Sands of Iwo Jima

Sands of Iwo Jima
Original movie poster
Directed by	Allan Dwan
Produced by	Edmund Grainger
Written by	Harry Brown James Edward Grant
Starring	John Wayne John Agar Forrest Tucker Adele Mara
Music by	Victor Young
Distributed by	Republic Pictures
Release date(s)	December 14, 1949 (premiere)
Running time	100 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Sands of Iwo Jima is a 1949 war film that follows a group of United States Marines from training to the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II. It stars John Wayne, John Agar, Adele Mara and Forrest Tucker. The movie was written by Harry Brown and James Edward Grant and directed by Allan Dwan. It was produced by Republic Pictures.

It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (John Wayne), Best Film Editing, Best Sound, Recording (Daniel J. Bloomberg) and Best Writing, Motion Picture Story.

Plot

Tough-as-nails career Marine Sergeant John Stryker (John Wayne) is greatly disliked by the men of his squad, particularly the combat replacements, for the rigorous training he puts them through. He is especially despised by Private Peter Conway (John Agar), the arrogant, college-educated son of an officer under whom Stryker served and admired, and Private Al Thomas (Forrest Tucker), who blames him for his demotion.

When Stryker leads his squad in the invasion of Tarawa, the men begin to appreciate his methods, except Conway, who considers him brutal and unfeeling when he apparently abandons a wounded comrade to the enemy. During the battle, Thomas goofs off when he goes to get ammunition for two comrades, stopping to savor a cup of coffee. As a result, though he brings back coffee for his squadmates, he returns too late — the two Marines, now out of ammunition, are overrun; Hellenpolis is killed, Bass badly wounded. When Stryker discovers the truth, he forces Thomas into a fistfight. This is seen by a passing officer, but Thomas unexpectedly gets Stryker out of trouble for hitting a subordinate by claiming that he was being taught judo. His conscience ravaging him, Thomas breaks down and abjectly apologizes for his dereliction.

Stryker shows his soft side while on leave in Honolulu. He picks up a bargirl and goes to her apartment. He becomes suspicious when he hears somebody in the next room, but when he investigates, all he finds is a hungry baby boy she is supporting the best way she can. He gives the woman — the widow of a marine — all his money and leaves.

Later, during a training exercise, a recruit drops a live hand grenade. Everybody drops to the ground, except Conway, who is distracted reading a letter from his wife. Stryker knocks him down, saving his life, and then proceeds to bawl him out.

Stryker's squad fights in the battle for Iwo Jima, witnessing the iconic flag raising on Mount Suribachi. (The flag used was the actual one raised on Mount Suribachi after the battle. It was loaned by the U.S. Marine Corps Museum in Quantico, Virginia.) Afterward, while the men are resting during a lull in the fighting, Stryker is killed by a sniper. His men find a letter on him, addressed to his son, saying the things he wanted to say, but never got around to.

Cast

• John Wayne as Sgt. John M. Stryker
• John Agar as PFC Peter Conway
• Forrest Tucker as PFC Al Thomas
• Wally Cassell as PFC Benny Regazzi
• James Brown as PFC Charlie Bass
• Richard Webb as PFC Dan Shipley
• Arthur Franz as Corporal Robert Dunne / Narrator
• James Holden as PFC Soames
• Peter Coe as PFC George Hellenpolis
• Richard Jaeckel as PFC Frank Flynn
• William Murphy as PFC Eddie Flynn
• George Tyne as PFC Harris
• Hal Baylor as PFC "Sky" Choynski
• Adele Mara as Allison Bromley
• Julie Bishop as Mary

Actual Marines

Rene Gagnon, Ira Hayes and John Bradley, the three survivors of the five Marines and one Navy corpsman who raised the second flag on Mount Suribachi during the actual battle, appear briefly in the film just prior to the re-enactment. Hayes was also the subject of a film biography, The Outsider, and Bradley the subject of a book by his son James, Flags of Our Fathers.

Also appearing as themselves are 1st Lt. Harold Schrier, who led the flag-raising patrol on Iwo Jima, Col. David M. Shoup, later Commandant of the Marine Corps and recipient of the Medal of Honor at Tarawa, and Lt. Col. Henry P. "Jim" Crowe, commander of the 2nd Battalion 8th Marines at Tarawa, where he earned the U.S. Navy Cross.

Later acknowledgements

Compared to most combat films of its time, Sands of Iwo Jima was fairly nuanced in its view of war and military people. Ironically, many references to it in mass media and popular culture depict it as the quintessential "flag-waving" World War II film. This may have less to do with the movie than with star John Wayne's later identification with conservative politics.

Southern rock band Drive-By Truckers has a song titled "The Sands of Iwo Jima" on its album The Dirty South. It is sung from the perspective of a young boy who loves John Wayne movies. He asks his great-uncle, a World War II veteran, if The Sands of Iwo Jima represents the war properly; the old man smiles, shakes his head and responds, "I never saw John Wayne on the sands of Iwo Jima." Wayne, despite his many roles as a member of the armed forces, never actually served in the military.

In the television show King of the Hill, Sands is the favorite film of Cotton Hill, father of main character Hank Hill. Hank recalls that, during his childhood, his father would travel around Texas searching for showings of this film.

The episode "Call of Silence" in season 2 of NCIS references the film and a documentary as shared background to Marine history and legacy. The episode shows the character Timothy McGee watching the documentary "To the Shores of Iwo Jima" when Anthony DiNozzo comes up and starts talking about the movie Sands of Iwo Jima since parts are from the documentary.

Several of the actors would be re-united in the 1970 western Chisum. John Wayne, John Agar, Forrest Tucker, and Richard Jaeckel.

Idiom

The first recorded use of the phrase "lock and load" is in this film: twice as a metaphor for "get ready to fight" and once as a humorous invitation to drink alcohol (get loaded). As a period term, it similarly appears in the more recent film Saving Private Ryan. Although the original use and implied meaning may be disputed, it typically described preparations for charging the M1 Garand semi-automatic rifle by first locking the bolt back by pulling the charging handle rearward and then loading an 8-round en bloc clip into the now open magazine.

The phrase "lock and load" appears also in "Platoon", uttered by Tom Berenger. The phrase is also spoken in the pilot of the TV series "Tour of Duty" by Terrence Knox, who portrayed Staff Sergeant Zeke Anderson.

External links

• Sands of Iwo Jima at the Internet Movie Database
• Sands of Iwo Jima at the TCM Movie Database
• Sands of Iwo Jima at AllRovi