In Harms Way (1965)

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  • Watched this for the first time. I know where have I been!

    I wasnt expecting much and maybe that is why I have avoided for so long.

    Well I was pleasantly surprised. Very Good movie. I know the Japanese boat sequence is a little weak but I can make allowances. Considering it was quite a long movie it seem to go very fast.

    An enjoyable experience and I am sure I will return to watch again.


    Mike




  • Just like you Mike I used to avoid buying and watching this film,one day I found it very cheap at the Mediamarkt in Antwerp and watched it that same night and I was so surprised at how good this was.I have watched it several times since then.I also was surprised at how fast the time went watching this one.I have always loved Duke and Maureen.And also Duke and Gail...so I have to be honest to say that Patricia makes the top 3 for me.Also loved her in Operation Pacific.But when I first saw her in In Harm's Way and heard her talk I kept wondering if she was related to Kate Mulgrew of Star Trek:Voyager fame.Same voice!

    The scene where they are supposed to spent the night together was so sensual.You don't see anything and yet...very well done that's what I say!

  • This has always been one of my favorite movies, especially since I spent 12 years in the Navy. All his military movies were great in my opinion.

  • Just like you Mike I used to avoid buying and watching this film,one day I found it very cheap at the Mediamarkt in Antwerp and watched it that same night and I was so surprised at how good this was.I have watched it several times since then.I also was surprised at how fast the time went watching this one.I have always loved Duke and Maureen.And also Duke and Gail...so I have to be honest to say that Patricia makes the top 3 for me.Also loved her in Operation Pacific.But when I first saw her in In Harm's Way and heard her talk I kept wondering if she was related to Kate Mulgrew of Star Trek:Voyager fame.Same voice!

    The scene where they are supposed to spent the night together was so sensual.You don't see anything and yet...very well done that's what I say!



    Now you mention it there is a strong resemblance vocally to Kate Mulgrew. In regards to missing this film it doesnt tend to get much air time. I remember it being shown as a two parter on two nights at some late hour. The running time at nearly two and half hours does seem to fly and the storyline never flags like some other long movies.

    Glad I set DVD recorder now and am glad I have it in my collection.

    Mike

  • I have this in my collection but never need to use the disc since it's on TCM or AMC all the time. It gets better with each viewing. I saw another Otto Preminger movie with James Stewart this weekend (Anatomy of A Murder). The two movies had a great deal in common. I'm talking specifically about the way they were photographed. The look and feel of a movie is extremely important to me. These two movies were photographed with such incredible realism that I feel as though I could step into them. I love that.

  • Hello All,
    I have to agree with some of the comments about the Duke and Patricia O'Neill. Watching both of the movies "In Harms Way" and "Operation Pacific" there is a good chemistry between them. However I think that Ward Bond would have made a good villian of the piece. I think that both the Duke and Bond had something that made a lot of their pictures. I liked both of these films and agree that a sequel would have been great.
    Regards
    Redcap

    RACMP - For the troops With the troops

  • Here is a link to a review from when the movie was released. Seems rather scolding of a review. http://movies.nytimes.com/movi…03ABC4F53DFB266838E679EDE

    That was the link and here is the review.

    In Harm's Way (1965)
    April 7, 1965
    John Wayne Starred in Preminger Film


    By BOSLEY CROWTHER
    Published: April 7, 1965


    YOU can't kill John Wayne. That's the message—the only message—that comes through loud and clear in Otto Preminger's big war film, "In Harm's Way," which opened last night at the DeMille. It also opens today for a simultaneous engagement at the Coronet.
    No matter how much the enemy takes deadly aim at Mr. Wayne (and he seems to be running in harm's way most of the time in this film) and no matter how rough his superiors in the United States Navy are on him, he comes through alive and a hero, minus only one leg. But he picks up a loving woman, a tough Navy nurse, to compensate.
    This is a slick and shallow picture that Mr. Preminger puts forth here, a straight, cliché-crowded melodrama of naval action in the Pacific in World War II, plus a good deal of cagy politicking and professional back-stabbing among the "brass." And the only character who finally emerges with any firmness and credibility is the admiral in command of the Pacific theater, who is played by Henry Fonda.
    At least, Mr. Fonda makes this admiral a firm, crisp, decisive type. He seems more interested in naval operations than in promoting a personality. This is refreshing and convincing in a film that is virtually awash with flimsy and flamboyant fellows with all the tricks of the trade of Hollywood.
    At the top of the lot is this captain (later admiral) whom John Wayne plays and whom we follow from the blow-up of Pearl Harbor to a big, smashing island-hopping battle toward the end of the war.
    He swings through the grim humiliation of being temporarily beached after the nightmare of Pearl Harbor to the dubious honor of being in command of Operation Skyhook, the island-hopping task, with precisely the same bristling valor his Davy Crockett displayed at the Alamo. And when he rides to magnificent victory in a blazing sea battle at the end, he could just as well be leading the Seventh Cavalry as a fleet of battleships. Mr. Wayne's characterization is skin-deep. Fortunately, his skin is thick.
    As His executive officer and sidekick. Kirk Douglas is awfully shallow, too—just a noisy and naughty tin-can sailor who comes to shameful but sacrificial end. His shame is that he rapes the fianée of his captain's runny-nosed son, an act that compels the young woman — a Navy nurse — to commit suicide. So, of course, this means that Mr. Douglas, in order to satisfy the code, both Navy and Production, has to get himself killed on a suicidal reconnaissance run.
    What isn't explained is why this fellow suddenly rapes the virginal nurse, played by the blonde Jill Haworth. Wendell Mayes, who wrote the script from the stalwart novel of James Bassett, has neglected to motivate that, except by the vaguest implication, as he has failed to motivate lots of things. One of our wits has suggested that maybe it's simply because the suspiciously complaisant Miss Haworth is under contract to Mr. Preminger.
    Anyhow, that's the way things happen in this romantic, melodramatic film, which is loaded with naval engagements and incidental characters. Mr. Preminger is nothing if not generous. He gives you a lot of bang for a buck. He simply neglects to make it have the hard, crushing sound and feel of truth.
    Patricia Neal is weary and wistful as the nurse who attends Mr. Wayne, Tom Tryon and Paula Prentiss are sentimental as a Navy husband and wife, Brandon De Wilde is crisp and cocky as Mr. Wayne's Ivy League son, Burgess Meredith is quite the dry old codger as an intelligence officer, Patrick O'Neil is a stinker as a political type, and Dana Andrews, Franchot Tone and several others turn up as assorted brass.
    But they, like Mr. Wayne, are only actors in a big, blazing, black-and-white war film. Some suffer normal attrition. But not Mr. Wayne. They can't kill him.


