Customer Reviews

Halls of Montezuma [VHS]

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Halls of Montezuma is a surprisingly realistic view of war-life in the Pacific theater of World War II. The themes found in the film are close to those of Saving Private Ryan, where one's man's life is worth more than we know. Each main character's past is explored, showcasing some excellent direction by Milestone. The editing found in the origin stories is similar to that of Tom Hanks' directed episode, "Crossroads" in Band of Brothers and is a pleasant surprise.

I find that many of the "go-getter" Hollywood-isms found in the war films of that era are for the most part absent in this film, give or take a few scenes. The battles are brilliant executed and the face-to-face confrontations with the Japanese are both nerve-wrecking and frightening.

I think that Halls of Montezuma is so precious because it's grittiness and realism was a rariety among the big budget war pictures of the 1940's-60's. Films like this one and Kubrick's "Paths of Glory" are truly great war films long before their time.

This is a grim and austere W.W.II film dealing realistically with Marines pulled from civilian life and thrust into the horrors of combat in the Pacific. It is strong on characters and their motivations and convictions that carry them through the rigors of war. It's lack of a big budget adds to its realism, bringing the narrative to a more intimate level, and elicits emotional responses from the viewer.

The fine cast includes Richard Widmark, Jack Palance, Robert Wagner, Karl Malden, Richard Boone, Skip Homeier, Jack Webb, Neville Brand and Martin Milner.

As a son of a US Marine I'd like to start off by recommending this film to anybody looking for possible gift ideas for a veteran. My dad and I both were pleasantly surprised by this film.


About the film
The Halls of Montezuma seemed a bit ahead of its time. The story centers around an USMC officer's growing war fatigue. A former high school teacher, Lt. Carl Anderson, is tasked with taking a small patrol into enemy territory to gather intelligence about the Japanese rocket launching base that is preventing the Marines from securing an unnamed Pacific island.

The story was slow enough that I had the change to care about the characters. However, the short action / combat sequences kept things moving along.

My first thought was that "Saving Private Ryan" had borrowed heavily from this film. Whether or not that is really the case, the two films are similar, and I would think anybody who enjoyed war films that are more focused on an individual's growing unease with a war will enjoy "Halls of Montezuma". The ending of the film simply seemed realistic, not happy, not surreal ... just realistic, and for a war film made so shortly after the Second World War this film seems ahead of its time.


About the DVD
We watched the film straight through, so I didn't have the chance to explore any of its menu features or chapter setups. The picture quality of the DVD was amazing. We were very pleased with that. However, FOX pictures included a rather long commercial at the beginning of the DVD that we considered skipping over.

...Nowhere, have I set eyes on a better Marine movie than this one...it has so much to offer besides the lethal war scenes...ponder this scene...the Marines leaving the safe sanctuary of those gaping LST doors in their briney wake, even the music puts your in their boots...mulling over in their minds that shortly, this is their last day on earth...[powerful cerebrate moment]...the clanky Amtraks churning up the blue/white sea while racing towards the Line of Departure...all hell is about to blast 'you' out of the water..."Lock-N-Load"...we are crossing the Line of Departure" is shouted out!!!...the US Navy's club-wielding police force is turned loose to do their sworn duty to kill every Japanese Marine on another blood/soaked and palm fringed island...another gem, Widmark telling the Colonel who now wants prisoners, that once you teach Marines to hate and kill the enemy [take no prisoners]...it's almost impossible to reverse an ingrained trait for the lust of killing...the more we kill the longer we remain alive, even when the battle-scarred Marines do capture the enemy as ordered, most want to kill every son of Nippon as expressed by [Pretty Boy and Palance]....a multitude of these Marines have been through so much from Guadalcanal, Tawara, Saipan, Pelilieu, etc...that, they will never survive this endless of endless warfare...Widmark expresses this manic/depressive minsdet very clearly [a very great actor]..in real life Widmark's brother was KIA in the Pacific war...[it preyed on him his whole life]...young Bob Wagner was a Marine reservist in real life...the bellicose Colonel [Richard Boone]was for real, always chewing out non/conformist Sgt Reginald Gardiner for being out of uniform and his outspoken word, but once the rocket base is pinpointed the good Colonel gives Gardnier the OK, and Reggie gets the last word in with, "See, just give the Colonel some time, before he sees it our way"...great punchline!!...star studded cast blends in for a smothering display of Marine camraderie within the enlisted ranks...this Marine movie says alot about the protracted island invasions that dotted the looong road back to Tokyo... and ALL six [6] Marine Divisions FMF gave the Japanese a taste of their own medicine with accrued interest, I kid you naught, indeed..."Give 'em Hell"...."Gung Ho"....SSGT CHRIS SARNO-USMC FMF

