From Here To Eternity: A Movie for Pearl Harbor Day
/Here’s a great old movie to watch in remembrance of the attack on Pearl Harbor, 80 years ago today.
movie posters sure were different in the 1950’s
From Here to Eternity (1953 NR)
This movie follows the lives of US Army soldiers stationed in Hawaii in the days leading up to the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, leading to WWII.
Why should you watch it?
It won 8 Academy Awards, out of 13 nominations (including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress).
It is included among the American Film Institute's list of the Top 100 Greatest American Movies.
It is included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die," edited by Steven Schneider.
It is included among the American Film Institute's list of the Top 100 America's Greatest Love Story Movies.
It has something for everyone - romance, bromance, fighting, great clothes, very good looking men and women, conflict, honor, army pride, music, humor, tragedy.
But, you say, it’s in black and white.
Watch this movie anyway!!!
Of all the battles director Fred Zinnemann had to fight with the Columbia front office, the one he was proudest of winning was against "the boys in New York"--the sales department. The marketing people thought the film would gross at least an extra million if it were shot in color, but Zinnemann was able to persuade producer Harry Cohn that black and white was more suitable for the film's stark, gritty themes and that color would have softened and trivialized it.
This 3 minute video clip doesn’t give away any spoilers.
A few things stand out about From Here to Eternity.
While it is an army movie, the movie is mostly about forbidden love, friendship, and not backing down when you are mistreated.
Watching the movie with today’s eyes makes the mistreatment the Army allows seem quite appalling. Try watching and understanding the perspective of an audience who lived World War 2.
This movie popularized Hawaiian shirts!
Frank Sinatra is super scrawny! And he can really act.
I’ve written about local Pearl Harbor survivors before. Click on the image to see that page.
A San Diego, California, historian has compiled stories of Pearl Harbor survivors who live locally, and those who perished on that day and are buried in San Diego cemeteries. Read her compelling stories here!
“We are right in the midst of all of it.”
True pearl harbor distruction, december 7 1941