Beachhead

One of the most incoherent-scened plot-device war movies I've seen, 1950s era or otherwise. The other reviewer nails it when he refers to continual angry exchanges without apparent cause or resolution. Why does Curtis take the attitude he does and act as he does with the "French" girl ..no cause, but eventual resolution when they make out I guess. How and why the continual futile interpersonal with the sergeant , apart from this continual enigmatic reference to Guadalcanal, likewise, no cause or purpose just keeps breaking out counter-productively with monotonous repetition. Action scene after action scene is preposterous or just puzzling and bizarre in their proposition...the knocking out of the Japanese tank where attacking American soldier is dragged inside the tank ...the strange drawn -out 'we need three bodies' scene in the exposed foxhole ...the whole thing with the booby-trapped Japanese radio-hut which must have been thought up by someone who had been chewing karva-laced beetle-nut. The bizarre perplexing end sequence involving the PT boats at the pier and the shelling Japanese destroyer and Curtis' bizarre frogman grenade attack on....... the wreckage of the PT boat. What the hell is even really being suggested there...he burns up the destroyer..which is hundreds or thousands of metres away btw... by igniting the spilled gasoline from the exploded PT boat???SMH.. Yes, the movie has a couple of things in its favour. Hence my two-star rating. Location and filming is ok, it looks nice , even though Hawaii is probably not fully accurate to the Solomons/Bougainville. We can forgive that. And the one-more strange scene involving the compliant servile Japanese prisoner..and big Melanesian islander with machete guy who is willing to trade his boat for possession of servile grovelling Japanese prisoner guy. This is so way out , and dark as well, that you have to award a star for some more Beetlenut creativity involved in thinking it up. ----- ASIDE :I actually wonder if grovelling Japanese POW guy may have inspired the 'Fuji" character in 1960s war-comedy series "McHale's Navy"?? He even wore an identical type of outfit. -------

source: Beachhead

1943. Four marines are assigned a dangerous mission in which they must confirm the authenticity of a warning message about an impending Japanese invasion on a tropical island. Director Stuart Heisler relates the gripping story at a snappy pace, maintains a pretty gritty tone for a 50's film (for example, one unfortunate soldier gets pulled into a tank that he just dropped a grenade into), crafts a strong sense of urgency, and handles the thrilling combat scenes in a lively and competent manner. The compact script by Richard Alan Simmons offers a stark presentation of the brutality and unfairness of war. The sturdy acting by the able cast holds this picture together: Tony Curtis as sarcastic smartaleck Burke, Frank Lovejoy as the hard-nosed Sergeant Fletcher, Edward Franz as helpful French missionary Bouchard, Mary Murphy as Bouchard's fetching daughter Nina, Skip Homeier as the cowardly Reynolds, and John Doucette as the gruff Major Scott. The robust music by Arthur Lange and Emil Newman does the rousing trick. Gordon Avil's vibrant color cinematography nicely captures the lush beauty of the jungle setting. Worth a watch.

My main reason for seeing 'Beachhead' was for Tony Curtis, as part of my project of seeing many films of his as possible when many of his films appeared as recommendations here. It has been a worthwhile and interesting project on the whole, some not so good films but also a good deal of decent-great ones. Despite not being the best of actors in a way, Curtis was always immensely watchable and a very likeable presence in even his weakest films. Some of his early films didn't always see him look completely comfortable and there are settings of some films and some of his roles where suspension of disbelief is needed, but he had charm, charisma, very nice comic timing and when his acting chops were stretched in more dramatic and at times darker roles he surprisingly came over very well. 'Beachhead' is an interesting film. Not a great one and there are issues, but a nice way to pass the time and an inoffensive watch. Starting with the good things, 'Beachhead' looks pleasing enough mostly. The setting is attractive and has atmosphere and the photography doesn't look cheap. The music fits well, not being intrusive, too low-key or tonally jarring, and is a pleasantly orchestrated and atmospheric score in its own right. There is tension and excitement in the storytelling, there are very few dull stretches. The direction does the job more than adequately, not always inspired but everything is correct, and the action is riveting and well choreographed. Curtis, in one of his more relaxed and grittier early roles, and especially Frank Lovejoy, coming very close to stealing the film, fare very well in their roles. It is a shame that the rest of the cast are not very distinguished, most being very forgettable, and Mary Murphy is very bland as an underwritten character that easily could have not been included and nobody would notice, her only purpose being to serve as the obligatory love interest. The romance doesn't really sparkle or move all that much, not that much to it and it didn't serve much point. A few silly parts that don't ring true, while one does cringe at the hokey dialogue and the under-budgeted effects that undermine the impact of the climax. The characters don't have an awful lot to them. In summary, passes the time just about though not a must watch. 6/10 Bethany Cox