I first watched this movie as a kid and bought it recently. Watching it the second time was even better. It portrays the Marines as real people that had lives before the war and as unique individuals on the front lines. Each one had his own fears and failings but each continued on in the face of overwhelming challenges.

The main thrust of the movie is that a group of combat veteran marines invade a Japanese held island. At first they make quick progress. But then they are met by a rocket barrage that goes on for hours. The advance comes to a stop, the rockets continue. The main part of the movie involves the Marines trying to find the location of the rockets so they can pass the info on to the Navy's carrier based attack planes.

The ending is predictable, but how they get there isn't.

As a side note, Jack Webb (Sargent Friday from Dragnet) plays a war correspondent.

This is a good movie about Pacific island battles. It has a variety of characters, with Richard Widmark especially good as a thoughtful teacher who becomes a tough officer. Jack Palance also has a good performance.

I was looking for a rousing film featuring the Marines and found it in "Halls of Montezuma". Richard Widmark gives an unexpectedly balanced performance as the Lieutenant of a platoon making a landing on one of the island chains leading to Japan. In a flashback, Widmark is revealed to have been a former teacher who helped a student overcome a speech impediment to become his class' graduation orator and when that student subsequently joins his command, Widmark helps him overcome shellshock to find the courage to make the landing featured in the film. Widmark's despondency when that soldier is killed in action then becomes all the more poignant.

Instead of projecting pure machismo, Widmark's role allows him to show that intelligence and psychology had much to do with the war effort of the time. Particularly during the scene where Japanes PoW's are interrogated and when Widmark uses the partial results of the interrogation to determine the location of an enemy rocket battery.

There are fine battle scenes as well, both of the ground troops as well as excellent use of real Navy footage of support ships opening fire on the landing zone in an effort to soften it up for the Marines landing.

The shots of widely separated Marines striding through the front also reveals the homage that later films like "Full Metal Jacket" paid to films like "Halls of Montezuma".

I'd recommend this film as a good starter for anyone wishing to begin building their own World War II library.

**** 1950. Directed by Lewis Milestone. WWII, a Pacific island. A company of marines under Richard Widmark's command must find where a Japanese rocket base is hidden. This is a war movie I can recommend without any hesitation. Richard Widmark, Jack Palance in his second role, Karl Malden and Richard Boone give each a very good performance but one must above all praise the mise-en-scene of Lewis Milestone here. Let's admire these travellings of the landings of the Marines or the way Milestone creates the tension by alternating shots of individuals and shots of a company of soldiers. Highly recommended.

What would it feel like to fight with a terrible pain.A man that used to be a school teacher is now a liutenent.Fighting and death is stressing him.Horror at so many friends that have died.Why not die too? He must make sure his last seven companions survive.Even if he doesn't.Impossible.It's frightening and disturbing.In the whats the use of fighting? Because their is a higher power. God,who wants man to survive and live to tell other people about this hellso it won't happen again.Thats the actual meaning to this film.It feels like life is worthless, but it is not.
The portrayal of the Japanese is, I believe, true. The director wasn't making up the way US soldiers felt about their opponents.They hate them and in those times many people did."Pip" is a real term.It's better to show the effects and shade it so people won't be offended.History can't be changed.

The Marines are graphicaly displayed as the bravest , brawliest, toughest and roughest of all the military who fought for the preservation of the liberty . Widmark plays a very convincing role . Lewis Milestone as always showing the best of his powerful direction .
A must in your collection.