dougdoepke As I recall, our small town's prestige theater was packed, even to the back row of the balcony where I had to sit. But who cared. Word was that shapely Dorothy Malone (Elaine) did a strip tease in a chair, and just the thought of a girl bra-less on screen was enough to bring out every horny high school guy in town. Plus, the title promised all the neat battle scenes that teens in the '50's confused with real war. I don't think any of us were disappointed after leaving the theatre. Then again, a little Malone skin went a long way.Seeing the movie again, I realize how many years have passed and how people change. Now the 2-hours-plus seem tedious and transparent, a typical Hollywood whitewash of the time, with stock characters and clichéd situations. It's like the producers wanted to touch every boy-girl base possible, and they do. I'm just puzzled the movie wasn't titled "Mating Cry" since that's where the screen time really is; only the last 10-minutes or so involve battle scenes and that amounts to either artillery explosions or fixing bayonets.I'm sure enlistments went up following the film's release. Looks like Warner Bros. got maximal assistance from the Corps at Camp Pendleton—lots of massed troop scenes and colorful beach landings. And why not since the film's sum total plays like a recruitment poster. The trouble is this was just this type of Hollywood hokum that helped create the disconnect 10-years later between what Americans expected in Vietnam and the stark realities of what they got. And therein lies the irony of that long ago theater night—the glamorized deceptions of a Battle Cry plus its many 50's kin ended up costing a lot of folks more than what they paid at the box office.

welsa At least three times during this film there are references to, and actual sequences of, the Navajo Code Talkers in action. They scenes are done very well, in my opinion. But, this movie was made in 1955 and the existence of the code talkers was not declassified until 1968? How could they have made their way into this film at that time? Was there no objection from the Pentagon? I realize that Uris was in WWII but it still seems odd that these scenes got included without some hue and cry. I've tried searching the internet and have not been able to find any reference to a controversy over this. Still, I'm glad the scenes were included as they were much better done than in the later film WINDTALKERS.

MARIO GAUCI For all its box-office potential (notable credits, star cast, epic production), this WWII effort in color and widescreen does not seem to enjoy that much of a reputation. Having watched it for myself, I can understand why: the film spends a great chunk of its nearly 2½ hours exploring (or is that exploiting?) the dreary love lives of the various members of a marine unit; this atypical approach may prevent the film from being yet another routine actioner, but, it does come perilously close to soap opera at times – which is worse! Director Walsh was an action expert but, as I said, here this element is relegated to the last 20 minutes or so; popular novelist Leon Uris's screen adaptation of his own novel was by all accounts a watered-down affair (actually common practice for Hollywood at the time). Incidentally, Walsh would helm the similarly mild film of a classic war novel by another renowned author – Norman Mailer's THE NAKED AND THE DEAD (1958), for which he 'recalled into service' a number of actors from BATTLE CRY itself. The cast, then, includes established and up-and-coming stars: Van Heflin (despite being top-billed his role is virtually that of an observer), Dorothy Malone, Raymond Massey (a mere cameo), Nancy Olson, Aldo Ray (who comes off best) and James Whitmore (basically retreading – albeit effectively – his Oscar-nominated role in BATTLEGROUND [1949]) in the former category and William Campbell, Anne Francis, Tab Hunter, L.Q. Jones (formerly Justus McQueen, he stuck to his character's name here professionally thereafter!), Perry Lopez and Fess Parker in the latter. The narrative features, at least, three ongoing romances: Tab Hunter is even involved with two women (Mona Freeman, absurdly third-billed, and an unlikely dalliance with frustrated Dorothy Malone), bookworm John Lupton has an even less believable relationship with floozie Anne Francis, while tough/beefy Aldo Ray demonstrates his sensitive side when he falls for New Zealander Nancy Olson. These are developed intermittently between the training sessions and the aforementioned climactic action bout (which despite some obvious stock footage is fairly well handled on a grand scale); joining the various dots, as it were, within this episodic structure is Whitmore's sympathetic narration.

greenstone110 My father was a Marine and a writer for the entertainment section of the Stars & Stripes. My dad, Staff Sargent Charles R. Cain, my mom, and sister and I, went daily, to where outside scenes were being rehearsed and filmed. I was 6 yrs. old. My dad and L.Q. became long time friends. My dad still has letters from Mr. Jones. In one he writes that he can't imagine himself in a mustache. Years later he did wear a mustache. It looks great! At one point during a scene, a rattlesnake made it's unwanted appearance. The filmmakers and actors were at a momentary loss about how to take care of the matter, so my dad, being the ham that he is, grabbed the snake behind the head and carried it off beyond harms way. On another assignment, Jack Webb offered my dad a part in the movie "The D.I." but my dad turned it down. That's part of the reason we're not rich and famous today.