Customer Reviews

Between Heaven & Hell [VHS]

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This war drama tells how a southern soldier changes from a class conscious snob and becomes a human being with the help of Buddy Ebsen. It shows in flashbacks how he used to be a ruthless plantation owner and how he treated his sharecroppers. Along comes WWII and realizes that in war, everybody is the same. His buddies all get killed due to the cowardice of an officer and Wagner almost kills him. He is courtmartial and sent to another unit and meets a psycho company commander played with gusto by Broderick Crawford. The platoon he is ordered to be with are sent up to relieve another platoon on this hill. They are attacked by a Japanese company and everyone is killed except Wagner and Ebsen, but Ebsen is wounded and Wagner must run back for help. Will he make it in time to rescue Ebsen? The movie was nominated for Original Score and if you look real hard, you will recognize Frank Gorshin, who later played the Joker on the TV version of Batman. Not the best war drama ever made, but is good nonetheless.

This highly underated war movie is one of the best of its kind, telling the story of a troubled young soldier, Sam Gifford (played by Robert Wagner), who's at war with himself as well as the enemy. He's outwardly cold to those around him, and for good reason: he's been busted from sergeant down to private for striking an officer. His old squad has been wiped out in a tragic accident, and he's been transfered to a new unit under the command of an insane captain (played by Broderick Crawford).

Through flashbacks we learn that Sam grew up in Tennessee (my home state) where he was the head of a cotton dynasty, which he commanded with an iron fist. His beautiful wife (played by Terry Moore) learns of this sinister, heartless side of him and they fight. Later her father (which is Sam's commanding officer) is killed on the same Pacific island as Sam, and he's furthur depressed. In his new unit under Broderick Crawford's command, he meets a cropper-turned-soldier (played by Buddy Ebsen) who befriends him and watches over him like a father would.

They become close friends, but their friendship is put to the test when they are stationed on an isolated hill with only a handful of troops to defend it against swarms of Japanese troops. In one deadly assault, all of the Americans are killed except for Sam and his friend, who is now wounded. Sam must then choose between trying to carry his wounded comrade through enemy lines, or trying to save himself. I won't spoil the ending, but I will say that this is one of the best war movies I've ever seen (and I've seen hundreds!).

The dvd has a great picture and sound quality, especially the sound. I had to turn up the volume on my tv loud to hear the dialogue, only to be "blown away" by the tremendously loud explosions and machine gun fire! This may seem like a dvd defect to some, but to me it only enhanced the excitement of the battle scenes! The dvd is bare-bones as far as special features go, although it does have several theatrical trailors from classic war movies, which is nice. Overall, I highly recommend this classic to all fans of war movies.

This is a very effective psychological war film with a great performance by Broderick Crawford as the demented commander of a group of loose canons located in an isolated jungle outpost during W.W.II. Robert Wagner is ordered to the post for his transgressions and comes to terms with his own lack of humanity. This film contains one of Hugo Friedhofer's best scores. The stereo score on this VHS recording sounds excellent.

Bobby, we hardly knew ye....

If Hollywood cannot suppress a great concept and turn it into drivel before a film gets made, they often will find a way to do it after it has been released. Orson Welles learned this the hard way making Citizen Kane to his great pain, and could never get quite enough funding for any big film after that.

This is no Citizen Kane, nor will Robert Wagner ever, ever, be confused with Orson Welles. On the other hand, to call him un-charismatic?!? Not to a whole generation of girls in the 50's and 60's, including my sweetie. Not to mention to a whole generation of guys who wanted to be like him.

As a war film, it is way above the cut and cannot be written off too easily after viewing. I esteem it as much as Hell Is For Heroes with Steve McQueen or Attack! with Jack Palance. Films that stood out from the fodder, and were rarely duplicated if ever. Why this one never got respect, I am too young to have heard, and at this point, there is a whole new generation who will get to see, and perhaps appreciate it.

I saw this film many years ago on TV and I never quite forgot it, for many reasons, and I have been dying to see it released on DVD.

The other reviews on this site give a decent summation of the plot, but the truth of the film goes deeper. Buddy Ebson as a sharecropper gives a slyly informed humanity to people we all have driven by when we saw them (barely) working in the fields, or else cleaning our offices, or in our kitchens.

Broderick Crawford so typifies the insanity of war, where we can find ourselve in situations without a rulebook, yet not knowing the rules means death.