    The Cast
    IN HARM'S WAY; screenplay by Wendell Mayes, based on a novel by James Bassett; produced and directed by Otto Preminger; released by Paramount. At the DeMille, Seventh Avenue and 49th Street, and the Coronet, Third Avenue and 59th Street. Running time: 165 minutes.
    Rock . . . . . John Wayne
    Eddington . . . . . Kirk Douglas
    Maggie . . . . . Patricia Neal
    Cinepac 2 . . . . . Henry Fonda
    Mac . . . . . Tom Tryon
    Bev . . . . . Paula Prentiss
    Jere . . . . . Brandon De Wilde
    Annalee . . . . . Jill Haworth
    Admiral Broderick . . . . . Dana Andrews
    Clayton Canfil . . . . . Stanley Holloway
    Comdr. Egan Powell . . . . . Burgess Meredith
    Cincpac 1 . . . . . Franchot Tone
    Comdr. Neal Owynn . . . . . Patrick O'Neal
    Lieut. Comdr. Burke . . . . . Carroll O'Connor
    Chief Petty Officer Culpepper . . . . . Slim Pickens
    Ensign Griggs . . . . . James Mitchum
    Colonel Gregory . . . . . George Kennedy
    Quartermaster Quoddy . . . . . Bruce Cabot
    Liz Eddington . . . . . Barbara Bouchet
    Captain Tuthill . . . . . Tod Andrews
    Lieut. (j.g.) . . . . . Larry Hegman
    Ensign Balch . . . . . Stewart Moss
    Lieut. (j.g.) Tom Agar . . . . . Richard Le Pore
    Ship's doctor . . . . . Chet Stratton
    Tearful woman . . . . . Soo Young
    Boston . . . . . Dort Clark
    PT-boat skipper . . . . . Phil Mattingly

    Life is hard, its even harder when your stupid!!
    -John Wayne

  • does anyone know why this was filmed in black and white - didn t spoil my enjoyment of the film but as it was made in 1965 was there a particular reason for this?

    "Sorry don t get it done, Dude" (Rio Bravo)


    Hooked on The Duke

  • does anyone know why this was filmed in black and white - didn t spoil my enjoyment of the film but as it was made in 1965 was there a particular reason for this?



    More than likely to save money and to make use of actual war footage. Also Otto's toy boat sequence aka battle sequence would have looked worse if that is possible in colour.

  • More than likely to save money and to make use of actual war footage. Also Otto's toy boat sequence aka battle sequence would have looked worse if that is possible in colour.


    Thanks DukePilgrim - like i say, it didn t spoil my enjoyment but just curious.

    "Sorry don t get it done, Dude" (Rio Bravo)


    Hooked on The Duke

  • More than likely to save money and to make use of actual war footage. Also Otto's toy boat sequence aka battle sequence would have looked worse if that is possible in colour.


    Kirk Douglas mentioned in his autobiography how terrible he felt the battle sequences were. I guess they were spending so much on the stars (Wayne, Douglas, Neal, ect.) that the special effects budget suffered accordingly.


    Quote

    "I am not intoxicated - yet." McLintock!

  • i saw in harm's way for the first time last night.i was surprise how good this film is.i really enjoyed it.john wayne and kirt douglas acted well together, and patricia neal is great to.brandon de wilde was good as john wayne's son.its a pity he died so young.also i would have liked more scenes with john wayne and henry fonda.all in all a great war movie and top notch cast



    9/10

  • Kirk Douglas mentioned in his autobiography how terrible he felt the battle sequences were. I guess they were spending so much on the stars (Wayne, Douglas, Neal, ect.) that the special effects budget suffered accordingly.




    That is the shame. It is a very good movie let down at the very end by a totally fake battle sequence that should be in some B movie.