From Here to Eternity
| From Here to Eternity | |
|---|---|
 original movie poster |
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| Directed by | Fred Zinnemann |
| Produced by | Buddy Adler |
| Written by | James Jones (novel) Daniel Taradash |
| Starring | Burt Lancaster Montgomery Clift Deborah Kerr Donna Reed Frank Sinatra Ernest Borgnine Philip Ober |
| Music by | George Duning |
| Cinematography | Burnett Guffey |
| Editing by | William A. Lyon |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | August 5, 1953 (U.S. release) |
| Running time | 118 min |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $2.4 million[1] |
| Gross revenue | $30.5 million |
From Here to Eternity is a 1953 drama film based on the novel of the same name by James Jones. It deals with the troubles of soldiers, played by Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Frank Sinatra and Ernest Borgnine stationed on Hawaii in the months leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Deborah Kerr and Donna Reed portrayed the women in their lives.
The film won eight Academy Awards out of 13 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director (Fred Zinnemann), Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Sinatra) and Best Supporting Actress (Reed).
Contents |
Plot
Private Robert E. Lee Prewitt (Montgomery Clift) is a native of Kentucky. Prewitt, according to his Service Record, enlisted at Fort Myers, Virginia. Prewitt gave up his corporal rank and transferred from the Bugle Corps at Fort Shafter, to a rifle outfit Company "G" at Schofield Barracks on the island of Oahu. When Captain Dana "Dynamite" Holmes (Philip Ober) learns of his reputation as a talented boxer, he recommends that Prewitt join the regimental boxing club that he heads, and promises that Prewitt will return to a corporal or even a sergeant, if he fights and helps the Company win the boxing trophy on December 15. But, Prewitt refuses, explaining that after permanently blinding a man in a bout he swore would never take up boxing again. First Sergeant Milton Warden (Burt Lancaster) suggests that he try to get Prewitt to change his mind by making life as difficult as possible. He gets the other non-commissioned officers to help. Prewitt is supported only by his friend, Private Angelo Maggio (Frank Sinatra).
Behind his commander's back, Warden begins an affair with Holmes' neglected wife Karen (Deborah Kerr). Sergeant Maylon Stark tells Warden of the many affairs of Karen Holmes at Fort Bliss, including his own. As their relationship develops, Karen asks Warden to apply for officer training, so she can divorce Holmes and marry him. When he is finally forced to admit that he doesn't want to be an officer, she sadly ends the affair.
Captain "Dynamite" Holmes' cruel treatment of Prewitt comes to a head when Sergeant Galovitch picks a fight with Prewitt while on yard detail. The two soon come to blows with Holmes curiously watching from outside the gathered crowd. At first Galovitch repeatedly pummels Prewitt who refuses to fight back and blocks some of the blows, but Prewitt's fighting side re-emerges as Galovitch and others watching continue taunting him, and he soon gains the upper hand and nearly beats Galovitch before Holmes finally steps in and stops the fight. When Galovitch falsely accuses Prewitt of insubordination, Holmes is about to punish Prewitt again until the one in charge of the detail says that it was Galovitch, not Prewitt, who was spoiling for the fight. But instead of punishing Galovitch, Holmes abruptly lets him off the hook and breaks up the crowd. The entire incident is remotely witnessed by the Base Commander, who orders an investigation by the Inspector General. Later in the Commanding Officer's office, when Holmes' true intentions are revealed, the General orders a court-martial. But when Holmes begs for an alternative, the Commanding Officer's aide suggests that Holmes can resign his commission. "for the good of the service" and leave the Army, which the General accepts with dispatch. Holmes' replacement, Captain Ross, orders that Sergeant Galovitch be demoted to Private and put in charge of the latrine.
Meanwhile, defending his sister's honor, Maggio gets into a bar-room brawl with Staff Sergeant James R. "Fatso" Judson (Ernest Borgnine) whom he strikes with a stool. Judson then pulls a switchblade on Maggio and threatens to "cut his heart out" and to "give it" to anyone who jumps in, but the fight is soon broken up by Warden who threatens Judson by cracking a beer bottle. When the undisciplined Maggio walks off Guard Duty and goes AWOL, he is arrested and sentenced to the stockade, under Judson's charge. Judson takes advantage of the opportunity to brutally beat and torture the defiant Maggio repeatedly. Regardless, Maggio manages to escape and find Prewitt, whom he tells "Prew" of the abuse he endured right before dying in Prewitt's arms. The next night Prewitt plays taps, as tears stream down his cheeks. Seeking revenge, Prewitt tracks down Judson, pretends to have a talk with him in a back alley but instead threatens Judson and the two pull switchblades on each other, Prewitt pulling the very same switchblade Judson pulled on Maggio. The two then fight but Prewitt manages to get the uppherhand and stabs and kills Judson, but not before sustaining a serious stomach wound as well. He then goes into hiding in the apartment of his girlfriend Lorene (Donna Reed), a nightclub hostess at the New Congress Club with whom he had become infatuated.
Prewitt has shown Lorene a bugle mouth piece, he proudly tells her, "I played taps at Arlington, they picked me to play taps at Arlington Cemetery on Armistice Day, the President was there."
