappointed in her, that he offers Marty five bucks to take her home, so he don’t have to.  Marty is appalled at how cold that is and declines, but keeps an eye out to see what happens to her.  When poor Clara realizes her date is trying to, she goes out to the roof and cries.  Marty can sure relate, so he goes to talk to her and they spend the whole night talking together.

The next day, while Marty is on cloud nine about Clara, everyone else is sour.  You see, Marty’s sister and brother-in-law have been having some marriage trouble and they blame it on the mother-in-law, Aunt Cathrine living with them.  That day, Aunt Cathrine is moving in with Marty and his mother.  To make matters worse, his mother doesn’t care for Clara after their brief encounter, afraid that she will one day kick her out of her own house.  Misery loves company and with his friends calling Clara “a real dog” he’s not sure if he should call her up on a second date.

Ernest Borgnine is absolutely brilliant and lovable as Marty.  He shows us the heartache and pain of rejection so well that we just want to give him a hug.  When he’s found Clara, our heart lifts in celebration with him.  The best thing about Marty is that he’s one of the nicest guys you will ever meet.  The way he talks to Clara about his parents and his realistic ideas on beauty and marriage is wonderfully insightful and shows how all those color films fail spectacularly at portraying healthy love.  That Oscar for Best Actor is well deserved.

Marty is a beautifully simple film about patience, heartache and finding love on real values.  The dialogue feels real, never mushy or wooden.  Every actor’s face is full of pure human expression.  And every shot is thought out beautifully and layered without one detail out of place.  Marty is not your typical ridiculous romance novel love story, but we can believe in, smile and feel good about.  Even more important, the film is a portrait of Marty in the turning point of his life.  And the best part is, Marty is the kind of person who really deserves a happy ending.

“You know, us dogs aren’t really so much of the dogs that we think we are.”