Interesteg What makes it different from others?

Sexylocher Masterful Movie

SteinMo What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

coolantic Having caught a TV-censored version of Beach Red recently, I was reminded of the impact it made on me when I saw it at the cinema in 1968. It was the support feature, but was so good, I now have no idea what the main film was! Only Spielberg's Duel has had the same effect. Although the movie covered familiar ground it did so in a dramatically different way. We are introduced to members of the battalion, but don't bother trying to remember them. Many will be killed, or dreadfully wounded, within the next 30 minutes. And those who remain are desperate to survive, by any means. We have Captain McDonald, who is perhaps too civilised and naive to be in charge of this Hell. Sergeant Honeywell on the other hand, is in his element. Kill or be killed is surely his motto. He does not see the enemy as human beings. Hence he has no qualms about subduing his equally sadistic Japanese counterpart,by breaking both of his arms! His justification during the exchange with his disapproving captain is the epitome of Machiavellian reasoning. In complete contrast, college boy Cliff knows he will probably have to kill someone and dreads the prospect of hand to hand combat. However, his first kill is an easy one, a stunned soldier staggering away from a bombed out machine-gun nest. Cliff's initial elation is quickly dampened by the realisation that he has taken a human life. This resonates later. Uncouth hillbilly Egan is convinced "They can't get me!" And competent, useful Colombo has a personal agenda. He just wants out. Reasoning that a not-too-serious wound will get him a medal, and a trip stateside. The Japanese, in contrast to many earlier war films, are portrayed with understanding. Even the Colonel is shown to have a human side as he reflects on his lovely wife and children back home. A mature Japanese soldier good-naturedly chides a young recruit for his lack of a beard before tucking-in to a simple bowl of rice while thinking back to his farm and family in Japan. The Americans too have memories during a lull in the fighting and the all-pervading feeling is "Why are we doing this to each other?" Towards the end of the film, the older Japanese soldier is killed by Cliff and Egan and the young recruit confronts them. Egan is killed and the remaining protagonists wound each other. Cliff still has his gun but cannot bring himself to finish off his opponent. Instead he gives him a drink of water and the young man responds by offering Cliff a cigarette. Understanding? Reconciliation? Forget it! The Captain and Honeywell arrive,and shoot the Japanese soldier. And you think what might have been. I wonder if that is what Cornel Wilde had in mind when he made this movie?

Spikeopath Beach Red is directed by Cornel Wilde who also co-adapts the screenplay with Clint Johnston and Don Peters from the writings of Peter Bowman. Wilde also co-stars with Rip Torn, Burr DeBenning, Patrick Wolfe, Jean Wallace and Jaime Sánchez. Filmed in the Philippines, cinematography is by Cecil R. Cooney.A unit of terrified American soldiers attempt to take a beachhead defended by the Japanese army.Unfairly something of an obscure war movie, Beach Red is a raw and uncompromising viewing experience. Narratively it's minimalist, refreshingly so, but the depiction of the horror of war is quite remarkable. The structure favoured by Wilde sees soldiers from both sides have thought flashbacks to other moments in their lives, either with a live action play or a photographic still. This would only work well if the editing is up to standard, thankfully Frank P. Keller (Bullitt) does a marvellous job of splicing in the telling sequences.Not all the dialogue works, even more so these days, but from the savagery of the beachhead landing to the bleak finale where cigarettes and water strike deep emotional chords, Beach Red is enthralling. While it's influence, as war movie buffs will know, is obvious. 8/10

rightwingisevil this is perhaps one of the worst war movies of WWII i've ever watched. there are so many lags and seemingly lapped scenes that stalled and dragged periodically, like the film maker didn't know what to do next. the attack on the island beach by the marines was poorly executed. marines like this bad could not have won the war against japs. the script was so bad, the performance of all the actors, known or unknown were all bad mainly because of the lame screenplay and the poor directing job. the shootings and bombarding between the marines and the japs were also looked so lame and poorly arranged. most of the scenes just looked so fake and not shockingly believable at all. in between the battle scenes, the screenplay stupidly inserted lot of Luke-warm civilian lives of those marines. the most stupid scenes in this film were the camera man who seemed to immune to all bullets, and some of the commanding officers also seemed to be bullet-proof, they stood up in the battle field, giving orders to those marine to charge forward, they stood tall and straight with all the bullets whistling around them, while those grunts hit by the bullets and fell around these commanding officer and the camera man, they never got even a scratch. the dialog also was so lame, not just among the g.i.s, but also for the japs. one of the other stupid scene was that American tanks seemed to be poorly trained for combat, their canons almost never hit the targets, and their presence never empowered the American force during this beach invasion. soldier-actors were poorly administered, lot of delayed actions and delayed responses to bullets and bombardments. this is one of the most uninteresting war movies i've ever watched. when i read the other reviews who gave high praises about this movie, i was a little bit wondering if they've seen a different version of this movie.

jt_3d Beach Red could have been a great war movie. It has great scenery, good photography, a good story and a pretty good cast. A WWII US Marine movie with Rip Torn as a Gunny has to try very hard to not be good. But this movie went above and beyond in it's headlong rush towards mediocrity. Beach Red doesn't even get started before getting boring. Cornel Wilde, as Capt. MacDonald is just dull. His constant musing, in the form of out loud thoughts, gets more and more annoying as the movie goes on. Even more annoying is the constant whining by Patrick Wolfe (Pvt. Cliff). I guess the director (Cornel Wilde) really, really liked him because he gets more close ups than Mister Ed did in the TV show Mister Ed. And his attempts to show emotion through facial expressions gets pretty nauseating. Mister Ed was better at that and he was a horse. Mister Ed was a better actor too.Overall this movie, along with Thin Red Line, suffers from what I refer to as a hippie influence. It has a campy feel to it. The overbearing music and constant flashbacks to family, women from the past and even a cockroach getting stepped on gets annoying after a while. The explosions are not very good and most of the guys that get killed fall over in cartoon fashion. The combat scenes are mediocre and fail to make you feel like you are there. Somehow a sniper manages to shoot two guys with one bullet. Not impossible but unlikely when he's above them, in a tree. At one point Pvt. Cliff is on a patrol and gets sergeant stripes halfway through. Later, on the same patrol, he doesn't have them anymore. Close ups of various bugs and flowers says hippie to me.There are some good points. Burr DeBenning, as Egan, provides a bit of comedy and the less annoying flashbacks. Rip Torn is good as a tough as nails marine Gunnery Sergeant. Jaime Sánchez plays a marine who wants nothing more than to get out of the war alive and will take any opportunity to get out but still does his job. The guys playing the Japanese officers seem to be pretty good actors but the enlisted guys don't. They are mostly young so maybe they were just inexperienced. There's a pretty good attempt by the japs to pull a surprise attack which is the climax of the movie and at least brings some war to this war movie. The Japanese are portrayed as real soldiers too and have their own flashbacks. They speak Japanese but there's no subtitles. You can usually figure out what's being said though so it's not too important. As usual they get mowed down by the dozen but they really did in the war so it's a fair cop. If they ever tried the sneak attack plan as shown in Beach Red, I've never heard of it. But I thought it added some tension to this rather dull war movie.In the end I toss it on the pile with a bunch of other mediocre war movies and give it 6/10. Worth a watch.