All hell breaks loose at Schofield when the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. When Prewitt, weakened by his still-unhealed wound, finds out about the attack, he attempts to return to camp under cover of darkness, but is shot dead by a sentry. Sgt. Holmes is given Prewitt's membership card in the New Congress Club and the famed bugle mouth piece.
The boxing is cancelled.
At the end, Lorene and Karen meet on a ship leaving for the mainland. Lorene tells Karen that her fiancé was an Army Air Corps pilot killed in a B-17 during the attack, but Karen recognizes Prewitt's name. Lorene holds Prewitt's treasured bugle mouth piece. Karen then tosses two leis from the Matson ship bound for the mainland. She tells Lorene, "If the leis go to shore, a person will return to Hawaii, if the leis float out to sea, a person will never return."
Cast
- Burt Lancaster as First Sergeant Milton Warden
- Montgomery Clift as Private Robert E. Lee Prewitt
- Deborah Kerr as Karen Holmes
- Donna Reed as Alma 'Lorene' Burke
- Frank Sinatra as Private Angelo Maggio
- Philip Ober as Captain Dana "Dynamite" Holmes
- Mickey Shaughnessy as Corporal Leva
- Harry Bellaver as Private First Class Mazzioli
- Ernest Borgnine as Staff Sergeant James R. "Fatso" Judson
- Jack Warden as Corporal Buckley
- John Dennis as Sergeant Ike Galovitch
- Merle Travis as Sal Anderson
- Tim Ryan as Sergeant Pete Karelsen
- Arthur Keegan as Treadwell
- Barbara Morrison as Mrs. Kipfer
- George Reeves as Sergeant Maylon Stark
- Claude Akins as Sergeant 'Baldy' Dhom
- Alvin Sargent as Nair
- Joseph Sargent as soldier
- Robert J. Wilke as Sergeant Henderson
- Carleton Young as Colonel Ayres
- Tyler McVey as Major Stern (uncredited)
The novel's author, James Jones, had a small, uncredited part.
Production
- Legend has it that Frank Sinatra got the role in the movie because of his alleged Mafia connections, and that this was the basis for a similar subplot in The Godfather, although this has been dismissed on several occasions by the cast and crew of the film. Director Fred Zinneman commented that "The legend about a horse's head having been cut off is pure invention, a poetic license on the part of Mario Puzo who wrote The Godfather."[2] More plausible is the notion that Sinatra's then-wife Ava Gardner persuaded studio head Harry Cohn's wife to use her influence with him; this version is related by Kitty Kelley in her Sinatra biography. Sinatra himself had been bombarding Cohn with letters and telegrams asking to play the ill-fated Maggio, even signing some of the letters "Maggio". Sinatra benefited when Eli Wallach, who was originally cast as Maggio, dropped out to appear on Broadway instead. Sinatra gained the role, ultimately taking a pay cut in the process (earning $8,000, a huge drop from his $130,000 salary for Anchors Aweigh) to star in the film.
Sinatra's screen-test was used in the final cut of the film; the scene included Sinatra improvising with a handful of olives, pretending they were a pair of dice.
- The material of the rather explicit novel had to be considerably toned down to appease the censors of the time. For example, in the famous beach scene, it is less obvious that Kerr and Lancaster's characters are having sex than it is in the novel and the later, more frank 1979 miniseries based on the book. Also left out of the film are Maggio being a male hustler and the portrait of the gay nightlife in Waikiki.
- The on-screen chemistry between Lancaster and Kerr may have spilled off-screen; it was alleged that the stars became romantically involved during filming.[1]
- A rumor has been circulating for years that George Reeves, who played Sgt. Maylon Stark, had his role drastically edited after preview audiences recognized him as TV's Superman. This is depicted in the docudrama Hollywoodland. However, Zinnemann maintains all his scenes were kept intact from the first draft, nor was there ever a preview screening.
- The U.S. Army withheld its cooperation from the production (most of the movie was filmed where it was set, at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii) until the producers agreed to several modifications, most noticeably the fate of Captain Holmes. Numerous barracks locations are still intact and still occupied by active duty troops. In both the movie and the book the bar and restaurant called Choy's, where the fight scene takes place in the movie and where the novel opens is named Kemoo Farm. Choy's was chosen by James Jones in honor of Kemoo Farm's head chef. Kemoo Farm is still deeply associated with the adjacent Schofield Barracks and the cast and crew, especially Sinatra, are reputed to have patronized the bar to the point of excess.
- Two songs are noteworthy : "Re-Enlistment Blues" and "From Here to Eternity", by Robert Wells and Fred Karger.