Before the war, seen in flashback, Wagner is deeply unhappy at the top of the heap, and takes it out on those at the bottom of the pyramid as if he had no feelings. Yet, he loves his wife with the passion of youth, and something deeper, as she him.

He is a landed aristocrat in a South about to experience drastic change, but has not yet figured out how to deal with the peasants who are people too.

If he were a lesser man, as is his best friend (Tod Andrews, who would later play the Gray Ghost on TV), the difficulty of being a chivalrous and decent man whose culture demands he forget decency when dealing with his social inferiors, he would not be so driven and unhappy.

War experiences bring out the best and worst in men, and we see his best friend (from before the war) fail the test and, in the process, killing Wagner's new friends, common men, made during the war, and we experience the pain when his surrogate father dies. If you wondered where Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan got the shakes, watch Rober Wagner progress in this film. He is more than adequate. He has things to teach others who followed.

A film does not have to be perfect to be great, and this is a great film, and flawed, make no mistake. Being ignored for so long means only that we should take a closer look now, and judge carefully before writing it off.

Get the DVD in widescreen. On Turner TNT, only the credits are in widescreen, the rest is pan and scan, which is a shame. In contrast, the original wide frame is composed to advantage throughout, when you see it for the first time in almost 50 years as it was meant to be seen.

Gifford (Robert Wagner) plays a Southern landowner who treats his croppers badly... His beautiful wife Jenny (Terry Moore) just saw a side of him she never saw before... Gifford argues that Jenny has just seen his business side... But Gifford only came to realize the error of his rude ways when he was called to active duty and put among the troops in the Pacific theater in World War II...

The film opens with Gifford reassigned to a company posted up in the hills, a very isolated area under the command of a fanatical and probably queer army captain called Waco (Broderick Crawford).

With brief flashbacks, we discover that Gifford holds a well-earned Silver Star but one day, his emotions became dominant and his self-control completely lost when he assaults an officer in combat nearly killing him...

The attempt of Gifford-- seen to get a little shaky in combat--to master danger as far as to walk right along with the enemy, or not to leave the island without saving a wounded pal, hit the core of what must have happened on battlefields in World War II...

Aside from a beachhead landing and a final battle with the Japanese, Fleisher's film shockingly touches on the US officers martyred at the hands of Japanese snipers...

This film is about a man whose worldview is limited by his prejudiced, high-class upbringing. The horrors of war will show him the error of his ways and become a better human. The path is indeed a hard one.

The story begins "in medias res" with a demoted sergeant being transferred to a distant post in the Pacific Theatre in WWII. Robert Wagner plays this soldier from the South named Sam Gifford who must now rejoin the rank and file. Under the command of a sadistic captain, Gifford recalls his past as a wealthy landowner and his treatment of his sharecroppers. He then recalls the events of his heroism and demotion. Through all of this, he learns that the people he mistreated back home are just as capable of heroism and that he has been wrong.

Buddy Ebsen, from "The Beverly Hillbillies," plays a part in this film, and I believe he made the movie enjoyable. He wasn't comic relief, but played the stout-hearted sharecropper that truly showed Gifford the error of his ways.

The part of the sadistic captain doesn't seem to fit at first, but watch the whole movie, and his place and his story will make sense.

A fairly good movie, but the flashbacks seem a bit excessive. They are necessary, but still seem a bit much where they are.

AUDIO TRACKS ON THIS DVD ARE ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE,YOU CAN HEAR SOME OF THE ACTORS AND OTHERS YOU CAN'T........JUST TERRIBLE! I DON'T EXACTLY KNOW WHAT THE PROBLEM IS,BUT I HOPE WHOEVER IS RESPONSIBLE WILL DO A BETTER JOB IN THE FUTURE!!!

I recall watching this movie on color TV in 1969 and being impressed with the visual awe within the story itself. Flashbacks are the basic form of narration. Pay attention and be prepared to watch it a few times to soak it up. This one stands alongside the well-presented WWII films of the 1950's like Battle Cry and The Naked and The Dead, though somewhat flatter in tone.

An OK war film to fill in a collection with a better than average plot

I saw this movie as a youngster....I'm only 6o now... but it was still a really good action movie with great performances from all.

My age nor society's age hasn't altered any part of the movie... It's nice to see Wagner in his prime, like I used to be, and not as he is now...trying to sell my home out from under me.

The social issues the movie attacks are easy to swallow compared to what we have to look at today. Amazing....poor share-croppers used to be a social issue....

I was and am happy to see the then great actors and the will be greats. It had it all; action, romance, fighting, action, suffering, did I say action?