Here are characters we don't care about, having nothing happening to them, coming to an unhappy ending in which everyone looses. This is the quintessential neurotic film of the 1950's.

While I was wearing out my first copy of Sarris's American Cinema, checking off his top films for each year, most people I know were calling films like this one a "Great Movie!". I was confused. How can a film like this - acknowledged "Great Movie" - rank so low chez Sarris? Meanwhile, I guess I became a cinema snob. Watched hundreds and hundreds of films, but never saw most of those "AFI Classics". Well, thank you Turner Classic Movies - you're like one big mopping - up operation! Checking 'em off, one by one...This one? A classic Ersatz Masterpiece. If Iconic Acting equals Great Movie, then it's Great Movie. But it doesn't - not really...However, as Auteurism recedes into history, you can love those Suffering Stonefaces for the icons that they are. The Gravitas of Burt Lancaster. It's downright operatic.The Pained Intensity of Montgomery Clift. You know he was in the closet! Did you hear that? And he messed up his face! The photography is yummy, too.This movie isn't about anything. Even people who like it a lot admit that it doesn't really have much directorial POV. And the thing in the surf is really short. But maybe that's actually genius: having a two - second shot that becomes so classic. Maybe that's "restraint". Is it?Was I entertained? Sort of...I guess. I'm actually not so sure what that even means anymore. If I'm engaged I'm entertained. I stuck through it, so...who knows. OK TCM and AFI List, bring on Shane and A Place In The Sun!

I watched this movie again today (maybe 5th time over the years) and it still stands up as an excellent character-driven movie. All of the actors, including those with small parts, perform so well, but the leads are just superb. Sinatra made a number of great movies, but I think Maggio was one of his best characters. It's how you think Sinatra might have been had he actually been in the Army back then for real. The final scene on the boat with Deborah Kerr and Donna Reed is very poignant. Both have major regrets, but for such different reasons. Even in her grief, Lorene talks up Prewitt's military role and the cause of his death, demonstrating her real feelings for the man. Very moving.

"A man should be what he can do." 'From Here to Eternity' (1953) embodies a whole new glimpse on U.S. history film all on its own. Shot in glorious black and white with a sharp, savvy screenplay and directed by the great Fred Zinnemann, (who had directed High Noon a year prior,) does this picture accurately capture the life of the soldiers that are stationed on the Schofield Barracks on the Hawaiian island of Oahu in late 1941? Let's take a look. Entering into the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, thus beginning World War II and while waiting around on the island, it is revealed to the viewer the soldier's emotions of boredom and utter loneliness. The film stars many popular actors of the day. Montgomery Clift plays Private Robert E. Lee Prewitt, transferred to the barracks of Oahu. There, Captain Dana Holmes, played by Philip Ober, learns of his talent as a talented boxer and pressures him into joining a regimental boxing club in which Prewitt stubbornly rejects. 1st Sergeant Milton Warden, played by Burt Lancaster, agrees to change Prewitt's mind by making his life as difficult as possible. Prewitt is also supported by his friend Private Angelo Maggio throughout, played by Frank Sinatra.In discussing the history portrayed, it tells the viewer that it was designed to show a world that, even though tropical and lush, would soon unfold near the end into traumatic chaos and destruction. It was shown at a time just before the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor where young soldiers were sent off to be stationed far away, and not one of them really knew what was going to happen or what the next day would bring forth. World War II was indeed on the deadly brink of a surprise attack, and every American soldier knew that they had to be on their guard nonetheless.In prevailing attitudes/prejudices that were noticeable, one example would be the constant squabbling and rough-necking between Maggie and the bigoted Staff Sergeant James R. "Fatso" Judson, played by Ernest Borgine. One night, Prewitt and Maggio are in a bar and Maggio is so inebriated that, according to him, "Fatso" is playing the piano too loudly in the background. This ensues into Maggio and "Fatso" almost having at it in the middle of the bar, only to be broken up by Prewitt. But their bantering does not end there. Later on in the film, their disdain for each other unfolds into a knife fight in a back alley, in which Maggio winds up in the stockade by "Fatso" for antagonizing him. "Fatso" beats the new prisoner repeatedly until Maggio escapes to find Prewitt and then tells him of all the pain he has endured and then dies in his arms. Prewitt sets out to find "Fatso" and kills him in revenge with a knife fight, and Prewitt receives a sharp slash across the stomach in return. He is later shot by a sentry after coming out of hiding.In describing historical accuracy, it probably comes close as to where the soldiers and recruits are just marching or hanging out and enjoying the paradise around them. Many of them back then may as well have done that. However, the locations was a beautiful oasis, and the surprise attack neat the end of the film comes very close to an accurate depiction. The side-angles of the planes zooming in or overhead dropping bombs were amazing effects, as well as guns being fired by the soldiers and the loud explosions of shells going off everywhere on the island. The air once filled with a tropical breeze was now choked in the thick black smog of war. The time period itself was quite accurate too, even though it was twelve years after the actual event had occurred. And the barracks looked just like they would have that the soldiers were stationed in. Nonetheless, great accuracy and detail throughout the picture.My overall reaction towards this film is that it is one of Zinneman's best. His directorial persistence and settings in this film are as only he can do them. The film was indeed worth watching. Some parts were slow and mushy, including the famous love scene on the beach portrayed by Lancaster and Deborah Kerr laying on the sand as a wave crashes over them, to brutish as Maggio and "Fatso" duel it out with a knife fight at night in a black alley. The most action is near the end of the film with the famous surprise attack on Pearl Harbor itself, when air raid sirens are blaring and gun shots and explosions light up the tropical sky. It is, after all, a classic World War II movie masterpiece, with intriguing action, fight scenes, romance and explosions. How I reacted to the film as a moviegoer was for me, quite a unique experience. I really had no idea what I was in for. I actually felt the hardships and loneliness of the soldiers being stuck on the island, not knowing what would happen or when they would return home. I also felt the horrors of the surprise attack when the bombs where booming and the blood was flowing. All in all, a great movie experience.'From Here to Eternity' was one of the greatest films on U.S. history that I had the privilege of viewing. I thoroughly enjoyed the plot, the actors and actresses and the beautiful settings portrayed, filled with action, flair and horrific atrocities and aftermath of war. The film had thirteen nominations and won eight Academy Awards. Every detail and precision in this film paid off magnificently. A film unique among films, this truly is a must-see for all U.S. history film buffs or for anyone who wants to experience the same pleasure and gratification I had personally gained from watching this wonderful classic motion picture about friendships, romance and war, thanks to Mr. Zinneman and Mr. James Jones novel-turned-feature as well.