Reception
Opening to rave reviews, From Here to Eternity proved to be an instant hit with critics and the public alike, the Southern California Motion Picture Council extolling: "A motion picture so great in its starkly realistic and appealing drama that mere words cannot justly describe it." Variety agreed: "The James Jones bestseller, 'From Here to Eternity,' has become an outstanding motion picture in this smash screen adaptation. It is an important film from any angle, presenting socko entertainment for big business. The cast names are exceptionally good, the exploitation and word-of-mouth values are topnotch, and the prospects in all playdates are very bright whether special key bookings or general run." [3]
Of the actors, Variety went on to say, "Burt Lancaster, whose presence adds measurably to the marquee weight of the strong cast names, wallops the character of Top Sergeant Milton Warden, the professional soldier who wetnurses a weak, pompous commanding officer and the GIs under him. It is a performance to which he gives depth of character as well as the muscles which had gained marquee importance for his name. Montgomery Clift, with a reputation for sensitive, three-dimensional performances, adds another to his growing list as the independent GI who refuses to join the company boxing team, taking instead the "treatment" dished out at the C.O.'s instructions. Frank Sinatra scores a decided hit as Angelo Maggio, a violent, likeable Italo-American GI. While some may be amazed at this expression of the Sinatra talent versatility, it will come as no surprise to those who remember the few times he has had a chance to be something other than a crooner in films.
The New York Post applauded Frank Sinatra, remarking that "He proves he is an actor by playing the luckless Maggio with a kind of doomed gaity that is both real and immensely touching." Newsweek also stated that "Frank Sinatra, a crooner long since turned actor, knew what he was doing when he plugged for the role of Maggio."
The cast agreed, Burt Lancaster commenting in the book Sinatra: An American Legend that "His fervour (Sinatra), his bitterness had something to do with the character of Maggio, but also with what he had gone through the last number of years. A sense of defeat and the whole world crashing in on him... They all came out in that performance."
With a gross of $30.5 million equating to earnings of $12.2 million, From Here to Eternity was not only one of the top grossing films of 1953, but one of the ten highest-grossing films of the decade. Adjusted for inflation, its box office gross would be equivalent to in excess of $240 million U.S. in recent times.
Awards and nominations
Academy Awards
| Award | Result | Winner |
|---|---|---|
| Best Picture | Won | Buddy Adler |
| Best Director | Won | Fred Zinnemann |
| Best Actor | Nominated | Montgomery Clift Winner was William Holden - Stalag 17 |
| Best Actor | Nominated | Burt Lancaster Winner was William Holden - Stalag 17 |
| Best Actress | Nominated | Deborah Kerr Winner was Audrey Hepburn - Roman Holiday |
| Best Writing, Screenplay | Won | Daniel Taradash |
| Best Supporting Actor | Won | Frank Sinatra |
| Best Supporting Actress | Won | Donna Reed |
| Best Cinematography (Black-and-White) | Won | Burnett Guffey |
| Best Costume Design (Black-and-White) | Nominated | Jean Louis Winner was Edith Head - Roman Holiday |
| Best Film Editing | Won | William A. Lyon |
| Best Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture | Nominated | George Duning and Morris Stoloff Winner was Bronislau Kaper - Lili |
| Best Sound (Recording) | Won | John P. Livadary |
William Holden, who won the Best Actor Oscar for Stalag 17, felt that Lancaster should have won. Sinatra would later comment that he thought his performance of heroin addict Frankie Machine in The Man With the Golden Arm was more deserving of an Oscar than his role as Maggio.
Golden Globe Awards
- Winner Golden Globe Best Supporting Actor - Frank Sinatra
- Winner Best Director - Fred Zinneman
New York Film Critics' Circle Awards
- Winner New York Film Critics' Circle Awards Best Film
- Winner Best Actor - Burt Lancaster
- Winner Best Director - Fred Zinneman
Cannes Film Festival
- Winner 1954 Cannes Film Festival Special Award of Merit
- Nominated Grand Prize of the Festival[4]
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
- Nominated BAFTA Best Film From Any Source
Directors Guild of America
- Winner Directors Guild of America Outstanding Directorial Achievement - Fred Zinneman
Writers Guild of America
- Winner Writers Guild of America Award Best Written American Drama
Photoplay
- Winner Photoplay Awards - Gold Medal
National Film Registry
In 2002, the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.
American Film Institute
- 1998 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies #52
- 2002 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions #20
References
- Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Buford 2000
- ↑ Sinatra, Nancy. Frank Sinatra: An American Legend. Chappaqua, New York: Readers Digest Association, 1995. ISBN 0-7621-0134-2.
- ↑ Brogdon, William. "Review:'From Here to Eternity'." Variety, July 29, 1953. Retrieved: January 14, 2010.
- ↑ "From Here to Eternity." Festival de Cannes. Retrieved: January 25, 2009.
- Bibliography
- Buford, Kate. Burt Lancaster: An American Life. New York: Knopf, 2000. ISBN 0-679-44603-6.
- Dolan Edward F. Jr. Hollywood Goes to War. London: Bison Books, 1985. ISBN 0-86124-229-7.
- Evans, Alun. Brassey's Guide to War Films. Dulles, Virginia: Potomac Books, 2000. ISBN 1-57488-263-5.
External links
- From Here to Eternity at the Internet Movie Database
- From Here to Eternity at Allmovie
- From Here to Eternity at the TCM Movie Database
- From Here to Eternity at Rotten Tomatoes
- Script (pdf)
- Variety review
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