RE-RELEASE

Based on James Jones’ controversial critique of the American Army, this film created a sensation on first release and won eight Academy Awards. It is particularly remembered now for its torrid (for its time) beach scene between Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr; its exciting reconstruction of the morning of Pearl Harbour; its visual and narrative mastery; and an Oscar-winning performance as an ill-fated GI by Frank Sinatra that revived his career (his casting is said to be the inspiration behind the notorious horse’s head scene in The Godfather). The core of the film, though, is a matter of conscience: a soldier’s principled refusal to box for his company, which puts him at odds with his fellows and leads to his persecution. ‘If a man don’t go his own way, he’s nothing,’ he says, and Montgomery Clift’s wonderful performance is a definitive embodiment of director Fred Zinnemann’s key theme of the individual against the system.