This movie may be stupid at certain points, but it is never boring. I personally never tire of a well thrown hand grenade, and Frank Lovejoy tosses them with great skill in every other scene. Also, there's a nice twisted ankle moment featuring Mary Murphy. Not only does Mary severely injure her foot in an extremely painful manner while disembarking from a boat, but a true visual delight is seeing her drenched dress cling tightly to her shapely figure as she is assisted from the water. The twisted ankle is fortuitous for Tony Curtis in that he gets to help Mary hobble along across the beautiful Kua'i landscape. Before you know it, there's a little jungle love action going on between the two. How long their love will last is hard to tell because the corpsman at the end of the film seems pretty eager to move in on Tony's action, and as everyone knows, all's fair in love and war.

In war you can't change sides or provide comfort to the enemy ... the marines were easy cannon fodder in ww2 because they were given the toughest jobs against an enemy that had zero empathy ... i've seen frank lovejoy in plenty of westerns but this was the only war film ... he did good as the platoon sgt ... tony curtis on the other hand played the spoiled child soldier to perfection ... it gave me some good insight into why janet leigh divorced him 2 children and 8 years later ...

I am generally not a fan of war films, but "Beachhead" is a more personal kind of war film, in which a small group of people take a journey that challenges not only their bodies, but their priorities and their values as well. The director, Stuart Heisler, maintains fairly consistent tension; an opening scene, where a man is blown up in an explosion as the title appears on the screen, is quite graphic for 1954. A young, pumped-up Tony Curtis holds it together with a strong, physical performance, and he is well-supported by Frank Lovejoy and the most appealing Mary Murphy. She is also game for the physical scenes, even if her character cannot escape the cliché of the woman who sprains her ankle and then has to be carried along. Filmed on location in Kauai - which is another plus. *** out of 4.

Tony Curtis and Skip Homier both are wearing black with white trim canvas shoes in the scenes just before and after the swimming pond and the tank being blown up. Must have been too hard on the young stars feet.If the real Marines had been on the mission they would have been wearing boots. IN the first scenes they took off their leggin's just before starting out on their little trip to find the Farmer. When they went to the area where they dug the fox holes Tony and Skip are wearing combat boots, then later when Lovejoy and Curtis run into the Framer and his daughter Tony is wearing the "Tennis Shoes " but hey have been blacken. The movie in about a true story but did they really need the love interest??

See it – This Tony Curtis movie is finally being rediscovered, and it is beyond me how it has gone under the radar for so long. In some ways, this is superior to a lot of other WWII movies. It is the story of 4 marines who embark on a secret mission on a Japanese-occupied island. Their mission is to sneak through the jungle to meet an intelligence contact. It has a lot of rugged action and never lacks in the excitement department. But it is missing the elements that make a film a classic. For instance, the acting and script leave a lot to be desired. And the ending action scene is laughable because of the horrible special effects. I guess they didn't want to wait 30 years for the scene to be done right. But as shocking as it is to hear me say it, this is actually a good Tony Curtis action movie when it's all said and done. 4 out of 5 action rating

This particular war movie has its fine moments, implementing the good, old-fashioned "never-a-dull-moment" bravura common of the numerous World War II B-movies of its type. However, I find a few aspects baffling. The Marines assigned on secret missions such as those played by Curtis and Lovejoy should not be armed with standard rifles; hard-hitting weaponry like Thompson 'Tommy' .45 caliber submachine guns would have been more appropriate. There was one prop that was also questionable, like the immobile one-dimensional Type 95 Japanese tank they were taking shots at, which if memory serves me well, appeared to be a well-tailored but hilariously-obvious cardboard cutout!! But, aforementioned criteria aside, the film is indeed enlightening and I recommend it as quintessential entertainment for a late Saturday night. (I myself last saw this movie with my brother back in 1986 on a Saturday night/Sunday morning 2:00 a.m. time slot, on ABC Channel 7's well-renowned Late, Late Show.)